What's the best Bond theme?

Voted for "Goldfinger"

But it was a tough choice, as Duran Duran, Wings, Tina Turner, Carly Simon, Sheena Easton and Garbage have all done really good Bond songs too.

Hard to choose, as I technically prefer some of these as songs (e.g. Live and Let Die), but my vote for best "Bond theme" goes to Carly Simon.

Oh, and where's "Casino Royale"/"The Look of Love"

This is actually harder than I thought. I'll have to listen to the actualy songs, but in terms of artists I love Sheena Easton, Nancy Sinatra, Duran Duran, Tom Jones, A Ha. Tina Turner's song is from a period of her career I'm not into, but I still like her.

Bon. Simon le Bon.

Sadly my favourite Bond song, 'Surrender' by KD Lang isn't on the list. I guess a torch song from a gorgeous lesbian wasn't going to fit the Bond brand as comfortably as whitebread Sheryl Crow.

Of the choices, it's between Nancy and Shirley for me.

I went for John Barry's main theme, as without it the James Bond character would have just been a sadistic, dated misogynist. The whole premise rested on having that music to make him look cool.

no propellerheads, no credibility...

Voted for Carly.

voted for Carly.

still to hear the radiohead version.

didn't Monty Norman do the Bond theme??

voted for Carly.

still to hear the radiohead version.

green did the definitive version of "nobody does it better." imagine it being sung in unison by prince, john lennon, and smokey robinson, backed by the spiders from mars. i don't think they ever recorded/released it, just played it live.

The correct answer is "You Only Live Twice", crazy people.

As a kid I used to read the Ian Fleming novels while listening to an LP that collected all the Bond themes. "Moonraker" was the newest one so I guess I was about 12. What a sad day when I finished them all.

I'm not sure which is the best song yet, but I do know that I would like to hear a Soundgarden cover of "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)".

Alice Cooper recorded a song called "The Man With The Golden Gun" (it was on the Muscle Of Love LP) prior to that film's release in a bald-faced attempt to get it on the soundtrack...didn't work...

"Goldfinger," because he loves only gold, only gold, HE LOVES GOLD!!!, although the Duran Duran is a close second because obviously when you dance into the fire, that fatal kiss IS all you need.

Nodoby does it better than Bond anyway (although Le Bon may be a close second)

I voted partially out of spite.

I'm not sure if I'm going to vote for it (there are a lot of songs on here that I love), but I think "You Know My Name" deserves a little love. I didn't like it when I first heard it, but it grew on me a lot, especially within the framework of the film. It also does a great job of evoking the film after you've seen it. Every time I hear the song, or even think of it, it brings to mind the movie instantly and makes me want to go watch it (not that that takes much, seeing as how it's an excellent film). You can't say that about all the Bond themes, a lot of which sound great as singles but don't do a good job of matching the films.

Jeff, the only other person I know who loves that one is my mom. What this means I don't know.

My mother has actually seen more Bond movies than I have! Which is, admittedly, only one, since she's seen all of them and I've seen all of them but Moon Raker, but clearly women of all ages love James Bond. Amusingly enough, she thinks Daniel Craig isn't very handsome, even though he's a great Bond. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but I still like the song. I'm not even a very big Chris Cornell fan, either.

I have a collection of Bond themes, but it's elsewhere at the moment. I don't even remember the License to Kill theme. As forgettable as the movie, I suppose.

That theme is very lame. Gladys Knight is wasted on a dull romantic ballad.

The weirdest one is probably "Die Another Day." Who would've expected Madonna to turn in the least poppy, most abstract theme of them all?

I'm gonna die... another day! I'm gonna die... another day!

That's the one I voted for.

Carly makes me feel sad for the rest, really.

I voted for "We Have All The Time In The World" not just for the original but the MBV cover.

The main Bond theme, obviously as it is one of the most exhilarating pieces of music ever. In an ideal world it would be our national anthem. Honourable mentions: Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Nobody Does it Better, View to a Kill, Living Daylights. And I must be the only person in the world who thinks the Cornell effort wasn't that bad: kinda catchy.

Who has the largest number of songs that might have been Bond themes but weren't? Portishead? Cher?

Goldfrapp's first album is basically a collection of Bond themes that weren't.

And I must be the only person in the world who thinks the Cornell effort wasn't that bad: kinda catchy.

