 There have been quite a few different adaptations of the iconic Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? theme song over the years. By request, I'm going to rank them all for you here! I don't necessarily have a ton to say since I'm basically ranking the same song over a dozen times haha, but if for some reason I glossed over any aspect of the song you'd like to know my opinion about, you're welcome to ask in the comments1 Like with the other music post from Tuesday, I tried to find official versions of each of theme songs, but there weren't any official uploads for many of these, so I unfortunately will have to link some unofficial YouTube uploads here. 13. Guess Who Theme Song This is basically the Where Are You theme song, so I'm including it here. This is likely a hot take, but I am not a fan of this version. Someone left a comment a few months ago that said the theme song sounds like a "playground taunt against the guy who sang the original," and honestly, I kind of agree with that lol. Something about the guy's voice is sounds almost mocking and unpleasant to listen to. 12. Best Coast I want to start by saying even for these I've ranked lower, there's no version of the Where Are You theme song from here forward that I actively dislike. For this one, it's just kind of mediocre. Best Coast's vocals sound kind of generic, and the production isn't really anything special. 11. Legend of the Vampire Opening This is the last version I'm not a big fan of. The rock-inspired cover here sounds kind of generic and there isn't really anything special about it, especially compared to the others. 10. Legend of the Vampire - Velma's Cover Another version from Legend of the Vampire, but I like this one much better. I think Crystal Harris, the voice actress who was Velma's singing voice in this movie, who sounds great here. 9. Shaggy Fun fact if you didn't know, the 2002 live action Scooby-Doo film originally had a completely different opening that provides a backstory to why the gang started chasing the Luna Ghost. This opening includes a cover of the Where Are You theme song by the rapper Shaggy (not to be confused with the character of the same name haha). I think Shaggy's version sounds quite good here, and Shaggy's additional rap verses work well for what they are. 8. MxPx Surprisingly, I had actually never heard this before writing this post. I thought I had, but when I relistened to all these, I had no memory of this. In contrast to the generic sounding Legend of the Vampire rock cover, I think this sounds really good! It reminds me a bit of Simple Plan's What's New, Scooby-Doo? theme song, as it's in that same 2000s punk rock vein. I think their take on the song sounds really good! Besides the version I linked, there's also apparently the "10 hour extreme extended version" of this song lol. 7. B-52s I genuinely did not realize this version was the B-52s until now, but that's really cool! You may recognize the B-52s for their famous hit, "Love Shack." I quite like how they got famous singers to perform the Where Are You theme song for these four Zombie Island era movies. That's a concept that easily could have been cringey, but I think in all four cases, they fit in really well. I think their version sounds really good, and I like the production here. 6. Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer's cover of this sounds great! The electronic production works really well here, and gives it a kind of out-of-this-world feel, which fits well with Alien Invaders for obvious reasons haha. 5. Third Eye Blind I really like Third Eye Blind's version of the cover. I like the echoey sound of their voices, and it feels very reminiscent of the new wave music that was becoming popular in the 90s. 4. Scooby-Doo, I'm So Blue This version of the theme song in Trick or Treat, Scooby-Doo when the gang has no monsters to catch is absolutely hilarious! It was so funny watching the gang doing odd jobs around town haha. 3. Billy Ray Cyrus The original two will always be my favorites, but this is easily my favorite cover. I think Billy's voice sounds great here combined with the groovy retro instrumental. The production feels very 60s to me, and the twang in Billy's voice sounds really good combined with it. 2. Season 2 Version The higher-pitched vocals are a cool spin on the original, and I think George A. Robertson sounds really good. However, the classic season 1 version will always be my favorite out of pure nostalgia. I'm not going to rank the unused instrumental version, since it basically just became the score music for the title card, and it was used a couple times as background music in the series. Which leaves us with my #1 choice... 1. Season 1 Version I hope you enjoyed this article! It was fun going through all the different versions of the theme song, and as always, if you want to share your own rankings, I'd love to see them in the comments!
47 Comments
Bigscoobydoofan
1/5/2023 10:30:45 am
I love how you don't even put an explanation for no. 1 its just a given lmaoooo 1/5/2023 01:14:26 pm
Hahahaha it's such a classic I had nothing else to say lol. Yeah, Billy's cover is amazing and I definitely considered putting it at #2, but the season 2 theme song just slightly edges it out for me.
