3. All Time High (from Octopussy) by Rita Coolidge
That sexy saxophone, a bass-strum, immediately clarifies how something is off. And poor Rita, with her head band proudly worn on the sleeve, drearily moans about her brief distraction. She sounds high as a kite and, rather than a James Bond video, it could be played against a dream-sequence in unicorn-and-rainbow land.
2. The World Is Not Enough by Garbage
Perhaps it is among the better videos for the Bond series but the song is surely a world away from the ‘Goldeneye‘ and ‘Tomorrow Never Dies‘. From bands like A-ha and Duran Duran to crap-brit-rock-band Garbage, standards seemed to have dropped. That twanging guitar and weird shoe-horned lyric (“There’s no point in living, if you can’t feel alive”), sneaking a line from the film into the song, is frankly uninspired.
1. Another Way To Die (from Quantum of Solace) by Alicia Keys and Jack White
On paper, this was perfect. That’s part of the reason the failure of the song is so frustrating. The White Stripes via Alicia Keys: a match made in heaven? If only. Instead, the busyness of piano, guitar and bass seemingly playing the same thing lacks the oomph that it clearly aspires to reach. Keys and White hardly push the boat out on the vocals either. Then there’s the whole is-it-a-guitar-solo section abruptly ending revealing the juttery strums was the solo in its entirety. “Wo-oh-ah-oh-oh-ah”
What are your worst Bond theme songs? Let us know in the comments below…
Simon Columb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=1lFgQ9GjirU
Originally published September 25, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
