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"And your second wish?"

"I have just the thing! I wish I had my own theme music!"
—Peter Griffin of Family Guy, being very, very meta(l)
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Why else do you think it was called Looney Tunes?

Examples of awesome music in western animation.

Cartoons are notorious for having catchy theme songs. But some 'toons take it a step further.



Dreamworks Animation[]

  • The Prince of Egypt
    • "When You Believe". Especially the multilanguage version, which features 27 versions of When You Believe from around the world. It really shows how music is the universal language.
    • "Deliver us! / Send a shepherd to shepherd us / and deliver us / to the Promised Land!" And the Call Back at the very, very end to Ofra Haza's One-Woman Wail of "Deliver us!".
    • All the songs. But Plagues is especially so. Yahweh is a scary, scary god. There's the part of that song with the Dark Reprise duet between Moses and Rameses. Definitely one of the all-time highlights of animated musicals. The fact that Ralph Fiennes actually sings Rameses' part is awesome! And the choir speaking for God. "I send the swarm / I send the horde / Thus saith the Lord!" The song is so good it actually makes you sympathize with the pharaoh. His brother has turned against him. Now an all-powerful deity rains fire down on his land. The pharaoh's response is to refuse surrender, no matter what the cost. Sure, it hurts everyone involved, but one cannot help but admit that Rameses has got style.
      • Say what you will of dubbed films, but "The Plagues" in Japanese is pretty awesome too. Especially Japanese!Rameses.
    • After the 'Through Heaven's Eyes' scene, when Moses walks out of his and Tzipporah's tent to go a-shepherding, the piece of music that accompanies "this is my home" in 'All I Ever Wanted' plays as he looks out at the landscape.
    • Instrumentally, Goodbye Brother is the most epic piece of music in ages from a movie. The ominous choir and orchestra combo at the beginning, the mournful cello solo, the single woman's voice—it has it all.
    • "The Mission", the score that plays right after the Burning Bush scene.
    • River Lullaby.
    • "Playing With the Big Boys Now" is a good song, sung by Steve Martin and Martin Short, who seem to have fun with it.
    • Another instrumental piece, the "Red Sea" is utterly beautiful...before becoming terrifying.
    • "Through Heaven's Eyes" is so often overlooked. It's encouraging and warm and beautiful, which is nice considering that after this particular song, the movie gets a bit darker...
  • Shrek 2
  • Kung Fu Panda.
    • "Oogway's Ascension"
    • Tai Lung's Theme, which appears at various points throughout "Tai Lung Escapes", "The Bridge", and "Shifu vs. Tai Lung." (And all the cool kung fu fighting music!)
    • "Panda Po", "Hero", and "Sacred Pool of Tears" are also legendarily legendary pieces.
    • "Kung Fu Fighting" during the credits.
  • Shrek is just brimming to the top with stuff like this. From Jennifer Saunders' heartfelt rendition of "Holding out for a Hero" set against the backdrop of an epic assault on a castle led by fairy-tale misfits, to Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas ' perfectly synchronized duet of "Livin' La Vida Loca", to even the heartwarming montages at the opening of each film.
  • How to Train Your Dragon has proven itself with an epic, epic score. Just for example, Test Drive and Astrid Goes Out For A Spin, also This is Berk, and Battling the Green Death. It all culminates in Coming Back Around, which is physically impossible to listen to without getting at least a tiny swelling in your chest at the sheer epic.
    • Forbidden Friendship is what happens when the concept of True Companions is turned into music.
    • Sticks and Stones, the song for the credits. Mmm, delicious Icelandic prog-rock performed by the lead of Sigur Ros.
    • Several tracks have multiple internal moments of awesome, Battling the Green Death has some: Stoick and Gobber initiating their Heroic Sacrifice, The Big Damn Heroes arrival of the Dragonriders of Berk, Stoick saving Hiccup and Toothless, and finally Hiccup and Toothless saving Astrid.
    • "New Tail" starts out quiet ...then turns into pure EPIC.
    • Romantic Flight The score is beautiful.
  • Chicken Run has a wonderful soundtrack. Particularly the Main Titles, Flip Flop and Fly, and every piece of music in the movie after and including Rocky, A Fake All Along. One would be surprised how awesome the soundtrack to a film about chickens can get.
  • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is almost a soundtrack of awesome.
  • Madagascar had Will.I.Am's version of "I Like To Move It"
  • The Road to El Dorado
  • Megamind Even when looking at the choice of regular music (all the way from AC/DC to Guns an' Roses) you can see they knew what they were doing. But the soundtrack itself is also made of awesomeness
    • Ollo 'Evil Lair' and 'Black Mamba.' And if Rejection In the Rain doesn't at least make you sad... Well, it's a good soundtrack. It was made by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, for gods sake!
    • 'Giant Blue Head' is pretty good.
    • Sadly, finding the actual soundtrack can be a bit of a hassle...
    • One word: "PRESENTATION!"


