Awesome Music (animation)

"And your second wish?"

"I have just the thing! I wish I had my own theme music!"

—Peter Griffin of Family Guy, being very, very meta(l)

Why else do you think it was called Looney Tunes?

Examples of awesome music in western animation.

Cartoons are notorious for having catchy theme songs. But some 'toons take it a step further.

• Awesome Music
  • Pixar
  • Phineas and Ferb
• The Backyardigans
• My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
• The Simpsons
• South Park

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Dreamworks Animation

• The Prince of Egypt
  • "When You Believe". Especially the multilanguage version, which features 27 versions of When You Believe from around the world. It really shows how music is the universal language.
  • "Deliver us! / Send a shepherd to shepherd us / and deliver us / to the Promised Land!" And the Call Back at the very, very end to Ofra Haza's One-Woman Wail of "Deliver us!".
  • All the songs. But Plagues is especially so. Yahweh is a scary, scary god. There's the part of that song with the Dark Reprise duet between Moses and Rameses. Definitely one of the all-time highlights of animated musicals. The fact that Ralph Fiennes actually sings Rameses' part is awesome! And the choir speaking for God. "I send the swarm / I send the horde / Thus saith the Lord!" The song is so good it actually makes you sympathize with the pharaoh. His brother has turned against him. Now an all-powerful deity rains fire down on his land. The pharaoh's response is to refuse surrender, no matter what the cost. Sure, it hurts everyone involved, but one cannot help but admit that Rameses has got style.
    • Say what you will of dubbed films, but "The Plagues" in Japanese is pretty awesome too. Especially Japanese!Rameses.
  • After the 'Through Heaven's Eyes' scene, when Moses walks out of his and Tzipporah's tent to go a-shepherding, the piece of music that accompanies "this is my home" in 'All I Ever Wanted' plays as he looks out at the landscape.
  • Instrumentally, Goodbye Brother is the most epic piece of music in ages from a movie. The ominous choir and orchestra combo at the beginning, the mournful cello solo, the single woman's voice—it has it all.
  • "The Mission", the score that plays right after the Burning Bush scene.
  • River Lullaby.
  • "Playing With the Big Boys Now" is a good song, sung by Steve Martin and Martin Short, who seem to have fun with it.
  • Another instrumental piece, the "Red Sea" is utterly beautiful...before becoming terrifying.
  • "Through Heaven's Eyes" is so often overlooked. It's encouraging and warm and beautiful, which is nice considering that after this particular song, the movie gets a bit darker...
• Shrek 2
  • The use of Holding Out for a Hero was particularly awesome. Crowning Moment of Awesome for the cast, definitely.
  • Antonio Banderas and Eddie Murphy's duet of "Livin' La Vida Loca" at the end.
  • Fairytale; no matter how irreverent and sarcastic the films may be, its beautiful Bootstrapped Theme still fits and captures the heart and soul of the story.
• Kung Fu Panda.
  • "Oogway's Ascension"
  • Tai Lung's Theme, which appears at various points throughout "Tai Lung Escapes", "The Bridge", and "Shifu vs. Tai Lung." (And all the cool kung fu fighting music!)
  • "Panda Po", "Hero", and "Sacred Pool of Tears" are also legendarily legendary pieces.
  • "Kung Fu Fighting" during the credits.
• Shrek is just brimming to the top with stuff like this. From Jennifer Saunders' heartfelt rendition of "Holding out for a Hero" set against the backdrop of an epic assault on a castle led by fairy-tale misfits, to Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas ' perfectly synchronized duet of "Livin' La Vida Loca", to even the heartwarming montages at the opening of each film.
• How to Train Your Dragon has proven itself with an epic, epic score. Just for example, Test Drive and Astrid Goes Out For A Spin, also This is Berk, and Battling the Green Death. It all culminates in Coming Back Around, which is physically impossible to listen to without getting at least a tiny swelling in your chest at the sheer epic.
  • Forbidden Friendship is what happens when the concept of True Companions is turned into music.
  • Sticks and Stones, the song for the credits. Mmm, delicious Icelandic prog-rock performed by the lead of Sigur Ros.
  • Several tracks have multiple internal moments of awesome, Battling the Green Death has some: Stoick and Gobber initiating their Heroic Sacrifice, The Big Damn Heroes arrival of the Dragonriders of Berk, Stoick saving Hiccup and Toothless, and finally Hiccup and Toothless saving Astrid.
  • "New Tail" starts out quiet ...then turns into pure EPIC.
  • Romantic Flight The score is beautiful.
• Chicken Run has a wonderful soundtrack. Particularly the Main Titles, Flip Flop and Fly, and every piece of music in the movie after and including Rocky, A Fake All Along. One would be surprised how awesome the soundtrack to a film about chickens can get.
• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is almost a soundtrack of awesome.
  • "You Can't Take Me" and the instrumental "Run Free".
  • The opening track, "Homeland", and its reprise, which becomes the ending song "I Will Always Return". Crosses Crowning Music of Awesome with both Heartwarming and Tear Jerker.
  • Bryan Adams' Rhyming with Itself problems aside, "Get Off My Back" is Badass.
  • The way "Sound the Bugle Now" segways from Tear Jerker to Heartwarming Awesomeness is beautiful.
• Madagascar had Will.I.Am's version of "I Like To Move It"
  • The opening theme "Zooster's Breakout" was incredible.
• The Road to El Dorado
  • "The Trail We Blaze, the most beautiful song in the whole thing. That's no surprise, since it was wrote and sung by Sir Elton John.
  • "Tough to be a God", especially the climax.
  • "Save El Dorado".
• Megamind Even when looking at the choice of regular music (all the way from AC/DC to Guns an' Roses) you can see they knew what they were doing. But the soundtrack itself is also made of awesomeness
  • Ollo 'Evil Lair' and 'Black Mamba.' And if Rejection In the Rain doesn't at least make you sad... Well, it's a good soundtrack. It was made by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, for gods sake!
  • 'Giant Blue Head' is pretty good.
  • Sadly, finding the actual soundtrack can be a bit of a hassle...
  • One word: "PRESENTATION!"

