So... I've been working on a... certain project. One that involves a lot of heavy and uncomfortable subject matter, and needs a lot of careful wording. It also is a lot of condensing really large stories into a couple of paragraphs, and one story is still kinda sorta ongoing. The bulk of that project is written, and as you can imagine it has taken a lot out of me... So let's do something fun.
Everybody loves theme songs, catchy ones like DuckTales or SpongeBob, Iconic ones like The Flintstones or The Simpsons, epic ones like Batman: The Animated Series or King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, Popular shows like Rugrats and ThunderCats, obscure shows like Cybersix or C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa, great shows like Gravity Falls and Amphibia, terrible shows like Sonic Underground. The theme song really is like an advertisement to your show, it has to sell the show to the viewer before they even see the first episode, many theme songs do a great job of selling the show to the viewer while being a pleasant musical experience. We will not be talking about any of those theme songs today.
Some theme songs do not succeed in selling a show, some theme songs are bland, annoying, cringe-inducing, badly-written, badly-sung, incoherent, just all around poorly made. So of course the question now becomes, which ones are the worst? A question that lots and lots of others have discussed, and now I am going to throw my opinion in the ring. These are the worst, the most annoying, the unbearable cartoon theme songs, in English speaking languages that is.

I like this show, I genuinely do, but I can absolutely see why it has fallen into obscurity. The show is very much nothing special and does have a bit of wasted potential as I have said before. I can also imagine viewers were probably turned off from the theme song. A trend you will notice among theme songs is that a lot of them like to repeat their names over and over again, granted I don't think you really need much explanation for the concept of a show titled "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century", but that does not change the fact that the theme song is still the show's name repeated ad nauseam over a weird techno house club beat. There are a lot of theme songs that would have benefited from just being instrumental, but don't let that dissuade you from checking out the show, just be prepared to grab that remote when the "Skip Intro" button appears.

They gave a cartoon to everything in the 80s, didn't they? I really don't want to be too hard on this one, frankly I didn't even want to put it on the list. Nothing about these theme song is inherently terrible, the lyrics are bland and tell us nothing, and the music is kind of standard for the time, those don't help matters but they really are not "top 20" worthy. However, leniency only stretches so far, and having the main cast sing the song is what warrants the placement on this list. Whoever thought these voices were good enough to sing a theme song, they are wrong and if nobody had a better idea for a theme song than that is very sad.

You might wonder, how far back do "bad" theme songs go. Surely someone has been complaining about how bad music and lyrics were for television theme songs as far back as the 1960s, but for the purposes of this list, we're only going as far back as the 1970s, 1974 to be exact. It starts with a spoken dialogue bit that is meant to build interest but is just kind of slow, and when it does get to the theme song, it's just kind of bland until around the fifty second mark when they just make a bunch of noises that vaguely sound like kung fu noises... I guess? I dunno, something about this show just rubs me the wrong way.

I think I've found the most boring theme song in the world, seriously. There are three main parts to this theme song, the introduction, the role-call and the title drop, they do this twice and the lyrics are about as generic as you possibly can get. It's all "Who do you call when you're in trouble" stuff, which only makes me want to listen to "Ghostbusters" which at least has that iconic keyboard riff. The role call isn't really good either, it's like they're trying to keep in beat but just can't quite keep up. Also, poor Bogey is always the last one to be named, justice for Bogey.

Hey, another theme song that repeats it's name over and over again. Okay, that is a bit unfair, there are other lyrics just shouted at you. Otherwise it's just "Super Duper Sumos" and how they got guts and big butts... which is a pun and a butt joke. Having "Guts" means that they are brave, courageous, risk-taking, but they're also fat, so they have a massive gut. I am not worried about explaining the joke here, it wasn't funny to begin with.

