late 80's-early 90's disney toonage...Darkwing Duck theme Vs. The ducktales theme

The Chip-n-Dale Rescue Rangers theme isn't bad either, although it falls off quickly after the intro, which promises thrills and darkness that the gratingly cheery chorus just can't deliver. The "Goof Troop" song is just flat out irritating - by that point they were just trying way too hard to announce "fun! wackiness!" and I think it's got a little of that Seinfeld slap-bass-and-scatting texture that, if nothing, else, dates the song far worse than anything in any of the other songs.

The general bounciness of "Duckula" and "Duck Tales" is what really sells me on them - "Heathcliff" had this going on as well. Someone could probably do a really interesting essay on the way in which new wave became really easily appropriated for TV theme songs, cranked on tight budgets and eager to take advantage of the ease of getting something that says "Fun!" to the kids.

A few other absolute essentials, while I'm on the subject - the Alvin and the Chipmunks show from the same period (the best Chipmunk song ever, by a long, long margin - I may have to rip it off at some point); the aforementioned Mysterious Cities of Gold song (more great narration there - "They dream of following the path of the setting sun, that leads to El Dorado..."), plus a convincing incorporation of recognizable "Native American" musical stereotypes into an all-synth arrangement; the unstoppable Ninja Turtles theme song (check out that snare! It's relentless!); "Jem," but it was a music-themed show after all; "Danger Mouse," which nails the low-rent Bond theme concept way, way better than "James Bond Junior"; "Inspector Gadget" - the instrumental bed has such a great synth sound, it's like Kraftwerk played at 45 RPM....oh, so many good ones. Nickelodeon probably deserves a whole separate post, but just for the hell of it let me give props to the theme from "Doug," which managed to beat "Don't Worry, Be Happy" at its own game AND sound like it could have plausibly been made by three nerds with a four-track. That's indie, right?

The best part on so many of these is the amount of passion and sincerity some of the session vocalists managed to bring to the table. I guess that's what they're paid for; I'd really love to find out that some of these people only did cartoon songs, so you could theoretically meet some guy at a bar and he would actually specifically remember, as a professional, his work belting out the "MASK" theme song.

Um...is there actually a thread covering this era of cartoon songs generally? I'd hate to think I wasted my most thought-out ILM post on an inconsequential subject in the wrong place.

that's pretty much my heirarchy as far as the shows themselves too. Darkwing was too much of an idiot, and they were stagebound in that damn city; Chip n Dale had that blinding color palette and the stories were piffle. Talespin was awesome, good characters, nuanced villians, scenic variety and lots of...weather for some reason. Interesting weather. Ducktales ruled.

Supposedly they were trying for a South American "El Condor Pasa" feel, but it ended up sounding very middle eastern.

Probably because of the composers (Haim Saban and Shuki Levy) and vocalist "Noam." Saban is Israeli, and although he claimed a writing credit, he also owned the studio, so who knows.

I'm going to do a mashup of immigration song and count duckula. the theme from inspector gadget takes kids tv show themes into another realm - it has bridges, choruses, wild arrangements, references to classical pieces.

Which classical pieces particularly? I'm wildly curious about this.

I used to have an MP3 of some meat-n-potatoes ska band knocking out a presumbly crowd-pleasing rendition of the "Gadget" theme. It was something of a landmark of mockery for my high school friends and I, mainly because they stretched the song to something like three or four minutes with countless repetitions of the "Go Gadget Go" section...and the singer insisted on trying to work the band with a barrage of ska talk e.g. "Go go gadget keys!" "Pick it up pick it up!" "Too hectic! Too hectic!" "Go go gadget trumpet!" etc. The name of the band was Ska King Crab if anyone wants to try and track that down...

More early 80s but...the theme from Mysterious Cities of Gold was very weird and spooky to American child ears.

I could see that.

I'm not so hot on classical pieces, but the one I'm thinking of is very famous and I think it was used in Disney's Fantasia during the Sorceror's Apprentice...

And what's more fun than "Inspector Gadget." That's right, these guys cover INSPECTOR GADGET! And they do it with class. This song will have you bringing old memories to the front, while your dancing and laughing your head off. Skank the night away with this song. The horns are so intense they make you want to cry, and the keyboards add a beautiful flare to the song. Once again the vocals add a lot to the song, because every word sung has a lot of humor in it coming from this vocalist.

Ay yi yi.

Gadget is right up there too, and that main riff has been quoted in tons of other songs.

DuckTales intro

my opinion: DuckTales theme >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> everything else

The horn thing at the beginning of "Duckula" is the production logo/spot for the company that made that show, which I'm recollecting as "Thames" - maybe with a picture of Big Ben or Parliament or something? It also shows up in Danger Mouse, of which Duckula was, unbeknownst to me as a kid, a spinoff. (I've tried on many occasions to build some sort of a track out of samples of the Thames thing, with predictably awful results.)

And Ned Raggett, I love you. That quotation tells you more than anything I ever could about Ska King Crab, or the Heptet. (TS: which is a worse name for a band?)

Here in Athens we've recently acquired a gimmick band called the Shredders, who do kids' show theme song covers with one of those ubiquitous "just guitar, drums, singing" lineups. They definitely bring the love, but listening to all these songs for this thread points up the problem: half the fun of these songs comes from their overstuffed arrangements. If anything you want a guitar and keyboard arrangement - screw the drums, you can barely hear them, at least compare to the all-powerful horn sections, background singers, and one-chord guitar slashes.

