In no particular order:
Underdog
Spider-Man
Jetsons
Scooby-Do
Star Trek: TAS (Ending theme)
Batman: TAS
Astro Boy
Kimba The White Lion
Speed Racer
I notice that most of my favorites are from the '60’s. Maybe it’s just nostalgia.
There are many good ones, but none better than Tobor, the 8th Man.
Hong-Kong Phooey. Danger Mouse. Darkwing Duck. The Venture Brothers. Freakazoid! Earthworm Jim. Animaniacs. Mighty Mouse.
I would definitely add Fat Albert to that list. Probably Super Chicken and Josie and the Pussycats, too.
GI Joe. Good God, GI Joe.
There is a little ditty about the worlds most fearsome fighting team that blows all these out of the water.
Jetsons? A mere recitation of the main characters’ names is one of your greatest cartoon theme songs of all time?
In addition to many of those already mentioned, Magilla Gorilla’s was good.
I’ve always liked the Duck Tales theme.
(I assume we’re ruling out anime, to avoid having the thread dominated by Cowboy Bebop. ;))
Gigantor has a nifty, Latin jazz-y kind of theme.
On this page, there’s a link to the theme at the bottom.
I’ve been waiting for a thread like this! My nominations (click through for a sample):
Fantastic Four (1966)
The New Adventures of Superman
and what is probably my all time favorite:
Spaaace Ghoooost!
Honorable mention: Thunderbirds. (Scroll down to “Thunderbirds Theme”). Not a cartoon, but hey, animation’s animation.
Ah, to be a kid in the sixties.
There was a CD about 12 years ago of cartoon themes covered by various Alternative acts of the day. Liz Phair can sing “Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snork” and make it sound sexy. And the Reverend Horton Heat does a cover of the Jonny Quest theme that chews nails and spits out screws.
If you can find that disk, get it.
T-o-o-om Slick!
T-o-o-om Slick!
Let me tell you why
He’s the best of all good guys
T-o-o-om Slick!
T-o-o-om Slick!
In the Thunderbolt Greaseslapper once he’s on your tail
He can’t lose because he knows there’s no such word as fail to
T-o-o-om Slick!
T-o-o-om Slick!
(dum dum dum dum dum dum dum)
A close second to Super Chicken.
A toss up between Underdog and Rocky and Bullwinkle
Dudley Doright is in there, too.
I’m not a jazz fan, and it was written for the movie, not the cartoon, but Henry Mancini’s Pink Panther Theme is waaaay cool.
I nominate the theme from Duckman. For years I thought this was composed by Frank Zappa, but I’ve learned that it was actually written by Scott Wilk and Todd Yvega. Whatever its origin, it’s a jazzy, memorable little piece.
My pick is also my current ringtone: the Freakazoid! theme wins over all.
[disbelief]
Those with superior taste appreciate the smooth jazzy goodness of the original Johnny Quest.
[/disbelief]
PINK PANTHER!!! (I don’t care if was a movie theme first!)
Mild nitpick:
Astroboy, Kimba and Speed Racer are anime.
And yes, I would nominate “Tank” from the title theme of Cowboy Bebop.
Saturday Morning’s Greatest Hits. And yes, yes you should. The VHS tape is kind of fun, too. For a little while, I was emailing the producer who put it all together, and we had fun brainstorming a possible sequel. Never came to pass, though. Sigh.