- 7 months ago
Some theme songs make you want to skip the show altogether!
In this countdown, we’re ranking the Top 20 most irritating TV show theme songs that left audiences groaning. From repetitive lyrics to awkward melodies, these intros became more infamous than the shows themselves.
Did your most annoying TV theme make the cut?
Let us know in the comments!
In this countdown, we’re ranking the Top 20 most irritating TV show theme songs that left audiences groaning. From repetitive lyrics to awkward melodies, these intros became more infamous than the shows themselves.
Did your most annoying TV theme make the cut?
Let us know in the comments!
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down outpicks for the most terrible
00:12Fingers on Chalkboard TV theme songs.
00:15Heads up, some spoilers to come.
00:21Of course, a show about science-loving nerds would begin with some kind of scientific explanation
00:32for the titular theory, but this ain't it, chief.
00:35The song was composed by rock band The Bare Naked Ladies at the behest of the showrunners,
00:39who liked co-lead Ed Robertson's freestyle rap on the same subject.
00:46Perhaps the freestyle rap may have been more clever.
00:55As it is, the Big Bang Theory theme is a mostly unrhymed, barely coherent explanation for the
01:00universe's beginnings and humanity's development and accomplishments.
01:04Though it is mercifully short, it definitely gets grating with repetition.
01:16Now, this theme song is as butt-ugly as its show.
01:21That may be intentional, but it doesn't make it any more bearable.
01:28The theme song for this Nickelodeon show is not just repetitious, but poorly sung with
01:33abysmal lyric writing.
01:39Melody-wise, the song obviously takes inspiration from military training, call and response drills.
01:44Tellingly, the theme bears a slight resemblance to the kid-friendly The Ants Go Marching, based
01:48on the Civil War-era song.
01:50Except, of course, it's way less of a fun march and more of a dirge.
01:54Speaking of listicle-style songs, the theme song to this 2015 animated show is a definite
02:09ball.
02:13From its passive-aggressive lack of rhyme to its indifferent rap, the pickle and peanut
02:17theme barely has a musical identity, much less coherent lyrics.
02:25You would think the misadventures of these two anthropomorphic foods deserved something
02:29quirkier.
02:30As it is, it's freestyle rap so free, it's basically like reading out a shopping list.
02:37No doubt the theme song matches the show's absurdism, but this is just too lethargic for
02:43any comic charm.
02:44Even so, it's hard to believe this show starred on Disney XD with such a bad theme.
02:52A spin-off of the classic sitcom Three's Company.
03:04Now this we have to see.
03:05Unfortunately, The Ropers, focusing on the landlord to the famous trio, disappoints in at
03:09least one respect.
03:16Unlike the jaunty Three's Company theme, The Ropers opts for an instrumental, complete with
03:21farting trombones and a high-pitched clarinet.
03:25The melody is a brave attempt at a jazz humour-esque, but it lacks both the improvisation of jazz and
03:32the humour and wit of, well, humour-esque.
03:35The result is less quirky than dull and rote.
03:42You know what would be an appropriate theme song for this Warner Bros. animated Scooby-Doo
03:51series?
03:52Anything.
03:53Seriously, anything other than this.
04:02The Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue theme is obviously not going to measure up to the
04:05pleasantly groovy theme of the original show, but this fast-paced rock theme, half sung and
04:10half shouted, goes beyond disappointing.
04:13It doesn't even have the saving grace to be short, meaning that for a full minute we
04:16get treated to repetitious lyrics in an already repetitious melody.
04:24Yeah, we got the clue alright.
04:30This theme sucks.
04:37It's an eternal dilemma for a TV show.
04:40Should it have an instrumental theme or a vocal one?
04:43Both can be good choices, depending on the show, but what happens when a show decides to
04:47choose both?
04:49The good thing about this scatting theme is it's jaunty, catchy melody, even if it's
04:57without much emotion, but simply singing Nah was not a wise choice.
05:01It almost seems as if the singer itself is mocking the song.
05:09Safe to say, singing the theme song may get you accused of mockery pretty quickly, or just
05:13being a nuisance.
05:20The cluing theme to this 80s series has the grace to be mellow, at least.
05:27But alas, not the grace to be good.
05:30The Charles in Charge theme, barely performed by Shandy Cinnamon, was composed by David Kurtz,
05:39Michael Jacobs and Albertan.
