#nosalgia

(Incomplete, In no Particular Order)

I've probably done this post before, or something dangerously close, but I don't care, so lets rock!

Where possible, i've gotten extended cuts. This means video quality won't always be prime, but we're here for the tunes.

No Guts No Glory - Galaxy Rangers Theme

No Guts no Glory is a strong opener, both for one of the bizarrely common space cowboy shows of the 80s and for this post. It is a textbook Saturday Morning Banger, more believable as a real song than some actual 80s radio hits minus the name shoutout to Galaxy Rangers.

Can't blame 'em for working the song into an episode as a music video. This is something modern 'toons ought to do. 3 minute pop-song opener, make the full version in an ep, and use that section as a youtube trailer.

M.A.S.K. Theme - M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armor Strike Kommand

MASK is a show that, if it didn't exist, would be the fake 80s cartoon in other TV shows, and the theme song is the platonic ideal of 80s cartoon theme songs, a Shuki Levy-penned techno-pop earworm proudly belting the show/toyline theme without a trace of irony.

No one would mistake it for a radio hit, but it still hits right. See the laser rays fire away, indeed.

Count Duckula Theme - Count Duckula

I literally have a whole post about this theme song.

As a fan of novelty music, this slaps.

Wheeled Warriors - Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors

Can you sue a theme song for false advertising? Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors was a notorious flop and a tower of missed potential. It's theme song, on the other hand, threads the needle evenly between the radio-ready Galaxy Rangers and the delightful cornball sincerity of M.A.S.K.

"Wheeled Warriors" may seem like an odd topic for a song but I remind you that Judas Priest exists.

Jem is My Name - Jem and the Holograms

This song actually would have topped the charts if the cassettes sold with the toys counted as album sales. That's not a joke.

It also beats the trend of "boast songs" with a guest verse from a rival band by literal decades. Truly a pioneer, truly, truly outrageous.

Zone Riders - Spiral Zone

Meanwhile, the opening to Spiral Zone was very indicative of what you'd get, a tonally odd mixture of high cheese and Poe-faced intensity. A chorus singing the concept of the show with the reverence of a hymn.

C.O.P.S. Theme - C.O.P.S. (Central Organization of Police Specialists)

No, not the FOX series that set humanity back decades, but the wacky 30s-retro cyberpunk G.I.Joe sequel. An excellent sample of a minimal theme song, not quire a pure instrumental, but a lot of fun and just pleasant to listen to.