As opposed to the epileptic-seizure-inducing theme from Batman Beyond 
I have all seven of the Cowboy Bebop CD’s and they’re amazing. In fact, I’m listening to the mosvie soundtrack as I type. But I dont’ really think they’re particularly representative of cartoon soundtracks.
I also like the PowerPuff Girls Cd which has a bunch of fun poppy songs by indie artists. It’s realy fun…
I was going to mention the animated Batman theme. Very cool stuff (Dun dun-dun dunnn, dunnnnnnn!) which one of my high school band directors actually wrote out for a concert once.
Anime tends to have very catchy themes. Try not getting the Fullmetal Alchemist song in your head.
Come to think of it the new animated Batman theme is pretty sweet too. Very subdued, almost creepy. Not what I expected from this “lighter” version of the Dark Knight.
As long as we’re counting, The title is repeated six times in the theme to Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, eight for SpongeBob Squarepants and (even though it’s not a cartoon, it was still mentioned) eleven in the theme to the Adam West Batman.
Since the basis of this thread seems to be repetitions in theme songs for cartoons of the show’s title, some others I’ve just estimated:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (original 1980s theme): 12
Kim Possible: 3
Animaniacs: 7 (eight if you count “Animany,” as in “Animany, totally insany”)
Freakazoid: 17
The Fairly Oddparents: 4 (7 if you count three uses of the word “Oddparents” without “Fairly” behind it: “Oddparents, Fairly Oddparents…”)
The Flintstones: 3 (if you count a singular use of the show title without the “the” article in front of it: "Flintstones, Meet the Flintstones…*)
But tunes can be very catchy without that kind of repetition. And kids are able to memorize things very quickly.
So again, why are American (or perhaps Western) cartoon themes go more like:
:mad:
When you can have a perfectly good theme that goes more like:
I saw the thread title and thought to myself “myself,” I thought, “there has been some fantastically good music written for cartoons over the years.” Then I opened the thread and saw the OP trashing cartoon themes. We must be watching different cartoons, I guess.
The Saturday Morning, Cartoons’ Greatest Hits CD is excellent. The version of the Jonny Quest theme, done by the Reverend Horton Heat, totally wails!
Lots of good stuff already listed. I have to add Vince Guaraldi’s piano jazz themes for the Charlie Brown specials over the years and Danny Elfman for The Simpsons.
BBVLou, there another good cover of the Spider-Man theme by a group called Moxy Früvous, if you can find it.
Regarding Raymond Scott and the use of his music in the old Warner Brothers shorts, there are a few other Scott bits that turn up from time to time. There’s a motif from In an 18th Century Drawing Room that was practically Granny’s theme. When I hear it, I almost can’t stop myself from picturing her energetically hobbling across the room to see what all the commotion is about with Sylvester and Tweety.
Bosda, I quite like the work done by the Warner Brothers studio musicians. I think they may have been slightly restrained by the process and precision that was required to integrate their music into the visuals (that weren’t even finished until after the music was recorded, if I remember correctly), and the end result, the animation, voices and music all together, was brilliant.
They’re for kids, so they’re often meant to be singalongs to some extent. It’s certainly easier to remember which show you’re watching. The songwriters probably don’t have too much to go on, and c’mon, what else are they going to sing about? I was always repulsed by cheesy anime themes going on and on about love and assorted other gushy stuff (albeit in Japanese) when the show was just about guns, robots and tits.
I’m reminded of the theme to a really bad-looking cartoon show called “Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century.” The entire lyrics to the theme song were as follows:
“Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century,
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century,
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century,
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century,
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century,
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century.”
What an awful looking show. Bionic Dr. Watson. The Arthur Conan Doyle estate objected to the Holmes/Watson scene in Murder By Death but somehow this is OK.
::Sings::Ulysses 32: Ulseseeeesssseeeee. Nobody does the things you do.
http://www.sfxb.co.uk/animated/ulysses31.html
Hey, you know, I just realized the theme to my very favorite america show,Beetlejuice has no words in it, much less any repetition of the heroe’s name.
Great cover, alternate lyrics and all! I freakin’ LOVE Moxy Fruvous, but hardly anyone else has ever heard of them, and I think they’re either broken up or on a long hiatus.
Yeah, fruvous.com used to be updated every couple of days, and now it’s been three years. A shame, too, the recordings are good but they were an amazing live band. And Früvous fans may have been few, but they were very, very dedicated.
I can’t decide if this is a slam on the late Carl Stallings, who did most of the classic shorts, or on the late Richard Stone, who did the classic '90s TV shows. Either way, it doesn’t make much sense. Both were fans of Scott. Both blended the humor of the cartoons with quality music. Both worked with full orchestras. I don’t get it.
Notice a lot of those are also all about telling you the premise of the show, introducing the characters and so forth. That must be part of the reasoning. Haven’t seen the show or forgot what it’s about? Let us catch you up and fill you in on what you’re in for in 30 seconds.
We get it in the, for adults, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman. All very much to teens and adults like me.
Other then that we get a few instrumentals like The Venture Brothers and Futurama. And only very rarely do we get some song with no apparant connection to the show like in Baby Blues. Or at least that’s how it appears to break down to me.
I kinda like the way that works out. It’s not just a song before the show but it’s the theme music. So I can sing about Harvey Birdman and Meatwad if I am so struck.
I was making a blanket generic statement in the OP. And people brought up some good exceptions, which was sort of what I was looking for.
And to bash some anime, I’m very annoyed at some of the themes that have nothing to do with the show’s content. (Like Dragon Ball GT, Rurouni Kenshin, and a few others that have very misleading tunes.)
I’ve considered making a thread about this, but since the point has been raised why not here?
What’s with that? With Kenshin you can stretch it and think of the themes as Kaoru’s thoughts. Same with Fullmetal Alchemist, but still they don’t seem to quite fit. Are the songs written specificly for the show or are they pre-existing songs selected for being similar to the show’s theme?
Lyrics of some amines.