# Kang & Kodos theme from the Simpsons -- musical antecedents?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kang-kodos-theme-from-the-simpsons-musical-antecedents/995468>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 1, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kang-kodos-theme-from-the-simpsons-musical-antecedents/995468 "2024-01-01T22:18:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kang-kodos-theme-from-the-simpsons-musical-antecedents/995468/1 "2024-01-01T22:18:50Z")

</div>

[This musical theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lp0CZmn-Ys) plays on The Simpsons for many or most appearances of Kang and Kodos. To me it sounds like 30s horror film music – is there specific older music which The Simpsons is riffing on here? Thought it might be _Frankenstein_, but that’s not too similar.

(I’ll note that the first 3 notes of the Kang & Kodos theme’s melody, C-G-F# at the 7-second mark, are a spooky inversion of the show’s iconic main title theme. Kind of neat.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kang-kodos-theme-from-the-simpsons-musical-antecedents/995468/2 "2024-01-01T22:50:56Z")

</div>

The swooping higher-pitched tones sound like a theramin, an instrument that was very popular in 50’s Sci-Fi schlocky movies, so that’s one element that might be familiar as a throwback.

I didn’t recognize the actual music part as anything, I would just call them generic tension chords.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kang-kodos-theme-from-the-simpsons-musical-antecedents/995468/3 "2024-01-01T23:07:05Z")

</div>

[The Day the Earth Stood Still](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khpFnxW08pg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kang-kodos-theme-from-the-simpsons-musical-antecedents/995468/4 "2024-01-01T23:16:01Z")

</div>

Holy flurking shnit!