Ranking the Bond Themes.

[Janie]

A list of the Bond theme from Worst to Best.

Starting with :

Madonna : Die Another Day.



A terrible song which ironically summed to the movie too, trying to jazz Bond up with silly effects (and invisable cars...) and over production while the reality was it ended up a mess. While I quite like Madonna, well her early work anyway and believe she could have been capable of a good song quite simply Bond should not go techo!

Song 1/10
Film 2/10

 

[Agravaine]

Live and Let Die > All.

 

[Cullhaven]

I'd go:

1 Goldfinger
2 You only live twice
3 the living daylights
4 Live and let die
5 nobody does it better
6 View to a Kill

 

[Janie]

Next :

Sheena Easton : For Your Eyes Only.



Apart from Sheena's horrible pinched voice and the complete and utter blandness of this song, the real killer is this dreadful song was chosen over a much superior song that Blondie had written. Also why is she in the start sequence? no other artist has managed this!

Song : 2/10
Film : 7/10 (Moores 'serious' Bond movie).

Next :

Jack White/Alicia Keys : Another Way To Die (From Quantum of Solace)



What's this then? Jack White doing something pretty crap and unmemorable, surely not.....Ok Alicia Keys singing is pretty good but serious this is a really messy song that tries to be big and dramatic but just fails completely.

Song 2/10
Film 3/10 (one of the biggest letdowns ever, coming after the brilliance of CR)

 

[Agravaine]

Top 3 for me would be:

1. Live And Let Die
2. Nobody Does It Better
3. The Man With The Golden Gun

 

[Janie]

Next -

Tom Jones : Thunderball.



Dear old Tom lumbered with a very boring tune, lacking any sort of hook and that chorus sucks.

SOng : 3/10
Film : 5/10

Next -

Lulu : The Man With the Golden Gun.



The 10 second intro sounds great! Then the cheesy guitar riff starts - then even worst Lulu starts singing and what are the first lyrics? 'He has a powerful weapon....' wow innuendo overload. Anyway it's all pretty bad after a promising start. (sorry Aggy but your wrong!).

Song : 3/10
Film : 3/10

 

[Agravaine]

I'm never wrong tbh.

 

[Agravaine]

From Russia With Love is also pro.

Matt Monro ftw.

 

[Janie]

Next :
Sheryl Crow : Tomorrow Never Dies.



Without clicking on the above link could you honestly remenber this song? Me neither, well it's actually not that bad it's just ruined by Sheryl Crow trying to sing sickly sweet (she never normally sings like this so why here?) her voice on the chorus is particully painful. With a better singer or vocal performance by Sheryl it would have been a few places higher.

Song : 4/10
Film : 4/10

Next :
Gladys Knight : Licence To Kill.



We are now into the average Bond themes now, there is nothing really wrong with this song, it's just not a classic Bond theme and personally i'm not keen on Gladys gospol singing.

Song : 5/10
Film : 6/10 (Shame Dalton never got to do a great Bond film).

 

[Janie]

Next :

Shirley Bassey : Moonraker.



Shirley Bassey preformed 3 Bond themes, this in my opinion is her weakest. It's still quite a nice song but I think it lacks the dramatic edge the best Bond songs tend to have in spades.

Song : 5/10
Film : 4/10 (Camptastic space silliness).

 

[Janie]

Next :

Chris Cornell : You Know My Name (From Casino Royale)



Chris once sung on one of my favourite albums of all time (Soundgarden - Superunknown) since then his career has been average at best. This song is actually one of the better things he's done since leaving Soundgarden - not sure he was the best person to sing a Bond theme (certainly was a surprise to me and others who'd probably never heard of him!). Anyway it's rocky number and probably fits with the film pretty well.

Song : 6/10
FIlm : 9/10

 

[Swither]

I think what your missing here Janie is that the title songs were reflective of the period that the films were made in and don't sound that great as contemporary music.
Also to be fair each artist has to shoe-horn the film title and theme into each song which can't be easy.