05:41Apart from being very typically 80s, the theme has a meandering, middling melody that goes
05:46nowhere near interesting.
05:49And what's with the lyrics?
05:54Charles in Charge of our Days and our Nights?
05:57In Charge of our Wrongs and our Rights?
05:59This is a 19-year-old college kid we're talking about.
06:01How much charisma does this guy have?
06:03I mean, if this theme song has any indication, not much.
06:10Yeah, we know, it's blasphemous for such a long-running, iconic comedy to appear on
06:18this list.
06:19But no show is perfect, and if South Park has any weaknesses, it is its theme song.
06:23Sung by Les Claypool, the lead singer of the band Primus, the song is a folk rock or bluegrass
06:32ditty without much to recommend it.
06:34Interspersed with Claypool's vocals are the main character's voices, including Kenny's
06:38muffled lines, typically of a sexually explicit nature.
06:44The lack of wit and humour is disappointing, to say the least, and with repetition, it hardly
06:48gets better.
06:53Ah, Caillou.
07:04Perhaps the most infamous four-year-old boy in the history of children's programming,
07:07Caillou's show has been considered at best cloyingly inoffensive, and at worst, controversial.
07:12This theme also leaves much to be desired.
07:22Sung by its titular character, voiced by Brian Macaulay, this melody is both mawkish and jaunty,
07:27both mellow and excitable.
07:29The lyrics are appropriately kid-friendly, though replete with uncreative rhymes about Caillou's
07:34daily life and interests.
07:39The effect may not be completely objectionable, but it's certainly not inspiring.
07:44And it's quite annoying, when you hear it over and over again.
07:52There are redeemable qualities in even the worst TV shows, in theory, anyway.
08:05The theme song for this vulgar Filipino-American show would have us analysing that theory fairly
08:10quickly.
08:17Half of this song's length is spent repeating the title of the show over and over again.
08:21This is bad enough, but then it segues into a terrible, poorly-written rap about the characters.
08:31The unvarying, almost intentionally poor taste of the theme song became a meme all on its own.
08:37The fact that one of the worst and most poorly-rated animated shows has such a theme is apropos.
08:51The more confident among us can openly admit to loving MC Hammer's massive hit song, You
08:55Can't Touch This.
08:56It was a great time, fun was had, but for most fans, that was the end of the love affair
09:00with Hammer and his parachute pants.
09:03Somehow, though, he landed this children's show, which saw a cartoon superhero version
09:08of him solving crimes with a pair of magical dancing shoes.
09:16The theme song, performed by Hammer himself, is as ridiculous as the show's concept.
09:21In a far too long rap, Hammer tells the origin of Hammer Man and the magical shoes.
09:33The rap is jumbled, completely lacks rhyme and, unsurprisingly, isn't exactly lyrically
09:38compelling.
09:39And don't worry Hammer, no one will touch this.
09:50There has to be some parent out there who's had a breakdown from hearing this theme song
09:54one too many times.
09:55Which is to say, they've heard it exactly once.
10:03The theme song to this cartoon about a hyperactive squirrel, and his skunk buddy getting into crazy
10:07situations down at the supermarket where they work, is overly offensive to, oddly enough,
10:12jazz.
10:17Tonally, the song doesn't speak jazz, rather it sticks to the classic upbeat overload of
10:24sound structure that many children's shows select.
10:27When the squirrel attempts to sing jazz, he coughs out nonsensical words in what we assume
10:32is an attempt to scat.
10:34It's a failure, and we're left listening to high-pitched dribble.
10:53The producers behind Enterprise wanted a Star Trek like none that came before.
10:57And unfortunately, they got it.
11:06Veering far from other Star Trek iterations, Enterprise chose to ditch the orchestral format
11:11for its theme song, and instead, it went with Faith of the Heart, by Russell Watson.
11:16The song is fine enough for an adult contemporary grocery store soundtrack, but not for Star Trek.
11:30It's slow, deep, and most of all, not very Trek.
11:33A franchise about wonder and exploration, and the beauty of the expansive universe.
11:38They tried to improve it for later seasons by upping the tempo, but it still felt really
11:42flat.
11:43Every time fans heard Enterprise's inappropriate theme, they boldly went to another channel.
11:57Surprise, surprise, another kid's show.
12:07Well, not quite.
12:09Happy Tree Friends, a show that at first glance seems to be about cute little woodland creatures,
12:13is actually deceptively violent and gory.