Believe it or not, "Ducks Rock" is not the reason this song is on the list. What puts this theme song on the list is that it is some of the worst sounding "Trying to be hip" music I've ever heard. The show premiered in late 1996, so what kind of music should we make our theme song to interest the youths of the time? I know, out of date Glam Rock, and let's get the guy who sang "We Built This City" to sing it. I can think of worse combinations, I guess. In 1996, Alt Rock was the popular form of rock music, Glam Rock was so passe, and stuff like this is the reason why. Cheap Mötley Crüe sound-alikes aren't going to bring the genre back, especially since they weren't even doing their brand of Glam Rock by this time either, Generation Swine was released in 1997. Also, the theme song's title... It actually is "Ducks Rock"... give me Disco Duck anyway of the week.

It's just a list of things. The bulk of this theme song is literally just a monotone voice listing off items over a (trap?) beat before "singing" the title of the show. Is it really that easy to write a theme song? let me try.
Pens, cap guns, grapes, erasers, lip balm, duct tape, hey!
Rope, candles, weights, newsprint, aloe, spice mix, yum!
There, that's the theme song to my brand new show, Joe and the Henway, coming to streaming in 8995 AD. Enjoy.
Okay, hot take, but Diamond and Pearl is not the worst theme song Pokémon ever had. It is a cringe-inducing attempt at rap, but you know what's worse? The Battle Dimension theme song. Believe it or not, I've always found this theme song worse than Diamond and Pearl's rap, but I couldn't quite figure out why. I assumed it's because of the pillowy-soft music, but on closer inspection I think I know the real reason; this song doesn't feel like a Pokémon theme song. The lyrics are all "brave and strong" and "We can be heroes and change the world" and I'm thinking, "What does this have to do with Pokémon?" When did Pokémon become a generic magical girl anime?
I'm putting these two theme songs together because they both have one major problem, and they're both really short.
Breadwinners is the most recent show, so I'll start with that. The instrumentation of this show is obnoxious, it's like dubstep from people who don't know what dubstep sounds like. Not that the lyrics are much better, but it's basically lazy puns (get it, Quazy! Because they're ducks!) and juvenile humour. Really though, it's blessedly short, and that would grant it some leniency, but there was another theme song that was very similar.
Angela Anaconda's big problem is the singing, this girl can't sing. I wonder if this was intentional, like the director said to the voice actress, "alright, we want you to imagine the worst singing voice for your character". This song also has similar issues with lyrics, it's just kind of a nothing sandwich, it's "This is me, this is my show" and nothing else of substance. Between the two of them, I think Angela Anaconda's is worse, but I find them similar enough to warrant making this entry a tie, and it won't be our only one.


I think I actually wanted to leave this song off the list, not because I have any fondness for it, but because... it's biggest issue is that it's just kind of confused. What does this theme song want to be? A tropical thing? Something with sci-fi tones? A theme song that shouts it's name over and over again? An instrumental? Something with beat-boxing? This theme really is just the definition of "Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks". Also, never end a theme song to any show with the main character saying "Yay Me!".

Another theme song that kind of has no clue what it wants to be, so it does all three weird genres. Generic superhero introduction, cringe rap theme and... epic Broadway choir? The rap part of the theme song is so horribly sung, like the singer is intentionally putting on as nasally a voice as they can, and it has some of the worst jokes you've ever heard, like hilariously mispronouncing the word "pterodactyl". Really, the only reason this show is not higher on the list is because... really who cares? Nobody cares about a show called Kung Fu Dino Posse... note to self, make a blog post about Kung Fu Dino Posse.
Yep, another shared entry, reboots with remade versions of the original theme songs that are infinitely worse.
Rugrats 2021 decided that it would be a good idea to add a buzzing synth to the start of the theme song, seriously, why did they pick the fuzziest, most unlistenable synth sound they could have picked for this theme song? At the very least, the song becomes tolerable after that, not necessarily good, but tolerable.
The same cannot be said for The Magic School Bus Rides Again, which decided that Little Richard needed to be replaced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Look, I don't hate Lin-Manuel, he's done stuff I liked and has been in things I really liked, but he just missed the mark for this theme song. A lot of the punch and tight performance from Richard is replaced with trailing off on certain lines, so a line like "Raft a River of Lava" has the final syllable elongated for no reason. Honestly, I could have mistaken this for a Will.i.am cover at points.
Sometimes remaking the theme song for a show can lead to good results, there are lots of people who will argue the 2017 DuckTales theme song is better than the 1987 DuckTales theme song. Really though, that may be the exception rather than the example, because if these two theme songs prove anything, it's that the originals are often untouchable.