 

[Janie]

I think what your missing here Janie is that the title songs were reflective of the period that the films were made in and don't sound that great as contemporary music.

You have to remenber while i've been somewhat negative to these first batch of songs i'm only one third of the way though the list - plenty of classics to come regardless of era

 

[Pegasus Belgar]

You have to remenber while i've been somewhat negative to these first batch of songs i'm only one third of the way though the list - plenty of classics to come regardless of era

But aren't you negative to pretty much everything apart from when it comes to your pal Johnny Depp?

 

[Janie]

But aren't you negative to pretty much everything apart from when it comes to your pal Johnny Depp?

Yeah recently i've been hating The Shield, albums by The Green Day, Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Kasabian as well as The new Star Trek movie and The Dark Knight - which all sucked as I said in the original threads......Oh no wait...

 

[Ky]

Best Songs

1. View to a Kill
2. Live and Let Die
3. Goldfinger

Best Films

1. Casino Royale
2. Dr. No
3. From Russia With Love

 

[Janie]

Best Films

1. Casino Royale
2. Dr. No
3. From Russia With Love

Swap Dr. No with Goldfinger or The Spy Who Loved Me and that's about right

Next :-
Tina Turner : Goldeneye.



I actually think this one is a tad underrated (it tends to get forgotten) it has style and feel of a good Bond theme and I like Tina's sultry voice, it's not a classic by any means but it's a solid entry.

Song : 6/10
Film : 7/10 (The only Brosnan one I like).


Next :-
Shirley Bassey : Diamonds Are Forever.



This would make most peoples top 10 (even top 5). I like it but I think there are better ones - I do love Shirley's voice on 'I don't neeeeed loveeeee' - classic moment, shame the rest of the song isn't that good.

Song : 6/10
Film : 4/10 (The first real camp Bond movie).

Next :-
Garbage : The World Is Not Enough.



Being a huge Garbage fan(*) may make me slightly bias towards this entry. To be honest I was hoping for something better, but this song actually started Garbages slide towards being not so good anymore (first 2 album = great. <Bond theme> last 2 albums = good). Anyway it's a solid Bond theme and about a good as stuff of the later Garbage albums, can't justify it being any higher though.

Song : 7/10
Film : 2/10 (Maybe the worst, either this of Die Another Day)

(*) Which means I hate them i guess...

The top 10 starts next.......

 

[Janie]

Ok top 10

10. Monty Norman Orchestra - The James Bond Theme (Dr No)



Dr No opened with a piece of music which will forever be 'the Bond theme'. A great piece of music that is instantly reconizable - what a way to start the franchise! You also get the 'bonus' of the 3 blind mice reggae version

Music : 8/10
Film : 5/10

 

[Janie]

9. Matt Munro - From Russia With Love.



Before Goldfinger defined what a Bond theme would sound like this was the first real Bond Song, a Jazz mood piece with Matt's wonderfully rich voice flowing over the top.

Song : 8/10
Film : 8/10 (Bond in a proper spy movie!)


8. A-ha - The Living Daylights.



A-ha were and still are great, Mortens voice is one of the best voices in pop ever and it always adds to their songs. This song is great ever with with a rather average chorus. I've said it before but anyone who doesn't like A-ha has no soul

Song : 8/10
Film : 6/10 (Cellocase Sledge!)

 

[Janie]

7. Shirley Bassey : Goldfinger.



To early? I thought this was a banker for the top 5 when I originally decided to do this, but going back and listening to then all I was surprised at the quality of some of the others still to come. Anyway this was the blueprint for every Bond theme after it.

Song : 8/10
Film : 8/10 (No Mr. Bond I expect you to die...)

6. Rita Coolidge : All Time High (Octopussy).



I personally think this is the great forgetten Bond theme, maybe because it's not named after the film people tend to forget about it. Anyway I think this is a beautiful song and it's really well sung, you could argue it lacks the drama of a Bond theme and that's probably why I've just put it outside the top 5.

Song : 8/10
Film : 4/10 (messy film, tarzan bond)