Real Song Theme Tune

A Theme Tune which already existed as a well-known song. Most often, a cover of the original by an unknown artist is used, though use of the original is increasingly common.

Tends to be more common for dramatic series, though it is not unheard of for the Sitcom. Rarely occurs in children's shows.

In some cases the new version may become better-known than the original. In some rare cases it might blow the first popular version out of the water, leaving future generations to assume that the song hadn't been all that popular beforehand. See The Lone Ranger below for an example.

This trope does not cover cases where the theme music already existed, but is not well known in its own right. (Thus, the use of "As Time Goes By" in Casablanca does not count.) Most Anime have J-pop theme tunes that change every season, but that doesn't count, either - Anime Theme Song is its own trope.

Anime & Manga

 * Knights of the Zodiac, the DiC dub of Saint Seiya, used the Bowling for Soup cover of A Flock of Seagulls song "I Ran (So Far Away)".
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion: Every episode ends with a different cover of the standard "Fly Me To The Moon"; several were performed by Megumi Hayashibara, both in and out of character as Rei Ayanami.
 * Paradise Kiss used Franz Ferdinand's "Do You Want To" for its ending theme.
 * In the older times, frequently used by MTV and VIVA for the various anime they showed in Germany. This had some, ah, "interesting" results, like the song "Star" from Nova International (which has the line "I wanna drive a big fat Cadillac" as part of its lyrics), set to the opening - of all things - of Inuyasha. Yep.
 * They also changed one of the smoothest opening songs (Hellsing's Logos Naki World) to some random heavy metal song by Keith Flint of the British techno group The Prodigy.
 * Speaking of Hellsing, the ending used the song Shine by Mr Big, a band who was actually quite popular over in japan.
 * Speed Grapher uses Duran Duran's "Girls on Film" in the original Japanese version.
 * Serial Experiments Lain used "Duvet", by British rock band Boa, for its opening theme.
 * Gunslinger Girl used "The Light Before We Land" by The Delgados for its opening theme.
 * Maria Holic uses a remix/cover of YMO's "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" for its ending theme.
 * Eden of the East uses "Falling Down" by Oasis for its opening theme. Due to copyright reasons, The Dub uses Falling Down for the first episode and generic J-pop for the rest.
 * Ergo Proxy's ending theme is "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead.
 * Mushishi uses "The Sore Feet Song" by Ally Kerr as its opening theme.
 * Maison Ikkoku used Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" as an OP, and "Get Down" by the same singer as the closing theme for episode 24. This was apparently a bit of cross-promotion that didn't pan out. The US release did not get the rights and doesn't use either.
 * Romeo X Juliet uses a Japanese translation of "You Raise Me Up" as an OP... then uses the original version in the finale.
 * Texhnolyze had "Guardian Angel" by Juno reactor as its opening theme.
 * Every ending theme of Sora no Otoshimono from episode two onwards. Most of them are covers by the anime's cast members, but episode five's song ("Yuke! Yuke! Kawaguchi Hiroshi") is a self-covered version by the original singer.
 * The opening theme of A Little Snow Fairy Sugar is a Japanese remake of "Sugar Baby Love," the 1974 debut single of the British band The Rubettes.
 * The Legend of Black Heaven uses a shortened version of John Sykes' "Cautionary Warning" both as the show's theme and as a song played by the main character...to save the universe.
 * While not an entirely straight example Full Metal Panic! uses a variation of Santana and Michelle Branch's song "Game of Love" for the ending of Fummoffu?!
 * The Italian opening for the first of the Time Bokan series is a cover of Video killed the Radio stars.
 * Ookami-san uses a cover of '78 pop hit "Akazukin-chan Goyoujin" ("Little Red Riding Hood Beware") as its ending theme. Given the motif of the show, an appropriate choice.
 * Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru uses a cover of Sugar Babe's "DOWN TOWN". It makes it into a Dancing Theme too.
 * Another Shaft example is Dance in the Vampire Bund. It uses a cover of "Friends" by Rebecca.
 * The Deltora Quest anime uses Delta Goodrem's "In This Life" for one opening. Strangely both the Deltora Quest author and Delta Goodrem are Australians.
 * JAM Project was formed specifically to counteract this trend.
 * The theme to One Piece, "Believe", is a reworded version of Lolita's "Dreamin' of You".
 * Supernatural: The Animation uses "Carry on My Wayward Son" as its ED.
 * Kamisama no Memochou's ED is Mr. Big's "Colorado Bulldog", of all things.
 * The voice actors of the three female leads of Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai did a cover of "Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ (10 Years After Ver.)," which was sung beforehand by Scandal. The song itself was a revival of the song "Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~," which was originally sung by Zone--and this version was covered by the cast of Kyou no Go no Ni, two and a half years before AnoHana! Since the lyrics were essentially the same, this means that the song has been used in at least two shows!

