Many may not believe television theme songs are a form of high art, but there’s been a lot of good and even great songs that start off some of our favorite television shows, and no one can deny their impact on our culture.

Best TV theme lists go all over the place if you look them up. Here are my top ten. Let me know what’s on your top ten list!

Sanford and Son

Quincy Jones was tapped to produce the theme song for Sanford and Son, the American version of a British show Steptoe and Son. When Jones found out Redd Foxx was going to be the star he was appalled. “I said, ‘man, you can’t put Redd Foxx on national TV”, as Foxx was known for being a particularly salty comedian.

Jones said it took him twenty minutes to compose the song called “The Streetbeater”. A cool, complex and funky song, one of the reasons it’s one of the best is because it fit so well with the mood and style of the iconic show. Even though the writing on Sanford and Son was not always top notch, no one could beat the acting talent. Not just Redd Foxx, but also LaWanda Page and Demond Wilson as well. It’s only fitting that Quincy Jones got in on the act.

Barney Miller

Back in the day, no bass player worth a damn could get away with not playing the bass line from the Barney Miller Theme song. A catchy tune that became almost a bigger icon than the show itself. Barney Miller is definitely my favorite cop show, with The Wire coming in a close second.

A jazz fusion tune written by Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson, Chuck Berghofer was the musician that played the iconic bass line.

Peter Gunn

One of the most covered television theme songs ever, a song that would be covered over and over again by blues bands to rock and roll bands and even an electronic cover by Art of Noise, a classic piece of television music composed by Henry Mancini.

Art of noise cover of Peter Gunn

Mission Impossible

I didn’t realize what a kick ass tune this song is until I heard an R&B band play it live. An exhilarating action tune written by composer Lalo Schifrin, it stands out among the many go-get-em’ dramatical TV theme songs produced in the sixties and seventies era of American television.

Schifrin apparently had no clue what the show was about when he was asked to write the song, and apparently he wrote the song very quickly, yet it still stands out as one of the more exciting television theme songs.

Peanuts

American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi wrote the popular Peanuts theme song entitled Linus and Lucy in 1964. The inclusion of jazz music for a cartoon theme song was so controversial that a few television stations banned its broadcast on that basis alone. (Jazz was still considered “bad” music for bad people back then!)

A catchy and complex tune, it is easily recognizable, even by people not familiar with the cartoons. Definitely one of the most iconic TV theme songs ever produced.

Deep Space Nine

Star Trek has many wonderful opening themes, such as the rousing Star Trek: The Next Generation theme or the wonderful and sublime opening theme music for Star Trek: Voyager. But my favorite Star Trek theme is the original opening for Deep Space Nine. Grandiose, eloquent, and humble at times, it’s the crown jewel of Star Trek themes.

They did alter the theme song for later seasons, jazzing it up a bit with a back beat to make it sound much catchier and optimistic and, I don’t know, not so stuffy? I’m not sure why, but it just doesn’t work as well in my opinion.

The Sopranos

Believe it or not, the iconic theme song for the Sopranos was composed by a British Band called Alabama 3. Equal parts hip hop, Jazz scat, and chorus singing make for a wonderful intro that put you right in the mood for the show.

Rob Spragg, the frontman for Alabama 3 wrote the song after hearing about a controversial and high profile murder case in which a woman stabbed her abusive husband to death. Spragg would later remark that he found it ironic that a song about a woman taking vengeance against an abusive partner would become a theme song for a gangster show.

The Sopranos producers originally wanted a different song to open each episode. The compromise was that the closing music was always different.

Doctor Who

A dynamic and haunting piece of electronica, composed in 1963, decades before similar kind of music would explode in popular music. What makes it so unique and innovative is that it was composed years before commercially available electronic synthesizers by Australian composer Ron Grainer. Grainer produced the piece by speeding up and slowing down spliced portions of analogue tape, and used electronic equipment that was not even designed for audial use to produce the music.

The song would be redone and retuned for later incarnations of Doctor Who, but they always tried to stay true to the original. One of the most unique television theme songs ever composed.

An 80’s version of the same song…

The Wire

The Wire always had the same theme song, but they always got different artists to sing it for each season. When I first heard the song, it was song by an old black bluesman. Only it wasn’t. I was surprised when I found out that it was actually Tom Waits who was singing the version I first heard. Tom Waits wrote the song, even though many other artists have performed it. I like all versions of this theme song, but my favorite is the season four version performed by The Baltimore Teenagers. Other artists who performed this rich and complex song are The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Neville Brothers, DoMaJe, and Steve Earle.

Cosmos

Carl Sagan’s revolutionary series about astrophysics set the course for future science shows in which ordinary people could easily and clearly learn about complex scientific concepts, an idea that itself was revolutionary at the time. The theme song written by Greek composer Vangelis is called Heaven and Hell Part I, a gossamer and grandiose tune that rises with a strong chorus and makes this one of the most powerful pieces of music ever used for a television show.

One of the best documentary series in all facets: Production, progression, and information. Cosmos was the begining of a revolution in television documentaries and distribution of scientific information that continues to this day, as all manner of scientists from physicists to paleontologists inform and teach ordinary non-scientists about the fascinating worlds they explore.