12:15And it opts for some high-pitched squealing as the primary musical element in its theme.
12:19Anyway, the theme song is about 30 seconds of extremely piercing, high-octave noises, set
12:30to a background beat of a tuba.
12:36The tuba is actually the least offensive part of the song, so well done tuba player, I suppose.
12:42Elmo's World.
12:53Please stop, please, just stop.
12:55This is the thought, set to an unfortunate melody, that rolls through a person's mind
12:59when they are in range of Elmo and his tone-deaf world.
13:03A show within a show is admittedly great for kids, and plenty of people out there would concede
13:12to having a soft spot for the little red guy, but that doesn't mean the song isn't hard
13:16to listen to.
13:17It is, at best, annoyingly catchy, and at worst, it's akin to a hole being drilled in the side
13:22of your head.
13:23Goldfish and crayons aren't enough to save us from this painfully irritating earworm.
13:29Freak yourselves, even if you haven't seen the show, you probably know what's coming.
13:41Alvin and his pesky chipmunks achieved mainstream billion-dollar success with their film franchise.
13:47And anyone familiar with the movies knows how heavily they're marketed through mainstream
13:51songs that have been put through a squeaky chipmunk filter.
14:00The show's theme song does the same thing, letting the chipmunks' squeaky singing voices
14:04take centre stage.
14:05It's another example of a children's show opting for shrill vocals and up-tempo beats.
14:10We're not sure, but there has to be some science behind the formula, because it seems
14:13that every new cartoon out there is upping the ante on annoying themes.
14:18And if not introduced until season two, the hugely annoying theme song to The L Word has
14:34had several complaints lodged against it, but we'll start here.
14:37It tries too hard to be a James Bond song.
14:46I mean, the Bond themes work, because, well, it's James Bond, and it's part of that franchise's
14:51culture.
14:52To work elsewhere, though, everything needs to be just right.
14:54The L Word did not get it right, and that's because of the other issues.
14:58The show follows a group of lesbians in Hollywood, in fairly melodramatic situations, and that's
15:03also what the vocals focus on.
15:12It inappropriately and stereotypically flaunts the characters' identities, resulting in a
15:16song that's actually fairly offensive to members of the LGBTQIA plus community.
15:30Returning to children's shows, we land on the Animaniacs.
15:34While we're sure this tune has its fans, some viewers find the theme so bothersome because
15:38it feels like a circus tune.
15:40And you know what?
15:41It's designed to be annoying.
15:48The show's three main characters, Yakko, Wacko and Dot, spend the song taking the viewer
15:53around the Warner Bros lot, explaining the hijinks they get up to.
15:56It's high-pitched, way too fast, and altogether too much, but hey, it won an Emmy.
16:03Oh, here's something else you may not know as well.
16:06The show's executive producer is Steven Spielberg.
16:09Yeah, that Steven Spielberg.
16:12You learn something new every day.
16:13I mean, what the heck is a Chum Chum?
16:24You know what?
16:25Not important.
16:26We're here to talk about the show's theme song, and yes, it really, truly earned the
16:30number two spot.
16:37An innocent whistle begins this song, but that's just the calm before the storm, because then,
16:43Fanboy and Chum Chum break into a rap, and all hell breaks loose.
16:45These two nasally demon spawns vomit up lyrics about their underwear and getting a brain
16:58freeze.
16:59And then, you won't believe this, the song literally encourages its fans to scream at the
17:03top of their lungs.
17:04I mean, do you even realise what you're doing to parents?
17:08Peaceful household, no more.
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17:33You know what's funny?
17:40Most people think that the Barney theme song is the whole, I love you, you love me thing.
17:44But that isn't the real theme, although it was used to torture POWs in Iraq.
17:48No, Barney's theme is actually completely different, but don't worry, it's still super
17:52annoying.
17:53It landed the number one spot for a very good, or bad, reason.
17:56The song, entitled Barney is a Dinosaur, is set to the tune of Yankee Doodle, which is
18:09offensive enough as it is.
18:11It sings of Barney, how he's a dinosaur, and all the fun he gets up to with the children.
18:16Let's just say that when this version of the show ended in 2010, we're happy the irritating
18:20theme song was retired along with it.
18:25So which other TV show themes feel like they're drilling a hole in your brain?
18:29Let us know in the comments down below.
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