Comicbooks

 * Invariably, every time Iron Man's radio malfunctions, the song blaring out through his speakers is the Black Sabbath song of the same name.

Film

 * An American Werewolf in London used three different covers of "Blue Moon": Bobby Vinton in the opening, Sam Cooke during the Painful Transformation, and the Marcels for the end credits. Also used "Bad Moon Rising", by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
 * Brazil used several versions of "Aquarela do Brasil" as its theme music. Jeff Muldaur does the comical, yodelling version heard on Sam's car radio; Bachianos Brazil Samba the one on the end credits; and no less than Kate Bush provided a further one which was supposed to be heard over Sam's first flying dream. For some unfathomable reason, the last one was cut, but can be heard on the soundtrack album.
 * The Graduate used Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence", "April Come She Will", and "Scarborough Fair". The best-known Simon & Garfunkel tune in the movie, "Mrs. Robinson", was debuted in the movie so it doesn't quite fit this trope.
 * The Doors' "The End", in Apocalypse Now.
 * 2001: A Space Odyssey uses a climactic fanfare that comes from Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra", written in 1896. The work wasn't that popular in the English-speaking world at the time, so it's understandable that many viewers assume it was written especially for the movie.
 * Yellow Submarine used The Beatles' titular song.
 * The same goes for the Beatles' live action movies, Help and A Hard Days Night.
 * They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, set in The Great Depression, used a popular tune from that era, "Easy Come, Easy Go."
 * Girls Just Wanna Have Fun uses a faster cover version of the titular Cyndi Lauper song.
 * Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow ends with a cover of "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz.
 * As do both The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again. The latter memorably sung by VINCENT PRICE.
 * I Wake Up Screaming uses "Over the Rainbow" as its main love theme. This is somewhat odd considering that studios in this era preferred to recycle songs from their own song publishers' catalogs, but I Wake Up Screaming was made by 20th Century-Fox and "Over the Rainbow" was, of course, written for MGM's The Wizard of Oz.
 * David Lynch's Blue Velvet uses Bobby Vinton's song of the same name - not only as its title, but also as a theme song.
 * Stand by Me uses the Ben E. King song of the same name.
 * Midnight Cowboy used Harry Nilsson's version of "Everybody's Talkin'".
 * The Death Note films and "Dani California".
 * The film Freddy vs. Jason used Ill Nino's song 'How Can I Live' as the main theme in the end credits. The song eventually came out on their 2003 album Confession, but they thought the song fit the mood of the film so well they decided to use it before release.
 * Watchmen used Bob Dylan's 'Desolation Row' as the theme over the credits - except that My Chemical Romance covered the rather folksy lyrics as a punk song, which worked surprisingly well.
 * For its opening theme tune, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb uses a lush arrangement of the old standard Try a Little Tenderness over B-52 aerial refueling footage, turning it into machine porn.
 * Closing the film with stock footage of nuclear explosions overlaid with Very Lynn singing We'll Meet Again is also quite memorable.
 * The Transformers Films seem to have this strange obsession with Linkin Park's music and this trope was played straight with the first film and 'What I've Done'. This was subverted with the second film with 'New Divide' being recorded specifically for the film. The third film is keeping the tradition proud by having the song 'Iridescent' as its theme, but slightly re-recorded.
 * Little Manhattan used Only The Strongest Survive by Elvis Presley as its opening credits song.
 * Hatari! opens - after a cold opening - with Henry Mancini's arrangement of Just For Tonight by Hoagy Carmichael.

