No way. Nothing tops Shirley Bassey’s one-two punch with Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever.
Close runner-up: Live and Let Die
Until we dance! Into the FI-IRE! That fatal kiss. Is all we neeeeeeeeeeeee!
For fun, here’s Ace Of Base’s rejected theme for Goldeneye (substitute every use of “The Juvenile” for “Goldeneye” mentally). The group ended up tossing it on a later album with a different title.
Call me crazy, but I think it’s infinitely superior to Bono/The Edge’s lame Tina Turner opening.
Worst ever: Tom Jones’ “Thunderball”.
They had a good run of things back in the Moore years, song-wise. “Nobody Does It Better”, “Live and Let Die”, “For Your Eyes Only”, “A View to a Kill” … if I wanted to be really charitable I’d say that “All Time High” was decent also.
I also thought that Madonna’s “Die Another Day” was pretty good.
Call me crazy, but I think it’s infinitely superior to Bono/The Edge’s lame Tina Turner opening.
It seems like songwriters get into trouble when they try to write a self-conscious “James Bond theme” – the Sheryl Crow and Garbage songs from the Brosnan films suffered in similar ways, although the Bono/Edge song was at least better than those two.
It probably works better simply to write something in your own voice and style, and not worry so much about writing something that mimics the two Bassey themes that JS mentioned above.
(Bassey also sang the Moonraker theme, as it turns out. I had forgotten that until I just looked it up.)
Meeting you
With a view
To a kill
Face to face
In secret places
Feel the chill
Nightfall covers me
But you know
The plans I’m making
Still oversee
Could it be
The whole world opening wide
A sacred why
A mystery gaping inside
The weakest why
Until we…
Dance into the fire
Bassey just can’t compete.
[Edit: Great minds, James. Great minds.]
Come on–
Gold…Fing-ah!
As an impartial judge, I’ll referee here.
Bassey’s song set the standard for a nascent genre, spawned decades’ worth of imitators, and is still remembered fondly by fans of the series today.
Duran Duran’s song … well, it doesn’t make you hate it while it’s playing.
I’d say advantage, Bassey.
I just learned that Goldfinger was co-written by Anthony Newley, who made a recording of it that was going to be used. Thank god it wasn’t.
Always quite liked ‘All Time High’ myself. ‘Moonraker’ is a terrific song (ironical considering it’s probably for the worst Bond film), but ‘Goldfinger’ has to be the standout.
I thought it was safely assumed that the theme song from ‘From Russia With Love’ was the worst; out of place and rather sappy.
EDIT: Forgot about ‘Live and Let Die’, so good that it even managed to get Linda McCartney an Oscar nomination. Probably the best song of the lot imo.
Diamonds Are Forever is great, but Goldfinger relies too much on the horns. Not that catchy. You guys are simply entranced by Bassey’s iron pipes.
The one thing I think we can all agree on is that John Barry is probably one of the three greatest movie composers ever.
I don’t even remember that From Russia had a theme song. I know Dr. No just used the familiar 007 theme and didn’t have a vocalized song.
I think you’re right, Wagstaff, that Moonraker is the all-time worst Bond, but I haven’t seen all the Brosnan films (I can’t even keep track of them all, since they seem to have titles with the word “Die” and either Day or Tomorrow in them).
Hey, James, rumor has it Ace of Base will be returning to the studio soon. Arguably some of the worst music of the nineties, and this from a decade that was full of it.
Add: Just listened to The Sign again and almost ran face first into a wall.
The FRWL song was played in the final scene and end credits, don’t think it was played in the opening credits.
Agree with James, thought Tina Turner’s effort was instantly forgettable. But I’ve got to admit, I didn’t mind Sheryl Crow’s effort.
As for ‘Moonraker’, she had some stiff competition but Lois Chiles would have to be the blandest ‘Bond Girl’ ever. And to think that I saw recently that she was teaching acting classes!
Semi-related, but here in Australia a TV/Movie Classics pay-TV channel has been showing two Bond films back-to-back every Sunday night over the past couple of weeks, and it has been a surprising success, being the highest ever rating program on that channel and the most watched show on that night on pay-TV.
Even less semi-related, George Lazenby has been getting a few rather unpleasant headlines here recently due to his sordid divorce from Pam Shriver.
Geez, I keep forgetting how many good Bond songs there were back in the Moore days. I love ‘Nobody Does it Better’, that would probably be in my top 3 along with ‘Moonraker’ and ‘All Time High’, and ‘Goldfinger has to miss out.
Hey, James, rumor has it Ace of Base will be returning to the studio soon. Arguably some of the worst music of the nineties, and this from a decade that was full of it.
Add: Just listened to The Sign again and almost ran face first into a wall.
Haha! This is so embarrassing: but when my wife and I first started dating (1994) our song was “The Sign”. Good times…good times.
all that she wants is another baby…
As for ‘Moonraker’, she had some stiff competition but Lois Chiles would have to be the blandest ‘Bond Girl’ ever.
I can’t say that I even remember her all that well, so “bland” would probably be a good word for her. But while she’s obviously an easy target, Denise Richards was far worse even if “bland” isn’t quite the right word for her.
Moonraker has no competition for the Worst Bond title in a world where the last two Brosnan films exist. I honestly don’t even see room for argument here. Moonraker is not very good, and it’s probably the worst of the Moore films, but it’s got such a bad reputation that I think it can fairly be labeled as underrated. I don’t think it’s appreciably worse than Thunderball or You Only Live Twice.
You Only Live Twice has ninjas and an underground volcano lair = automatic win.
Diamonds Are Forever would be my vote for worst. If only for Mr Wint and Mr Kidd.
