Unused Bond Themes

[Josh]

Meh, I dig Lang's song more. Crow's doesn't really bother me though.

I actually like the idea of that Pulp song as a theme more than the Saint Etienne one.

[Skummy]

Phyllis Hyman - "Never Say Never Again"The first 10 seconds or so sound like The Beautiful South, which is all well and good, but not really James Bond, is it? From there, it gets dangerously a bit Jim Steinman.

Much like Johnny Cash's "Thunderball", this was an unsolicited submission, and was never seriously considered as a main theme. It's a bit of throwaway pap, that I feel lacks any real emotion or power to it - though, admittedly, it's no worse than the actual theme.

Interestingly, the main theme was turned down by Bonnie Tyler because she hated it. There you are.

[GoGo Yubari]

Bonnie Tyler was right.

[Josh]

Man, completely disagree on "Beyond The Ice". That's my first time hearing it, and I would have loved to see that used. If your criteria is finding a song that specifically fits "Die Another Day" it may as well be Madonna anyway, as they're both nonsensical, overproduced cash-grabs.

Oh god, this Straw song sounds befitting of late night softcore porn. Terrible.

[Skummy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlj9XHTEeU4

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Wait...what?

Bear with me on this one.


Pet Sounds, the title track of the Beach Boys' classic album, originally carried the working title of "Run, James, Run" and was intended as a theme for the next James Bond movie - which, at the time, would have been "You Only Live Twice".

While that could easily be written off as one of countless examples of Brian Wilson having more than a few screws loose by that point, rumour has it that Wilson saw the success of "Thunderball" and felt that a Bond theme would be the Beach Boys' secret weapon, to finally pull them ahead of The Beatles - a band he'd been feuding with him largely in his imagination. While the band were on tour without him - Brian by this point having quit touring - he recorded this track with a group of session musicians for exactly that purpose.

If you take out some of the more excessive Brian Wilson sound effects, you're left with a more than functional Bond-esque surf guitar riff and brass combination that leaves you feeling that this could have at least worked as incidental music somewhere in the franchise.

There are different stories as to whether Brian Wilson ever submitted this to Eon Productions; some versions of the story end with Wilson not wanting to risk the blow of rejection and losing his nerve before submitting the song, whilst Brian himself insists that the song was submitted and turned down.

Almost definitely the strangest entry on this list.

[Josh]

Yeah, that Phyllis Hyman song sounds like a Bond theme, but only because of that stretch of horrible ballads exists.

And I definitely didn't know that about Pet Sounds. You can hear it in there though. Seems like it was a bit late for this particular style though, according to your timeline.

[Skummy]

And, finally, we come to the reason I started this thread. A song that was shown to me on Facebook today;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYwNilmPz24

Alice Cooper - The Man With The Golden Gun

Alice Cooper soundtracking a James Bond movie with Christopher Lee as the villain? That's a match made in fucking hell.

And while the attempts to fit the title of the film to music are a little unwieldy, I love this. It sounds exactly how "Alice Cooper sings a James Bond theme" should sound, and I love that.

I massively prefer this to Lulu's song, and if anything, I'd say that it's main failing is that it was too soon. Give it a couple of years, and I think the producers would have been much happier to have someone like Alice add their own touch to the formula. But maybe that's just me.

[Sousa]

There is no such thing as "dangerously Jim Steinman" unless you're riding a motorcycle. Into Hell. Or something.

[Josh]

Yeah, Cooper's theme really should have been used. That marriage of elements is far too perfect.

[Skummy]

There is no such thing as "dangerously Jim Steinman" unless you're riding a motorcycle. Into Hell. Or something.

Today on Sentences That Have Never Been Spoken, "I think that's a little too subtle, Mr. Steinman".

[Colly]

Straw - "The World Is Not Enough"

Back to The World Is Not Enough and, again, a band I've never heard of. Who are Straw? Wikipedia tells me they were an English pop band who released one album. Clearly, Bond theme material.

They sound like a poor man's early Radiohead, and this is shit. The song's not all that terrible, and the lyrics aside from the repeated "KISS KISS BANG BANG" are pretty suitable for Bond, but fuck, those vocals. Kill them now. One album was one album too many.

I remember Straw! Soundtrack of the Summer was their one hit, and they were just that typical chirpy late 90's indie band a la Dodgy or whoever (anyone remember Catch?). The Radiohead-y electro beeps must've been added to make it more that era Bond.

[MalaCloudy Black]

EDIT: I have no idea why that last video isn't displaying properly.

I believe you can only have 2 videos embedded in a post at a time, if I recall right.