Live-Action TV

 * Absolutely Fabulous uses "This Wheel's On Fire". Julie Driscoll's recording of the song in the 60's was a hit in the UK, and she re-recorded the song for the show.
 * It was replaced by a cover by Jennifer Saunders and Adrian Edmondson.
 * Arli$$ had Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be With You".
 * As Time Goes By uses a rendition of the song "As Time Goes By".
 * Beauty and the Geek used Pet Shop Boys' "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)".
 * The Australian version uses Wes Carr's cover of "Is She Really Going Out with Him?"
 * Betty White's Off Their Rockers uses Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It."
 * The Beverly Hillbillies used "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by legendary Bluegrass duo Flatt & Scruggs.
 * The Benny Hill Show used a version of Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax" as its closing theme.
 * The Big Bang Theory uses "The History of Everything" by Barenaked Ladies.
 * Big Love uses the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows."
 * In season 4, it was replaced with "Home" by The Engineers.
 * Bosom Buddies used a version of Billy Joel's "My Life".
 * Bottom uses "BB's Blues" over its opening credits, and "Last Night" over the closing credits. Both covered by the show's house band, The Bum Notes.
 * Cake Boss uses a cover of "Sugar (Honey Honey)" sung by The Nerds.
 * Campus PD uses The Clash's "Police On My Back".
 * CSI: Each show in the franchise takes its Theme Tune from a song by The Who: "Who Are You" for the original, "Won't Get Fooled Again" for CSI: Miami, and "Baba O'Riley" for CSI-NY. As TIME Magazine said, "[the fact the album Who's Next has only eight tracks] provides the only natural curb on the expansion of the C.S.I. franchise."
 * It was lampshaded in an episode of Two and A Half Men, featuring a CSI parody which, for its Theme Tune, used The Who's wildly inappropriate "Squeeze Box".
 * Charmed used Love Spit Love's version of The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?", which was first used in the movie The Craft, which was thematically similar to the first few seasons.
 * China Beach opens to the Diana Ross and the Supremes song, "Reflections".
 * Chuck opens to an instrumental cut of "Short Skirt Long Jacket" by Cake.
 * Cold Case uses E.S. Posthumus' Nara.
 * The US and UK versions of Coupling each used different covers of "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps". The UK original uses a version by Mari Wilson. The US remake uses a sped-up version by CAKE.
 * Community uses "At Least It Was Here" by The 88.
 * Cosmos, the Carl Sagan documentary series, used Heaven and Hell [side 1, third movement] by Vangelis as its theme tune. Several other Vangelis pieces were used in the soundtrack, including "Pulstar" and "Alpha".
 * Cover Up, a short-lived CBS action-drama, used Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For A Hero" as its theme.
 * Crime Story, set in the Rat-Pack '60s, used Del Shannon's "Runaway", redone by him with lyrics tweaked for the show.
 * Dave's World used (a cover of) "You May Be Right" by Billy Joel.
 * The first three seasons of The Dead Zone used Jeff Buckley's song New Year's Prayer.
 * Deadliest Catch uses "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi.
 * The Dennis Miller Show on HBO originally opened with Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".
 * Designing Women used Ray Charles's "Georgia on my Mind".
 * The first 5 seasons used an instrumental that featured Johnny Carson's bandleader, Doc Severinson, on the trumpet. In the 6th season, the opening credits featured Ray Charles himself on the piano, singing, while the Designing Women hung around looking pleased.
 * Densha Otoko: (a Japanese live-action drama) used The Electric Light Orchestra's Twilight as its theme song.'
 * This was of course a Shout-Out to the legendary "Daicon IV" con opening animation from 1984, which also used the song.
 * The first episode used Mr. Roboto by Styx.
