These are the songs that were rejected by James Bond — Rock&Pop

For six decades, J.James Bond has starred in one of the most incredible sagas in cinema, and not only because of its history full of adventures and mysteries, but also because of its soundtrack.

The mythical songs that appear in the opening credits of each film have become memorable themes, reaching a high level of fame and recognition. However, these melodies were not always the first choice, Well, there were several artists who were rejected.

Madonna, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon or Billie Eilish, are some of those who have managed to participate in the franchise, while others just as surprising stayed on the road. That is why today we bring you 5 artists who they came close to becoming part of the iconic Bond set list.

Blondie – For Your Eyes Only

Blondie was at the height of her fame when John Glen, the director of the 12th James Bond film, asked the studio band to write the film’s theme song. That was how, in 1981, he was born For Your Eyes Only,

Although the song was magnificent, it was rejected, because as Jon Burlingame pointed out in his 2012 book The Music of James Bond, the producers preferred that Blondie perform a theme that had been composed by Bill Conti.

However, the group refused, so the song ended up being for Sheena Easton. Anyway, later they decided to record their own version and include it in 1982’s The Hunter.

Ace Of Base- GoldenEye

In 1994 James Bond returned after five years with GoldenEye. And despite the fact that the Swedish band of the momentAce Of Base, recorded a demo for their comeback, they ended up rejecting the project. Well their manager considered that they were too popular for a film that was not sure of its success.

Ultimately, the producers chose the Tina Turner theme, but the band later released the song with different lyrics, replacing the word ‘GoldenEye’ with ‘Juvenille’.

Pulp – Tomorrow Never Dies

Contrary to what the manager of Ace Of Base believedGoldenEye was a hit, and MGM was keen to make a sequel that would have the same impact. Thus they allowed any moderately famous group to send them demos of songs for the project.

And one of the first bands to be included was the one led by Jarvis Cocker, Pulp. However, his sound was no longer the same as before, so the company ended up discarding his proposal. Finally Tomorrow Never Dies ended up appearing as a B-side on the single Help The Aged.

Alice Cooper- Man With The Golden Gun

In 1973, Alice Cooper was on top of the worldor, and while he came very close to securing Roger Moore’s title track, he didn’t quite make it

The Broccoli family rejected their creation and opted for a different Lulu song. Later, the Scottish singer admitted, she didn’t do the franchise justice. “I think mine was probably the worst of all. It wasn’t a great song.”

Radiohead – Specter

In 2015, Radiohead composed a song destined to headline James Bond, Spectre. However, the producers felt that it was too “melancholic” for the film, so they ended up choosing “Writing’s on the Wall” by Sam Smith.

The film’s director tried to use the song elsewhere, but decided it would be too distracting. Later, at Christmas of that year, Thom Yorke uploaded the song to social networks. “Although it didn’t work out, it became ours, which we cherish very much,” he wrote in the post.