*points to his three posts above talking about how he likes the Cornell theme*

Oh yeah. I have a bad habit of not reading threads properly before I post.

so many good tunes. has to be 'you only live twice', tho - so seductive and eerie.

heard that Cornell tune in Virgin the other day and I agree, it doesn't get enough love.

Best alternate Universe Bond theme?

Amy Winehouse - Goldfinger.

Who has the largest number of songs that might have been Bond themes but weren't? Portishead? Cher?

The Beach Boys had the best one.

?

Which one?

The track Pet Sounds was originally going to be called "Run James, Run" and Brian Wilson was going to submit it as Bond music. I think the story goes that he got depressed or something and decided it wasn't good enough and so never submitted it, changed the title, and it ended up on the album of the same name.

And I was being kind of tongue-in-cheek about it being the best one, as I don't know many other almost-Bond-theme songs, but I quite like Pet Sounds.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Who has the largest number of songs that might have been Bond themes but weren't? Portishead? Cher?

nancy sinatra (who did actually have one, but she could've pretty much had them all)

if tom doesn't win then there's something terribly, terribly wrong with the world.

Who has the largest number of songs that might have been Bond themes but weren't? Portishead? Cher?

As I said in this thread, Fantasy James Bond themes, Pet Shop Boys should have had a Bond theme. 1985 to 1988 PSB has the sound of John Barry running through it like a stick of rock.

LIEV AND LET DIE! I WILL MAKE MORE

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Surprised at the low number of votes for "Goldfinger" and "A View to a Kill." And the high number of votes for the Cornell song, considering the lack of appreciation for it on the thread itself.

low number of votes for "Goldfinger"

can we get a recount?

for "Goldfinger" not to have won this, far and away, is an absolute goddamned sham.

I voted Goldfinger.

I do not trust these results.

didn't Monty Norman do the Bond theme??

Not according to John Barry...

I missed this poll. I'm not sure what I would have voted for. Not LALD I don't think. Maybe any of the seven that follow it, with the exception of the awful Chris Cornell one.

Listening to Diamonds Are Forever just now. Majestic.

Sorry, I meant the six that follow it, not seven and the ragged Duran Duran.

John Barry's a right cantankerous old fart. I saw a documentary about Bond music in which he did nothing but slag off every single band or artist he worked with on a Bond theme with the exception of Tom Jones and Shirley Basey.

"Matt Monroe? A wanker. Not Welsh. Nancy Sinatra? Stupid cow. Not Welsh"

I voted for "You Know My Name" because I thought nobody else was going to. Should have voted for Goldfinger instead.

Chris Cornell must be flattered. ILM's short memory span is infamous at times.

Re John Barry being an old fart. There is a reason why "License To Kill" was the last Bond theme he worked on. During work on the penultimate one, "The Living Daylights", he fell out with a-ha because of musical disagreements.

None of the other recent ones did well, except for I guess Madonna, inexplicably.

But was it disco Moonraker?

ok the results of this poll clearly indicate why I stopped and should never return to reading/posting on ILM, jesus christ

TS: James Bond vs. Jesus Christ

our gain is dc's loss
xp

Surely there's a good few joke votes for Cornell.

You Know My Name - Chris Cornell 11

Yeah, yeah, very funny.

"Theme song" for new James Bond novel, as voted on by MySpace members. Pretty much what you would expect, considering the voting body:

http://uk.myspace.com/devilmaycarebook

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE OR FUCK YOU, CLOTH-EARS

End Title Sequence = Yes Yes Y'all

Nobody Does It Better; View To A Kill; and For Your Eyes Only got robbed.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--201553123

New theme is a whole big pile of meh. It feels like Jack White just didn't get it. Bond themes are not supposed to be weird and jerky and minimalist! They're supposed to be memorable and big and catchy.

"Goldfinger" -- b/c Shirley Bassey has nothing on Howard Devoto.

Seriously, "You Only Live Twice" is, I think, the best "theme" in the sense that themes play in instrumental form throughout the movie. And anything that can survive a Robbie Williams sample is ok by me.

Wow I'm just reading this thread for the first time and I just think the results are totally mad. I mean come on, "Live and Let Die"? "You Know My Name"? Seriously, who the hell though of asking the least glamorous person on the planet to do a James Bond theme?

The new song has a good Bond theme lurking in it somewhere, but the production's all wrong, and White's voice is thoroughly un-Bondlike. You need a big alpha male holler or a seductive female purr, not a cartoon yelp.