 * Dirty Jobs uses "We Care A Lot" by Faith No More; some older episodes use a replacement written by the show's composer due to rights issues, though.
 * Doctor Doctor used "Good Lovin'" by the Rascals.
 * Don't Forget The Lyrics (Fox Game Show) uses the Doobie Brothers' "China Grove".
 * The Drew Carey Show used "Moon Over Parma", "Cleveland Rocks", and "Five O'Clock World" at various times.
 * Drive used Can't Stop The World by Gavin Rossdale.
 * The video game review show The Electric Playground has "Skybike 1" from the Skeleton Warriors video game as its title tune.
 * Entourage uses "Superhero" by Jane's Addiction.
 * Extras uses Cat Steven's Tea For the Tillerman over the end credits, much like The Office example below.
 * Family Matters used Ray Charles's "What a Wonderful World"...for all of one episode, before switching to an original tune.
 * Another Billy Joel example comes from The Fanelli Boys, which uses "Why Should I Worry" (Joel's contribution for Oliver and Company
 * The Fast Show: The first series featured Paul Whitehouse singing Esther Phillips' 'Release Me' as a theme, with the comedy element provided by Whitehouse's crooner being grotesquely distorted as if in a hall of mirrors.
 * A Fine Romance (1980's British sitcom) uses a version of the song "A Fine Romance" sung by the show's star Judi Dench.
 * Frank's Place used Louis Armstrong's "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?"
 * Freaks and Geeks uses Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation".
 * Game On, a BBC sitcom, used "Where I Find My Heaven" by the Gigolo Aunts.
 * The George Lopez Show opens every episode with "Low Rider" by War.
 * Get A Life (Chris Elliot's sitcom) opened every show with REM's "Stand".
 * Gilmore Girls opens with a version of "Where You Lead" which Carole King re-recorded with her daughter.
 * Gimme Gimme Gimme naturally opens with the ABBA song, albeit a Kathy Burke and James Dreyfuss cover.
 * The Golden Girls had a cover of Andrew Gold's "Thank You for Being a Friend" as its theme.
 * Grey's Anatomy used Cosy On The Rocket by Psapp with its opening credits.
 * Happy Days used "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets before switching to an original theme song. The version of "Rock Around the Clock" the show used wasn't the original 1954 recording either: they had the aging Haley re-record the song.
 * "Rock Around the Clock" was the opening theme for the first two seasons. The original "Happy Days" song ("Sunday, Monday, happy days...") was always the closing theme. For the third season, they started using their own song at the beginning and end, probably to make more money off royalties. The version of "Happy Days" used as the end theme for seasons 1 and 2 was performed by Jimmy Haas, and when it became the main theme, it was replaced by a version from Pratt & McClain (and that version was replaced again for the show's final season with a more modern arrangement from Bobby Arvon).
 * It was also kept for the syndicated rerun version of the series that was circulated while the original series was still on the air. Entitled Happy Days Again, the original 1954 recording of the song by Bill Haley and His Comets was used instead of the 1974 re-recording.
 * Hearts Afire used "That's the Way of the World" by Earth, Wind, and Fire as one of its ending themes. It also derived its title from the song's lyrics.
 * The 2002-2004 opening theme of Tom Bergeron's (The) Hollywood Squares was Teena Marie's 1981 single "Square Biz" with new lyrics.
 * Homefront, an early '90s drama set during World War II, had a rendition of Johnny Mercer's "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" as its theme.
 * Canadian talk show The Hour once used "Use It" by The New Pornographers, before switching to "The Good in Everyone" by Sloan (not coincidentally, both Canadian bands.)
 * House MD uses an instrumental version of "Teardrop" by Massive Attack for its theme. In other countries a different song is used called 'House', composed by Scott Donaldson and Richard Nolan for the show. Once you've heard the Massive Attack version of the credits, the other one will really grate, because the cuts in the credits are perfectly timed to fit with "Teardrop", and they are a lot less powerful with a different song.
