Top 10 Rock Songs Used Perfectly For TV Show Themes

Feature Photo: Robert Plant by Sterling Munksgard / Shutterstock.com

When compiling this list of the Top 10 Rock Songs Used Perfectly for TV Show Themes, the first decision we made was to exclude songs that were written specifically for television. After all, these songs have an inherent advantage, crafted with the sole purpose of becoming memorable themes. So, you won’t find classics like “Welcome Back” from Welcome Back, Kotter, the instrumental theme from Hawaii Five-O, or even The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You” from Friends. Instead, this list celebrates the inspired decisions made by television producers who chose classic rock songs that aligned perfectly with the themes and tone of their shows.

The idea behind this list was to identify songs that not only fit seamlessly into the opening credits but also added depth, character, and mood to the drama or comedy of their respective shows. We sought out a variety of tracks, spanning different styles and decades, and also deliberately steered clear of the more obvious choices, like The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” for CSI. Our aim was to highlight songs that might be a bit more unexpected, yet no less impactful, in their contribution to television history.

We spent a lot of time curating this list, delving into the finer details of each song and its usage, to deliver a compelling read that offers new insights into some of your favorite shows. We hope you enjoy revisiting these classic tunes and maybe even discover a few new favorites along the way.

# 10 – Cleveland Rocks – Ian Hunter / The Presidents of the United States of America (The Drew Carey Show)

“Cleveland Rocks” was originally written and recorded by Ian Hunter for his 1979 album You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic, but the version that became inseparable from The Drew Carey Show was the 1997 cover by The Presidents of the United States of America. Drew Carey’s Cleveland-set sitcom used the Presidents’ recording with its exuberant song-and-dance opening sequence, turning Hunter’s celebration of the city into one of the most recognizable television themes of the 1990s. The connection works because the song does more than mention Cleveland—it carries the city’s humor, pride, and blue-collar rock-and-roll energy directly into the show before an episode even begins.

Read More: Top 10 Ian Hunter Songs

# 9 – Funk 50 – Joe Walsh – ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown

Joe Walsh’s “Funk 50” grew directly out of his long association with the riff-driven sound of the James Gang classic “Funk #49.” Walsh initially recorded “Funk #50” specifically for ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, where its punchy guitar groove made a natural fit for football highlights and fast-moving sports coverage, and he later expanded the piece with lyrics for his 2012 album Analog Man. That connection between a made-for-ESPN version and the fuller album recording gives the song an unusual history, but in either form the reason it works on sports television is immediate: the riff arrives fast, carries momentum, and sounds like something built to accompany impact.

Read More: Top 10 Joe Walsh Songs

# 8 – Jessica – The Allman Brothers Band (Top Gear)

“Jessica,” Dickey Betts’ instrumental from The Allman Brothers Band’s 1973 album Brothers and Sisters, became one of television’s most natural marriages of music and subject when its melody was adopted by the British motoring program Top Gear. The song had been associated with the original series since 1977 and remained part of the program’s musical identity through later versions and arrangements. Betts’ flowing guitar lines, Chuck Leavell’s piano, and the track’s open-road momentum make it almost impossible to hear “Jessica” without picturing cars in motion, which is exactly why it has worked so well for a show built around the pleasures, frustrations, and sheer excitement of driving.

# 7 – Lawyers, Guns and Money – Warren Zevon (Justice)

Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” released on his 1978 album Excitable Boy and produced by Jackson Browne and Waddy Wachtel, was a wonderfully sharp choice for the short-lived 2006 Fox legal drama Justice. Zevon’s narrator has managed to land himself in an escalating international mess and calls for exactly the sort of professional help promised by the title, giving the song the dark humor, danger, and legal connection that fit a series centered on a high-powered Los Angeles law firm handling headline-making cases. The show lasted only one season, but using one of Zevon’s funniest and most desperate songs as its opening theme was inspired.