Goldfrapp's first album is basically a collection of Bond themes that weren't.

― chap, Sunday, June 3, 2007 5:52 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

Not to mention "Time Out From The World" (from Supernature) which is a total ripoff of "You Only Live Twice".

i'd say satchmo wins for his vocal, mccartney for his orchestration and barry for that twang

Goldfinger was actually a pretty banging album. Classic 60s surf/spy music!

Goldfrapp's first album is basically a collection of Bond themes that weren't.

To me it sounds more like Ennio Morricone themes that weren't.

I'm starting to think that Sheryl Crow's is actually one of the top Bond themes. Does her own stuff sound like that?

the instrumental OHMSS theme is mega underrated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRJnK-uWbfQ

^^^ Second favourite after You Only Live Twice which i still can't believe lost this

I still like the Goldeneye theme. Or the production of the Golfeneye theme.

Golfin' Eye.

I can't believe I was the only write-in for "Casino Royale"

oh wait, it wasn't me...

Matt Munro was robbed, btw.

Not a theme song but I didn't know until two days ago that the Pretenders and John Barry wrote the "love theme" for The Living Daylights -- and it's not awful.

'You Only Live Twice' and 'Diamonds Are Forever' are neck and neck for tops on here.

We should do a poll of all of Barry's songs from films. 'The Good Times Are Comin'! 'Wednesday's Child'! 'Born Free'! 'Down Deep Inside'!

"on her majesty's secret service" or gtfo

Adele was a good choice for the new one.

Best fake Bond theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aHQnDTd1y4

The Adele one passes the test; when I listen to it and close my eyes I can see gold naked ladies gyrating against a lava-lamp background.

Adele sounds great on it but that's a seriously stupid song even for the genre of "Bond theme song"

also Sheena was robbed in this poll

Srsly. "For Your Eyes Only" is one of the best of the best.

Yeah it is annoying to me that on the John Barry Themependium box set Sheena's is one of the only Bond vocals not included.

Oy she was such a nice girl before that Prince got to her.

I can't think of View To A Kill now without remembering *that* note at Live Aid

Still stand by my repping for kd Lang's 'Surrender'. Happily someone has righted the wrong and replaced Sheryl Crow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zIbOL8SSCY&hd=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mINh8ZOWSLw

2.50-ish, look away DJP

oh this is going to be a treat, I can tell already

oh that was awesome

there is nothing more aggravating than when your voice cracks, esp on a note you've hit a bazillion times in a row

biggest gig of their career, right in front of a zillion people, so sad

I should poll the eighties Bond themes...

how the hell did "die another day" not win this or come much higher anyway

Because it's not really very good?

it's a perfectly okay song but it placed about right

It's been a long time since I listened to the Sheryl Crow one, but it's really not that good. Especially after seeing the credits redone with k.d. lang's song.

WHAT THE FUCK AT CHRIS CORNELL BEATING CARLY SIMON

shit what the fuck at chris cornell beating a-ha for that matter, was everyone just that high on casino royale fumes?

the thing about "Die Another Day" is it was actually the theme song for Analyze This

Just went back and listened to the Chris Cornell one a little bit ago. It's bad. Still better than the Jack White/Alicia Keys monstrosity, though.

WHAT THE FUCK AT CHRIS CORNELL BEATING CARLY SIMON

I guess that someone does do it better.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/images/smilies/shrug.gif

ditto to 'sheena was robbed' sentiments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R500VKA9-Zo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkxBgCBYQ9U

if there ever was a bond that should've had an alice cooper theme it was the one w/ christopher lee

obligatory - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHpH-iziTho

came in, saw "Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings" with 15 votes, literally guffawed

also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3rqS98seNA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Y-hCydiXA

Nope. I like Pulp/Jarvis more than I once did, but I still think that track fails the Bond test. xps

yeah 'pulp does bond theme' seems a gimme on paper but the actual thing isn't any better than most of the other mediocre themes they've had for the past 25 years. wish they'd had him come in and touch up the lyrics on the otherwise fantastic adele one though. the blondie is disappointing also (not a patch on sheena) but more a statement of how dry the well was for them at that point.

whoa – I've never heard Blondie's, and, yes, it sounds enervated.

