Rank the Bond Themes

edited October 2012 in Music Posts: 643
Note for moderators I have searched all over this forum for a thread asking people to rank the Bond themes. My search was fruitless which is why I have made the thread. If I have duplicated the thread, I ask for your forgiveness.

Last week, a new "Best of Bond" was released in the United Kingdom, having all the Bond themes from DN to QOS. I was thinking of which ones are best and which ones aren't so good and have ranked them.

I had 3 rules:

Don't include Dr No (James Bond Theme) as this would be unfair
Count the instrumental played over the credits for the theme to OHMSS - forget We Have All the Time In The World
Omit Skyfall from consideration

Here it goes

1) The Spy Who Loved Me
2) Live and Let Die
3) Diamonds are Forever
4) Thunderball
5) Moonraker
6) Octopussy
7) Licence To Kill
8) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
9) Casino Royale
10) GoldenEye
11) You Only Live Twice
12) A View To A Kill
13) For Your Eyes Only
14) Quantum of Solace
15) Goldfinger
16) Die Another Day
17) From Russia With Love
18) The Man With The Golden Gun
19) The World Is Not Enough
20) The Living Daylights
21) Tomorrow Never Dies

Will be interesting to see others opinions! :)
«13456

Comments

  • 1 You Know My Name
    2 GoldenEye
    3 Thunderball
    4 From Russia With Love
    5 The World Is Not Enough
    6 The Spy Who Loved Me
    7 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    8 Tomorrow Never Dies
    9 For Your Eyes Only
    10 Licence To Kill
    11 Another Way To Die
    12 A View To A Kill
    13 Die Another Day
    14 Moonraker
    15 You Only Live Twice
    16 The Living Daylights
    17 All Time High
    18 Goldfinger
    19 Diamonds Are Forever
    20 Live And Let Die
    21 The Man With The Golden Gun
  • edited November 2012 Posts: 15
    1 Diamonds Are Forever
    2 Goldfinger
    3 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    4 You Know My Name
    5 Live And Let Die
    6 From Russia With Love
    7 Moonraker
    8 GoldenEye
    9 Licence To Kill
    10 Nobody Does It Better
    11 Another Way To Die
    12 You Only Live Twice
    13 Thunderball
    14 A View To A Kill
    15 The World Is Not Enough
    16 Tomorrow Never Dies
    17 The Living Daylights
    18 For Your Eyes Only
    19 The Man With The Golden Gun
    20 All Time High
    21 Die Another Day
  • edited December 2012 Posts: 546
    I'm so glad this thread was created!

    1.Goldfinger
    2.Goldeneye
    3.Skyfall
    4.From Russia With Love
    5.Thunderball
    6.The Spy Who Loved Me
    7.Moonraker
    8.Casino Royal (You Know My Name)
    9.Tomorrow Never Dies
    10.The World is Not Enough
    11.Diamonds Are Forever
    12.License to Kill
    13.The Living Daylights
    14.OMSS
    15.You Only Live Twice
    16.A View to a Kill
    17.Octopussy
    18.Die Another Day
    19.For Your Eyes Only
    20.The Man With The Golden Gun
    21.Live And Let Die
    22.Quantum of Solace
  • Hasn't been created. It's already in existence somewhere I'm adamant of it, despite the author having difficulties with his endeavors. No harm in a duplicate thread, but it's merely what we have here. So no real reason to go over old ground, but I'm 99.9 per cent right in thinking this has been covered before. It maybe just hasn't been updated for a long time and merely forgotten above all else

    One thing I did notice however, was why omit Skyfall from this ? I can understand that thinking, but it is (another) James Bond theme after all, and most will of heard it to offer an opinion or make a ranking at least
  • edited December 2012 Posts: 16
    Here's a few extras for your consideration:

    http://youtu.be/J-jdUJzn5is

    Mod edit: SPAM reported.
  • 1. Goldfinger
    2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    3. Live and Let Die
    4. You Know My Name
    5. Nobody Does It Better
    6. You Only Live Twice
    7. Thunderball
    8. GoldenEye
    9. Skyfall
    10. Diamonds are Forever
    11. A View to a Kill
    12. From Russia with Love
    13. For Your Eyes Only
    14. Moonraker
    15. The World is Not Enough
    16. All Time High
    17. Dr. No
    18. The Living Daylights
    19. The Man with the Golden Gun
    20. Another Way to Die
    21. Licence to Kill
    22. Tomorrow Never Dies
    23. Die Another Day

