Bouncing on top of a smooth synth beat, the first Bond theme of the Brosnan era is both a nice throwback to the velvety sound of Shirley Bassey, and also an agreeable capitulation to the tinny production sound of movie scores of the mid-Nineties. Tina Turner's 'Goldeneye' has it all - even if that includes a lot of stuff you never really wanted in the first place. With Spectre looming ominously on the horizon, we look back at more than 50 years of Bond themes, counting down from worst to best. You don’t need to have seen Spectre to know that the song Sam Smith wrote for it taps into the unique pathos of the rebranded contemporary version of the character when it comes to Bond themes, the writing has always been on the wall. By the time the franchise’s third film was released two years later, we already had Shirley Bassey roaring “Goldfinger”over the credits, and audiences knew just what kind of fun 007 had in store for them.Įach Bond gets the themes he deserves, from the smooth and impenetrable tunes of the Connery era to the radio-ready offerings from the Daniel Craig years, as muscular and wounded as his iteration of the legendary spy. Bond’s first big screen adventure, 1962’s, Dr. No had no precedent to follow, and therefore no need for the bombastic title treatments that would come to define the franchise (it opted for a gentle calypso medley). James Bond movie theme songs are the cinematic equivalents of paperback book-series covers - they suggest familiarity and course with the promise of a compelling new adventure for Western culture’s most unkillable pop icon.

Casino royale song intro