Hello easy target. Yeah, you all knew this was going to make the list, and you all know the reasons why it was going to make the list. If by some blessed miracle you don't know, seriously thank every god you do and do not believe in if you have not heard this theme song. It's almost so bad it's good, but the crushing length is what brings it down to just being "bad", and you wouldn't think that if you looked it up online, one minute and nineteen seconds, that's a bit on the lengthy side but it's still pretty standard for a cartoon theme song. It's not that the song itself is long, it's that it details every single part of the origin story, straight up to even explaining "Gramps opened up the bag and took out the magical shoes". It drones on giving you every detail of an origin that would have, and should have been shown in the first episode. But again, you knew all that.

This is the last shared entry here, and you probably knew these were coming too. Hello 4Kids, nice to see you here. 4Kids is notorious for terrible dub jobs that made anime "more appropriate for children" by which they mean they made everything Americanized and ruined a lot of anime. It didn't help that a lot of their dubs came with awful theme songs.
Mew Mew Power is probably the better of the two here, in that I can see people liking it, but that doesn't mean I get it. This is one of the most generic sounding theme songs in existence, literally any anime could have the lyrics "Team up 'cause it's not too late/We can save the day if we collaborate", I think those were from the scrapped lyrics bin for Sailor Moon... no that's too harsh, Sailor Moon's writers didn't even consider writing those lines. Funny enough, for the theme song to a show called "Mew Mew Power" they really don't have any cat related imagery in the lyrics, they mention birds though! Also, "It's hard to save the world when you're falling in love"? This is a Magical Girl Anime!
Of course, you're not here because of Mew Mew Power, you're here for the infamous, the notorious, the cringe inducing, One Piece rap. I mean, I guess the only thing I have to ask is... why? Why did they decide that an adventure anime about a rubber pirate needed a rap theme song? Really, this is just adding insult to injury, it's like "Ha ha, we're gonna censor the anime to the point that it has no bite to it, remove several episodes and change the story to this anime, and we're also going to give it the worst theme song we possibly could give it."
This is why 4Kids went defunct in... 2017? Really?
I think the real tragedy of this theme song is that it opens really good. It's got that vibe to it that would totally fit a cyberpunk setting, really if this track was an instrumental, it probably would have been a theme song that people remember fondly. Unfortunately, they had to include lyrics. This is another theme song that has to shout the name of the show for the duration of the theme song... except it doesn't even do that, it just shouts "RoboCop" a bunch of times and hopes that you're find it cool. RoboCop is one of my favourite movies, the satire is still wildly relevant and the action scenes are perfectly bloody, and I guarantee you, adding this theme song to any action scene in the movie, makes it ten times funnier. It's not a good thing, but if you want a good laugh...

Ladies, gentlemen and everyone outside the binary, I present to you, the literal most generic theme song you will ever hear. Fun fact, I initially put this theme song on my shortlist as a joke. Like I knew it wasn't going to be good, but like I thought it would be Honourable Mentions material at worst. I mean, how bad can it possibly be? Oh... oh dear god... it was bad. I had such a negative reaction hearing this theme song, it says nothing about the show, it says nothing about the characters, it has no identity outside of being tied to... High Guardian Spice... I should have guessed that one of the most generic animated shows of all time would get one of the most, actually no, the most generic theme song of all time. This theme song is so generic it actually makes me mad, like Pickle & Peanut was befuddling, Mew Mew Power was boring, this is actually aggravating. Remind me to watch this entire thing for another blog post in the future.

