According to the calendar, today is Spider-Man Day, based on the cover date of Amazing Fantasy #15, which saw the debut of Peter Parker as Spider-Man. Now if you ask some folks, Spider-Man Day should technically fall in either May or June, when the comic was actually published back in 1962, but we’ll go with the socially acceptable Aug. 1 — because who wants to argue with what’s trending on Twitter?
In any event, Happy Spider-Man Day; in honor of the wall-crawler, we’ve put together a playlist of songs that pay tribute to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s most famous creation. Enjoy, and let us know if we missed any of your favorite Spider-tunes in the comments below.
“Spider-Man” by Paul Francis Webster and Robert “Bob” Harris
When you think of Spider-Man doing “whatever a spider can,” this is likely the song that comes to mind — and gets stuck in your head. Created for the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon, the lyrics have proven to have a life of their own beyond that show, popping up in remakes and parodies ever since — not to mention in the feature films, where you can find Andrew Garfield humming the song or street performers playing it in the background of the Sam Raimi trilogy.
“Spider-Man” by the Ramones
It’s been covered several times, too. The Ramones recorded a punk rock version of the song, which appeared on the U.S. edition of their final album and the compilation Saturday Morning: Cartoon’s Greatest Hits:
“Spider-Man” by Michael Buble
Crooner Michael Buble also recorded his own version, showing the versatility of the original arrangement:
Spider-man Theme by Gary William Friedman
But the classic 1960s cart0on wasn’t the only time Spider-Man appeared on TV — or had a theme song. Back in the 1970s, The Electric Company, which aired on PBS, shared live-action adventures of Spider-Man in short little segments, and it had its own short little theme song as well. “Spidey Super Stories” also had their own Marvel comic for awhile. “Nobody knows who you are!” Maybe back then …
You can hear the song below and witness the first segment the Electric Company aired, narrated by Morgan Freeman.
There’s also a dance remix:
“Face It, Tiger” by Married with Sea Monsters
Back in 2014, Spider-Gwen — the alternate reality version of Spider-Woman who’s really Spidey’s dead girlfriend Gwen Stacy — burst onto the scene, eventually turning into a cultural phenomenon who would appear in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and get her own comic title. Along with Gwen came The Mary Janes — a rock band Gwen performed with that includes several of Peter Parker’s other love interests, namely Glory Grant, Betty Brant and Mary Jane Watson. You can even buy merchandise for the Mary Janes here, courtesy of comics artist Rico Renzi.
The band belted out lyrics like, “Face it tiger, this is your shot; face it, tiger, it’s all you got.” But reading those lyrics wasn’t enough — Rodriguez had previously worked with real-life Waco, Texas indie rock band Married with Sea Monsters on the soundtrack for his webcomic Frankie Get Your Gun, and they turned those lyrics into a real song, doing Peter’s ex-girlfriends proud.
“Web-Slinger/Hope-Bringer” by Kirby Krackle
Kirby Krackle celebrated 10 years of bringing nerd-rock to the world in 2018; over the course of the band’s history, Kyle Stevens has shared songs about Thor, Tony Stark, the X-Men, Green Lantern and even the Great Lakes Avengers, in addition to video games and Star Wars. This track, of course, is all about Spider-Man:
Jaden – “I’m Ready”
From Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales video game, which came out on the PlayStation last year, comes “I’m Ready” by Jaden. The song is a first-person account of Miles’ crazy life and captures the energy you can find in the game itself.
“Boy Falls From The Sky” by Reeve Carney
Spider-Man has appeared in many memorable comics, movies, cartoons and video games … and even his own Broadway musical. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was a bit of a train wreck for many reasons, and it ran for less than three years (not counting the very long “preview” that preceded opening night). Bono and The Edge of U2 fame created the music, and for our playlist we’ve selected “Boy Falls From The Sky” by Reeve Carney, who played Peter Parker. If you haven’t been keeping up with Carney, he went on to star in Hadestown as Orpheus. (Hadestown won a Tony Award last year, so you could say it’s doing a bit better than Turn Off the Dark).
“What’s Up Danger” by Blackway & Black Caviar
There’s a lot to like on the soundtrack for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but this track by Blackway & Black Caviar goes deep into the heart and mind of the web-slinger. “I like it all on the edge just like you, I like tall buildings so I can leap off of ’em, I go hard wit’ it no matter how dark it is” summarize the life and motivation of Spider-Man perfectly. Plus the track is just awesome.
“The Supreme Being Teaches Spider-man How To Be In Love” by the Flaming Lips
Speaking of movies, there are a lot of songs from the Sam Raimi-era Spider-Man film soundtracks that could easily make this list. But hey, it’s The Flaming Lips who go deep into Peter’s always turbulent love life, so here they are.
“Face It, Tiger (You Just Hit the Jackpot)” by The Roland High Life
Finally, let’s wrap things up with a song by another nerd-rock band, The Roland High Life, who make songs about “Comic Books & Mid-30s Malaise.” Check their tribute to Mary Jane and Spider-Man below:
Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below or on social media.
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