Speaking of Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, I saw a film called Sex and Death 101 last night (written and directed by Daniel Waters) and there are two characters named Bambi Kidd and Thumper Wint, obvious allusions to characters in Diamonds Are Forever. (In addition to the flamboyant killers Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, Diamonds also has a pair of leggy female acrobats/assassins named Bambi and Thumper). I guess Waters was a fan.
A full review of Sex and Death 101 is available on my blog.
A View To A Kill is the best Bond song ever. Duran Duran, baby.
No way. Nothing tops Shirley Bassey’s one-two punch with Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever.
Close runner-up: Live and Let Die
Until we dance! Into the FI-IRE! That fatal kiss. Is all we neeeeeeeeeeeee!
For fun, here’s Ace Of Base’s rejected theme for Goldeneye (substitute every use of “The Juvenile” for “Goldeneye” mentally). The group ended up tossing it on a later album with a different title.
Call me crazy, but I think it’s infinitely superior to Bono/The Edge’s lame Tina Turner opening.
Worst ever: Tom Jones’ “Thunderball”.
They had a good run of things back in the Moore years, song-wise. “Nobody Does It Better”, “Live and Let Die”, “For Your Eyes Only”, “A View to a Kill” … if I wanted to be really charitable I’d say that “All Time High” was decent also.
I also thought that Madonna’s “Die Another Day” was pretty good.
It seems like songwriters get into trouble when they try to write a self-conscious “James Bond theme” – the Sheryl Crow and Garbage songs from the Brosnan films suffered in similar ways, although the Bono/Edge song was at least better than those two.
It probably works better simply to write something in your own voice and style, and not worry so much about writing something that mimics the two Bassey themes that JS mentioned above.
(Bassey also sang the Moonraker theme, as it turns out. I had forgotten that until I just looked it up.)
Bassey just can’t compete.
[Edit: Great minds, James. Great minds.]
Come on–
Gold…Fing-ah!
As an impartial judge, I’ll referee here.
Bassey’s song set the standard for a nascent genre, spawned decades’ worth of imitators, and is still remembered fondly by fans of the series today.
Duran Duran’s song … well, it doesn’t make you hate it while it’s playing.
I’d say advantage, Bassey.
I just learned that Goldfinger was co-written by Anthony Newley, who made a recording of it that was going to be used. Thank god it wasn’t.
Always quite liked ‘All Time High’ myself. ‘Moonraker’ is a terrific song (ironical considering it’s probably for the worst Bond film), but ‘Goldfinger’ has to be the standout.
I thought it was safely assumed that the theme song from ‘From Russia With Love’ was the worst; out of place and rather sappy.
EDIT: Forgot about ‘Live and Let Die’, so good that it even managed to get Linda McCartney an Oscar nomination. Probably the best song of the lot imo.
Diamonds Are Forever is great, but Goldfinger relies too much on the horns. Not that catchy. You guys are simply entranced by Bassey’s iron pipes.
The one thing I think we can all agree on is that John Barry is probably one of the three greatest movie composers ever.
I don’t even remember that From Russia had a theme song. I know Dr. No just used the familiar 007 theme and didn’t have a vocalized song.
I think you’re right, Wagstaff, that Moonraker is the all-time worst Bond, but I haven’t seen all the Brosnan films (I can’t even keep track of them all, since they seem to have titles with the word “Die” and either Day or Tomorrow in them).
Hey, James, rumor has it Ace of Base will be returning to the studio soon. Arguably some of the worst music of the nineties, and this from a decade that was full of it.
Add: Just listened to The Sign again and almost ran face first into a wall.
The FRWL song was played in the final scene and end credits, don’t think it was played in the opening credits.
Agree with James, thought Tina Turner’s effort was instantly forgettable. But I’ve got to admit, I didn’t mind Sheryl Crow’s effort.
As for ‘Moonraker’, she had some stiff competition but Lois Chiles would have to be the blandest ‘Bond Girl’ ever. And to think that I saw recently that she was teaching acting classes!
Semi-related, but here in Australia a TV/Movie Classics pay-TV channel has been showing two Bond films back-to-back every Sunday night over the past couple of weeks, and it has been a surprising success, being the highest ever rating program on that channel and the most watched show on that night on pay-TV.
Even less semi-related, George Lazenby has been getting a few rather unpleasant headlines here recently due to his sordid divorce from Pam Shriver.
Geez, I keep forgetting how many good Bond songs there were back in the Moore days. I love ‘Nobody Does it Better’, that would probably be in my top 3 along with ‘Moonraker’ and ‘All Time High’, and ‘Goldfinger has to miss out.
Haha! This is so embarrassing: but when my wife and I first started dating (1994) our song was “The Sign”. Good times…good times.
all that she wants is another baby…
I can’t say that I even remember her all that well, so “bland” would probably be a good word for her. But while she’s obviously an easy target, Denise Richards was far worse even if “bland” isn’t quite the right word for her.
Moonraker has no competition for the Worst Bond title in a world where the last two Brosnan films exist. I honestly don’t even see room for argument here. Moonraker is not very good, and it’s probably the worst of the Moore films, but it’s got such a bad reputation that I think it can fairly be labeled as underrated. I don’t think it’s appreciably worse than Thunderball or You Only Live Twice.
You Only Live Twice has ninjas and an underground volcano lair = automatic win.
Diamonds Are Forever would be my vote for worst. If only for Mr Wint and Mr Kidd.
Speaking of Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, I saw a film called Sex and Death 101 last night (written and directed by Daniel Waters) and there are two characters named Bambi Kidd and Thumper Wint, obvious allusions to characters in Diamonds Are Forever. (In addition to the flamboyant killers Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, Diamonds also has a pair of leggy female acrobats/assassins named Bambi and Thumper). I guess Waters was a fan.
A full review of Sex and Death 101 is available on my blog.