You jump on an ironing board and start humming the theme from Hawaii Five O. You see an old helicopter fly over you and the theme from M*A*S*H is stuck in your head all day. You get that big promotion, and your shout “A-we’re-a movin’ on uhup!”. You ask your friend a question and when they take to long to answer so you start to sing the Jeopardy theme to really annoy them. And of course, you’ve undoubtedly passed an old beat-up pick-up truck filled with junk and suddenly the Sanford and Son riff comes from your lips. These theme songs are a part of pop culture that have integrated themselves into our daily lives. In their wake they have unfortunately pushed aside many great theme songs - songs that are still deep in the back of our minds, waiting for that chance to break free. Though they may not be appropriate for celebration, or fuel to aggravate our friends and family, they still deserve to be released and remembered.
10: The Rockford Files – The theme from the Rockford files is the only tune that comes to my mind that has one unforgettable bar of music while the rest of the song is completely forgettable. I’m not sure of the exact spelling, but it’s the part that goes “Mew-nue nue-nue, mew-nu-neu Neu-neu”. There’s more to the song, but I forget how it goes.
9: It’s a Living – Possibly the most upbeat television theme song about how much life really does suck. Maybe it’s the upbeat tempo that keeps a place in my heart for this tune. More likely; this show aired in the later years of my puberty (if your in my generation, and you’ve seen this show, you’ll understand). One disturbing thing about this tune, taking my last sentence into consideration, is the line “… at least we’re young and healthy…”. Kind of unfortunate that this song also reminds me how the stars have aged over these years. Double whammy.
8: Mr. Belvedere – The great thing about the theme from Mr. Belvedere is this: You could be isolated from the entire world, have no idea what or who “Mr. Belvedere” is – but if you understand English, you will know in less than 40 seconds what the next half hour of TV is going to be about. Every television theme song should be this descriptive. It would save an enormous amount of channel surfing effort.
7: MacGyver – The MacGyver theme says so much about the behind the scenes history of the series with out having any lyrics. The catalyst for this history brief is that fact that it sounds like it was composed and recorded with a $79.95 Casio keyboard. That tells the beginning of the story: the producers had no hopes for this show so they didn’t bother shelling out the cash for a full orchestra or decent recording equipment to record the series’ them song. The next part of the story; they never changed it during the subsequent seasons – demonstrating that they were still baffled and bewildered on how or why the network was still buying episodes and surely this could end at anytime.
6: Growing Pains – This is a purely selfish addition to the list I have made for the following reason; Though I have no proof, I am convinced that some couple out there so hopelessly in love and so hopelessly stuck in the 80’s has sung this song, to each other, at their wedding reception. That, to me, is funny… and I hope to meet them.