Don Bluth

• Anastasia
  • "Once Upon a December" is particularly good, as is "In the Dark of the Night".
  • How can you forget "At the Beginning"?
• The Pebble and the Penguin - the lyrics to the songs may be insipid, but the tunes themselves are cool. Sounds like everything else by Barry Manilow. Is this statement a Take That or a guilty Shout-Out? Though it's agreed on that the Villain Love Song ('Don't make me laugh') was the best part of the movie
• An American Tail has several, though the best come from that or Fievel Goes West.
  • Somewhere Out There; it doesn't matter which version.
  • Dreams to Dream. There is an "official" version, but the movie one hits much harder.
  • The Girl You Left Behind or A Duo for much awesomeness.
• Most if not all of the music from Titan A.E.. Not just the songs in the movie (Over My Head, Cosmic Castaway, It's My Turn to Fly, all awesome); the score of the movie, composed by Graeme Revell. In particular, the music playing during the scenes near the death of Earth and the birth of Planet Bob, which underscore the scenes perfectly. Unfortunately, the soundtrack was never released.
  • For those who would like to purchase the score CD, here
    • And for those who want to hear the most awesome music ever, here (but beware the spoilers that piece of music will bring).
• Over The Land Before Time's closing credits, this version of the music that has been playing at all the best moments plays.
  • Even more powerful is The male cover.
  • Say what you will about the sequels, but they certainly had their musical moments. The odd one or two of the musical numbers fall into this (Best examples being "When You're Big", "Very Important Creature" and the magnum opus of LBT songs, "Bestest Friends", sung to Littlefoot by his friends as he faces the choice of staying with his grandparents and friends, or leaving with his long-lost father. Even better, an orchestral reprise of the song plays later in the film during a very heartwarming ending.
  • "Things Change", as sung by Cera. Granted the lyrics aren't spectacular, but still, it's the only song that Cera gets to herself. And being arguably the best singer in the gang, what we got was a touching lament over how she wishes things could go back to how they used to be.
    • And to a lesser extent, "Flip Flap and Fly" simply because of the scale. It probably holds the record for most characters singing in one musical number. And that slick piano intro.
• "Yer Beautiful, Baby" from Don Bluth's Thumbelina. Yeah, yeah, the movie's a shallow Disney rip-off and it reeks of sweetness, but godammit if that opening bass line isn't awesome. Then the vocals kick in...
  • It may be a blatant rip-off of A Whole New World from Aladdin, but "Let Me Be Your Wings."
• Jerry Goldsmith's brilliant score to The Secret of NIMH, especially the cue that plays during the film's climax.

Warner Bros/Animation

• Superman the Animated Series
• Teen Titans.
  • The Red X fight, from "X".
  • Their Theme Music Power-Up in "Titans Together".
  • Everything from "Aftershock Part 2". Seriously. Just... just listen to it.
  • There's a gorgeous bit of piano music during the scene in "How Long Is Forever?" where Nightwing calls the Titans on their communicators, and it seems like all three of them are unable to come to his aid. It's just heartbreaking.
  • Terra's theme (especially the rendition that plays during her run through the obstacle course) is pretty darn awesome.
  • The scene in "Sisters" where Starfire launches her attack against Blackfire is accompanied by some awesome music.
  • "Meet Saiko Tek", "Trooper's Tour", "Bar Fight", and "Final Battle" from the Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo OST.
  • The music that plays as Raven marches towards her destiny in "The End Part I".
  • The music for both of the chase scenes involving The Mad Mod (in "Mad Mod" and "Revolution") - respectively a hyperactive Puffy Ami Yumi number and the crazed "(Raining Down On) The Fourth Of July Parade" - definitely qualifies here.
    • And the song they didn't use
• Batman the Animated Series: here.
  • this too.
  • Awesome, in part, because it's the same theme Danny Elfman wrote for the Michael Keaton Batman movie.
    • Some of the best TV watching memories were when that Warner Bros logo faded away, the police headlights came on, and those horns started blaring. One of the best themes to a television show. Ever.
    • Just to give an idea - this theme was so awesome, that even the staff of the show didn't realize that the title of the show didn't appear during it. Go ahead and rewatch if you don't believe that fact.
  • while it never made it into a batman movie or tv show but the Villain Song from a cancelled batman musical if you listen closely you can here the Danny Elfman theme mixed in with the awesomeness that is Meat Loaf.
  • Especially the Mask of the Phantasm's main theme. (Song starts at beginning). Also at the end of the movie is another version.
    • • The weird thing is that that's not Latin; it's the names of some of the music crew being sung backwards. And it is still awesome.
  • Also, The Grey Ghost's theme (until about 0:51). Very short, but brilliant!
    • There's a lovely theme that plays in the BTAS episode "Heart Of Ice" that makes one think of snow falling...
  • The Joker's Theme from BTAS (the second song). He even whistles it.
• The Tomorrow Knight (Batman Beyond)
  • The Movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker has one of the best musical scores in any film ever heard, including reprises of the series' main theme as the beginning and end title.
  • Also the heavy metal remix of the Batman the Animated Series intro that played when Bruce was rejuvenated in a Lazarus Pit.
  • The Gregorian chant played when Terry flashes back to his father's death in "Babel".
• Justice League gets two!
  • And several during the episodes themselves, such as when the Flash went all out against Luthor/Brainiac.
  • The Green Lantern Oath scene in the episode "In Brightest Day" not only show's off the beautiful Green Lantern theme, but also the episode's Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • A great piece of music plays during the climax of "A Better World", when the tide of battle against the Justice Lords is turned by none other than Lex Luthor. The DVD commentary for the episode recalls the challenge in creating a heroic theme for Superman's most iconic villain. They succeeded.
  • And another one plays in the episode of the Justice League where Mongul trapped Superman in a fantasy Krypton which he had to see explode to escape. The moment when he heard Wonder Woman getting mauled by Mongul and turned to fight had the most awesome reprise of the theme song ever.
  • Batman singing Am I Blue?
  • Green Arrow's theme is so Awesome that whenever he goes into battle He hums it himself
  • The fight between Lobo and Superman, as their orchestral and rock-remixed respective themes duel in the background as they fight onscreen.
  • And yet another in the second part of the fight between Superman and Captain Atom, with an almost mournful tune, helps deconstruct the trope Let's You and Him Fight by showing how, in a fight between two heroes, nobody would truly win.
  • In the first part of "The Once and a Future Thing" we get an awesome, old west style remix of the original "League" theme. at about 6:58
  • The Blackhawks' theme from "The Savage Time."
  • The brief orchestral homage to the 60s Batman theme song when Batman faces Kalibak in Hereafter.
• The main title from Superman: Doomsday.
• What's Opera, Doc?.
• Joker and Harley are settin' the woods on fire!
• Honestly, Batman gets so much good music that sometimes, it just drives us...Wait for it...... BATS.
  • And in the same vein, Emperor Joker's Villain Song, "Where's the Fun in That?" Awesome.
  • But no one does it better than the one and only Birds of Prey.
  • Grey and Blue.
• "We're Tiny, We're Toony, We're all a little Loony!"
  • Everything made by that composer, from Pinky and The Brain ("One is a genius, the other's insane!"), to Freakazoid ("He's here to save the nation! So stay tuned to this station!)
  • Speaking of Tiny Toons, the Around The World version takes the greatness of the original and makes it multilingual.
  • Speaking of Spielberg creations, how could we ignore Yakko's World. Just writing the thing and making sure everything fit into place is worthy of praise.