Don Bluth[]

  • Anastasia
    • "Once Upon a December" is particularly good, as is "In the Dark of the Night".
    • How can you forget "At the Beginning"?
  • The Pebble and the Penguin - the lyrics to the songs may be insipid, but the tunes themselves are cool. Sounds like everything else by Barry Manilow. Is this statement a Take That or a guilty Shout-Out? Though it's agreed on that the Villain Love Song ('Don't make me laugh') was the best part of the movie
  • An American Tail has several, though the best come from that or Fievel Goes West.
  • Most if not all of the music from Titan A.E.. Not just the songs in the movie (Over My Head, Cosmic Castaway, It's My Turn to Fly, all awesome); the score of the movie, composed by Graeme Revell. In particular, the music playing during the scenes near the death of Earth and the birth of Planet Bob, which underscore the scenes perfectly. Unfortunately, the soundtrack was never released.
    • For those who would like to purchase the score CD, here
      • And for those who want to hear the most awesome music ever, here (but beware the spoilers that piece of music will bring).
  • Over The Land Before Time's closing credits, this version of the music that has been playing at all the best moments plays.
    • Even more powerful is The male cover.
    • Say what you will about the sequels, but they certainly had their musical moments. The odd one or two of the musical numbers fall into this (Best examples being "When You're Big", "Very Important Creature" and the magnum opus of LBT songs, "Bestest Friends", sung to Littlefoot by his friends as he faces the choice of staying with his grandparents and friends, or leaving with his long-lost father. Even better, an orchestral reprise of the song plays later in the film during a very heartwarming ending.
    • "Things Change", as sung by Cera. Granted the lyrics aren't spectacular, but still, it's the only song that Cera gets to herself. And being arguably the best singer in the gang, what we got was a touching lament over how she wishes things could go back to how they used to be.
      • And to a lesser extent, "Flip Flap and Fly" simply because of the scale. It probably holds the record for most characters singing in one musical number. And that slick piano intro.
  • "Yer Beautiful, Baby" from Don Bluth's Thumbelina. Yeah, yeah, the movie's a shallow Disney rip-off and it reeks of sweetness, but godammit if that opening bass line isn't awesome. Then the vocals kick in...
  • Jerry Goldsmith's brilliant score to The Secret of NIMH, especially the cue that plays during the film's climax.


Warner Bros/Animation[]

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"United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, Republic Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador too!"

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Nickelodeon[]

