About This Quiz
We all know some theme songs so well we start to sing them as soon as we hear the opening lyrics. (And sometimes, the song turns out to be more memorable than the show.) See if you can guess which theme song and which TV series go together.Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came ... In 1983, composer Gary Portnoy's song. "Where Everybody Knows Your Name," the theme song to the TV sitcom "Cheers," peaked at No. 28 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Set a course for adventure ... The "Theme From Love Boat" was performed by Jack Jones and written by Charles Fox and Paul Williams. And it was the opening song of "The Love Boat" from 1977 until 1986 (for the final season, it was replaced by Dionne Warwick's version). In 1980, the theme song peaked at No. 37 on the Adult Contemporary charts.
Waylon Jennings wrote and performed the theme song, "Theme From The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)." Both the show and the song were a hit, and "Good Ol' Boys" peaked at No. 21 on the Hot 100 in 1980.
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"Moonlighting strangers, who just met on the way ... " sings jazz veteran Al Jarreau over the opening titles to "Moonlighting." The song, "Moonlighting (Theme)," peaked at No. 23 on the Hot 100 in 1987.
Believe it or not, the "Theme From Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not)" went to No. 2 on the Hot 100 charts in 1981. Sung by Joey Scarbury, the theme song to ABC's "Greatest American Hero" was co-written by popular TV show composer Mike Post.
It was the theme song to the crime-fighting show "Knight Rider" -- starring David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight and his intelligent car, KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) -- you'll hear sampled in Busta Rhymes' song "Fire It Up. "Knight Rider" was originally broadcast on NBC from 1982 to 1986, more than a decade before the sample.
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Composer Jan Hammer scored "Miami Vice" from its premiere in late 1984 until he left in 1988 (the show continued until 1990). And that included writing the show's theme song, "Miami Vice Theme," which spent a week at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Pop album charts in November 1985. In 1986, it went on to win two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Best Instrumental Composition.
Popular television songwriter Mike Post composed "The Theme From Hill Street Blues," which went on to peak at No. 10 on the Hot 100 charts in 1981. That same year, it won the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy -- "instrumental," meaning it didn't have lyrics.
"Fame," performed by Irene Cara, is the theme song to both "Fame" the movie and "Fame" the TV show. In 1980, it won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as a Golden Globe.
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When "Simon & Simon" premiered, its opening theme song was "Best of Friends" by the Thrasher Brothers. But after the first season, it was replaced with a new theme, by Barry De Vorzon.
"WKRP" aired in part in the '70s and in part in the '80s, but it left us humming its theme song ever since. In fact, the "WKRP in Cincinnati" theme, by Steve Carlisle, peaked at No. 65 on the Hot 100 charts in 1981.
Because this was an instrumental song, there were no lyrics. The sweeping orchestral theme song to "Dynasty" not only broke into the Hot 100, it hit No. 18 on the Adult Contemporary charts in 1982. Maybe blame the shoulder pads?
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Bill Conti, who composed the theme, is an award-winning American composer and conductor who gave us the theme songs to "Falcon Crest" and "Dynasty," as well as to popular movie title songs "For Your Eyes Only," the "Rocky" series among many others.
The TV show "Square Pegs," starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Amy Linker as high school best friends Patty Greene and Lauren Hutchinson, was on for just 20 episodes. Its theme song, also called "Square Pegs," was performed by The Waitresses.
"Thunder, thunder, thundercats ... ho!" That's right, it's "Thundercats." Between 1985 and 1989, '80s kids had 130 episodes of fighting humanoid cats.
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During the first season of "Family Ties" in 1982, its theme song, "Without Us," was performed by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling. However, the song used for the remaining six seasons was performed by Deniece Williams and Johnny Mathis. "What would we do baby, without us? Sha la la la."
Between 1989 when it was written until 2016 when it was replaced by a theme song composed by hip-hop artist Lecrae, John Colby's six-note melody, "DaDaDa DaDaDa," was one of the most recognizable opening songs on television.
"As Long as We Got Each Other," the theme song to "Growing Pains," peaked at No. 7 on the Adult Contemporary charts in 1989.