"United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, Republic Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador too!"

• • All of Rita's songs in the Rita & Runt shorts fall under this. No surprise, considering Rita is voiced by Broadway actress Bernadette Peters.
    • In particular is the episode Las Miseranimals. Yes, a parody of Les Misérables. And the songs are awesome!
  • Stand outs go to The Intro, The Monkey Song, and Wakko's Capitals.
• Static Shock. Even the villains had their own Theme Music Power-Up.
• Batman the Brave And The Bold's Music Meister It's so good, the episode got an Emmy nod in the category of Outstanding Music Composition For A Series.
• OK. Maybe... Loonatics Unleashed was ...meh. But you gotta admit the first season intro was epic.
• BEHOLD THE WIZARD! BEWARE HIS POWERS!!! UNSPEAKABLE POWERS!!!!
• This list isn't complete without "Powerhouse", the "assembly line" music from the classic Looney Tunes shorts.
• Admittedly, Quest for Camelot isn't really... an expectional piece of animation from this studio, but you gotta admit that as much of a Soundtrack Dissonance this song is when shown in the film, the song "Prayer" has a reason why it almost won the best soundtrack song of the year when it first showed up.
• The intro theme for Tom and Jerry Tales is pretty darn catchy. It's fun and frentic - the way the cat and mouse duo should be.

