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Top 10 Corniest 80's TV Theme Songs

May 12th, 2008 9:02am EDT Post a comment

In today's TV climate, several shows don't even bother with theme songs (Lost, for example). Or the songs are barely a blip on the screen (Grey's Anatomy). That wasn't the case 20 years ago.

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14 Member Comments

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Mon May 12 2008 12:41:59 By: LizzieFizzie33 (

194)
Oh, come on Matthew. Some of these sitcom songs were great to sing along to in my opinion. Gotta love the "Facts of Life" and "The Golden Girls." They were good ol' fun songs when sitcoms were all the rage in the 80's. Thank goodness, you didn't mention "The Jeffersons, "227" or "All in the Family." Some cheesy sitcom songs rule in my book :)

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Mon May 12 2008 12:57:44 By: OrlandoLuver (

1492)
One person's trash is another one's treasure...these songs just don't hold up well, LizzieFizzie. Hokey Pokey!

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Mon May 12 2008 14:57:33 By: Tom Sizemore (

18677)
Facts of Life theme is so catchy and annoying!

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Mon May 12 2008 18:02:26 By: xAngiex (

87)
sometimes I can't myself humming the theme song to Full House... I can't believe I used to watch Small Wonder.
Family Ties was such a great show even though the theme song was corny.

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Mon May 12 2008 23:04:19 By: Charliepride (

6)
You are very odd with the comments. I like to hear songs with a good meaning other than the music that we hear on the radio everyday. When I listened to these songs, it brings my childhood back and I like that a song can do that with good memories. Years from now when I hear that Shorty got low, low, low, I will not remember it with the same great feelings as Family Matters, All in the Family and even Small Wonder's theme songs.

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Mon May 12 2008 23:28:04 By: mswanson (

66)
Of course those songs are fun for the purpose of reminiscing, but would you crank them up with your car windows down? As far as The Jefferson's song goes, of course that rules. I was going to do a list of the BEST theme songs, but it would have just been the Black shows. Let's face it, they all kicked X@@##!.
Orlando: Yes, not so good . . .
Sizemore: Catchy? Check. Annoying? Double check.
Angie: I agree that Family Ties was good. It's the only one on that list that could be consistently good with the serious, or "very special" episodes.
Charlie: I get the same feeling when I hear a couple of those, but I'm not sure if that means they are good songs. Still, I feel you . . .

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Wed May 14 2008 00:58:28 By: LizzieFizzie33 (

194)
Mswanson, I don't get your comment. So what if some of the BEST theme songs would have just been the Black shows? The issue is not the race of the people in the shows, it's just about the theme songs. And besides, sitcoms are sitcoms, regardless of race. They are to be enjoyed, simply. If all the BEST show theme songs were white shows would you have said that they would have been 'just the White shows?' All the shows on your current Top 10 Corniest are all 'white shows,' in keeping with the terminology you used. Did race come into play when you made that list? A list should be just a list. Sans race. I hope you can somewhat get my point.

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Sun May 18 2008 12:48:16 By: mswanson (

66)
Hey, Liz.
Thanks for coming back!
I hope you didn't get the wrong idea. I was merely pointing out that the Black shows had the best theme songs: The Jeffersons, Good Times, Sanford and Son, What's Happenin', and to a lesser extent, What's Happenin' Now.
Can't we all just get along? Let's join hands and sing the Hogan Family song . . .

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Sun May 18 2008 17:09:41 By: LizzieFizzie33 (

194)
I'm not mad at you Mswanson. You're my fellow writer. We are cool. The Hogan Family song... life is indeed a sweet insanity.

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Mon May 19 2008 15:24:40 By: VaNavigator (

1)
Golden Girls theme:
Years before it was the Golden Girls theme song, "Thank You for Being a Friend" was released as a single by Andrew Gold about 1978 or 1979. The biggest gift line is straight from the song; I was disappointed that they didn't use this verse instead:
And when we both get older
With walking canes and hair of gray
Have no fear, even though it's hard to hear
I will stand real close and say,
Thank you for being a friend

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Thu May 29 2008 16:05:15 By: mswanson (

66)
Lizzie: Glad we're cool. Us writers have to stick together, after all. I get embarrassed watching that Hogan Family clip, and I wasn't even involved in it. Does that ever happen to any of you?
VaNavigator: I got a little teary eyed from that. Who's corny now . . .

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Wed Jun 4 2008 16:00:44 By: shockerman69 (

1)
these songs are awesome! I got half on a CD. I blast them while driving my 1985 wood-panel station wagon... chicks dig it and my mullet... some of my other favorites are the "Married with Children" theme song and "Dear John".

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Thu May 21 2009 15:53:12 By: mswanson (

66)
Shockerman69: That wood-panneled "grocery-getter" sounds PHAT! Dear John was a really dorky one that I almost wish I had included.

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Fri Oct 30 2009 12:12:01 By: Anonymous User
Not corny at all. These theme songs were a big part of what made 80's TV great.
I don't even need cable anymore. Just a TV and a dvd/vhs player.

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