    The first and last few are easy, but next thing you know you're converging in the middle and you like all the songs and you can't figure out what goes where.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited June 2013 Posts: 9,117
    1. Goldfinger
    2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    3. Live and Let Die
    4. You Know My Name
    5. Nobody Does It Better
    6. You Only Live Twice
    7. Thunderball
    8. GoldenEye
    9. Skyfall
    10. Diamonds are Forever
    11. A View to a Kill
    12. From Russia with Love
    13. For Your Eyes Only
    14. Moonraker
    15. The World is Not Enough
    16. All Time High
    17. Dr. No
    18. The Living Daylights
    19. The Man with the Golden Gun
    20. Another Way to Die
    21. Licence to Kill
    22. Tomorrow Never Dies
    23. Die Another Day

    The first and last few are easy, but next thing you know you're converging in the middle and you like all the songs and you can't figure out what goes where.

    Yeah you're right it is a bit confusing. You seem to have put Another Way To Die above Licence To Kill by mistake. Good job I spotted it for you!
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    I think I've done my list somewhere else ... anyway, here goes:

    1. Goldfinger (too incredibly iconic)
    2. Nobody Does It Better
    3. Live and Let Die
    4. Skyfall
    5. Diamonds are Forever
    6. You Only Live Twice
    7. A View to A Kill
    8. Moonraker
    9. You Know My Name
    10. For Your Eyes Only
    11. The World is not Enough
    12. Thunderball
    13. Goldeneye
    14. From Russia With Love
    15. License to Kill
    16. All Time High
    17. Tomorrow Never Dies
    18. Dr. No
    19. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    20. The Living Daylights
    21. The Man With The Golden Gun
    22. Another Way to Die
    23. Die Another Day
  • Posts: 1,817
    1. A View to a Kill
    2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service Main Theme
    3. You Know My Name
    4. Skyfall
    5. You Only Live Twice
    6. Goldfinger
    7. Diamonds are Forever
    8. Live and Let Die
    9. From Russia with Love
    10. Thunderball
    11. The Man with the Golden Gun
    12. Nobody Does it Better
    13. GoldenEye
    14. The Living Daylights
    15. Another Way to Die
    16. The World is not Enough
    17. Tomorrow Never Dies
    18. All Time High
    19. Moonraker
    20. For Your Eyes Only
    21. Licence to Kill
    22. Die Another Day
  • edited June 2013 Posts: 4,622
    I am sure I did this somewhere else. I'm going to look for that list.
    Here's my list.
    I've got a very obvious bias for the '60s themes followed by the '70s and early '80s.
    The ones I really love are in the top 14. Garbage and TWINE is the only post-Rog era theme that really grabs me.

    I am including SF as it's been 9 months since the OP, and the release of the song.

    1. Shirley Bassey, GF
    2. Bassey, DAF
    3. Lulu, TMWTGG
    4. Nancy Sinatra, YOLT
    5. Tom Jones, TB
    6. Matt Monro, FRWL
    7. OHMSS instrumental
    8. McCartney & Wings, LALD
    9. Sheena Easton, FYEO
    10. Bassey, MR
    11. Carly Simon, NDIB
    12. Rita Coolidge, ATH
    13. Duran, AVTAK
    14. Garbage, TWINE
    ==
    15. Gladys Knight, LTK
    16. Tina Turner, GE
    17. Sheryl Crow, TND
    18. Aha, TLD
    19. Chris Cornell, YKMN
    20. Adele, SF
    21. White and Keys, AWTD
    22. Madonna, DAD
  • 1. Goldfinger
    2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    3. Live and Let Die
    4. You Know My Name
    5. Nobody Does It Better
    6. You Only Live Twice
    7. Thunderball
    8. GoldenEye
    9. Skyfall
    10. Diamonds are Forever
    11. A View to a Kill
    12. From Russia with Love
    13. For Your Eyes Only
    14. Moonraker
    15. The World is Not Enough
    16. All Time High
    17. Dr. No
    18. The Living Daylights
    19. The Man with the Golden Gun
    20. Another Way to Die
    21. Licence to Kill
    22. Tomorrow Never Dies
    23. Die Another Day

