Superhero Songs

When there’s some world saving or super-villain-bashing to be done, who ya gonna call, an accountant? Only superheroes can fill that bill, but even they can’t provide their own soundtrack – that’s where we come in. You can almost see the “Sock!” and “Pow!” flying by in cartoon balloons when the brassy blasts of Neal Hefti’s classic Batman Theme head your way, and you can’t help but start singing along with the song for your friendly neighborhood “Spiderman” before the first web is even slung. But rockers love paying tribute to their favorite costumed avengers too, like R.E.M. covering ’60s psych-poppers the Clique with the heroic hit “Superman.” And ever since his Sabbath days, Ozzy Osbourne’s been belting out the original metal anthem in more ways than one with his ominous ode to “Iron Man.”

Hear the stars pen their own praises to the superhero set in Next Steps.

Rock stars are larger-than-life icons themselves, so it’s only natural that they’d have an affinity for superheroes, and more than a few have penned an ode or two for comic-book crusaders. Back in their quirky new-wave days, XTC penned “Sgt Rock (Is Going to Help Me),” an infectious outcry to DC Comics’ miraculous military man. Prince pushed Batman out onto the Paisley Park dance floor for a little Dark Knight disco on #1 smash “Batdance.” And sometimes you don’t even need words to express your admiration for a classic comic character — guitar-slinger Joe Satriani’s interstellar shredding on the instrumental “Surfing With the Alien” is as towering a tribute as the Silver Surfer’s ever likely to get.

Take off the musical mask on songs for superheroes’ secret identities, in Deep Cuts.

You don’t have to shout out superheroes by name to sing their praises — there are all kinds of ways to salute them in song. Pete Yorn turned Nick Cave’s devilish “Red Right Hand” — which was itself used in The X-Files — into a spooky, simmering soundtrack for the daringly demonic Hellboy. Jim’s Big Ego honors The Flash by singing about the sorrows of the fleet-footed wonder’s secret identity on “The Ballad of Barry Allen.” And no one who has ever seen The Incredible Hulk film or TV series can hear Joe Harnell’s poignant piano piece “The Lonely Man Theme” without getting just a wee bit misty about the hard times of The Hulk’s alter ego, David Banner.

Stop for a moment to think about how much superheroes do for us — protecting the planet from the sinister whims of evildoers, crushing the crafty plans of criminal masterminds – it seems like the least we can offer in return is a batch of banging tunes. With that mighty mission in mind, we’ve foraged fearlessly in the secret soundtrack lair to find the theme music for everyone from Flash Gordon to The Power Puff Girls. Not stopping there, we stacked up a superhuman sampling of tunes by the Kinks, Jane’s Addiction, Anthrax, and more, all offering their own kind of salute to the caped crusaders, amiable aliens, and other comic-book cronies that make life on our little sphere more exciting. All you’ve got to do is step in and start soaking up all those super-heroic sounds.