As stated previously Batman has always been a pretty great barometer of popular culture and how that translates to film can always be measured by the music used. In film and television music is used to set the mood and tone (unless your film is No Country For Old Men being that it is way to fucking awesome for any music that has ever been created) and the Batman movies are no different. Before Christopher Nolan took them in a sort of dark/modern pseudo Michael Manesque direction Batman on film used all kinds of different music in parlance with the time it was created and the style of the film. This is going to be an examination of the good, the bad and the terrible in Batman soundtracks over the years. Some of these songs were my jams as a kid, some are pretty emberrasing and some are still my jams now. More then anything what it shows is that Batman has always been big business in the entertainment industry and record labels where as willing to cash in on Bat’s and friends just as fast as the movie/television studios. This is a selection of Batman tunes that I think illustrate the evolution of the film soundtracks over the years.
Neal Hefti-Batman 1966 TV theme
This song was composed and arranged by jazz artist Neal Hefti who would later go on the release an album titled Hefti In Gotham based around the songs he composed for the television show. He also one a Grammy for this score as well. In addition to his own work such as the weirdly charmingly titled debut Swinging On Coral Reef he also did several movie scores, most notably the classic and far superior soundtrack for The Odd Couple. The Batman theme is pure camp taking the surf rock vibe that was already going out of style and essentially making it accessible for everybody but that’s also exactly what it should have been for that show at that time. Keep in mind this is 1966 where Batman is not yet ubiquitous, rock and roll is still new and access to information was less then 1/10th of the availability we had available today. Sure Bob Dylan, James Brown & The Beatles had already transcended that sound but it’s not like the people watching Batman at the time of it’s broadcast knew or cared. As a song it’s a kind of dopey jingle that holds up over time both as a cultural artifact and as a theme. Anytime someone mentions the TV show I’ll bet the song is the first thing you think of and as a musical introduction of the hero into pop culture at large you could do a whole lot worst
Prince-Partyman
It has been well documented around these parts that I love me some Prince but in a way even I got to admit this is a little bit of an awkward pairing. At the time of it’s creation Prince had been slipping in sales on his last two albums and was basically shoe horned into being a part of the soundtrack by his label Warner Brothers who also were creating the movie. The thing about is that if you had a Batman movie that was based in 1980’s urban America this soundtrack could almost work but I think is spite of the films attempts at gritty that’s a pretty far fetched claim for that movie no matter how much that was the intent. Batman at the time as a film was too safe for that; especially for Prince whose music is like at minimum 60% about boning. For Prince it’s pretty good albeit a bit by the numbers for him. For the tone and style of the film it doesn’t really make sense. Still it’s funny to listen to Prince trying to make music about the movie like Partyman which is ostensibly about the Joker without really having anything to do with the Joker we see in the film. I haven’t watched this movie all the way through in decades in spite of my best attempts but I have memories of Jack Nicholson dancing around to this tune in the movie as Joker. Pretty awesome visual even if it only exist in my head.
Siouxsie & The Banshee’s-Face to Face
I honestly had no idea this even existed until about a week ago when I did ten minutes of research for this article. This was essentially the only pop song on a soundtrack that was composed entirely by Danny Elfman. Sioxsie and The Banshee’s were a British punk band from the the late 1970’s that like a lot of punk bands from that period transitioned into something else during the post punk era of 1980’s. While not quite a household name in 2014 they did inspire such acts as U2, Raidiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Sonic Youth, The Cure, LCD Soundstystem & The Weeknd so their importance can’t really be overstated in that regard. Your enjoyment of this particular song which was released about four years prior from the group disbanding will probably be dependent on your enjoyment of the Batman Returns film which in my case is not at all. Still you have what works as a precursor for Jewels Intuition so if you ever wanted to know that here you go.
U2-Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
So he we are with the super awkward everything in the kitchen sink era of Shumaker films starting with of course U2 doing a song about boning, I think. Fun fact: when I was a kid I had no idea that U2 was a political band at one point. All I heard was like this, With or Without You and Numb. I literally thought all their songs where about love until heard the reference to Sunday Bloody Sunday in Kids. I will say that this is some fantastic guitar playing on Edge’s part and the animation in this video is better then pretty much anything in either Shumaker films. Hold on to your seats because it only get’s weirder from here.