    The first and last few are easy, but next thing you know you're converging in the middle and you like all the songs and you can't figure out what goes where.

    Yeah you're right it is a bit confusing. You seem to have put Another Way To Die above Licence To Kill by mistake. Good job I spotted it for you!

    You're too kind.
  • Posts: 163
    1. Goldfinger
    2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    3. Live and Let Die
    4.Skyfall
  • edited June 2013 Posts: 12,837
    I'll just do my top 5 and my bottom 5. It's too hard ranking the middle as most of them I like but don't think much of.

    1) Live And Let Die

    2) You Know My Name

    3) OHMSS

    4) A View To A Kill

    5) The Living Daylights
    20) Tomorrow Never Dies

    21) All Time High

    22) Die Another Day

    23) Another Way To Die

    24) Never Say Never Again
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited June 2013 Posts: 13,350
    I think this is roughly how I'd rank them but it's tough and this is more likely a list of how I would split the songs into groups.

    1. Diamonds Are Forever
    2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    3. You Only Live Twice
    4. Nobody Does It Better
    5. For Your Eyes Only
    6. From Russia With Love
    7. Live And Let Die
    8. A View To A Kill
    9. You Know My Name
    10. Skyfall
    11. Thunderball
    12. Goldfinger
    13. GoldenEye
    14. All Time High
    15. Moonraker
    16. The World Is Not Enough
    17. Licence To Kill
    18. The Living Daylights
    19. The Man With The Golden Gun
    20. Another Way To Die
    21. Tomorrow Never Dies
    22. Die Another Day
  • Posts: 1,631
    I'll just do my top 5 and my bottom 5. It's too hard ranking the middle as most of them I like but don't think much of.

    I'll do a top 5 and bottom 5 as well. As you said, it's rather hard coming up with rankings for those that fall in the middle.

    TOP 5:
    1. "For Your Eyes Only" - Sheena Easton
    2. "Licence to Kill" - Gladys Knight
    3. "A View to a Kill" - Duran Duran
    4. "Diamonds are Forever" - Shirley Bassey
    5. "GoldenEye" - Tina Turner

    BOTTOM 5:
    1. "Never Say Never Again" - Lani Hall
    2. "Die Another Day" - Madonna
    3. "The Man With the Golden Gun" - Lu Lu
    4. "Another Way to Die" - Jack White & Alicia Keys
    5. "Tomorrow Never Dies" - Sheryl Crow

  • hullcityfanhullcityfan Banned
    edited June 2013 Posts: 496
    Themes as in gunbarrel or song? It looks like songs' and I'll do the same as @dalton top 5 bottom 5.

    Top 5:
    1.You Know My Name- Chris Cornell
    2. Another Way To Die- Jack White & Alicia Keys
    3. Skyfall -Adele
    4.Original theme if not allowed then Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney
    5.Die Another Day - All Time High

    Busy right now so I'll do worst another time.

    @jaydubya76 and @MrBond All Time High is a great song how can you guys hate it?
  • Posts: 53
    Wasn't as tough selecting this list as I thought it would be. Would say 1-9 more or less fixed as well as 21 & 22. The one's in-between though are how they fall today. If I were to do this again in a few weeks time they could easily change.

