10 musicians who have been criminally overlooked for the James Bond theme song
What makes a great James Bond theme song? There is no objective answer except “Not Madonna.” Since 1962’s Dr No, there have been more than two dozen of them, running the gamut from Shirley Bassey’s barnstorming ‘Goldfinger’ to Duran Duran’s extremely Duran Duran-y ‘A View To Kill.’
The essential ingredient of a Bond theme is drama. The song must be shamelessly over-the-top, even melodramatic. The franchise is, after all, partially a comedy, no matter what Daniel Craig’s icy stare and furrowed brow might have you believe. Tom Jones really got the memo with ‘Thunderball,’ crooning and belting his way through an utterly ridiculous piece with the vigour of Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The themes that have not worked – Madonna’s ‘Die Another Day’ and Jack White and Alicia Key’s ‘Another Way To Die,’ for example – usually fail because they only pay lip service to the necessary strings and cinematic grandeur while staying firmly inside artists’ own wheelhouse.
Bond themes almost always feature big names of the day, such as Billie Eilish and Wings, but in a period when pop culture nostalgia has everyone, especially the younger generation, in a chokehold, there’s never been a better time to tap into some of the talents from the distant and not-so-distant past that somehow got away. \
10 musicians who should have done James Bond theme tunes:
Elton John
How Sir Elton John has never been enlisted to perform a Bond theme is anyone’s guess, though gross incompetence on the part of the producers is the only real answer. The artist himself has suggested that he would be more than open to it. When disparaging Madonna’s effort, he said, “They should have gone for somebody like Lulu and Shirley Bassey, or maybe I’m in that league?” Of course you are, Elton.
As one of Britain’s most globally successful artists, he is an obvious choice to set the tone for the famously British franchise. He might not have the operatic singing style of a Tom Jones or a Shirley Bassey, but he has the theatricality and larger-than-life production values that go hand-in-hand with the movies. If the producers decide to change up the tone of the series when they reboot it with a new star and opt for a throwback to the days of glamour and playfulness, John would be the perfect bridge, an artist who bridges multiple generations and has been more than happy in recent years to adapt his style for the modern era.
Björk
Björk might not be the broadly appealing pop star that previous artists in the Bond franchise have been, but there is no ignoring that three-octave vocal range. Her versatility and experimental nature also make her the perfect candidate. No matter what the future holds for the franchise, she could meet it. The most consistent problems with unsuccessful Bond themes are that they lack drama or sound like a single that the artist might have released on the side. Björk would have neither problem.
Whether she’s bringing the echoey synth and strings of ‘Venus As A Boy’ or the gritty, confrontational rock of ‘Army of Me,’ Björk can bring more drama and mood than the franchise has to offer. Throw in some corny lyrics about a villain whose name is impossible to rhyme with, and you’ve got yourself a winning formula.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Throughout the band’s striking evolution, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have always been steeped in theatricality and atmosphere. Their ability to set the tone from the start of a film or television show has been made abundantly clear with the eerie, borderline terrifying ‘Red Right Hand’ that anchors every Peaky Blinders episode. But there are countless other tracks that work just as well cinematically, like the subtle ramping up of ‘Higgs Boson Blues,’ which draws you in with hushed tension that lengthens and builds and never quite releases you.
For a Bond theme, Cave and the gang would need to lean into the theatricality of his voice, dial up the climactic payoff, and incorporate some punctuating strings just for the sake of franchise continuity. It might be a lot to ask of such an artistically independent group, but given the brooding darkness of recent Bond installments, they could easily match their sound to the moment.
FKA twigs
The last three Bond themes have been distinctly downbeat, in contrast with nearly all of their predecessors. This worked spectacularly well with Adele’s powerhouse of a voice in ‘Skyfall’ and pretty well with Billie Eilish’s ethereal ennui in ‘No Time To Die.’ But it failed spectacularly with Sam Smith’s blandly repetitive ‘Writing’s On The Wall.’ If anyone in the contemporary pop world could match Adele and Eilish without copying them, it’s FKA twigs. The British artist has gone through multiple iterations over the years, but her most recent album, EUSEXUA, is all the evidence you need to understand just how perfect she would be for the task.
twigs developed the album during the filming of The Crow remake, where she spent late nights in the underground scene in Prague. It is, at turns, euphoric, romantic, sexy, and haunting. The title track has the most ingredients of a Bond theme. Featuring crystal clear vocals, it morphs from plaintive and haunting to a driving, compulsively danceable beat. twigs’s music is almost always cinematic, bursting with textures and ideas in the span of a single track. No matter what version of herself she brought to a Bond theme, it would breathe new life into the franchise and be a flattering encapsulation of the modern moment in pop.
Kate Bush
Before Sophie Ellis-Bexter got a second act when ‘Murder On The Dance Floor’ backed one of the most memorable scenes in Saltburn, Kate Bush, the elusive chart-topper of the late ‘70s and ‘80s, had a throwback hit when the Netflix show Stranger Things put her 1985 song ‘Running Up That Hill’ on its soundtrack in 2022. It quickly became the most streamed track on Spotify around the world and made her a Gen Z icon.