It's the nutshack... it's the nutshack... it's the nutshack... it's the nutshack...
That is the first half of this theme song, just repeating those three words over and over again, until we get another bad rap theme song that is either so poorly sung, so poorly mixed, or both, that it is legit impossible to understand what is being said without using a lyrics sheet to follow along. This is another theme song that has achieved infamous status and memedom, this theme song is so bad, it actually falls into "So bad it's good" territory, because I don't think I have ever heard a theme song this incompetent before. Clearly this is the second worst example of a theme song that sings the title of the show on repeat until it ends... what is the worst?

Apparently, this is the Canadian version of the intro, because why did Canada need it's own intro to Dragon Ball Z? Did America just not want to share it's dub intro? Whatever the case, this is another theme song that so bad it's good, because legit, this is hilarious. It's the plainest sounding guys singing "Dragon Dragon Ball" followed by what I can only describe as an "epic toy commercial voice" sings "Dragon Ball Z" for the duration of the theme song, save for one bit in the middle where they sing "Rock the Dragon/Dragon Ball Z", I am genuinely surprised this hasn't fallen into Memedom like The Nutshack theme has. If you're wondering why this is higher on the list than The Nutshack, it's because The Nutshack theme song has actual lyrics. Cybersix this really is not.

Finally, the last obvious entry on this list. Come on, as soon as you hear the words "Worst Theme Songs" the first three words you immediately think of are "The" and "Brothers" and "Flub" specifically in that order. This theme technically doesn't count as an instrumental theme, but that's only because the lyrics to this song are literally just "Flub flub flub flub flub!" sang over the most annoying "la-la-la" you will ever hear. I think the only reason this theme song has instrumentation is because some producer had enough common sense to realize that the A Capella la-la flubbing would probably make people go deaf by the desire to cut their ears off with rusty hedge trimmers. it may also explain why they try to drown out the theme song with constant obnoxious noises. I refuse to believe that nobody behind this theme song thought it was a bad idea, someone had to realize that this was awful, but either didn't care or didn't want to throw away all the hard work they put into making this. The only real question is, why the heck is this not number one?

I think this is it, the worst cartoon theme song in the world, it is poorly sung, lazily written, has obnoxious dialogue in the middle for no reason... yep, calling it now, this is the worst. it ticks off all the boxes for a bad theme song. Bad lyrics? "This is the song for the Adventures of Kid Danger", I think that counts as a yes. Annoying? Absolutely. Cringe-inducing... You know what, yes, it is cringe inducing. It makes me cringe that anyone thought that this was okay. Like, on some level, Brothers Flub is at least memorable, you're never going to forget it no matter how many spork lobotomies you receive. You might think that would make it worse, but at the very least the "Flub" singing was listenable. This is unlistenable in every aspect. One may argue that it isn't the most bad, but I'd counter by arguing that it is the least good, I can literally make a defence for every other theme song on this list before this one, yes even One Piece, even Coconut Fred, even The Brothers Flub. This is the worst cartoon theme song, and it wasn't even close.
Honourable Mentions:
Mega Babies - I mean... barring the bodily noises I'd dare say this one almost sounds pleasant. It's like a tolerable version of The Brothers Flub.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - I was so tempted to throwing this one on the list, it's just another pillowy soft cloud of nothing, but I guess it kinda sorta fits with the show.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power - After High Guardian Spice I realize that I was way too harsh with my initial disdain for this theme song... that doesn't make it good though.
Pac-Man - It's an arcade having a seizure before someone growls "Pac-Man" twice. It's not on the list because I only barely consider it a theme song.
Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, Get a Clue! - Heh heh heh... what a bunch of nonsense. I don't think this is the worst, but uh... yeah it is worthy of disdain.
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - I left this one off the list solely because it absolutely is the kind of music that Bill and Ted would be all over. It's like if Jay and Silent Bob had a cartoon and the theme song was just stoned mumbling over a Morris Day esque beat, how mad can you really be at that?
Fanboy and Chum Chum - This one was left off the list because it very clearly intended on being annoying... it just failed at being annoying properly.
The Wacky World of Tex Avery - Gross and Annoying... what a winning combo...
My Gym Partner's a Monkey - You know, this show would be a horrible title if it wasn't absolutely literal.