Nickelodeon

• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • The version of the Instrumental Theme Tune used for a Theme Music Power-Up, the music during both Aang's fights with Jet and the Yu Yan archers, and the Agni Kai music. Listen (to a couple) for yourself.
  • Everything from the Grand Finale, particularly the music playing during Zuko and Azula's Agni Kai, appropriately titled "The Last Agni Kai".
    • The music that plays during the final between Ozai and Aang, after the latter goes into the Avatar State, more specifically the part after Azula's complete breakdown. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any high-quality version (without the background noise) online...
  • Even the end credits music for the final episode was awesome. Throughout most of the series, the end credits were accompanied by a fairly neutral-mood, tribal-sounding percussion and flute piece. This was replaced for the Grand Finale with a fully orchestrated, epic variation on the show's main theme that really hammered home the fact that yes, it's finally over, and it was good. Now if we they'd only release a soundtrack...
    • The music that plays as Aang goes into the Avatar State and merges with La the Ocean Spirit, and then proceeds to annihilate the Fire Nation Navy. Hear it here.
  • Secret Tunnnnnel! Secret Tunnel!
  • Azula's Theme.
  • Aang's Theme.
  • The Blue Spirit. When you hear this, you know whatever happens next is going to be BAD. ASS.
  • Season 3 Trailer Music
    • The remix used in the sequel series trailer: Pure Awesomeness It actually turns out that the "remix" was simply a video speed error that sped up the original song, but the "wrong" version is still pretty cool
  • In subsequent airings of Sozin's Comet, the four parts were broken up, with a "Previously on Avatar" recap for each. The music playing during the recap for Part 4: Avatar Aang, is pure, distilled awesome, and you just know that whatever happens from there on out is going to be spectacularly EPIC. There's a short, high-quality version and a full-length, low-quality version. Prepare to feel the AWESOME.
  • "Little Soldier Boy" from "Tales of Ba Sing Se".
  • "Bending Energy", as Aang defeats Ozai with Energy-bending.
• Invader Zim
  • The background music for Zim and Dib's titanic, solar system-spanning conflict in "Battle of the Planets".
  • MEATS OF EVIL!!!!!
  • "Ultra Peepi" theme from Hamstergeddon is an Awesome techno track. Pity it only lasted about 40 seconds.
  • Zim's Christmas Villain Song.
    • The all kinds of awesome theme song.
    • The Crowning "Music" of Funny that is the Doom Song?
      • Building Montage , In The Beginning, One Big Video Game, Carne Beat, Source Music of Doom, Gear Fight, Tak's Theme, It's On!, Kitty Rally... is there one song in this show that doesn't deserve a spot on this page?
• Danny Phantom
  • One particular score during "Fanning the Flames". When Danny is flying Sam towards the Monster of the Week, the series plays a relaxing rendition of the theme's song. It makes the scene all the more poignant and remains one of the most convincing moments of the (Your Mileage May Vary) Danny/Sam pairing.
  • The scene in" My Brother's Keeper". After so much doubt and misery, Danny is shown flying happily as that particular rendition plays as Jazz comes to terms with knowing her brother is a hero.
  • The various heroic (and villainous) renditions of the main theme are all amazing! Just watch any scene with Vlad being especially villainous.
  • "RemEmber." The full version in particular, which we never actually hear in the show; it's a dark song that seems to be about how Ember died, which was apparently due to killing herself after discovering her boyfriend was only using her for sex. Because this is a kids' show.
• Kablam! has many. Mainly the awesome ska opening.
  • And the first ending theme. Listen to the full version (on Retrojunk).
  • That doesn't mean the second end title was bad. It was awesome!
  • In fact, all of Henry and June's background music was amazing.
  • June's song in "Won't Stick To Most Dental Work". That little girl (referring to June, her VA was actually 15 at the time, and still has a great voice) had a great voice. To bad there was never a musical episode with June being the lead.
  • And the Ka Blammer song.
  • All the music in The Off-Beats was great to. It had a jazzy, Peanuts flavor to it.
  • All the background music in Life with Loopy.
  • And all the Sniz & Fondue music! Stupid Nickelodeon. You could've made a huge set of the music on CD.
• The Fairly OddParents. We have Real And Scary,Find Your Voice,Gimme The Wand, and every song from the Musical Episode.
• Hey Arnold!'s Jim Lang gave us quite a few, including "Thinkin' It Over," which plays while Stinky contemplates his role as a Butt Monkey spokesperson for Yahoo soda.
  • Then there's "Eugene Paints It Black," which, yes, is about Eugene.
  • "What's Opera, Arnold?" Inspired by the infamous Looney Tunes cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?", this episode paid Homage to Carmen, "Ride of the Valkyries", and Pagliacci (Harold's Superfluous Solo) by having the kids act out the major roles of Carmen: Arnold as Don Jose, Ruth as Carmen, then Helga as Carmen, and Curly as Escamillo.
• The Rugrats theme.
• The Wonder Pets music.
• Most, if not ALL Super Hero theme musics.
  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures: He's, A man, on a mission. Armed with, high tech, ammunition...]]
• ChalkZone, definitely, for its theme music, occasional songs within episodes ("Hula-Baloo", "Fire Plug Ballet", etc.) and especially the music videos that ended most every episode!
• The Backyardigans can make genres you have never heard of sound good.
• The epic rock ballad, "Sweet Victory", is an unexpected yet satisfying ending to the episode "Band Geeks" in SpongeBob SquarePants
  • I'M A GOOFY GOOBER, ROCK! Accompanying the Crowning Moment of Awesome in The Movie, this song is about the definition of Epically Awesome.
    • The Pantera score from Prehibernation Week.
  • F is for friends who do stuff together U is for you and meeeeee!
  • The Campfire Song Song!
  • "KRUSTY KRA-A-A-YEAH-YEAH-AH-AH PIZZAAAAA! IS THE PIZZA YEAH FOR YOU AND...MEEEEEEEEEEEE-HEE-HEE-HEEEEEEEE!"
  • Some parts of the soundtrack, such as this definitely qualify.
• Doug: Bangin' On A Trash Can. Just listen to that awesome banjo riff.
  • The music of "The Beets", a (fictional) rock band featured in the show. Just listen to the pure awesome that are Shout Your Lungs Out, I Need Mo' Allowance, and Killer Tofu.
• All of the music in The Penguins of Madagascar.
  • The incidentals and montages. "The Greatest Danger is Love" and "Graveyeard 8". Jeff Bennett, John Dimaggio, and Fred Stoller pulled off an amazing banjo folk song that was completely unexpected and awesome.
  • Dr. Blowhole's Villain Song, Brand New Plan, and Villain Love Song, I Wanna Control You, from The Return of the Revenge Of Dr.Blowhole.

Cartoon Network Original

• While Thundercats 2011 only has about eleven seconds to cram in the original series awesome theme, it does so very, very well.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog, the music from the Dr. Gerbil's World ep, when the river chase is going on.
  • The soundtrack to the episode "The Tower of Dr. Zalost" was also excellent.
• Say what you will about The Movie, but Star Wars: The Clone Wars had a pretty good soundtrack. In particular, The Battle of Christophsis stands out as especially awesome.
  • As for the the 2003 series, the music that plays during General Grievous' Establishing Character Moment of delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to FIVE JEDI AT ONCE is both Nightmare Fuel and Crowning Music of Awesome at once.
• As Megas XLR says : YOU! DIG! GIANT ROBOTS! I! DIG! GIANT ROBOTS! WE! DIG! GIANT ROBOTS! CHICKS! DIG! GIANT ROBOTS!... Nice!
  • The whole soundtrack. Hear for yourself.
• Code Lyoko has some pretty awesome music. The opening theme is insanely catchy.
  • Almost too catchy...
    • The longer version.
  • The tune played whenever monsters show up and attack stands out as well. It's pretty cool.
• The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack's opening theme is pretty darn catchy, despite the fact that it doesn't look like much effort was put into it.
• The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy has the episode Little Rock of Horrors, inspired by Little Shop of Horrors, set to the sublime and very catchy BRAINS! by Voltaire (additionally, his song Land of the Dead was in Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure) and in the same movie Scary O. Also Battle of the Bands with a small part of the song Darkness by SPF 1000. Keeper of the Reaper has a very nice song as well.
• Dexter's Laboratory: "Enter at your peril, past the vaulted door; impossible things will happen that the world's never seen before..."
  • "In Dexter's laboratory lives the smartest boy you've ever seen. But Dee Dee blows his experiments to smithereens! There is gloom and doom while things go boom...IN DEXTER'S LAB!"
• The Ben 10 Alien Force intro uses the main theme from the original Ben 10, but adds a more mature, Orchestra (and Horn) touch to it. -He's Ben 10!
• Scooby Doo Mystery Inc has one called Trap of Love.
• The opening and ending themes from Codename: Kids Next Door.
  • Themes hell. GWAR as killer cafeteria food!
• Got to get back, back to the past Samurai Jack. WATCH OUT!
• Cartoon Cartoon FRIDAYS! Cartoon Cartoon FRIDAYS! Cartoon Cartoon FRIDAYS! ^[1]
  • If you like that, then check this out!
    • The third and final Cartoon Network Fridays theme is energetic, fast-paced, and nostalgic.
• Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island has this brilliant little piece of chase music
• The chase songs that were all to common in Scooby Doo where are you such as Recipe For My Love, Daydreamin' or I Can Make You Happy.
• See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey, the Musical Episode of The Powerpuff Girls had a lot of this, particularly the songs by Gnomey and the final battle.
  • Love love love la la love la la love makes the world go round!
• (cars squealing) Come on guys! Adventure Time folks! Finn's Baby Song, Evicted, and Freak City to name a few.
  • Adventure Time has some pretty catchy songs but "What Was Missing" really stands out for "I'm Just Your Problem" and "My Best Friends In The World", two truly epic songs that showcase the power of music.
• The "totally 80's" vibe of Regular Show has an awesome 80's soundtrack to match. Special recognition should most definately be given to the use of Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" during the montage scene from the episode "Caffinated Concert Tickets". Just seeing the montage makes this tropette's heart race.
  • Regular Show in general makes excellent use of licensed music. One example being Mississippi Queen by Mountain during a bad trip after drinking a concoction of the same name.
• How about the Duck Dodgers theme (full version here), with The Flaming Lips and Tom Jones Doing vocals?! These guys really put their all into it!