  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • The version of the Instrumental Theme Tune used for a Theme Music Power-Up, the music during both Aang's fights with Jet and the Yu Yan archers, and the Agni Kai music. Listen (to a couple) for yourself.
    • Everything from the Grand Finale, particularly the music playing during Zuko and Azula's Agni Kai, appropriately titled "The Last Agni Kai".
      • The music that plays during the final between Ozai and Aang, after the latter goes into the Avatar State, more specifically the part after Azula's complete breakdown. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any high-quality version (without the background noise) online...
    • Even the end credits music for the final episode was awesome. Throughout most of the series, the end credits were accompanied by a fairly neutral-mood, tribal-sounding percussion and flute piece. This was replaced for the Grand Finale with a fully orchestrated, epic variation on the show's main theme that really hammered home the fact that yes, it's finally over, and it was good. Now if we they'd only release a soundtrack...
      • The music that plays as Aang goes into the Avatar State and merges with La the Ocean Spirit, and then proceeds to annihilate the Fire Nation Navy. Hear it here.
    • Secret Tunnnnnel! Secret Tunnel!
    • Azula's Theme.
    • Aang's Theme.
    • The Blue Spirit. When you hear this, you know whatever happens next is going to be BAD. ASS.
    • Season 3 Trailer Music
      • The remix used in the sequel series trailer: Pure Awesomeness It actually turns out that the "remix" was simply a video speed error that sped up the original song, but the "wrong" version is still pretty cool
    • In subsequent airings of Sozin's Comet, the four parts were broken up, with a "Previously on Avatar" recap for each. The music playing during the recap for Part 4: Avatar Aang, is pure, distilled awesome, and you just know that whatever happens from there on out is going to be spectacularly EPIC. There's a short, high-quality version and a full-length, low-quality version. Prepare to feel the AWESOME.
    • "Little Soldier Boy" from "Tales of Ba Sing Se".
    • "Bending Energy", as Aang defeats Ozai with Energy-bending.
  • Invader Zim
    • The background music for Zim and Dib's titanic, solar system-spanning conflict in "Battle of the Planets".
    • MEATS OF EVIL!!!!!
    • "Ultra Peepi" theme from Hamstergeddon is an Awesome techno track. Pity it only lasted about 40 seconds.
    • Zim's Christmas Villain Song.
      • The all kinds of awesome theme song.
      • The Crowning "Music" of Funny that is the Doom Song?
        • Building Montage , In The Beginning, One Big Video Game, Carne Beat, Source Music of Doom, Gear Fight, Tak's Theme, It's On!, Kitty Rally... is there one song in this show that doesn't deserve a spot on this page?
  • Danny Phantom
    • One particular score during "Fanning the Flames". When Danny is flying Sam towards the Monster of the Week, the series plays a relaxing rendition of the theme's song. It makes the scene all the more poignant and remains one of the most convincing moments of the (Your Mileage May Vary) Danny/Sam pairing.
    • The scene in" My Brother's Keeper". After so much doubt and misery, Danny is shown flying happily as that particular rendition plays as Jazz comes to terms with knowing her brother is a hero.
    • The various heroic (and villainous) renditions of the main theme are all amazing! Just watch any scene with Vlad being especially villainous.
    • "RemEmber." The full version in particular, which we never actually hear in the show; it's a dark song that seems to be about how Ember died, which was apparently due to killing herself after discovering her boyfriend was only using her for sex. Because this is a kids' show.
  • Kablam! has many. Mainly the awesome ska opening.
    • And the first ending theme. Listen to the full version (on Retrojunk).
    • That doesn't mean the second end title was bad. It was awesome!
    • In fact, all of Henry and June's background music was amazing.
    • June's song in "Won't Stick To Most Dental Work". That little girl (referring to June, her VA was actually 15 at the time, and still has a great voice) had a great voice. To bad there was never a musical episode with June being the lead.
    • And the Ka Blammer song.
    • All the music in The Off-Beats was great to. It had a jazzy, Peanuts flavor to it.
    • All the background music in Life with Loopy.
    • And all the Sniz & Fondue music! Stupid Nickelodeon. You could've made a huge set of the music on CD.
  • The Fairly OddParents. We have Real And Scary,Find Your Voice,Gimme The Wand, and every song from the Musical Episode.
  • Hey Arnold!'s Jim Lang gave us quite a few, including "Thinkin' It Over," which plays while Stinky contemplates his role as a Butt Monkey spokesperson for Yahoo soda.
  • The Rugrats theme.
  • The Wonder Pets music.
  • Most, if not ALL Super Hero theme musics.
  • ChalkZone, definitely, for its theme music, occasional songs within episodes ("Hula-Baloo", "Fire Plug Ballet", etc.) and especially the music videos that ended most every episode!
  • The Backyardigans can make genres you have never heard of sound good.
  • The epic rock ballad, "Sweet Victory", is an unexpected yet satisfying ending to the episode "Band Geeks" in SpongeBob SquarePants
  • Doug: Bangin' On A Trash Can. Just listen to that awesome banjo riff.
  • All of the music in The Penguins of Madagascar.


Cartoon Network Original[]



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"Wherever she is, it must be in the land of epic!"

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