    1. Live And Let Die
    2. A View To A Kill
    3. Nobody Does it Better
    4. You Only Live Twice
    5. GoldenEye
    6. You Know My Name
    7. The Living Daylights
    8. Skyfall
    9. Licence To Kill
    10. From Russia With Love
    11. Goldfinger
    12. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    13. The Man With The Golden Gun
    14. Diamonds Are Forever
    15. For Your Eyes Only
    16. Moonraker
    17. Thunderball
    18. Another Way To Die
    19. Tomorrow Never Dies
    20. The World Is Not Enough
    21. All Time High
    22. Die Another Day
  • MrBondMrBond Station S
    Posts: 2,044
    I don't want to count "The James Bond Theme" in this list.

    1. You Know My Name (One of my favourite songs of all time really, it has helpen me out sometimes)
    2. Skyfall
    3. Thunderball
    4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    5. From Russia With Love (Main theme)
    6. Goldeneye
    7. Diamonds Are Forever
    8. The Living Daylights
    9. A View To A Kill
    10. Tomorrow Never Dies
    11. The Man With The Golden Gun
    12. Nobody Does It Better
    13. Another Way To Die
    14. You Only Live Twice
    15. The World Is Not Enough
    16. Live And Let Die
    17. Goldfinger
    18. Moonraker
    19. For Your Eyes Only
    20. Licence To Kill
    21. All Time High
    22. Die Another Day
  • edited June 2013 Posts: 12,837
    2. Another Way To Die- Jack White & Alicia Keys
    MrBond wrote:
    13. Another Way To Die
    0013 wrote:
    15. Another Way to Die
    11 Another Way To Die
    14) Quantum of Solace

    So many with AWTD outside of the bottom 5.

    I must be dreaming.
  • Posts: 53
    @jaydubya76 and @MrBond All Time High is a great song how can you guys hate it?

    To be fair, I don't hate any of the themes, but I am and always have been rather ambivalent about All Time High. Never been sure if it's the tune, the vocals or the lyrics that don't particularly work for me (probably a combination of all 3) but the track has never grabbed me and isn't one I generally go out of my way to listen to.

  • hullcityfanhullcityfan Banned
    Posts: 496
    jaydubya76 wrote:
    @jaydubya76 and @MrBond All Time High is a great song how can you guys hate it?

    To be fair, I don't hate any of the themes, but I am and always have been rather ambivalent about All Time High. Never been sure if it's the tune, the vocals or the lyrics that don't particularly work for me (probably a combination of all 3) but the track has never grabbed me and isn't one I generally go out of my way to listen to.

    Thunderball is just bad though.
  • Posts: 136
    Excluding instrumentals:

    1) A View to a Kill
    2) Live and Let Die
    3) Nobody Does it Better
    4) Diamonds Are Forever
    5) Thunderball
    6) You Know My Name
    7) Goldfinger
    8) You Only Live Twice
    9) Skyfall
    10) Goldeneye
    11) The World is Not Enough
    12) The Living Daylights
    13) Tomorrow Never Dies
    14) The Man with the Golden Gun
    15) Licence to Kill
    16) For Your Eyes Only
    17) All Time High
    18) Moonraker
    19) Another Way to Die
    20) Never Say Never Again
    21) Die Another Day
  • Posts: 1,310
    My favorites:

    1. Skyfall
    2. You Know My Name
    3. A View to a Kill
    4. Nobody Does It Better
    5. Live and Let Die
    6. Goldfinger
    7. GoldenEye

    The only two I really don't listen to at all are Die Another Day (yikes) and All Time High (just boring and blah). The rest of them I enjoy to various extents.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Top ten:
    1. You Know My Name
    2. Skyfall
    3. We Have All The Time In The World
    4. Tomorrow Never Dies: Surrender
    5. GoldenEye
    6. The World Is Not Enough
    7. Goldfinger
    8. From Russia With Love
    9. Thunderball
    10. A View To A Kill
  • Posts: 169
    1. You Know My Name
    2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    3. Skyfall
    4. Goldfinger
    5. Licence to Kill
    6. The Living Daylights
    7. A View To a Kill
    8. From Russia With Love
    9. Thunderball
    10. Live and Let Die

    For my purposes, I limited my Top Ten to the main title theme, thus disqualifying "We Have All the Time In the World" (which I like) and the song version of "From Russia With Love" (which I don't like very much). I probably only rank "The Living Daylights" so high because it has a very Eighties sound and reminds me of my youth. I also enjoy the "Casino Royale" theme by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - disqualified as a non-EON Bond film for this list.