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• You want to feel young, eighties and awesome? Dare to get the Touch.
  • From the same movie, "Instruments of Destruction" and the remix of The Transformers theme.
    • The HAIRMETAL REMIX of the Transformers Theme. That entire soundtrack can summed up with the phrase "so 80s it HURTS."
  • Every variation of the G1 series opening theme is pretty damn awesome.
    • And then Animated comes along and somehow makes the theme more awesome.
      • And then friggin' JAM Project comes along and makes this little number for Transformers Animated (opening version here).
        • And then JAM Project went and made it EVEN MORE EPIC!
  • The Unicron Medley is perhaps the polar opposite of the Transformers theme, being slow, sinister and mysterious in contrast to the upbeat, to the point nature of the main theme. And it is AWESOME.
  • Presenting from Transformers Galaxy Force, "A Great Power", "Our Courage", and the ever Tear Jerker pieces "A Time to Part" with "Our Journey Is At An End".
  • Personal Galaxy Force OST favorites include the Stock Footage drivers "Courageous Theme" and "Fierce Battle! Super Mode", and the solemn, even mournful "The Light that Blurs the Temple".
  • Galaxy Force's opening Call you... Kimi to Boku no Mirai
• Thundercats. The awesome opening theme music.
• Jem. It's her name. She's truly outrageous.
  • Every single episode should count. The writers had to come up with at least three brand new songs every single episode. Some songs were recycled, but yeah, rvery episode.
• Whoooooooo's the most remarkable, extraordinary fellow?
  • Popeye the Sailor Man!
• X-Men: Evolution.
  • Magneto's theme
  • There's a certain piece of music (piano) that is always playing in the background whenever Scott and Rogue are on-screen alone.
  • Apocalypse's theme. It's a very regal, kingly piece that is absolutely appropriate for the resurrected pharaoh (particularly early on, when Apocalypse would just casually own whoever was fighting him without even lowering himself to speak as the music played).
  • The opening theme. The music that usually accompanied an attack by Storm was also rather awesome.
    • The main theme was a remix of the 90's cartoon theme. They even played the 90s theme in a more straightforward way (albiet with acoustic Spanish guitar) in the episode where Spyke joined.
• The original opening theme for the X-Men animated series in the '90s deserves a mention as well.
  • If you think that's good, take a listen at what the Japanese slapped on their dub on the show. CRY FOR THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!
• Most of the occasional musical numbers on Futurama are completely awesome. Especially the 'Robot Hell' song and 'This Trinity's Going to War' from The Movie.
  • Their excellent use of non-originals. Bender whistling "Sweet Georgia Brown" at the end of "Time Keeps on Slippin'" is amazing.
    • Four words: Don't Forget About Me.
    • Even better is the sort-of "evil alien" version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" that plays when the Globetrotters first arrive on Earth. Easy to miss, but awesome nevertheless.
  • The music playing when Fry saves the day at the end of Three Hundred Big Boys is pretty friggin' awesome.
  • So is That Was Then (And This is Too), the theme to Into the Wild Green Yonder.
  • The space battle music from "Bender's Big Score is awesome.
• Never Say Never, the opening from the American dub of Oban Star Racers.
  • And the trailer used the Propellerheads version of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is nine minutes and twelve seconds of majestic.
  • The original opening theme is also wonderful. It captures the tone of the series very well.
  • Molly and Prince Aikka both have fantastic theme music.
• The Underdog Theme Song. Who knew a very old cartoon show could have a theme song so very epic?
  • And then it was covered by Butthole Surfers.
  • It also got an awesome a capella cover by The Blanks (aka Ted's band, The Worthless Peons, from Scrubs). It can be heard "here".
    • Same can be said about a lot of the covers featured on 'Saturday Morning: Cartoon's greatest hits'. Just check out The Ramones doing Spider-Man, Sponge doing Speed Racer, The Violent Femmes doing Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah and Face to Face covering Popeye. All very awesome.
  • The rap cover of the theme song (by Kyle Massey) for the movie was pretty interesting.
• Whatever the faults in Battle of the Planets, its opening and closing themes are truly great.
• The Sailor Moon dub may be a terrible Macekre but there is still something about the song "Carry On" that is simply awesome. Shame about the edits.
  • Here is a clean version.
  • This is one of the few times that most people consider the dub version of something to be better than the original (which used the theme song for the scene, which is generally not considered appropriate for a climactic battle.)
  • Also My Only Love and She's Got the Power, though the second one only makes it with a boost of being performed by Stan 'The Touch Bush
    • Hey now, Rainy Day Man and The Power of Love ain't bad either.
• Robotech?: The 15th Squadron, Roy Fokker's Theme, Hikaru IchijoRick Hunter's theme, Battle Station, and Alien Attack.
• You have to admit, the intro to The Spectacular Spider-Man is cool.
  • The original 1960s Spiderman theme was great, and was included in all three movies.
    • The '90's Spider-Man: The Animated Series theme song is also pretty damn awesome.
• The 1990s Silver Surfer opening sequence, short as it was, is awesome enough to contain its own Ominous Latin Chanting. Hear it for yourself here, if you can tune out all the swooshing-in-space sounds that are layered on top of it.
• Woody Woodpecker got one in the short The Barber of Seville.
• The Animated Adaptation's version of Danny Elfman's Beetlejuice Theme (HD).
  • The Animated Adaptation's version of The Addams Family theme.
• Metalocalypse has some downright awesome music. Just listen to Go Into the Water and Awaken. There's a good reason Dethklok made the best-selling death metal album of all time. In real life.
  • Additionally: "The Lost Vikings", "Detharmonic", and the truly epic "Thunderhorse".
  • This. Dethklok puts on a concert that lasts about a minute and fifteen seconds and manages to kill and horribly maim hundreds of their fans. For a coffee jingle.
  • From season 2; Black Fire Upon Us.
  • Aside from all the death metal, Charles Foster Offdensen has his own sweeping, heroic instrumental that's heard during the Siege of Mordhaus during the S2 finale, as well as the S3 premier where it blends perfectly with Dethklok's song at the end of the ep.
