Scooby-Doo has had a wide variety of theme songs over the years. In the following post, I'm going to share my personal rankings of the theme songs from least favorite to favorite, as well as an explanation of why I ranked it there. I will forewarn you that I have an extremely unpopular opinion, so you can look forward to that haha. 16. Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? I don't think I've talked about it much on here, but I really do not like the Guess Who theme song. It feels like a cheesy cover of the original Where Are You theme to me. The guy's voice sounds like he's kinda trying to sound like the original theme song, but it doesn't sound good at all. To be honest, I didn't even listen to theme song for more than a few Guess Who episodes, it's just so terrible to me I couldn't justify wasting time listening to it. The theme sequence itself isn't really that good either. It seems very generic to me. I realize my opinion on this is probably stronger than most people's will be, but yeah, the guy's voice just sounds obnoxious and this song comes off like a bad parody of the original. 15. The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour Honestly, this theme song takes generic to a new level. I'm sure it took them a grueling two minutes in the writers room to write this song, given the only lyrics are "Scooby! Scoobity-Doo! Scooby! Scoobity-Doo!" lol. The theme sequence itself is fine, but it only makes it fall further into the category of being generic. There isn't really much going on here besides Shaggy and Scooby running into a mad doctor, Scrappy, Yabba and Dusty running around, and then some random shenanigans with some puppies from The Puppy's New Adventures. Although I do have a lot of criticisms of these theme songs from the 80s, I do want to assure you this whole post isn't just me complaining. I like all of the theme songs beyond some of these generic 80s ones. 14. The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show Our next theme song has the exact same lyrics of "Scooby! Scoobity-Doo!" lol so essentially I'll just be discussing the theme sequence. I like the monster building in the intro, but otherwise, it's mainly just recycled monsters from Where Are You chasing Shaggy and Scooby. I guess at that time, it was probably kind of cool to have them reference those old villains, because they hadn't been seen in a while, but I didn't find this particularly notable at all. 13. The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show We have a slight step up from "Scooby! Scoobity Doo!", since the lyrics to this are "Scooby! Scrappy Dappy Doo! Scooby! Scrappy Dappy Doo!" lol. The theme song doesn't really leave much to analyze, but what I do like about this theme sequence is that it sort of gives background (kind of?) as to how Scrappy came to stay with Scooby. I will say though, it's really sad somebody just shoved him with a box with eyeholes and threw him on a train. Poor Scrappy lol. 12. The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show There's not really anything to analyze with this theme song, because it's just an instrumental for the Scooby part of it. In terms of the sequence itself, it feels very haphazardly thrown together without much thought. It's a bunch of random stuff happening without any vocals accompanying it, although to be fair, I guess it gives you a sense for the series a little bit, since that the show is mostly just Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy running from monsters. I do like the Richie Rich part, and this is ultimately why it got placed above the other Scrappy shows. It feels like a nice introduction to the show and the main character, rather than just a bunch of random chaos like we get with the Scooby part of the intro. The lyrics still leave something to be desired, however, as lines like "Richin' it up in the Rich Hall of Fame!" isn't exactly Taylor Swift level of songwriting lol. Actually, I don't even think there was a Rich Hall of Fame in that show; they apparently just made it up for the song lol. 11. Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! Now we're getting to a theme song I actually like haha. If you've made it this far, thank you for listening to my criticisms. It's just an instrumental, but I think this is a case where it works well. It sort of showcases all the characters through their brief appearances: Velma's using a magnifying glass, Shaggy and Scooby are running from the monster, Fred's acting as the leader driving the Mystery Machine, and you even see Daphne showing off her quirkier personality trying to trick that spider. It's not my favorite theme song since there are other far more nostalgic ones, but it's short, it's effective and it's to the point. 10. Laff-a-Lympics So there are two different versions of this theme song...one for Laff-a-Lympics and another for the package show Scooby's All Star Laff-a-Lympics, but I'm going to rank the original. I really liked how the theme song gives you a brief explanation for how the games work. It's done in a very simple way where it's just the announcer telling you, but I think it works well. I think it may have come off cringey if it was some person singing the rules to the Laff-a-Lympics, so this worked well for what it was. If I were ranking the Scooby's All Star Laff-a-Lympics theme, it would have been much lower, probably between The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show and The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show. The other intro felt more cobbled together and didn't really explain the competition as well, because too much time was spent introducing Scooby and Captain Caveman (I believe they were spotlighted because their shows aired alongside Laff-a-Lympics). The ending also comes off as very lazy, given it's a crowd saying "Ready set let's go" and Scooby just responds "Yeah!" lol. It makes me laugh to think what could have been going on in the writers room that day. Writer #1: Oh no! It's five minutes to 5 and I need to get home to my family, but we need to finish this theme song! How should we have Scooby conclude this? Writer #2: Eh, just have him say "yeah" and call it a day. 9. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated This is a much simpler theme song given it's just another instrumental like Be Cool, Scooby-Doo, but it's definitely effective in showcasing each member of the gang and their personality. Honestly that one sentence is all I have to say about it, which is why this was placed squarely in the middle. 8. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo This is where it gets a bit hard to rank the rest of them, because they're all good in their own way. I would rank A Pup Named Scooby-Doo next. It's a cute little catchy theme song that's perfect for the kiddy series, and I like the different scenes shown in the intro. The guy who's singing has a very unique voice. 7. The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo I hate ranking this one so low, because as I said, all of the remaining theme songs are so good. I like Vincent Price's monologue at the beginning, though I feel after the beginning the song runs out of steam where it's just instrumental again. I do really like the scenes shown in the intro, though. Zomba running after Shaggy and Scooby looks super creepy! I wish that ghost with multiple eyes and mouths would have been one of the 13 ghosts; it's genuinely one of the creepiest villains of anything in the show. It would have been nice if that ghoul could have gotten a full episode rather than just a brief cameo in the intro. Like with the first Scrappy series, I like how this intro tells a story of how the Demon Chest was opened and gives an overview of the series. That's what I feel was missing from some of the generic 80s themes where it's a bunch of random stuff; it doesn't feel all that representative of the show or the characters. 6. Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue And here's where you all are probably saying "how did this get so high?!?" I know 95% of people find the theme song intolerable because of the guy's obnoxious voice, but I never really minded this one. In fact, I'd even say I enjoy it. It has an in-your-face feel to it, but it works kind of well with the ridiculousness of the show. It's also pretty catchy and the theme sequence is visually interesting to look at with all the different versions of the characters popping up on screen. I don't know, I guess this song has just always been sort of a guilty pleasure of mine haha. 5. The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries I've always had a soft spot for this one and consider it to be the best theme song of that 80s era by far. I love how groovy and funky it sounds. It really encapsulates that 80s era, and the song itself flows really smoothly with the scenes in the intro. I really like the incorporation of the monsters doing the Thriller, but since "Thriller" had just come out, I do wonder if it felt cringey to fans at the time. I mean, it'd essentially be the equivalent of having Scooby do the Whip/Nae Nae dance in a theme song lol. Which would actually work if the lyrics were changed to "watch me Scoob, now watch me Shaggy" haha. That being said, I definitely do not want anything like that to ever happen, because a theme song like that would surely beat Guess Who for the worst theme sequence of all time lol. 4. The New Scooby-Doo Movies Remember when I said it was getting hard to choose at this point a few rankings ago? Here's where it gets really hard to choose. I ultimately went with The New Scooby-Doo Movies because I like the other three better, but at this point, all of the theme songs remaining are iconic. The song itself is super catchy, and the theme sequence flows really well. I've always found it interesting how in the edited version for the DVDs, they not only edit out The Addams Family, they edit out all the guest stars, even ones that they had the rights for. Another thing that fascinates me is that instead of replacing The Addams Family part with the Haunted Horseman, in the end credits for both of the Batman episodes, they replace it with the gunslinger instead. I've always found that very strange and I wonder why those two episodes specifically were different. 3. The Scooby-Doo Show This is such a catchy song and is honestly pretty much everything I could want in a theme song. At this point, it just comes down to personal preference for the other two. I love that they included Scooby-Dum in the intro. That huge ghost wizard was super-creepy looking and I wish they had included him in the series! Speaking of which, I also find it interesting they included an early design of Mamba Wamba at the end of the intro. Strange they wouldn't have just changed it when they updated the design. 2. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? This is the classic theme song and it was so hard not to put it first, but me not placing it there certainly doesn't mean I don't love it. This is such a catchy, memorable theme song, and the scenes they picked out for the theme sequence were excellent. Although each of the seasons have a different artist singing the theme song, I like both for different reasons. Larry Marks's version is just the classic in my mind, and I like how unique George A. Robertson's voice sounds as well. 1. What's New, Scooby-Doo?
Simple Plan absolutely killed it here. Their vocals sound incredible here, and it was such a cool idea to make a rock version of the theme song. The theme sequence itself flows from scene to scene so nicely, and it didn't even need to use any scene that happened in the show. That huge purple monster is genuinely something out of a nightmare, and I think it would have been cool if the robot were the villain in an episode too. I would say that about the other dinosaur creature, but it feels like we kind of got a version of that in "3-D Struction." I like that an instrumental version of theme song is used for the credits, it works really well IMO. Those are my rankings for the Scooby-Doo theme songs, but I'd love to see yours as well if you want to share them in the comments! I hope you enjoyed reading this post!
30 Comments
The cop
9/20/2022 10:55:26 am
Mine is worst to best and controversial
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9/20/2022 11:08:30 am
I was wondering where the controversial opinion was as I was scrolling through your list...and then I saw you had Get a Clue as #1 haha. I think it's awesome you like that theme song so much! It's definitely underrated in my opinion so I'm glad I'm not the only that had it ranked high!