Read More: Top 10 Warren Zevon Songs

# 6 – Paint It, Black – The Rolling Stones (Tour of Duty)

“Paint It, Black,” written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and released by The Rolling Stones in 1966, was used as the opening theme for the broadcast version of the CBS Vietnam War drama Tour of Duty, which ran from 1987 to 1990. The recording’s dark mood, Brian Jones’ unforgettable sitar part, Charlie Watts’ relentless rhythm, and Mick Jagger’s vocal give the song a sense of grief and unease that immediately places the viewer in a world shaped by loss and psychological strain. Although “Paint It, Black” was written two decades before the series, its atmosphere made it feel uncannily suited to a drama about American soldiers living through the Vietnam War.

# 5 – Stuck in the Middle with You – Stealers Wheel / Grace Potter (Grace and Frankie)

“Stuck in the Middle with You” was written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and became a major hit for Stealers Wheel in 1973, but Grace and Frankie used a cover performed by Grace Potter as its opening theme. That distinction matters because Potter’s version was made specifically for the television series, while the song itself brings decades of familiarity with it. Its mix of good humor, exasperation, and the feeling of being caught between impossible choices fits a comedy about Grace and Frankie rebuilding their lives after learning that their husbands are in love with each other, making the title phrase feel almost custom-written for the situation even though the song existed more than forty years before the show.

Read More: Top 10 Stealers Wheel songs

# 4 – Way Down in the Hole – Tom Waits (The Wire)

Tom Waits wrote and recorded “Way Down in the Hole” for his 1987 album Franks Wild Years, and HBO’s The Wire made the remarkable decision to use the same composition as its opening theme for all five seasons while changing performers each year. Season one featured The Blind Boys of Alabama, season two used Tom Waits’ original, season three featured The Neville Brothers, season four used Baltimore teenagers performing as DoMaJe, and season five featured Steve Earle. The song’s spiritual struggle against evil suited a series built around institutions, temptation, crime, power, and survival, while changing the arrangement each season helped the same theme reflect a different corner of Baltimore. The video below collects the different versions of the song.

# 3 – Thank You for Being a Friend – Andrew Gold / Cynthia Fee (The Golden Girls)

Andrew Gold wrote and recorded “Thank You for Being a Friend” for his 1978 album All This and Heaven Too, produced by Gold and Brock Walsh, but the version generations of television viewers know from The Golden Girls was recorded by Cynthia Fee. The NBC sitcom ran from 1985 to 1992, and Fee’s warm, compact rendition became inseparable from Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia because the song states the show’s central idea so simply: friendship can become family. That direct emotional fit made an existing pop song sound as though it had been written specifically for the series and helped turn both the theme and the show into enduring cultural touchstones. Tom Waits represents one very different type of television-theme mood elsewhere on this list, which makes the pure warmth of Gold’s song stand out even more.

Read More: Top 10 Andrew Gold Songs

# 2 – Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down – Robert Plant (Boss)

Robert Plant’s version of the traditional spiritual “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down,” released on his 2010 album Band of Joy, became the opening theme for the Starz political drama Boss. Kelsey Grammer, who starred as ruthless Chicago mayor Tom Kane, heard Plant perform the song in concert and recognized how naturally its ominous call for the fall of a corrupt kingdom matched the series. Plant’s subdued vocal and the recording’s spare folk-gospel atmosphere give the opening credits a sense of judgment hanging over Kane’s political power, making the song feel less like background music than a warning about what eventually comes for people who believe their kingdom can last forever.

Read More: Top 10 Robert Plant Songs

# 1 – God Only Knows – The Beach Boys (Big Love)

Closing our list of the Top 10 Rock Songs Used Perfectly for TV Show Themes is “God Only Knows,” written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher for The Beach Boys’ 1966 album Pet Sounds and sung with extraordinary tenderness by Carl Wilson. HBO used the Beach Boys recording as the opening theme for the first three seasons of Big Love, where its mixture of devotion, uncertainty, and emotional dependence perfectly suited a drama about Bill Henrickson and his complicated polygamous family. The series changed its opening theme for seasons four and five, but “God Only Knows” remains powerfully associated with its early identity; compared with the darkness of Tom Waits’ music or Robert Plant’s foreboding Boss theme, the Beach Boys song reaches the same kind of dramatic depth through beauty and vulnerability.

Read More: Top 10 Beach Boys Songs