  • Arguably, Pickles' rehab rock opera in Rehabklok.
  • The season 03 finale gave us "The Beginning." As an added bonus, the song plays as Dethklok pulls off a double booked concert and brings peace to the Middle East. It is as epic as it sounds.
  • Dr. Rockzo's "Dory," probably the best song ever written about molesting a 14-year-old girl.
• In Home Movies, Brendon Small works in some cool garage band music with the band SCAB, including a Franz Kafka rock opera. Front man Duane, in a guitar competition, takes Brendon's trashed, untuned rental guitar and makes it sing. (He doesn't win. He was robbed.)
  • 8 Double crowning in that the people behind Home Movies are the same people responsible for Metalocalypse.
• Thanks to Author Appeal, Family Guy is lucky enough to have a truly lavish soundtrack. From the jazzy main theme (with remix by Frank Sinatra, Jr.!), to the gleeful Take That song against the FCC, to the epic chicken fight theme, the composers seem to be on a never-ending quest to top themselves. And then they made an album with a nine-minute big band medley of 80's sitcom themes.
  • "Now that you're stinking rich, we'll gladly be your bitch! My God, this house is--freakin'--sweeeet! Welcome!"
  • By the way, a cordial Fate Worse Than Death to anyone who posts the Surfin' Bird song...
  • The surfin' bird song! b-b-b-bird bird bird, b-bird's the word...
    • You Bastard.
  • You'll get chills! All through your body... and you'll lose all control!
  • Prom Night Dumpster Baby has one of the best Rat Pack era feels to it, regardless of the basis for the song or how short it is.
  • The harmony in the Fat Guy National Anthem is beautiful.
  • Family Guy's rendition of "Shipoopi", "When We Swing", and "The Freakin' FCC".
  • Any of the "Road to" songs are fabulous, especially "Road to Rhode Island" and "So Awfully Different.
  • "Anna rules!" "Cause I kick all the bad guys in their jewels!"...
  • In the newer episodes, there's a new ending theme, an awesome, jazzy, big band number.
  • Stewie's song "Down Syndrome Girl", which is hilarious. Near the end you wonder "How the hell is he singing that fast, with that many big words, without pausing?!"
  • "It's a wonderful day for pie..."
  • Oh come on! What about the Four Peters?
  • The song "All I Really Want For Christmas" from "Road to the North Pole", where the whole town gets in on a kick-ass holiday carol.
    • Same episode, but "Christmas Time Is Killing Us" was the most incredible moment in the post-cancellation history of the show. Especially considering it takes its rhythms from Be Prepared.
  • "Mr. Booze" from "Friends of Peter G." is particularly incredible.
• Mountain Chase from Horton Hears a Who!.
  • Another great example would be both versions of "Jungle of Nool": the first one (1:39) and the later jazz version in the credits (1:14).
  • Three words: We are here.
• The Triplets of Belleville uses Mozart's "Mass in C Minor - Kyrie" during the incredibly dramatic storm at sea segment.
  • Then there's the main theme, "Bellville Rendez-vouz". It's a jazz number performed on vacuum cleaner and bicycle spokes. Need we say more?
  • Cabaret Hoover is also incredibly catchy.
• The Venture Brothers has quite an epic soundtrack that manages to have quite a bit of variety to it, even the occasional classical piece sneaked in for good measure. The usage of "Mars, Bringer of War", in the episode "Hate Floats", for example... Or compare/contrast the main theme for the show with the theme for Rusty Venture, as an example of the talent of J.G. Thirlwell.
  • Dr. Orpheus has Crowning Music of Awesome reserved for his most mundane actions.
  • The absolutely awesome use of Pulp's 'Like A Friend' in the season 4 finale, available here.
• They should release a soundtrack for the music in Beast Wars.
• The Biker Mice From Mars theme tune. And also the show's soundtrack especially the songs "Tunnel Rat" "Look Out Below" and "Born To Be Wild".
• Heavy Metal has a soundtrack that's not just awesome - it's awesomeness to the extreme.
• If there's anything aboutVoltron that is definitely superior to the original anime, GoLion, it's the awesome score by John Peterson.
• Fern Gully. If you like Robin Williams, there's The Batty Rap. If you like Tim Curry, there's Toxic Love. And if you like award-baiting love ballads, there's A Dream Worth Keeping.
• The Movie of The Phantom Tollbooth had a lot of moderately cute music... Tock's song "Time Is A Gift," and the Grand Finale, "Rhyme And Reason Reign." Yes, everything IS better with Princesses...as long as their names are Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason. :)
• Twelve Ounce Mouse: Skillet's three-minute animated drum solo, which ends with his drums bursting into flames.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force: MC Pee Pants' "I Want Candy" and "4 Da Shorteez".
• The opening theme to Danger Mouse.
  • Naturally, after all, "He's the strongest, he's the quickest he's the beeeeeeest!"
• Exo Squad had about one piece of music for its first season. Thank god it's awesome.
• GO GADGET GO!
  • Also the credits theme, which might have been even better than the main theme.
  • Really, the entire score. And on the subject, here's the French version of the theme. Love It or Hate It, its silly lyrics reflect Gadget's clumsiness well anyway. On the other hand, the French version of Penny's theme, at least without the words, is pretty good. The version in the show is even better (one of them anyway, there were several).
• "Heritage of the Wolf" from Balto, especially the scene where Balto howls with the White Wolf. Also "Reach for the Light".
  • And from the sequel, "Who You Really Are" which Muru sings to Aleu. Also, "The Grand Design", the song the wolf pack sings (including cameos from David Carradine and villain Mark Hamill!).
• The closing theme to Captain Planet is awesome.
• King Arthur and the Knights of Justice. Not many people seem to remember this cartoon, about a Football team that gets transported to the middle ages to replace the missing King Arthur and his knights. But the opening theme song to this show is pure epic.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force:
  • Meatwad's solo. That's on the list for one of the best guitar solos ever.
  • Mastodon's "Cut You Up With A Linoleum Knife", in which various pieces of movie snacks present a death metal version of a movie theater policy trailer. Even the people at Adult Swim thought that was the main highlight of the Aqua Teens movie.
