Superhero Songs

Call comic book collectors whatever you want: sweaty, socially challenged, more pale than Casper the Friendly Ghost. Whatever. The truth is we all love heroes and villains who leap off the page with superpowers and a solid spandex collection. And that goes for rock stars — the coolest of the cool — as stated emphatically via the muscular power chords of U2 — "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from Batman Forever — and the crushing metal of Anthrax's Judge Dredd homage, "I Am the Law." Superheroes get post-grunge, symphonic, and hip-hop treatments, in Next Steps.

Don't let anyone tell you you're too old for comics — you see, sometimes believing in heroes is all we can do, and these songs supplement the stories you know so well from the arena of pencil and ink. Foo Fighters provide the perfect anthem for any potential superhero with "Learn to Fly," while 3 Doors Down handle dangerous material ("Kryptonite"), and the classic, golden-age theme from Superman (1978) is provided by the London Symphony Orchestra. The Man of Steel comes in for special attention, in Deep Cuts.

Remember the time your dad took you to see the first Superman movie and how much you both wanted to watch good ol' Clark triumph over that Lex Luthor bozo? So do a slew of the following bands: enough to toast the chiseled, red-blue-and-yellow chest through psychedelic pop (Stereophonics), tattered and taut grunge (Bush), and jangly college rock (R.E.M.). By the way, Metropolis' master of averting disaster isn't the only superhero immortalized in song here . . .

Leaping across tall buildings, sucker-punching criminals, and saving the world can take a lot out of a guy. (Or gal, in the case of Wonder Woman.) That's why we've provided our most beloved superheroes from comic book panels and silver screens with tracks of proper theme music (thanks to Danny Elfman, Tyler Bates, et al), and it's also why we've sent out melodic "rescue me" pleas (check out Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero") — cuts that are as much about playing a guitar-slinging hero onstage as they are about battling bad guys. With or without the strength of ten men, stretchy limbs, and kryptonite issues, you're sure to love these tunes, because all of them take us into a wholly superhuman dimension.