Matt
1/5/2023 12:27:37 pm
I also just enjoyed the “no explanation needed” of number one lol 1/5/2023 01:19:49 pm
12. Haha yeah, it was you who made the "playground taunt" comment and it's so true lol. It's just so bad and it surprises me that many people seem to like it.
Matt
1/6/2023 04:15:39 pm
8. It doesn’t bother me a lot, just kind of a funny thing tbh
Jakob123
1/5/2023 01:52:42 pm
Here are my rankings for the versions of the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Theme Song
Dzsasztin
1/5/2023 06:40:51 pm
Number 1 and 2 spots are stable.
Jakob123
1/5/2023 08:51:35 pm
I still don't see what's there to dislike about the 2002 film or the second one in 2004. Sure I will admit they may not be perfect in some area's but that still didn't stop me from enjoying them. 1/6/2023 10:52:02 am
That's great that you enjoy the live action films! The biggest thing I don't like about the film is that Fred's personality is off and he acts like a narcissistic jerk sometimes, but I definitely enjoy aspects of the film. Other people's criticisms don't have to stop you from enjoying the film, and it's good to hear you still like the film despite its imperfections!
Becker
1/6/2023 02:02:27 pm
I honestly find Fred's douchiness one of the most entertaining aspects of the movie, it leads to a lot of funny lines and moments imo. The madlad even sneaks in a "biatch" in the film lmao. 1/6/2023 02:56:09 pm
I'm glad you like the madlad lol. I guess I just wasn't a fan of it because part of the charm of Fred for me is that his leadership style is socially awkward in a cute way (as we see through all the "Sassy Fred" antics haha), so turning him into a raging narcissist was too much for me. To each their own though :)
Matt
1/6/2023 04:19:51 pm
I am pretty indifferent on Fred’s attitude shifts in these movies because, truth be told, I don’t even really cross the movies together with the rest of the franchise much at all. Just like I don’t really mind Scrappy being the villain because I don’t consider it “canon”. And that is probably why this is one of the only times I don’t mind the Scrappy hate train and actually find it rather amusing
Becker
1/6/2023 05:00:45 pm
@Wildwind, I guess the absurdities that come out of Fred's gab really appeal to my sense of humor, they're highlights of the film for me.
Matt
1/6/2023 06:53:00 pm
I disagree with that last part. I really don’t think the movie changed many people’s minds about him and more so was just parodying it. I would say Cartoon Network really started it earlier than this movie 1/6/2023 10:21:41 pm
@Matt I don't think it helped that I saw the original movie as a kid around the same time I was introduced to Where Are You, so they're unfortunately tied in my mind, and not in a good way. I like your perspective that the two live-action movies are separate entities from the rest of the franchise! I think the Scrappy hate train works okay here; it was just the ridiculous overuse of it following that movie that I didn't like.
Dzsasztin
1/7/2023 05:14:46 am
I don't think the movie is bad as a movie, but as part of the Scooby-Doo franchise it doesn't deliver. Especially Fred, but the other members also act uncharacteristically selfish, it's just missing the wholesome vibe of their animated counterparts. They could split up and still like each other, like in Zombie Island. 1/7/2023 09:50:44 am
Completely agreed. I can see how people would find the selfishness funny, but I personally found it to be really out-of-character for the gang and thus didn't love that aspect of it. I thought they did a great job with having the gang split up in Zombie Island, and they were all quite nice to each other when they reunited instead of standoffish.
Matt
1/7/2023 02:32:31 pm
Agreed completely about the issue being the overuse. Honestly, I think if anything can be attributed to the Scrappy hate, it wouldn’t be the movie, probably wouldn’t even be Cartoon Network, it would be the rise of the internet 1/7/2023 03:39:42 pm
That's very true, I absolutely think the Internet played a huge role in it. I'd argue though that a little bit of it is those bumpers, because the 90s reruns of Scooby on Cartoon Network were instrumental in the franchise's resurrection after close to a decade of nearly no Scooby content. Embedding those Scrappy hating bumpers in there painted him a bad light, and I would argue that it likely made some fans jump on the hate train. All of that said, I agree with you that the main contributor was the Internet, but I feel like the bumpers planted the seed in people's minds that Scrappy was a terrible part of the franchise, or somehow led to its decline in the 90s. It was obviously the bad writing that made those Scrappy episodes not good to most fans, but Cartoon Network framed Scrappy as being the scapegoat, and the Internet only made it devolve from there.