I unabashedly love the Skyfall theme, stupid lyrics or no. It has all the qualities that most of the recent (and by recent, I mean the last 20-25 years' worth) themes have disregarded. I had no memory of k.d. lang's "Surrender" before seeing it edited into the Tomorrow Never Dies opening sequence today, but it totally blows away Sheryl Crow's song and is kind of an island in the vast ocean of mediocrity that has plagued Bond since, basically, the end of the Moore era.

i like 'die another day', if it had more of a spybreak feel it would work perfectly as a bond theme instead of just being a decent second tier madonna single that happened to be a bond theme (of course 'die another day' + spybreak = 'toxic'), as it is it's the best between a-ha and adele.

I would never go to the bat for it but I didn't mind Tina Turner's

<i>"on her majesty's secret service" or gtfo</i>

Totally.

The new Adele is a pastiche of a pastiche. It's barely there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8cvkn4q8Xs

I said on the Jukebox that to me Adele has no talent for emotions, only "emotions" in that Shirley Bassey/Annie Lennox sense: a showbiz belter. So while the song is just okay it's hard to imagine another contemporary singer who knows how to belt these things unashamedly.

I heard the Adele one from another room just yesterday and was thinking it was pretty good. First real listen dispelled that quickly. It's pretty much made to be half-heard while not paying attention, in which case it gets the job done...

"Still stand by my repping for kd Lang's 'Surrender'. Happily someone has righted the wrong and replaced Sheryl Crow."

Now Surrender is good. But Sheryl's Tomorrow Never Dies is better. Definitely the most underrated Bond theme and a top 3 contender.

The votes for Cornell here are hilarious, though.

Sheryl's Tomorrow Never Dies is better. Definitely the most underrated Bond theme and a top 3 contender.

*brain explodes*

Sheryl's Tomorrow Never Dies is better. Definitely the most underrated Bond theme and a top 3 contender.

You know what - it hurts me to say this but this is pretty much OTM - never thought I'd ever rep for a 90's bond themes sung by Sheryl friggin Crow.
Also, the Garbage one was totally robbed.

i bet mark ronson's feeling like a dick now for not holding amy's trackmarked hand through what could have been a great final hurrah for her.

also:

For Your Eyes Only - Sheena Easton 0
From Russian With Love - Matt Munro 0
The Man With The Golden Gun - Lulu 0

?!?!?!?!?!?

This poll result is making me legitimately angry. Who votes for Chris Cornell?!? SMH

had no idea 10 of Chris Cornell's cousins and his mom posted to ILX

The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that the Cornell song was the only James Bond theme these voters had ever heard.

If I'd been around for this poll Matt Munro would have got at least the one vote. I love that song.

The Adele song is really unremarkable in my book, I think it's getting such an easy ride because people still have PTSD from Jack White and Alicia Keys.

It's not all that great, but it's more of a traditional Bond theme than the last two travesties have been.

I wonder if "traditional" is necessarily good in the Bond context. McCartney justly topped this poll, cos his theme broke the mould, which was getting a little too easy listening for its own good. He gave us a rock song built of fragments, with that exciting instrumental spliced in that was so good to run over the chase scenes.

i think the cornell song is pretty legit, even though his voice isnt what it used to be. its not some stupid herky-jerky bond-hating bullshit like the jack white number, it's a pretty traditional sounding bond song except for the guitars - so its got some old bond flavor but it lets you know this is a new take on bond

^^^
Very catchy chorus as well.

There are incredible Bondy strings and horns on it.

incrediblY Bondy.

Just watched Octopussy the other night and my main takeaway was how baaaaaaaaad the theme song was. Sounded like a karaoke performance of a demo of the world's most generic early-80s TV show theme ballad. Just awful. You'd think with a name like "Octopussy," you'd get something interesting going.

Disagree - I dig it, but I tend to also enjoy themes for being unintentionally funny and at odds with its movie in interestings ways. Well let's face it I love 99% of the Bond themes.

It's not a stunner on first listen but it has a weird charm. Your description isn't wrong, but doesn't make it less good. It's hilarious to me how serious-faced it is in its cheesy balladry, set up against the movie and its title. "I'm in so strong and so deep, and so are you". Sneaky melody when you sit through it many times as well.

Another funny is how the 'Moonraker' theme might be the series most elegant.

There's a question that hasn't been discussed here, except briefly by chap with "bondy strings and horns" : what makes a song Bondy ? Just the use of the strings and horns in a way that reminds Barry's theme ?

