Top Ten 90s TV Themes - Number 6

I’ve made it a point in these countdowns to exclude themes from Saturday morning cartoon-type shows and their live-action brethren because of plans to produce a later countdown based solely around them.  Still, if a cartoon was regularly aired during primetime, it can qualify for this list.  Today we have a just such a cartoon.

Top 10 90s TV Theme Song #6 “The Simpsons Theme” composed by Danny Elfman

Yes, the show started in the late 1980s, but all sane television fans know that The Simpsons achieved its greatest episodes and seasons throughout the 1990s.  As such, we’re keeping it on the 90s countdown.

For someone like me who has quickly tired of Danny Elfman’s consistently similar scores, I think the fact that this particular song was the first I heard from Elfman has kept it from reaching the same level of disdain in my own mind.  Additionally, it has a nostalgic quality that no other show holds for me. I can say quite honestly that I have seen no show as many times as I have The Simpsons (nb. Greatest Simpsons Episode of All Time? “Homer at the Bat.”)

Even after that undersell of the song’s musical quality; you can’t ignore how it perfectly sets the table for the show that will follow. The moving music takes us, quite literally when attached to either of the intros (as detailed above), through all of Springfield. We’re quickly introduced not only to the main characters but to a number of ancillary characters who pop up frequently.  Clearly the later, HD version of the intro provides more detailed run-ins with these secondary characters (what with 20 years to build on and all), but even the earlier version gets across the fact that we’re going to be meeting a lot of folks on this show.

The song, moreover, has probably gone through more iterations than any other theme song in television history.  Not only has it bee nipped/tucked/extended here and there to meet the needs of particular episodes’ time constraints; but it also has been modified numerous times (usually at the end of episodes) to suit that show’s theme.  The Adams Family, Dragnet, Hill Street Blues among others have inspired certain end variations of the theme.  Additionally, diverse artists ranging from Tito Puente to Fall Out Boy to Sonic Youth have completed versions of the theme.

Check out these few for examples:

“The Simpsons Theme” is fun, light, and totally unique.  It has earned its spot on the countdown.