• The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 theme music.
• Phantom 2040 would probably be remembered only by fans of the hero identity, or fans of Peter Chung, but it had a really awesome opening theme.
• Coraline. Just the opening track "Dreaming" is so stunningly beautiful. The whole soundtrack is unbelievably awesome.
  • "Installation", which sets up the mood of the first half of the movie, before everything starts getting fucked up.
  • And its specially-designed-for-Ear Worm cousin, "Exploration".
  • "The Other Father Song", another Ear Worm by They Might Be Giants. The lyric is also full of subtle, extremely creepy Foreshadowing.
  • "Fantastic Garden", half the reason everyone keeps grinning stupidly during the titular sequence, the other half being the ungodly amount of Scenery Porn, done WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!
• Tropers, you wish a theme and opening credits of a show to make you feel incredibly manly? Look no further
• Far Longer Than Forever from The Swan Princess.
• Cult favorite Cybersix has an awesome intro. Sucks that they never made/released an extended version.
• The Garfield Show intro has some nice, upbeat music to compliment the high energy crammed into less than 30 seconds worth of animation.
  • "Ladies and gentlemen, Garfield and Friends!"
• This song from the film "The Princess and the Goblin".
• The theme for Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is just marvelous. Pity it's so short.
• The opening theme of The Real Ghostbusters manages to top the original version. Jim Latham's version for Extreme Ghostbusters ...not so much.
  • Your Mileage May Vary on that.
  • Similarly, the little-known opening theme of 1986's Filmations Ghostbusters is this, despite the fact that its only lyrics are "Let's go, Ghostbusters! Let's go! Let's go, Let's go!". The pipe organ section, which interpolates part of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor", has something to do with this.
    • The instrumental section is based on Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
• The Raccoons has some of the most gorgeous songs ever written for an animated kids' show, including an absolutely dazzling theme.
• The kickass theme to Jonny Quest.
  • Then it's a damn shame they never made a series to go with this awesome remake. ^_^
• Ocean Girl: The Animated Series' theme, The Promised One
• Thomas the Tank Engine had some awesome tunes, and here are some of them...
  • Gordon's Season 1 Theme.
  • Henry's full theme in The Flying Kipper.
  • Donald and Douglas' theme.
  • The Post Train Theme.
  • The music played when Douglas rescues Oliver from the scrap yard, which turns Oliver's theme tune (a mixture of the music from The Great Escape and the Indiana Jones films) Up to Eleven.
  • The Storm Theme from Percy's Promise and Gallant Old Engine. Both episodes feature a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • The Skarloey Railway theme
  • Edward's original theme, particularly the version used in "Cows" and "Edward's Exploit", the latter of which has one of Edward's Crowning Moments of Awesome. Listen.
  • James' old theme
  • Harold's theme
  • The Race theme from "Percy and Harold"
  • The Workers Theme from "The Sad Story of Henry"
  • Thomas You're The Leader in the Great Discovery. The first song to feature a proper singer.
    • *cough* Really Useful Engine, Gone Fishing, Let's Have A Race, Never Never Never Give Up, etc *cough*
    • In fairness, 'Thomas, You're The Leader' was made by a normal recording artist, while those other examples were made by the shows original composers Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell.
  • Go Go Thomas from Hero of the Rails". And the original main theme. Every riff of it. Especially (to me at least) the riff used for the outro.
  • The theme from Misty Island Rescue, is, probably the best music ever used for a children's show ever.
• The Animals of Farthing Wood. The main theme/intro for the series is plain awesome!
• The greatest Villain Sucks Song of all time. Sing it with me: You're a mean one, Mister Grinch...
  • You really aaaaare a heeeeeeeell...
• "Walking in the Air" from The Snowman.
• The second US opening to the 90's Iron Man cartoon. It'll really put hairs on your chest, even if you're a woman.
• The über-manlily awesome introduction of Conan the Adventurer.
• The entire soundtrack of Cats Don't Dance, with extra points to Animal Jam and Tell Me Lies. There's a reason this out of print Randy Newman soundtrack CD goes for upwards of $100.
• "Happy Happy Joy Joy" from Ren and Stimpy.
• Rock and Rule: "My Name Is Mok, Thanks A Lot!"
  • Also from Rock and Rule, "Send Love Through."
• The track at any moment in any of the 3 Ice Age movies, particularly the third. Arguably the best is the track during Bucks flashback in Ice Age 3.
• Galaxy Rangers. The soundtrack in all of its 80's rock glory was so beloved by the fanbase that they begged Mandell and Koch to put it on the DVD collection separately from the episodes.
  • "No Guts No Glory" (opening theme)
  • "Ranger are Forever" (closing credits #2)
  • "Somewhere a Heart"
  • "Fight To the Finish"
  • "Psychocrystal"
• Peanuts.
  • All the jazzy stuff is awesome
  • This.
  • Ahem.
  • The iconic "Linus and Lucy" theme.
• Although Quest for Camelot was pretty mediocre, I Stand Alone is pretty good song. Pity that the movie wasn't as good as this song.
  • "On My Father's Wings"
  • Although it was used in the dumbest, most inappropriate context imaginable, "The Prayer" is gorgeous. There's a reason it's been covered by Charlotte Church and Josh Groban.
  • Then there's Ruber's kickass Villain Song. Just watch here. It ain't everyday you hear Gary Oldman sing, no less this good.
  • Devon and Cornwall's "If I didn't Have you"
• Tonight what heights we'll hit, on with the show this is it!
• From the first Care Bears movie: Care-a-Lot, and from the second Forever Young.
• The Cult Classic Twice Upon a Time has two great songs: For its opening Dramatis Personae segment there's "Heartbreak Town" (sung by Bruce Hornsby), and the title song (Maureen McDonald) plays over the lovely closing sequence and credits.
• Swat Kats also got some pretty sweet ass music opening theme music too, one for season one, and another for season 2.
• The Jumanji cartoon had an excellent opening theme.
• Might just be nostalgia kicking in, but the theme tune for Rescue Heroes made a show based on The Real Heroes almost work.
• Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? is Mozart as a cartoon intro! The Nostalgia Chick said it best:

