Hi, I'm Dranzerstorm
Welcome to the Video Game & Music Lounge
This world is dedicated to Video Games and Music as I'll be showcasing the following.
Video Game Reviews set to the same tones as Retro Retrospective's Anime Reviews
Music reviews of Anime Openings & Closings
Western Cartoon music
Vocaloid Classics.
We may even have some Top Tens
I hope this World entertains you.
It's been a while since I did a top ten and where better to restart than on the music page as we showcase some theme songs with some famous artists.
16. Jonas Brothers
Not really surprised it's a Disney cartoon, Jake Long American Dragon.
15. Chuck Lorre
His first job was help composing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme, he would later create Big Bang Theory.
14. Keith Emerson
90s Iron Man was blessed with one third of Prog Rock trio Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
13. Simple Plan
You can hear their performance in What's New Scooby Doo.
12. Tom Jones
I originally thought it was an imitator but no that's really Tom Jones singing Duck Dodgers.
11. Aerosmith
The guitarist did the 90s Spiderman opening.
10. Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
Easy one, comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with Teen Titans but it was popular enough for the band to have their own cartoon.
9. They Might Be Giants
They have a more famous tv theme song in Malcolm in the Middle but for this list they were the artists behind pre school show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse including the Hotdog song.
8. Macy Gray
Macy Gray has a very distinct voice that anyone can recognise so expect to hear it play out to Nicktoon classic As Told By Ginger.
7. Little Richard
Legendary artist Little Richard lends his voice to the Magic School Bus theme.
6. Bruce Willis
Wait he's not a singer? Bruce can sing pretty well, back when celebrity cartoons was still a thing, Bruce Willis created Bruno the Kid, a heavily under rated show but he did everything including the theme.
5. B-52s
People reading this expect the Flintstones, nope, the second version of Rocko's Modern Life.
4. Destiny's Child
You wouldn't picture such a famous group of artists doing cartoons but they did do Disney's the Proud Family.
3. Bob Marley's Family
The legacy of the godfather of Reggae music can be heard through his family performing the theme song to Arthur.
2. Bowling for Soup
Bowling for Soup didn't just do one theme song, their earliest was Jimmy Neutron but they also did Phineas and Ferb.
1. Will.I.Am
When I found out about this, my jaw dropped; the Black Eyed Peas artist wrote and performed the theme song to Samurai Jack.
Taking some time out to write a top ten, to explain this one it captures cartoon theme songs that either use public domain music, sounds way too similar to another piece of music or out right steals a song and adjusts this for their own tastes.
Honorable Mention: Tom and Jerry
It's entire soundtrack is Metro Goldwyn Mayer's entire music catalogue, for an example you can sometimes hear Over the Rainbow from Wizard of Oz. Left off because I'm only covering opening themes and Tom and Jerry's theme is unique to them and a few other MGM cartoons.
10. Smurfs
Quite low as it's unclear which came first, but it sounds similar to the song Centerfold by J. Geils Band
9. Dennis the Menace (US version)
I say US version as Britain has it's own Dennis the Menace. Weirdly they did have a servicable theme song but went public domain for future series.
8. Wacky World of Tex Avery
Public Domain again, added bonus the actual opening is disgusting.
7. Berenstain Bears
Probably the most shameless use of public domain music.
6. Inspector Gadget
It's Hall of the Mountain King, another Public Domain track, I'd compare them.
5. Scooby Doo Get A Clue
They ripped off the Offspring, it sounds too similar to One Fine Day.
4. X-Men
As awesome as this theme song is, it's Whitney Houston's I'm your Baby Tonight.
3. MASK
Childhood not ruined yet?
Credit to UncannyX, my inspiration for this list.
2. MadBalls
This show failed to go beyond two episodes mainly because it stole Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire, they didn't even try to hide it.
1. Swamp Thing
This is the most embarrassing one, not only does it destroy a good rock ballad, in this case Wild Thing by The Troggs but the lyrics they chose are some of the worst I've ever heard, an easy candidate for worst cartoon theme song.
Everyone knows a good cartoon theme song and believe me, when researching this, there are practically no worst lists out there for cartoon theme songs, they just seem to work but I disagree, I can think of ten that aren't so good, so we run down my top 10 worst cartoon theme songs. Only rules are obviously no Anime theme songs and I'd like to avoid movies as well.
Honorable Mentions
Care Bears the Movie: Because the singer is really not interested in singing the song but rules are rules and Movies can't be on the list.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Their Clones: Because none of their songs have a shred of dignity in them but are still entertaining none the less.
Any without a theme song: Are exempt from this list.
10. Horrid Henry
In the UK one of the most common cartoons is about a troublemaker named Henry, and his entire opening theme is basically a child sticking it's tongue out and chanting, not exactly stellar cartoon viewing from my Country but considering some of the entries I've posted in the vault so far this is fairly tame compared to them.
9. Butt Ugly Martians
Whatever they are spelling right at the start, it's clearly not a word or even an abbreviation, it's just bland and rubbish.
8. Jane and the Dragon
It sounded like the narrator wanted to sing but gave up the moment he mentioned the leads name. It comes to something when the Narrator thinks the theme song isn't worth singing and so called lead, Jane can't even sing properly.
7. Pound Puppies
Infernal barking combined with ugly close ups of some of the characters. At least it improved in later years but my god the original is bad.
6. Smurfs
The Smurfs theme song is what would happen if the Dwarves in Snow White forgot all the words to their work song.
5. Happy Tree Friends
Same problem as Smurfs only this one is more frequent as the episodes are really short and it only reinforces the show's content of killing innocent woodland creatures.
4. The Magic Roundabout
I guess I don't like Fair Ground Carousel music, too many bad dreams.
3. Jem and the Holograms
I'm aware that Jem had two theme songs but I'm going with the outrageous version with the poor sound and the interruption from the Misfits. The ironic thing is when the Misfits say their songs are better its actually the truth. The Misfits did sing better although it might be my twisted taste in music. Also a cartoon with a central theme of music shouldn't have a bad theme song.
2. Angela Anaconda
Oh god this dreary cartoon about freaky Newspaper cutouts is as bad as it sounds, it was bad enough that they ruined the Digimon Movie and also I don't think Angela really needs to remind everyone it's her show, that's the height of obnoxiousness.
1. The Smoggies
But the award for worst theme song goes to the Smoggies, the weird thing is that it started off okay introducing the main characters before a sudden switch to these mutant things called Suntots that look like someone spliced a troll doll with the cast of Jem and the Holograms, but by the end of the song they can't seem to decide who to sing about; cartoon's worst polluters or cartoon's most disturbing take on whatever Suntots are supposed to be. It's a "Save the Environment" type show and you're making us support the villains more. Such twisted logic.
Bonus: As a bonus I will throw any one of these cartoons on this list into the Cartoon Vault.
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