From Russia With Love underrated here

Had a dream last night where one of the early Bond themes was to the tune of the song Smokey the Bear, but instead of "a-prowlin' and a-growlin'" the lyric was "a-rakin' and a-rapin'".

"Another Way to Die" is so so fucking bad, oh my gooooooooood. I forgot how much I hated this pile of shit.

It's truly dire.

yeah it’s bad. its a pity because i really love the imagery in the credit sequence, so now i just watch w the sound off lol

From Russia With Love is good, bummed that it got no votes.

And I have a soft spot for All Time High

I will always love "All Time High" just because there was no way in hell that a Bond theme song would ever be called "Octopussy," though I'm imagining what would have happened if Rudy Ray Moore had ever done a Bond theme for whatever reason.

How the heck did Portishead never do one of these?

Chuckles on the Rudy Ray Moore doing a Bond theme...

Joe Tex & the Sexolets wouldve crushed the Octospussy theme

...or the B-52's.

Fred Schneider: "...and they called her Oct-O-Pussy!"

i think the one area in which the craig-era almost totally struck out on was bond themes. brosnan had four excellent ones. the best craig theme is "you know my name," which is AWESOME. "skyfall" and "no time to die" are ok-to-good approximations of what a bond theme feels like. "another way to die" and "the writing's on the wall" are just godawful

there's an instrumental version of "another way".... which still isn't that good. jack white's guitar riffs are too basic, and there's too many different song sections.

...or the B-52's.

Fred Schneider: "...and they called her Oct-O-Pussy!"

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain),

SAH-PRIIIIZZZE!

I want this world to exist. Especially the tie-in video on the lines of Duran's "View to a Kill" video. (Or imagine Fred in the opening credits a la Sheena Easton for For Your Eyes Only.)

Of the modern-era (Dalton/Brosnan/Craig) I mostly have time for these ten:
1. Propellerheads
2. Garbage
3. A-Ha
4. kd Lang
5. Scott Walker
6. Moby
7. Billie Eilish
8. Adele
9. Sheryl Crow
10. Tina Turner

Xp real lolz thinking of a B52 theme although Planet Claire is already a pretty close approximation

He came from Planet Bond
Almost drowned in a pond
He drove an Aston Martin
A-wants vodka martinis, not gin!

Metallica is going to do the next bond theme.

Bond will be played by Tom Hardy

The first film will be called

"To Live is to Die"

Inexplicably, the song will be titled

"Ruin Nation"

i really hope they gender flip bond with the next casting but otherwise i wish all of those sentences were true

yeah i’d love Bond to be a woman

hard pass on Tom Hardy

tom hanks is james bond in... no dying in baseball

Not saying I *want* Tom Hardy, just guessing the predictable way they will go

if metallica does the bond theme then john woo better direct because 90’s mission impossible is what we all clearly want here

Siegbran’s list is especially good bcz there are two guesses for #1.

Haha yeah, but their Goldfinger remix is pretty unremarkable.

The Propheads OHMSS version is one of the very few Bond tunes that capture the kinetic energy of the movies - I like dramatic orchestral ballads as much as the next guy/gal but in the end these movies are 90% hyperactive chase scenes.

I honestly thought History Repeating was the most likely reference!

ah yeah but that was never a Bond tune. It's also funny to read about the rejected bond themes:

Ace Of Base were supposed to do Goldeneye, which was reworked into this - surprisingly it's not cod-reggae europop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_s1GuSjl-I

Pet Shop Boys reworked their rejected The Living Daylights song into this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKW6BcTcRJ8

Saint Etienne Tomorrow Never Dies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLsyuMYYb3A

Straw The World Is Not Enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRrL3d4qrMo

Johnny Cash Thunderball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-AN5mJF13A

Radiohead Spectre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLiDemXYSLc

Wasn't there an Alice Cooper version of the Man With the Golden Gun as well?

Yeah, mentioned upthread, but I guess the link is gone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R500VKA9-Zo

Also, the Blondie one is also a dead link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3anh2SV-7s

And here's Natacha Atlas & David Arnold doing a very serviceable You Only Live Twice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0dkXSGNzZE

ah yeah but that was never a Bond tune.

Yah but you listed several not-Bond-themes from the reject pile.

(Pulp didn’t even have to change their rejected theme’s name to disguise it, as the movie helpfully changed their own instead)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRrlFYg2QkI