The 7 Most Underrated Cartoon Theme Songs

We grew up in a fantastic time, with a wide variety of toys, cartoons, movies and music.

It’s fun to celebrate the great (and sometimes not so great) nostalgia. Sadly, as we get older the memories start to fade and only our favorites stay with us. Everything else just kinda falls behind. And that’s just why I’m here today: to present to you some of the best cartoon theme songs you may have forgotten and left behind.

I had to really rack my head and do a lot of research. Like, the kind of research that should’ve made me get better grades in high school. I’m telling you the truth, had I spent the same amount time working on my English projects as much as I did listening to the theme of Turbo Teen, I probably would’ve gotten to college and working for Warner Brothers writing the next installment of Lost Boys or something. But, I digress.

The point of this article is to present to you the greatest theme songs you may have forgotten or just ignored. The point is NOT to highlight the cartoon itself, but to let the theme song get center stage. There’s plenty of cartoons on this list that can’t be considered watchable even out of irony or drunken curiosity, but the fact that the theme songs are catchy enough to end up on your iPod, is the point this list.

Ewoks

The Ewoks cartoon was the spin-off that most Star Wars fans wish never happened. While the show was garnered toward a much younger audience and had less than stellar reviews, the theme song made up for it. Sung by legendary blues artist Taj Mahal, the theme song is short, sweet and right to the point (just like the stars of the series themselves). Have a listen to it and tell me it’s not better than the series itself.

Bionic Six

Bionic Six was essentially a family of robotic/mechanical crimefighters. The cartoon was somewhat popular enough to get a toy line by LJN with gimmicks similar to the Silverhawks. But the theme song really sticks in your head more than the actual show does.

Swamp Thing

Yes, I know it’s nothing more than a blatant (and I mean horribly blatant) ripoff of the classic “Wild Thing”, but for what it’s worth, it’s actually pretty catchy for a DiC series (which were notorious for their horrible theme songs). True story: my friend Ryan (who helped me with some of this article) and I once spent a good half an hour of a road trip playing this over and over laughing hysterically. But after that trip, the song stuck with me and I’ve been able to appreciate it on its own despite its general goofiness.

Heathcliff

Heathcliff was dealt a bad hand. The cartoon was fairly popular for a while, in fact, I remember my friend in elementary school having a Heathcliff lunchbox. The problem wasn’t with the cartoon itself, it just came at the wrong time.

Shortly after Heathcliff’s brush with greatness, Garfield and Friends came along, and everyone knows that competing with Garfield is not a wise move. After Garfield’s popular show came around, Heathcliff was put in the back of everyone’s mind and quickly forgotten. The theme song went with it, sadly, and it’s a very catchy theme too. Kinda retro-ish and modern at the same time, it perfectly set up the adventures of everyone’s (second) favorite mischievous cat! And for the record, I think it was better than the Garfield theme song.

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