    I am a big Johnny Cash fan and I actually have his version of "Thunderball" in my iTunes library. It isn't a bad song but they were right to go with Tom Jones instead. Cash's "Thunderball" would be a good theme song for a Western, not James Bond!
  • DiscoVolanteDiscoVolante Stockholm, Sweden
    edited July 2013 Posts: 1,347
    I can't really rank them all.. The Bassey's are my favorites, DAF being #1. FYEO comes next. Just want to say I'm quite fond of TND too, seems I'm quite alone there ;)
  • hullcityfanhullcityfan Banned
    Posts: 496
    I can't really rank them all.. The Bassey's are my favorites, DAF being #1. FYEO comes next. Just want to say I'm quite fond of TND too, seems I'm quite alone there ;)

    Don't worry I'm with you on the TND song too! :D ;)
  • Posts: 4,762
    1. A View to a Kill (Duran Duran)
    2. The Living Daylights (a-ha)
    3. GoldenEye (Tina Turner)
    4. The World is not Enough (Garbage)
    5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (John Barry Orchestra)
    6. Casino Royale (Chris Cornell)
    7. Live and Let Die (Wings)
    8. The Man with the Golden Gun (Lulu)
    9. License to Kill (Gladys Knight)
    10. From Russia with Love (Matt Munro)
    11. Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)
    12. Moonraker (Shirley Bassey)
    13. Thunderball (Tom Jones)
    14. Nobody Does it Better (Carly Simon)
    15. All Time High (Rita Coolidge)
    16. Die Another Day (Madonna)
    17. Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow)
    18. SkyFall (Adele)
    19. For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton)
    20. Another Way to Die (Jack White and Alicia Keys)
    21. Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey)
    22. You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra)
  • Posts: 2,400
    00Beast wrote:
    1. A View to a Kill (Duran Duran)
    2. The Living Daylights (a-ha)
    3. GoldenEye (Tina Turner)
    4. The World is not Enough (Garbage)
    5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (John Barry Orchestra)
    6. Casino Royale (Chris Cornell)
    7. Live and Let Die (Wings)
    8. The Man with the Golden Gun (Lulu)
    9. License to Kill (Gladys Knight)
    10. From Russia with Love (Matt Munro)
    11. Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)
    12. Moonraker (Shirley Bassey)
    13. Thunderball (Tom Jones)
    14. Nobody Does it Better (Carly Simon)
    15. All Time High (Rita Coolidge)
    16. Die Another Day (Madonna)
    17. Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow)
    18. SkyFall (Adele)
    19. For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton)
    20. Another Way to Die (Jack White and Alicia Keys)
    21. Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey)
    22. You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra)

    YOLT as the worst? Please explain.

    No time to rank in full, but OHMSS is the best, YOLT is the best non-instrumental, DAD and AWTD are tied for worst with ATH close behind.
  • LicencedToKilt69007LicencedToKilt69007 Belgium, Wallonia
    Posts: 523
    Classification :

    1) GoldenEye
    2) Goldfinger
    3) Thunderball/Surrender (TND end credits)
    4) You Only Live Twice
    5) The World Is Not Enough
    6) Live And Let Die
    7) Skyfall
    8) Tomorrow Never Dies
    9) A View To A Kill
    10) Nobody Does It Better
    11) From Russia With Love
    12) For Your Eyes Only
    13) Diamonds Are Forever
    14) The Living Daylights/ OHMSS
    15) Licence To Kill/ You Know My Name
    16) Moonraker
    17) All Time High
    18) The Man With The Golden Gun
    19) Die Another Day
    20) Another Way To Die
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