Still, I'm going to say they're great, because I'd much rather see a dedicated, devoted cartoon cover band than see a band throw one of these songs into their otherwise average set as a cynical crowd-pleasing tactic. Hell, my whole musical aesthetic (wall of synths, pop vocals, earnestness) would fit pretty well with covering these songs and yet I'm still hesitant to do it because it just feels like pandering. "Goonies R Good Enough" is as close as I'm getting.

I was going to post this!

I was just a kid when the show was still on, six or seven years old. I always loved the opening song, and the show in general. One time, the song got me so excited that I started running around the house as fast as I could. Our house was laid out so that you could make an endless circle, from the living room to the dining room to the kitchen to the hallway and back to the living room, over and over. I was trying to see how many revolutions I could make before the song ended. As the song neared it's climax, I could only ran faster and faster, leaned into the turns more and more, cut the corners and then cut my head open on the microwave table and passed out on the floor.

I like to think that as my Mom walked in and found me and my poor head laying in a pool of blood on the floor, she immediately knew that it was the Ducktales theme song's fault. But I doubt she made the connection.

Dan I. definitely may be on to something with the MacGuyver connection, at least on the chorus of the Chip n' Dale song.

As for Dinosaucers, I have almost no memory of the plot, but thankfully the theme song features helpful exposition:

Boring Teen: "We used to be four ordinary teenagers...until one day, we met some new friends...from out of town! They were called...Dinosaucers. My friends and I became the Secret Scouts, allies to these Dinosaucers from outer space!, and joined in their battles against Genghis Rex and the evil Tyrannos!"
Henchman: "The Dinosaucers are leaving, Bossosaur!"
Growly Villain: "Well.... FOLLOW THEM!!!!"

Yeah. It sounds like a pretty shitty show.

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Revelation: it sounds exactly like mid-period Van Halen! Specifically "Dreams" off 5150! This changes everything!

I only just now realized what a rip-off the Duck Tales theme is of "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall & Oates. I don't think this diminishes either song, but it's still kind of a shock.

Darkwing Duck got mentioned on the American Apparel thread and I am compelled to revive this.

me & Bell_Labs have been watching a LOT of Duck Tales lately, and have become prone to singing (in harmony) the theme song.

D-D-DANGER
(LURKS BEHIND YOU)
THERE'S A STRANGER
(OUT TO FIND YOU)

seriously was ready to learn what synths were used on these tracks

David the Gnome wins for stimulating my imagination

oh and Tale Spin is better then both topic themes

totally OTM.

The horn thing at the beginning of "Duckula" is the production logo/spot for the company that made that show, which I'm recollecting as "Thames" - maybe with a picture of Big Ben or Parliament or something?

Two years late, but anyways: Yes, it was Thames Television, a TV station that was the London weekday franchise of the ITV network. Though the show was actually made for Thames by Cosgrove Hall, a Manchester based animation studio that at one point apparently employed John Squire of the Stone Roses. The "horn thing" was based on an old Victorian tune that went "Who will buy my sweet lavender?", and the accompanying picture was actually a collage of various London landmarks that rised spookily out of the center of the screen.

Two other Cosgrove Hall cartoons that really need to be mentioned here (though they were never shown in the US) are Chorlton & The Wheelies (which somebody once mashed up with "The Real Slim Shady") and their adaption of The Wind In The Willows, which had a genuinely lovely end credit theme. Both can be Youtubed.

Was the Wind in the Willows one that included "Mister Toad, if he pumps (?) up more, he's gonna expl-o-o-de"? I'm at work and can't YouTube - but I remember that one at least.

I used to have an MP3 of some meat-n-potatoes ska band knocking out a presumbly crowd-pleasing rendition of the "Gadget" theme.

There was a ska-funk band (called The Illustrious Skunk, oh the lolz) at my college that performed the Inspector Gadget theme.

Was the Wind in the Willows one that included "Mister Toad, if he pumps (?) up more, he's gonna expl-o-o-de"?

No, I don't know that version but this is very different to what I imagine that sounds like - this is quite wistful and gentle.

Opening titles on Youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRR7yDe7Muk

...and the closing titles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQsViELwLUk

Me, above: "the Alvin and the Chipmunks show from the same period (the best Chipmunk song ever, by a long, long margin - I may have to rip it off at some point)."
Revelation: it sounds exactly like mid-period Van Halen! Specifically "Dreams" off 5150! This changes everything!

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, July 12, 2006 4:10 PM Bookmark

Is there a thread for posts you find by yourself that you just can't even understand or relate to whatsoever? I'm sure I've never heard 5150 by Van Halen, and listening to the track right now I'm really not sure what I was talking about here...I guess the drumming on the chorus sorta reminds me of Theodore but ...yeah, this is really baffling.

I only just now realized what a rip-off the Duck Tales theme is of "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall & Oates. I don't think this diminishes either song, but it's still kind of a shock.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, August 2, 2007 11:34 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ wau

Was the Wind in the Willows one that included "Mister Toad, if he pumps (?) up more, he's gonna expl-o-o-de"? I'm at work and can't YouTube - but I remember that one at least.

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 6:01 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

finally found this - it's the Rankin-Bass adaptation from 1987, featuring the very Gollum-esque Toad. Song begins around 3:10 in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLuQK3aRIZ8&feature=relmfu