Best to worst Bond theme song

"Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and The Wings was probably the first Bond theme to stray quite far from the original recipe. While this makes it less recognizably Bond it still has the essential four chords that make it "Bondy" enough. It makes it to the top of my list for being just a very catchy, nice song while also opening up the franchise to more musical experimentation.

Grade: A+

I find it very difficult to rank the Connery/Barry era themes with vocals. They're all great and legendary. Most people would probably chose Goldfinger because it's so recognizable, but my top position narrowly goes to "You Only Live Twice" by Nancy Sinatra for being slightly more unique. It has this nice touch of Japanese instrumentation while being perhaps a tad more emotional. The tune is just so nice and memorable, which is why I think it has been remixed and reinterpreted so many times.

Grade: A+

"A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran has it all. It's very recognizably Bond. It's very recognizably Duran Duran. It's a catchy, hard hitting and emotional without ever getting boring. Also + points for perfectly catching the 80s style of music.

Grade: A+

While not a strong personal favorite I recognize that the Tina Turner theme for Goldeneye is really catchy and recognizable. I seem to remember that the song was played everywhere when the film was released in the 90s. It also marked a return to the original style of Bond themes, as was the case with Skyfall, but still retains its own unique style and sound.

Grade: A

"Tomorrow Never Dies" by Sheryl Crow is in my opinion one of the most underrated Bond themes. It's slightly more low key than many of the others at the top of my list but shows how to perfectly execute a slower Bond theme. It has a very nice guitar back play during the verses which is almost reminiscent of Led Zeppelin or The Eagles, while Sheryl has a very beautiful voice. Unlike many of the other slower Bond themes it also has a strong climax during the refrain with this classy blues piano which prevents it from ever becoming boring, and a very smooth transition back to the verse.

The film has an additional end title song called "Surrender" by K.D. Lang which is also quite good.

Grade: A

It was played almost constantly on the radio back in 2012 and everywhere you could hear people humming around to the Skyfall chorus by Adele. It's a very catchy song which falls quite close to the original style of Bond themes despite being made in the 2010s. Probably the best Bond theme of the Craig era. Only reason it doesn't get top grade is for being slightly generic.

Grade: A-

The original jazz/blues big band orchestra theme by Monty Norman and John Barry gets a lot of points for being first and having created what could almost be called a musical genre. It laid the groundwork for all the music to come. It's perhaps not something you would just listen to as a standalone piece of music though.

Grade: A-

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" sort of cheats by having two Bond themes. There is the opening theme by John Barry which has no vocals, but it's a great classical Bond theme with the addition of this really awesome synth sound which would become common in later Bond soundtracks. Then there is the love song "We Have All The Time In The World" by Barry and Louis Armstrong which is very emotional and beautiful. Really great all together.

Grade: A-

One of the most recognizable Bond themes of all time. Though personally I think the singing of Shirley Bassey is a bit over the top at times.

Grade: B+

The Roger More era had a lot of nice, soft pop songs for their Bond themes. "Nobody Does It Better" than Carly Simon and it's probably the most chill Bond song of all time. Perhaps a bit too slow at times, but still a very nice song. + points for funny appearance in Lost in Translation.

Grade: B+

Another strong contender from the Connery era and a true classic. Slightly slower and more sentimental than the rest, in a good way.

Grade: B+

If someone were to make a parody of what a typical Bond theme sounds like I think it would sound like this song by Tom Jones, and I really like it.

Grade: B

Musically "The Man with the Golden Gun" by Lulu is probably one of the most awesome Bond themes of all time, with this very cool 70s guitar riff playing behind a classical, hard hitting Bond theme. But it gets some minus points for its slightly awkward lyrics.

Grade: B

"The Living Daylights" by A-ha has a lot of the same qualities as "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran. I would rank them quite equally, except that the A-ha theme has slightly less punch, while Duran Duran gets extra points for being first. This also marks the last Bond song that I would qualify as unambiguously good. The rest of the list is a slightly more mixed bag.

Grade: B

"License to Kill" is not a bad song and I really like the singing by Gladys Knight. In between all the other great Bond songs however it is slightly anonymous and forgettable.

Grade: C

"All Time High" by Rita Coolidge has a lot of similarities to "Nobody Does It Better" of the same era. It's very nostalgic to listen to and I especially like the end of the chorus when Rita goes in to this low pitch with a smooth guitar back play. On the whole however the song is perhaps a bit boring.

Grade: C

"Never Say Never Again" is not really a part of the cannon, but the song by Lani Hall is actually quite cool. It gives me a bit of the same vibe as Barry Manilow's Copacabana, but it doesn't feel very right for Bond and it's also a tad too slow.

Grade: C

Another song by Shirley Bassey, who might be called the queen of Bond songs. By all accounts this is also a strong Bond theme, but the lyrics are a bit lazy and I would probably call it the weakest of the Connery era songs.

Grade: C

"Casino Royale" by Chris Cornell is probably my second favorite Craig era song. It has a strong rock vibe which is cool. I especially like the verses of the song. However, the song falls a bit flat for me during the refrain.

Grade: C

Yet another Bassey song. Not bad, but a bit forgettable in my opinion.

Grade: C-

"The World Is Not Enough" is not garbage at all. It has a very strong Bond vibe and interesting vocals. The verses are a bit slow though and the refrain a bit too generic. The last 30 seconds are really great though.

Grade: C-

Like a lot of Craig era Bond themes "Writing's On The Wall" by Sam Smith has all the right sounds and ingredients needed to make a good Bond theme. The problem however is that it spends a lot of time building up to this climax in the refrain which is quite underwhelming when it finally arrives, and that makes the song fall flat for me. Radiohead made their own proposal for this movie which was rejected. As a big fan of Radiohead I probably like the rejected version more, but even that song suffers from an anticlimactic refrain, in my opinion.

Grade: D

I really like Billie Eilish and her top hit "Bad Guy" is one of the most catchy songs of the decade, but my criticism of Spectre's "Writing's On The Wall" feels equally valid for her theme "No Time To Die".

Grade: D

"For Your Eyes Only" by Sheena Easton is probably the best song at the bottom of my list. It's a good 80's ballad, but I have never been a big fan of ballads like this. I can't find anything James Bond about the song either, so that's why it ranks so low. Sorry Sheena :)

Grade: D

I have som friends who really like this song so this might be controversial. "Another Way to Die" was made by Alicia Keys and Jack White from the White Stripes. I'm a big fan of the latter so I really want to like this song. It starts of quite nicely with a clear Bond feel, while still being very recognizably Alicia Keys and Jack White. Around the one minute mark however the song reaches its refrain and I find it really naggy and tiresome to listen to. Sorry to all the fans out there.

Grade: E

Madonna has so many great songs and could have been a great contender for a making a memorable Bond song. I also think the Bond music franchise remains relatively unexplored by the electronic music industry. More than anything else I would love to see a Bond theme which could be played in a Berlin style dance club. I don't know if that's what they attempted to do here, but whatever it was it wasn't successful. From the annoying strings to the repetitive lyrics and just flat progression, this is not a good song.

Grade: F