This week on Music Monday, we’re going batshit crazy! We’re all about those bats! Insert third bat related pun here. In short, this week’s theme is everyone’s favourite dark knight, Batman, as well as a couple of nods to his enemies and iconic moments from the franchise.
The dark knight has had many iterations over the years from the comically cheesy Adam West era to the more recent Dark Knight trilogy and Arkham game series, and you can certainly bet the caped crusader has inspired many a tune over the years. We’re even willing to bet his cowl has MP3 support. So, without much further ado…
The Batman Theme
Let’s just get this one out of the way. It’s stuck in my head, it’s stuck in yours, and if we don’t do it now you’re going to be doing ‘nanananana’ through every song on this list.
AlphaBat – Tantara
Behold my inspiration for this week’s theme. I hadn’t heard of AlphaBat before they showed up in my discover playlist on Spotify, but I’m really glad I know them now. Admittedly, they have very little to do with Batman other than their name and a really badass looking album cover no doubt inspired by the Dark Knight posters.
However, I like to think the video for ‘Tantara’ would have been the training sequence from Batman Begins, were it a West Side Story crossover and Batman had to defeat Ra’s Al Ghul with some sick dance moves.
Mercenary – Panic! At The Disco
One of the many goodies to come out of 2011 gem Arkham City was a soundtrack specially made for the game by various famous artists. Probably my favourite song among these was Panic! At The Disco‘s ‘Mercenary’. I’m not ashamed to say I was a bit of an emo kid in my teen years. I spent my fair share of time listening to Panic! and Fall Out Boy, etc.
So you can imagine that when I heard about Panic! doing a song for a video game, and a good one at that, I made it a point to listen to the song on repeat. Countless hours of my time in Arkham City were spent listening to this song as I glided through downtown Gotham beating the snot out of any henchmen stupid enough to say “Hey, it’s the bat!” and not just run away as they should have.
Bleeding Out – Imagine Dragons
You’ve probably heard this song before, seeing as how Imagine Dragons pretty much dominated the charts the year this came out. However, if you think about this song in terms of Batman’s character it actually kind of fits.
Batman would give literally everything he has just to keep the innocent people of Gotham safe. So if it means that he has to give his life and the last thing that he does is ‘bring [the villains] down’, he’ll do it. He’ll bleed out before Gotham goes down.
Block B – Very Good
Every time I watch this video, I get reminded of the opening scene to The Dark Knight. Not only is the song really catchy and pretty badass to boot, it’s got the Joker all over it. ‘Roll out the carpet’, the show’s about to start!
Yowane Haku – Joker
Even if you aren’t a Vocaloid fan, you probably know the basics of Miku Hatsune and Rin/Len. However, you might not know about the fanmade vocaloid Yowane Haku, who is shown as a depressed failure among vocaloids. ‘Joker’ has many adaptations, but none really show off the song like Haku in my opinion.
What’s more, the song not only reminds me of the Joker’s playful side. When the lyrics are translated it almost sounds like he’s taunting dear ol’ bats with lines like, ‘You can’t turn back the hands on the clock, I’ve already put my cards into play’, as in ‘Let’s see you try and stop me!’
Lovefool – The Cardigans
Ah, a 90s classic. I looked and listened for a while to find a song that summed up the relationship between Harley and the Joker, and I finally settled on this one since, let’s face it, you can totally see Harley singing this. She’s obsessed with the Joker to the point of no return. She’s hopelessly devoted to him (yet another one I considered FYI) even though it is literally the least healthy decision she could ever make.
She doesn’t even care or at least doesn’t remember all the times that the Joker has literally used her as bait with no concern for her life. I’d like to say that’s true love or devotion or anything but, seriously, if your boyfriend routinely sets you up in a life threatening situation for shits and giggles, DUMP HIM! PLEASE!
That raps up this week’s Music Monday. Be sure to go down to the comments and let us know if you’re a Batfan of this week’s article. Or better yet, let us know what songs you think the caped crusader has pumping in his cowl during long nights fighting crime!
