Having been re-watching the James Bond films in preparation for the upcoming release of the new film Skyfall featuring Daniel Craig in the title role of James Bond 007 it got me thinking of what were the top 10 best James Bond title themes?
The thing that made me really start thinking about what the top 10 themes were was thinking about Moonraker and the Spy Who Loved Me. Why have I been thinking about those two films in particular? Well at the recent Supanova Pop Culture show in Adelaide I had the pleasure of meeting Rickard Kiel the man who played the villain Jaws. A wonderful man with a wealth of stories to tell. Never-the-less we are here to find out what my top 10 Bond themes are. In terms of a selection process I recently drove from Melbourne to Adelaide which took all of about 10 hours which provided me with ample time to listen to each theme a few times.
The selection criteria was pretty basic… Does the sound hark James Bond? Does it evoke images of who James Bond is? Does the basic melody of theme, its motif, under-pin the score? For me, the most powerful bond themes are those that could also be used to under-pin the basic score which also describes the action and emotion of the scene.
So without further a due here is the list of my top 10 Bond themes.
10. The Man with the Golden Gun – Lulu (The Man With The Golden Gun)
9. The Living Daylights – A-Ha (The Living Daylights)
8. For Your Eyes Only – Sheena Easton (For Your Eyes Only)
7. Licence to Kill – Gladys Knight (Licence to Kill)
6. Thunderball – Tom Jones (Thunderball)
5. Goldeneye – Tina Turner (Goldeneye)
4. You Know My Name – Chris Cornell (Casino Royale)
3. Live and Let Die – Paul McCartney and Wings (Live and Let Die)
2. Goldfinger – Shirley Bassey (Goldfinger)
1. James Bond Theme – Monty Norman (Dr No)
Feature and list written by Dan McIntosh
The Super Network 