The fact that Bush has never performed a Bond theme isn’t strictly the fault of the producers. In fact, she might be the only artist who was the preferred choice over Shirley Bassey. Shortly after her breakout single, ‘Wuthering Heights,’ she was allegedly asked to do the theme for 1979’s Moonraker but turned it down. Bassey stepped in instead. It’s easy to see why Bush was the top choice for the job. Her voice is powerful, romantic, and full of theatrical range. Her songs are stories. She exudes bittersweet drama, and her music practically creates its own images. If she wrote a Bond theme, they wouldn’t even need to make a movie to go along with it. It could just be its own instalment of the franchise.
Florence + The Machine
Florence Welch has one of the most powerful voices in mainstream music, and she’s never tried to tailor it to be more in keeping with the whims of the pop world. It’s worked out pretty well. Florence + The Machine’s debut album, Lungs, was one of the best-selling records of 2009, even though it didn’t fit neatly alongside the other entries in the list. Welch can modulate her voice to be a bellowing tidal wave of raw force to a tenuous thread of vulnerability. It’s a generational instrument, and Welch has enhanced the mystique over the years by writing lyrics and donning costumes that evoke folklore and religion.
Her voice has the grandeur and mystery that a good Bond theme needs, but Welch also has that larger-than-life persona that so often goes hand-in-hand with the music. Part of why Bond themes are such a big talking point is that they have been created by some of the biggest names in pop, and Welch could capture the musical landscape of the moment, one which she has helped to define and subvert for over a decade.
The Last Shadow Puppets
There are some bands who have made tracks that sound like Bond auditions. The supergroup The Last Shadow Puppets is the preeminent example. Formed by Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and The Little Flames’s frontman Miles Kane, the group released its first album, The Age of the Understatement, in 2008 and followed it up eight years later with Everything You’ve Come to Expect. Blending Baroque and psychedelic pop, they are the best of their respective bands, and it’s a source of ongoing disappointment for fans that they have yet to release a third album.
If the Bond producers got a hold of their 2008 single ‘My Mistakes Were Made For You,’ they might pony up good money to get the group back together. From the lush strings to the twangy guitar and moody vocals, it is a ready-made theme in the mould of some of the most classic instalments. With a perfect blend of modern and old-school sounds, it’s the complete package.
Picture Parlour
Manchester-based indie rock band Picture Parlour burst onto the scene in 2023 with the release of their debut single ‘Norwegian Wood,’ and had a tumultuous year of frenzied hype and plenty of questions over whether they could follow up the anthemic drama of that introduction. Anchored by the blistering, stridently powerful voice of Katherine Parlour, the group gives off an air of old-school melodrama, but far from the listless nostalgia that often comes with the territory, they have the dangerous, self-assured edge of pure charisma.
Parlour’s voice alone would be the perfect centrepiece for a Bond theme, but the group has already shown its aptitude for borderline operatic, cinematic tracks that envelop the listener. You need only look as far as ‘Moon Tide’ from their 2024 EP Face in the Picture to recognise just how perfectly suited they already are to the task. The swelling strings, bashing percussion, and Parlour’s voice would be a showstopping opener. They may not be household names yet, but give it a few years and they might be first on the list for the Bond producers.
Maria Bethânia
Maria Bethânia might not be a household name outside Brazil, but if anyone can top the theatrical ferocity of Shirley Bassey, it’s her. Since the 1960s, Bethânia has been one of the most recognisable musical figures in Brazil. Known for her political resistance during the country’s military dictatorship, penchant for reciting poetry during live shows, and, above all, the drama and warm timbre of her voice, she is unlike any other artist and has all the ingredients to make the perfect Bond theme.
It’s no secret that the franchise is profoundly anglocentric despite the globetrotting antics of its protagonist. The vast majority of artists who have provided a theme have been either British or American. In fact, the only outlier is the Norwegian band A-ha, and they sang in English. The series could benefit from looking outside its insular pool of Top 40 musicians, and it just so happens that Bethânia has a voice so authoritative it sounds almost godlike. No matter where the next Bond film is set, she could set the tone like no one else.
Lana Del Rey
Of all the artists who should have done a Bond theme already, Lana Del Rey is the most obvious. She revealed in 2024 that she had written a song for the producers, only to have it rejected. This is particularly galling when considering that Sam Smith ultimately got the gig. They won an Oscar for ‘Writing’s On The Wall,’ but the song is widely considered to be one of the weakest of the franchise.
Del Rey built her persona and her sound on Old Hollywood glamour. She’s created herself in the image of cinema’s greatest bombshells, and her lyrics and voice ooze the drama and seduction of a femme fatale closeup. You could listen to just about any of her songs and instantly understand just how perfect she would be for the franchise, especially in relation to its more recent instalments. She has the languid quality of Billie Eilish and the melodrama of Adele, but her music is even more cinematic. As a lyricist, she spins dark tales of romantic obsession and nostalgia. Once the franchise finds its new 007 and production gets underway, surely Del Rey will be the first name on the list. Surely.