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The opening animation sequence, "The Children's Television Sausage Factory," was set in motion to Rossini's "William Tell Overture," although not like you'd heard before. It was performed in a Dixieland jazz arrangement by The National Press Club and Allied Workers Jazz Band.
There were seven versions of "Kiss Me," the theme song to "The Cosby Show," which aired from 1984 to 1992. For Season 4, the song was performed by Bobby McFerrin.
It was "Empty Nest," the spinoff of "The Golden Girls" that used Billy Vera's "Life Goes On" as its theme song. Vera's most successful single of the '80s, though, didn't appear in "Empty Nest." It's the one '80s kids will all know him for: "At This Moment," used when Alex and Ellen break up on "Family Ties."
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That's Cyndi Lauper, not "Ellen Shaw," on the theme song to "Pee-wee's Playhouse." Lauper used the pseudonym because she had an album coming out, she explains in her autobiography. The opening and closing themes were also composed by another well-known '80s musician, Mark Mothersbaugh, formerly of the band Devo.
The crime drama "Booker," starring Richard Grieco, was a spinoff of the series "21 Jump Street." It only ran from September 1989 to May 1990 before it was canceled, but it used the Billy Idol song "Hot in the City" as its opening theme music. "Hot in the City" peaked at No. 23 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1982.
Based on events of the Vietnam war, "Tour of Duty" told the story of an Army platoon serving in the field. It used "Paint It Black" by the Stones as its theme song for the entire series, 1987 to 1990.
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"The Tracey Ullman Show" featured choreography by Paula Abdul (who hadn't yet had her own singing success), occasional shorts of a new animated cartoon about the Simpson family and a theme song that was written and performed by Parliament-Funkadelic founder George Clinton.
"L.A. Law's" theme song, which was performed by award-winning American saxophonist David Sanborn, charted in 1988, peaking at No. 13 on the Adult Contemporary charts. There were two versions that set the tone of the episode, one more lighthearted than the other.
When "Remington Steele" premiered in 1982, its opening theme was Henry Mancini's "Theme for Laura" (in reference to the main character, Laura Holt). But it was replaced in subsequent seasons with Mancini's song "Remington Steele."
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Not only did the opening song to this crime series peak at No. 25 on the Hot 100 in 1982, it was used in a successful Maybelline mascara commercial in 2010.
Before you knew him as the one who often composes for Tim Burton's films, Danny Elfman was a member of the band Oingo Boingo. In 1985, Elfman scored his first film, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure." And by 1989, Elfman was composing TV theme music, as well, including the theme song to "The Simpsons" -- which has since been covered by Yo La Tengo, Sigur Ros, and others.
Award-winning composer Dave Grusin wrote the memorable theme song, "Theme From St. Elsewhere," for the medical drama. The song peaked at No. 15 on the Adult Contemporary charts in 1984. "St. Elsewhere" followed the staff of St. Eligius Hospital and ran from 1982 to 1988.
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You know award-winning composer John Williams from his scores like "Star Wars," "Harry Potter" and "Jaws." "NBC Sunday Night Football"? "NBC Nightly News"? Those, too. Williams has also composed music for four Olympic Games, including the "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, "The Olympic Spirit" for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, "Summon the Heroes" for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and "Call of the Champions" for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Billy Joel's "My Life" was already a hit before it was used as the theme song to "Bosom Buddies" in 1980. That wasn't Joel singing, though, and when the show went to syndication and home video release, the song was removed and replaced with one called "Shake Me Loose," performed by Stephanie Mills.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." The police sitcom "Sledge Hammer!" aired from 1986 to 1988, and starred David Rasche as Inspector Sledge Hammer. While producers tried to get the rights to use Peter Gabriel's hit "Sledgehammer" for the titles, it was too expensive. Instead, the theme music was composed by Danny Elfman.
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It was the mid-'80s sitcom, "Designing Women," starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Jean Smart and Meshach Taylor, that used Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind" as its theme song. Did you know that although we all think of Charles when we think of the song, he actually isn't the composer? It was written in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell. Ray Charles didn't record it until 1960.
The title music to "The Wonder Years," a sitcom set in the 1960s, was Joe Cocker's cover of "With a Little Help from My Friends." It was originally recorded for the Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."