Television is a huge part of our lives and a good television theme song to open up an episode can get you in the mood for whatever comes next.
There are hundreds of television theme songs we could pick to make the list, but we made a few rules when compiling the list of iconic television theme songs. The main rule was the theme song had to be unique to the show, not a track from an artist’s album used for the opening credits.
Now, we definitely missed some, but here are our favorite iconic television theme songs in no particular order.
Game of Thrones
“Game of Thrones Theme”, also referred to as “Game of Thrones Main Title Theme”, is the television theme song of HBO’s series Game of Thrones and its prequel House of the Dragon, and plays during title sequences to both shows. It was composed by Ramin Djawadi in 2011, after series creator David Benioff and D. B. Weiss approached him.
The Office
When it came to choosing the theme song for The Office, producer Greg Daniels had several tracks he was thinking of using. Existing songs including “Better Things” by The Kinks, “Float On” by Modest Mouse, and “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra, and several original pieces artists contributed to the producers via a cattle call. Daniels decided that the cast would vote on what song to use and gave them four of the choices. Most of them wanted “Mr. Blue Sky”, but that option turned out to be invalid as it was already used in the drama series LAX (2004–2005). Thus, the final choice was an original track written by Jay Ferguson and performed by The Scrantones.
This television theme song will go down in history as one of the most catchy.
The Big Bang Theory
“The History of Everything” is the theme song of The Big Bang Theory. It is played after the cold opening of each episode (except the unaired pilot). It is composed and performed by the band Barenaked Ladies. The television theme song describes the developments the universe has undergone since the dawn of time.
Stranger Things
The Stranger Things television theme song was composed by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of the electronic band Survive. The show’s theme is based on an unused piece Stein composed much earlier that ended up in a library of work that was available for potential commercial licensing.
X-Men: The Animated Series
The original opening sequence of X-Men: The Animated Series features the X-Men demonstrating their mutant abilities to a now very distinctive instrumental television theme song written by Ron Wasserman. This intro is used throughout the first four seasons. A modified version is eventually introduced in season five, episode one. In this new intro, the beginning of the theme is slightly changed.
The Walking Dead
Bear McCreary was hired to compose the score for the The Walking Dead. McCreary stated that the main theme was based on his viewing of production designs for the opening title sequence. Instead of doing a full theme song as with his earlier works, McCreary chose to use a simple, repeating motif from the strings section.
Seinfeld
A signature of Seinfeld is its television theme song. Composed by Jonathan Wolff, it consists of distinct solo sampled electric bass riffs that open the show and connect the scenes, often accompanied by beatboxing.
The Simpsons
“The Simpsons Theme”, also referred to as “The Simpsons Main Title Theme” in album releases, is the television theme song of the animated series The Simpsons. It plays during the opening sequence and was composed by Danny Elfman in 1989, after series creator Matt Groening approached him requesting a theme. The piece has been noted by Elfman as the most popular of his career.
Breaking Bad
The Breaking Bad television theme song was composed by Dave Porter, which was trimmed down to its final 15 seconds or so to accompany the periodic table-themed, smoky animation that followed every episode’s cold open.
The X-Files
The X-Files theme song was composed by Mark Snow. The television theme song, “The X-Files”, used more instrumental sections than most dramas. The theme song’s famous whistle effect was inspired by the track “How Soon Is Now?” from the US edition of The Smiths’ 1985 album Meat Is Murder. After attempting to craft the theme with different sound effects, Snow used a Proteus 2 rackmount sound module with a preset sound called “Whistling Joe”.