Matt
1/8/2023 03:27:20 pm
I definitely agree that CN played a role in establishing it and the internet is what caused it to take off 1/8/2023 09:28:07 pm
I definitely agree with you there are comparisons that can be made between Zombie Island/Cyber Chase and the live-action films, since there are a lot of similarities. The quality is vastly different though haha. 1/6/2023 10:50:03 am
Yeah, even though they're odd, there's something appealing to me about Shaggy's rap verses on that version. They sound really good.
Becker
1/5/2023 07:36:39 pm
First off, it's not a hot take at all to say the Guess Who rendition sucks ass lol. I agree it's the worst by far. The singing isn't even so bad it's entertaining like the Get a Clue theme song, it's just so bad it's grating. 1/6/2023 10:54:09 am
I've heard quite a few fans say they like the Guess Who intro, but I've never gotten the appeal of it personally.
Matt
1/6/2023 04:14:27 pm
Yeah, I don’t get why people would like the Guess Who intro, but there are some who do. I also disagree that disliking it is an unpopular opinion though, as I could see it being pretty split, with me FIRMLY having it on the bad side. I don’t remember if I put this as my worst theme song when I last did a ranking, but I currently believe that this theme song is the worst Scooby theme song by a MILE, it is just flat out terrible 1/6/2023 10:26:42 pm
Yeah I probably could have worded that better, more of a lack of consensus than anything.
Matt
1/7/2023 02:34:20 pm
I absolutely still stand by my commentary on both of these, but yeah, I think Guess Who is easily the worse one at this point in time. At least Get a Clue was at least interestingly atrocious, and tried about as much as a complete ripoff song could 1/7/2023 03:34:03 pm
"Interestingly atrocious" is a good term for it lol. I definitely feel Get a Clue is in the "so bad it's funny" category and it ranks decently high on my theme song rankings as a result.
Lamont
1/6/2023 12:47:48 am
You did it! Thank you. I just wanted to see your ranking and opinions on them. And honestly my rankings are really, really close to being exactly like yours. 1/6/2023 10:59:51 am
8. "I wished the alternate opening was cut from the movie" I'm a little confused what you mean here because it was cut from the movie, unless you meant that you wish it wasn't cut from the movie. I personally really like the intro and I would have liked to see it stay in the movie. Shaggy's rap verses sound really good!
Lamont
1/6/2023 01:32:09 pm
Lol. I did mean wasn’t cut from the movie. Must’ve been auto correct or something.
Mr Neither
1/6/2023 04:39:56 am
An interesting read!
Gibby Norton
1/6/2023 08:20:53 am
This was a really neat and unique idea for a ranking list! Mine would probably be very similar, with the exception of the B-52's, who I absolutely hate the music of. I found out that they did that cover about 3-4 years ago whenever I was watching Cyber Chase thinking to myself how awful that version was to me and lo and behold, it was a band I didn't like! 1/6/2023 11:01:56 am
Thank you! Interesting you hate the B-52s. I enjoy "Love Shack" and I think a few other songs from them that I can't remember the names of. I agree it's the weakest of the Zombie Island era, but I still enjoy it for what it is.
scoobydoouk
1/6/2023 09:51:10 am
Another super geeky complaint about the guess who version, is how badly mixed the vocals are. It sounds unfinished. 1/6/2023 11:02:32 am
I agree that the vocals aren't well-mixed. The whole song sounds quite rushed all around, both with the vocals and production.
Matt
1/6/2023 04:21:36 pm
Agreed, the vocal mixing is atrocious, but then again, perhaps they would have had to actually tried with the theme song to achieve any better
Matt
1/7/2023 02:29:15 pm
To whoever made the Guess Who theme song: You oughta be ashamed of yourself!
Carson Maitland - Smith
1/7/2023 12:41:20 am
I like Best Coast's version
Jacob Staggs
1/7/2023 11:08:59 pm
3- Scooby Doo I'm So Blue- One of my favorite songs in the franchise. 1/8/2023 08:39:01 am
I forgot about Scooby-Doo I'm So Blue when I made my post, but it'd probably be pretty high on these rankings. I thought it was funny seeing the gang doing odd jobs around town haha.
Jakob123
1/15/2023 07:14:07 pm
Scooby-Doo, I'm So Blue (Sad but still Good) Leave a Reply. |
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