James Bond (film)/Awesome Music

Film/James Bond theme

• The Ur Example: The opening to Dr. No, with the one and only Norman/Barry theme.
• Even though nearly all of James Bond music (especially John Barry) is considered awesome, the last few seconds of Casino Royale (with a score that noticeably left out the James Bond theme for most of it) stand out. The Big Bad gets a phone call.

Mr. White: Who is this?
He gets shot in the knee and crawls to a flight of stairs. Standing above him is none other than...
Bond: The name's Bond. James Bond.
The Bond theme kicks up. Cue end credits.

From Russia with Love

• "James Bond Is Back". Yes he is.

Goldfinger

• And of course, the prototype for all spy music to come -- GOOOOOLLD-FING-GAHH!! (Wah-Waaaahhh-ah-WAAH!!)
• Goldfinger also features a spectacular instrumental version of the main theme, called "Oddjob's Pressing Engagement"
• "Dawn Raid on Fort Knox". Goldfinger's very own Theme Music Power-Up.
• "Into Miami", complete with sizzling sax solo. It oozes with the swanky cool, a perfect mood-setting piece conveying luxury, allure, and just a hint of danger.

Thunderball

• And of course, there's Tom Jones' "THUNDERRRRRRRR.....BAALLLL!!!!" *faint*

You Only Live Twice

• "Fight at Kobe Docks": an incredible instrumental version of its title theme blaring triumphantly as James Bond fights against thugs several dozen times his number...and wins. Well, almost.
• "Capsule in Space". Best eeeevil music since Voodoo Child.
• "A Drop in the Ocean" starts out with some solid action music, but when the Gunship Rescue with the Big Damn Electromagnet happens, the music changes abruptly to this absolutely gorgeous, swoop-y, waltz-y theme.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

• Louis Armstrong's "We Have All The Time In The World".
• "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is both awesome title music and even better chase music.

Diamonds Are Forever

• Shirley Bassey's opening title has so much DoubleEntendre, it's awesome. Famously, the songwriter was told, "Write about diamonds like she's talking about a penis."
• Don't forget 007 and Counting, the jazzy Leitmotif for Blofeld's Kill Sat.

Live and Let Die

• The classic Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die", later covered by Guns N' Roses.
• "Bond To New York".

The Spy Who Loved Me

• "Nobody Does It Better" and "Bond '77" from the same film. Yes, it's disco, but it still manages to be awesome. Think about that for a second -- The James Bond theme is so awesome that it can withstand a disco remix. Yikes.

Moonraker

• The heartbreakingly beautiful theme for Moonraker is the musical equivalent of Took the Bad Film Seriously.
• "Flight into Space" is just magnificent.

For Your Eyes Only

• "For Your Eyes Only", while unusually mellow for Bond, became a top 40 hit after the film came out.
  • Blondie's version would have been awesome.
• Bill Conti's music for the ski chase. So Eighties, so cheesy, so good.
• Most of the For Your Eyes Only soundtrack is pure Eighties Narm Charm, but "Submarine" is a genuinely cool and atmospherice remix of the ever-awesome Bond theme.

A View to a Kill

• "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran.
  • This cover of "A View to a Kill" by the Northern Kings has to be heard to be believed.
• A View to a Kill might not be the best Bond movie but it has some of John Barry's best cues like "He's Dangerous" which mixes his trademark Bond bombast with an electric guitar.

The Living Daylights

• "The Living Daylights" by A-ha.
• There's also a magnificent Villain Song written for The Living Daylights -- "Where has Everybody Gone?" by The Pretenders. Bad. Ass.
• The Living Daylights has some incredible music for its major action sequences.
• Not to mention the action scene with the freakin' Bond theme in smooth, cool synths. So cool, in fact, that the track name, "Ice Chase", was very appropriate.

GoldenEye

• Not all of GoldenEye's songs in the score succumb to the Synthesizeritis; there's some which are good, including Bond's first meeting with Janus, the chase in St. Petersburg, and his dash to the transmitter on the giant dish.
• GoldenEye's score may not be memorable, but how about you talk to the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll and say that about her theme.

Tomorrow Never Dies

• k.d. lang's closing song "Surrender" is just over-the-top spectacular.
• White. Knight. Especially coming after the so-called "music" that was the score (NOT the song) for GoldenEye.
• "Backseat Driver" is a slice of high-octane win.

The World Is Not Enough

• "Ice Bandits".
• "The World is Not Enough" by Garbage.
• "Come in 007, Your Time is Up", aka the amazing boat chase music. Around the 1:00 mark, it's like a glorious, joyful shot of adrenaline.
• "Welcome to Baku".

Die Another Day

• The outrageously fun "Welcome To Cuba".
• The epic theme for Icarus.
• "Die Another Day" by Madonna.
• For techno lovers, "Iced, Inc." (aka Duel Of The Cool Cars) is an absolute treat.

Casino Royale (2006)

• The pure WIN that is "You Know My Name". Yep, Bond is Badass again.
• "Aston Montenegro".

Quantum of Solace

• Quantum of Solace seems to be shaping up nicely, with "Another Way to Die" by Jack White and Alicia Keys.
  • If the title song doesn't suit your fancy, there's always "Night at the Opera", a low-key, but utterly brilliant bit of spy music.
• "Time to Get Out", the music for the opening car chase, starts off slowly and build into an insanely badass version of the Bond theme. But it really kicks into high gear at 2:15, where, according to the music, Bond has joined forces with The Terminator in the cause of awesome.
• The absolutely beautiful "Talamone".

Other

• And whether you're a fan of the movie or not, this spoof is just plain brilliant.
• On the subject of spoof Bond songs, Weird Al's "Spy Hard" is hard to top, by virtue of being both epic and frigging hilarious.

"It's the theme from Spy HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDD!!!! *splat*

• The recurring action theme named "007".
• Any of the opening gunbarrels ^[1] has their own interpretation of the classic Bond theme (apart from Casino Royale, which has the opening bars to "You Know My Name" instead), and they are all kickass.
  • Especially the For Your Eyes Only version. It's even got cowbell, fer Chrissakes!
• Before David Arnold was hired as John Barry's replacement, he produced an album called Shaken and Stirred, a collection of Bond theme covers. Quality-wise, they range from "meh" to "holy crap, no wonder they hired him". Highlights include:
  • A fabulously Camp, Gender Bender version of "Diamonds are Forever".
  • A ferocious "Thunderball".
  • And the Propellerheads' epic cover of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", which has been described as "nine minutes of majestic". That's about the size of it.
  • Chrissie Hynde's cover of Live and Let Die is pretty good.

1. ↑ well, Quantum of Solace was closing