The 6 Best Songs About Super Heroes
6. "Iron Man"
by Black Sabbath
This song featured a crude, unsubtle, and stupid guitar line... and I mean that in a good way. It's a metal song for people who don't normally like metal. Prior to the huge swell of hype for the movie, the comic book character wasn't very well known by most Americans -- he never had the fame Superman or Spider-Man achieved -- so this song really boosted his public image. Iron Man owes it all to Ozzy.
5. "Silent E"
by Tom Lehrer
"Silent E? Who's Silent E?" I hear you ask. Well, if you don't recognize this hero's name right away, it's probably because he didn't have a movie or a comic book. In fact, he doesn't exist outside of the context of this song. The Silent E song was created for the educational television show The Electric Company. If you weren't alive in the 70s, it came on right after Mr. Rogers and it stared Morgan Freeman as a character who loved to read. (This experience served Mr. Freeman well, as he now frequently plays characters who love to narrate.) Anyway, Silent E had the very special power of being able to turn a can into a cane. If that's not reason enough to love it, consider this: the song was written and performed by Tom Lehrer!
"Who's Tom Lehrer?" I hear you ask. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I reply.
4. "Superman Song"
by the Crash Test Dummies
It's a little maudlin, but it's mostly surprisingly touching. It's everything that the damn Five for Fighting song isn't. It's got those arresting basement deep vocals and it has strong lyrics,although they do pick on Tarzan a bit too much. Tarzan want to know -- what Tarzan ever do to earn contempt of Crash Test Dummies?
Runner up: I Am Superman by R.E.M
3. "Jimmy Olsen's Blues"
by the Spin Doctors
First off, it's a great jealousy song. It's not quite as good as "Is She Really Going Out With Him" but it's easily on par with "Jessie's Girl." Second, it's nice to a different spin on Superman. From Jimmy Olson's point of view... the Man of Steel is a major game killer. How's a regular guy like Jimmy supposed to get any love with competition like that?
2. "Spider-Man"
by The Ramones
The list is based on original pop songs, not cover versions of existing theme songs. But this is the Ramones, so to hell with rules! Rules are for bands with less punk cred, bub!
1. "The Ballad of Barry Allen"
by Jim's Big Ego
If you didn't already know, Barry Allen is better known as The Flash. (The BEST version of the Flash, by the way. The one who originally died in the 80s and who just came back from the dead... presumably to catch the premiere of Iron Man movie.) Anyway, this song has a different take on hero. For this guy, running super fast and saving the girl is easy, but moving slowly enough to sit through a seemingly endless conversation with the girl is a draining workout.
Sample lyric:
And you say the time goes rushing by
But it seems so slow to me
And I want to be there when you laugh or cry
But it takes too long
It seems so slow to me
This song packs an emotional punch that can knock out even Captain Cold.
by Black Sabbath
This song featured a crude, unsubtle, and stupid guitar line... and I mean that in a good way. It's a metal song for people who don't normally like metal. Prior to the huge swell of hype for the movie, the comic book character wasn't very well known by most Americans -- he never had the fame Superman or Spider-Man achieved -- so this song really boosted his public image. Iron Man owes it all to Ozzy.
5. "Silent E"
by Tom Lehrer
"Silent E? Who's Silent E?" I hear you ask. Well, if you don't recognize this hero's name right away, it's probably because he didn't have a movie or a comic book. In fact, he doesn't exist outside of the context of this song. The Silent E song was created for the educational television show The Electric Company. If you weren't alive in the 70s, it came on right after Mr. Rogers and it stared Morgan Freeman as a character who loved to read. (This experience served Mr. Freeman well, as he now frequently plays characters who love to narrate.) Anyway, Silent E had the very special power of being able to turn a can into a cane. If that's not reason enough to love it, consider this: the song was written and performed by Tom Lehrer!
"Who's Tom Lehrer?" I hear you ask. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I reply.
4. "Superman Song"
by the Crash Test Dummies
It's a little maudlin, but it's mostly surprisingly touching. It's everything that the damn Five for Fighting song isn't. It's got those arresting basement deep vocals and it has strong lyrics,although they do pick on Tarzan a bit too much. Tarzan want to know -- what Tarzan ever do to earn contempt of Crash Test Dummies?
Runner up: I Am Superman by R.E.M
3. "Jimmy Olsen's Blues"
by the Spin Doctors
First off, it's a great jealousy song. It's not quite as good as "Is She Really Going Out With Him" but it's easily on par with "Jessie's Girl." Second, it's nice to a different spin on Superman. From Jimmy Olson's point of view... the Man of Steel is a major game killer. How's a regular guy like Jimmy supposed to get any love with competition like that?
2. "Spider-Man"
by The Ramones
The list is based on original pop songs, not cover versions of existing theme songs. But this is the Ramones, so to hell with rules! Rules are for bands with less punk cred, bub!
1. "The Ballad of Barry Allen"
by Jim's Big Ego
If you didn't already know, Barry Allen is better known as The Flash. (The BEST version of the Flash, by the way. The one who originally died in the 80s and who just came back from the dead... presumably to catch the premiere of Iron Man movie.) Anyway, this song has a different take on hero. For this guy, running super fast and saving the girl is easy, but moving slowly enough to sit through a seemingly endless conversation with the girl is a draining workout.
Sample lyric:
And you say the time goes rushing by
But it seems so slow to me
And I want to be there when you laugh or cry
But it takes too long
It seems so slow to me
This song packs an emotional punch that can knock out even Captain Cold.
posted by The Editors at
3:36 PM
3 Comments:
Iron Man isn't even about the superhero so why did it make the list? Unless you're talking about just the song's title boosting popularity for Iron Man comics, it really has no business being up there. Read the lyrics. Theyr're nothing about the superhero. It's about a guy who traveled time and came back to warn the people of an apocalypse but he get's transformed into an 'Iron Man' due to a magnetic field or something. People don't want to listen to him, so he starts killing them. That's when he finds out he caused the apocalypse he saw in the future. That's NOT about the superhero.
If you're going to include Silent E (and I do remember Electric Company!), you really have to look at My Hero Zero from School House rock. Better song, and at least as important a hero, if not more so....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8_csLwnc20
The lead singer of Jim's Big Ego is the nephew of Carmine Infantino, the co-creator of Barry Allen.
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