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The cop
9/20/2022 12:13:42 pm
Yeah It might be because I grew up with it but the show has always been top 3 for me 9/20/2022 07:22:09 pm
Something about the guy's voice is just really entertaining to me. Like Becker mentioned in his comment, I think most people tend to focus on the song, whereas I feel visually the intro is more interesting than people give it credit for.
Matt
9/20/2022 03:55:31 pm
16. Get a Clue: Truly dreadful, The Offspring should sue
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9/20/2022 07:20:44 pm
16. Lol
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Matt
9/21/2022 10:54:00 am
15. I wouldn’t even say annoying as much as mocking. It sounds like someone singing (and altering the lyrics slightly for whatever reason) the original theme as a playground taunt against the guy who sang the original theme or something 9/21/2022 12:31:58 pm
15. Hahahaha it does sound like a playground taunt! Something about the guy's voice is really insincere and like he's mocking the original singer lol. Interestingly, both the original Where Are You theme and Guess Who are sung by guys named David (David Mook and David Poe).
Matt
9/21/2022 07:15:34 pm
15. I imagine the singer being the mocking Spongebob meme lmao
Jacob Staggs
9/22/2022 02:55:11 pm
David Mook wrote the Where Are You? theme. Larry Marks is the original singer. 9/22/2022 04:32:44 pm
Ah you're right, I looked it up on Scoobypedia quickly yesterday and was looking at the writer section of the page rather than the performer.
Becker
9/20/2022 05:16:45 pm
Scooby channeling his inner Sassy Fred with that "Yeah!"
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Becker
9/20/2022 06:06:03 pm
Just to make sure, that's Casey Kasem singing the TNSDMy theme song, right? There's definitely some Shaggy in that voice. It's one of the better singing performances for the theme songs actually. It's shocking how well a character with a voice like Shaggy can sing, and through numerous voice actors too: Innes, Lillard and technically Kasem since Shaggy is shown in the intro to canonically sing at least some of it.
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9/20/2022 07:16:45 pm
Hahahaha I love that!
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Becker
9/21/2022 04:28:04 am
The singing in S&SDGAC is really trash, but it's a fun type of trash. 9/21/2022 08:44:31 am
"Fun trash" is a good way to describe it lol.
Matt
9/21/2022 11:04:52 am
Get a Clue’s theme song is just really strange. Personally, I can’t stand it with the off key singing, the song itself, the fact that it is a ripoff of a song by The Offspring, and just the song itself being really bad, but the truly strange part is his voice. It is like he is SCREAMING at us or something, like this dude is livid or something. I think it is terrible, but no matter what anyone’s opinion of it is, I don’t know if I have ever seen anyone say that they didn’t think it was totally bizarre, even if they like it
Becker
9/21/2022 11:56:57 am
The dude's absolutely straining his voice, you can almost feel how sore his throat gets lmao 9/21/2022 12:22:32 pm
The best way to describe Get a Clue's theme song IMO is "so bad it's funny." The song itself is catchy enough, but the guy's scream-singing is so in your face and ridiculous lol. It's like he came to work that day after having a fight with his wife that morning and projected all his anger into the song haha. It's just so authentically weird that I can't help but appreciate it lol.
Matt
9/21/2022 04:07:09 pm
I don’t think it must’ve been very therapeutic as he seems to get angrier and angrier as the song goes on lmao 9/21/2022 04:09:49 pm
You aren't wrong there lol. "SHAGGY. SCOOBY-DOO. GET A CLUE!!!!"
Sdf
9/21/2022 08:19:36 am
I never really thought about ranking them. WNSD is easilly my favourite. It is the only scooby song i have on my rock playlist along with it's terror time again from zombie island. Solid song and nostalgic too.
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9/21/2022 08:45:13 am
Other than those you listed, the only other ones I really enjoy are The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Pup and Get a Clue. The rest aren't good.
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Jakob123
9/21/2022 12:17:46 pm
I hate to disagree with you WildWind but I didn't find anything wrong with the Guess Who theme song at all.
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9/21/2022 12:38:37 pm
That's okay! I personally thought the Where Are You theme song sounded much better, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
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Jacob Staggs
9/22/2022 09:00:58 am
16) Guess Who - Laaazzy!
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9/22/2022 09:04:57 am
Seems like our lists are pretty similar! It was interesting to see The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show so high when the other repetitive ones were at the bottom of your list. I agree with you though that the recolored classic monsters make it a little more interesting.
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Jakob123
9/23/2022 12:54:05 pm
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!? (Great)
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Jakob123
9/23/2022 12:58:42 pm
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo! (Some what Good and a bit Creepy)
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9/23/2022 01:44:01 pm
Awesome rankings! Thanks for sharing them! I agree with you about 13 Ghosts, although I liked how creepy it was. It worked well with the tone of the show.
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