"Wherever she is, it must be in the land of epic!"

• The Super Chicken theme is as geeky as he is, but a very infectious earworm.
  • George of The Jungle
• Come Fly With Us from Total Drama World Tour. It positively reeks of awesomeness.
  • Which is saying a lot, since most fans thought the concept of music in the show was going to be worse than all the fart jokes. But with a little auto-tuning and actually a nice beat, even Ezekiel and Noah of all people are probably the best singers in the song!
  • Stuck To A Pole makes the classic "tongue on a flagpole" prank epic.
  • Lovin' Time and it's reprise Rowin' Time. Any of the songs so far.
  • Despite its strange subject matter, Wake Up is a very awesome song, most notably at the very end.
  • This Is How We Will End It deserves a special mention. Muppets have never been so hardcore!
    • This Is How We Will End It is seconded, followed by Versus, which captured the denouement of Heather's and Alejandro's relationship. The two bitterly criticize each other while viciously competing (the only way those twoknow how to compete). Watching This Is How We'll End It and Versus back to back is simply epic.
  • Cody's solo in Condor.
• The Hobbit, as adapted by Rankin Bass.
  • "Down, Down to Goblin Town" and "Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees" are very catchy examples of the Villain Song, a catchiness that also grabs hold of the light-hearted "In the Valley, Ha Ha!" and "Rolling Down the Hole". The best of the soundtrack is when Glenn Yarbrough sings "Roads" and "The Greatest Adventure."
  • The one Lucky Luke song almost everyone knows: I'm a poor lonesome cowboy a long way from home.
• Regardless of what you think about the actual cartoon, regardless of the lyrics being the same line over and over again -- SUPER FIGHTING ROBOT! MEGA MAN!
• Most of the soundtrack of Wakfu is composed of remixes of the opening theme. It's doesn't make them any less catchy.
  • All of these just pale before "Nox's Theme", however.
    • Which, amusingly, is trumped only by... Nox's second theme.
  • The full, instrumental version of the intro music Sur Tes Pas, is epic. Especially if you're a metal head.
• The only bit worth watching in Tom and Jerry: The Movie movie is the delightful "Money is Such a Beautiful Word". After all, We've They've GOT to have money Tony Jay...
• The opening theme to the animated versions of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters. Not only is it epic, it fits the whole 'disc on the back of four elephants on the back of a turtle' thing. Listen to it with headphones on for added awesome.
  • Also the soundtrack to Soul Music. As a story entirely about the Disc's first Music With Rocks In Band, it pays homage to a variety of bands and styles. Plus Sioni Bod Da, the music Buddy sold his soul for one last chance to play
• From the mind of Danny Elfman, based on the theme to the movie Forbidden Zone, there is the theme to Dilbert. Paired with the panning titles, it captures the insanity of Dilbert's world perfectly. Have a listen!
• "Aisling's Song" Yooouuu muuuust go wheeere I cannoooot...
• ReBoot Firewall after episodes of despair and very close victories over Megabyte this triumphant song heralds the point where things start going the heroes' way...for awhile.
• The Critic has two that really stand out, which are Jay's "I Want" Song "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now" and a musical number from Apocalypse Wow!
• Avenger Penguins...BIIIIKE UP!!!!
• Avengers, assemble!
  • As well as "REVENGERS Assemble", this awesome though unused theme composed by Ron Wasserman (who also created the masterpiece that is the theme song for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers).
• Tintin theme tune.
• And for extra credit, grow a beard! Ah, Arthur sure could be awesome when it really tried.
  • HAVING FUN, ISN'T HARD...
  • Just a little homework tonight...
• The opening theme to the G.I. Joe movie.
• The Boondocks' ending theme. Asheru and Jazz Liberatorz did more with a 30 second instrumental than a lot of big name hip-hop producers (who shall remain nameless) have done with 5 minutes.
• This was already mentioned on the film page but because it is also animation, Alpha and Omega has the howling scenes, which were absolutely great.
• Though it is somewhat polarizing, the theme song to the Geronimo Stilton cartoon does evoke spy movies a bit.
• The cheesy yet awesome Dinosaur Train theme song.
• The theme to the Superfriends. Say what you want about the cartoon, but the theme song was epic.
• American Dad: "Oh boy, it's swell to sayyy..."...GOOD MORNING, U.S.AAAA!"
• The G.I. Joe theme people, especially the movie theme.
• The "Fix It" song from The Iron Giant, which plays whenever he uses his homing device to put himself back together. It's very cute and memorable, and gets a Triumphant Reprise at the end of the movie that never fails to make you smile.
• While the Redwall cartoon was... Well, opinions vary, but the theme tune had a lovely Mediaeval feel to it.
• The theme song of Godzilla: The Series wasn't half bad.

1. ↑ "Don't make me sing!"