Seal-Kiss From A Rose
This makes absolutely no sense. No sense for the tone of the film, for Batman in general or really in modern pop culture at the time. Seal literally never ages including his music which is this weird adult contemporary that doesn’t really sound like it belongs in any era and that can work really well in film soundtracks depending on how it’s done as seen in the superior in every Clockers and his Bird Of Freedom that I still jam to right now almost 20 years after it’s release. Kiss From A Rose in and of itself is a decent tune that has certainly outlived the context of it’s creation and it’s arguably the most timeless song out of all the work on the Batman soundtracks over the years but if you think of it in the context of the film or Batman in general it feels pretty incomprehensible as to why this movie was the reason for it’s existence
Method Man-The Riddler
Now this right here could possibly the greatest Batman soundtrack single to ever be created even though it’s basically a footnote in Wu-Tangs mythology. For my money the Wu with their dark/gritty urban dystopio meet’s surrealism and fringe bro pop culture of Kung Fu movies, 80’s Joh Woo and classic gangster flicks is the ONLY group that should make music for Batman soundtracks. I mean go listen to that Ghost Dog score and tell me you wouldn’t love to hear that in a Batman movie if Hans Zimmer & Danny Elfman weren’t available. Sadly it seems the time where that would even be the faintest of possibilities has long since passed as The Wu are more legends for a specific type of rap fan then a real force in modern pop culture and Batman is way too big business to be handed over to a bunch of drugged out weirdos from the outer boro slums of New York City but we will always have The Riddler by Method Man and it is as glorious today as it was when I had it on repeat in 1995.
Smashing Pumpkins-The End Is The Beginning Is The End
You’d be heard pressed to find a band that pissed away it’s super stardom and good will faster then The Smashing Pumpkins who were probably the biggest rock band in the world at the time of this songs release after the success of Mellon-collie & The Infinite Sadness. With that said The End Is The Beginning….. is a pretty good Smashing Pumpkins song. It’s not Today, Disarm or Bullet With Butterfly Wings but it’s also not Adore either. This is for the ultra terrible Shumaker joint Batman & Robin that is probably ten times worst then you remember it being and the soundtrack is about as ridiculous if not more as will see with the next song including Goo Goo Dolls and Jewel managing to be the most 1997 thing ever created in the worst way possible but this is a bright spot. The title is also pretty hilarious in hindsight. The beginning of the end for The Smashing Pumpkins? The end of crappy Shumaker Batman movies? The beginning of good Batman movies? So many puns so little time.
R Kelly-Gotham City
It literally does not get any more ridiculous as is par for the course with Kells. I mean the dude is wearing a cow print stetson while riding a motorcycle with skulls on the handlebars and that is literally just the first five seconds of the video. Even for R Kelly this is just too much. It has the unique distinction of being absolutely phoned in while also feeling tragically over done. And then there is a gospel choir and you are actually watching/listening to the exact moment when 90’s pop culture jumped the shark. Anybody who ever thought this was a good idea should never be allowed to make another decision ever again.
Bone Thugs & Harmony-Look Into My Eyes
Has the unique distinction of being the last great Bone Thugs song, the last song in Bone’s great soundtrack work trilogy preceded by Everyday Thang from The Show & Days Of Our Lives from Set It Off and the only rap song on the soundtrack in spite of it’s prominence in pop culture at the time. This video is so weird and awkward with the clips of the movie cut into the video, Bone rapping in random urban back drops and some dude whose face changes who later takes off said faces and lays them on the table of a business meeting. I sincerely hope Grant Morrison was involved in this somehow.
Nothing But Comics 
As good as the Seal song is, my favorite is still “Face to Face”. Always loved that song. Really should rewatch Batman Returns sometime — it’s been way too long . . .
That said, in my mind, the greatest writer of music for Batman remains Danny Elfman:
The score in the second film got even lovelier:
What all this goes to show, Pat, is that you’re right. A wide variety of Batman narratives require a wide variety of musical styles. There is room for everything.
Yeah mos def. And yeah the orchestra scores that I kind of avoided here are probably superior to everything mention (beised The Riddler) but I wan’ted to focus on pop music since there is SO MUCH and because it’s something I know a lot more about especially the Batman soundtracks being that I have distinct memories of all of those from different points of my youth.
That’s completely fair, Patrick. When I noticed that there was no Zimmer, I figured that you were skipping scores. I will admit that while I think that the Zimmer music works well in the movies, I don’t like it enough to listen to on its own.
See, for me, the Elfman soundtracks are part of my youth. I listened to them constantly, and, like the movies themselves, have plenty of nostalgic associations with them.