 * Notably, in one episode a cover of "Teardrop" performed by José González, complete with lyrics, is played at the end.
 * And, on the DVDs (at least the ones available for purchase in the UK), the two songs ("House" and the "Teardrop" instrumental) alternate with each episode.
 * Additionally, the intro for the first episode of Season 6 used "No Surprises" by Radiohead.
 * How to Make It in America uses Aloe Blacc's I Need A dollar.
 * Human Giant uses "Romantic Rights" by dancepunk band Death From Above 1979
 * Hung (HBO) uses "I'll Be Your Man" by The Black Keys.
 * Ice Road Truckers uses Aerosmith's "Livin' On The Edge"
 * The Inbetweeners uses "Gone Up In Flames" by Morning Runner.
 * Insecurity uses "The Sun Ain't Shining No More" by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
 * The Jack Benny Program used a medley of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Love in Bloom" as its opening theme, and "Hooray for Hollywood" as its closing theme.
 * Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer uses Isao Tomita's version of Claude Debussy's ""Arabesque No. 1"
 * Jackass: The jangly polka is "Corona" by Eighties alternative punk trio Minutemen. An interesting choice, considering that it's a recording that's as old as most of the show's audience.
 * Joan of Arcadia used a version of "One Of Us" that Joan Osborne specially re-recorded to fit the length and pace of the credits better.
 * Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" was used as a theme by two very different shows- Freaks and Geeks and American Chopper
 * The game show The Jokers Wild in its first seasons used "The Savers" by Jean-Jacques Perry and Gershon Kingsley.
 * FOX TV's short-lived legal procedural “Justice” used Warren Zevon's “Lawyers, Guns and Money” as its opening theme.
 * Las Vegas used "A Little Less Conversation", sung by Elvis Presley
 * Lie to Me uses Ryan Star's "Brand New Day" (no relation to the Sting song).
 * Life Goes On: "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da", a cover version sung by the cast.
 * The Lone Ranger: The opera William Tell reached the pinnacle of its popularity in The Thirties. Everyone had heard of it, and more importantly everyone knew the overture by heart. Unfortunately, the use of the final movement of the overture as the theme song for The Lone Ranger associated it so strongly with the Western genre that the opera basically became unstageable in America. Because of this, some might assume the song doesn't fit the trope because the opera isn't popular now.
 * In any case, it's also an example of Public Domain Soundtrack.
 * Louie uses "Brother Louie" by Stories
 * Married... with Children uses "Love and Marriage" by Frank Sinatra.
 * Originally it did, but they later changed it to a Suspiciously Similar Song version.
 * A late 80s Final Jeopardy! Answer "Current sitcom whose theme is sung by Frank Sinatra" stumped all three contestants.
 * Made in Canada used "Blow At High Dough" by The Tragically Hip.
 * MasterChef Australia uses the Katy Perry song "Hot 'N' Cold".
 * Misfits uses "Echoes" by The Rapture.
 * Mock the Week uses a short clip of News Of The World by The Jam.
 * Monday Night Football uses a lyrically-modified version of Hank Williams Jr's 1984 hit "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" - or it did until Williams made some inappropriate remarks about President Obama. ESPN announced that it was discontinuing use of the song.
 * Similarly, NBC's Sunday Night Football uses a theme adapted from Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself for Loving You".
 * Monty Python's Flying Circus uses John Phillip Sousa's "Liberty Bell" march as theme music, and such was their influence they've effectively made it their own. The original, like most Sousa marches, goes into a different melody which is nowhere near as well-known. The original also has no razzberries.
 * Newton's Apple, from 1983 to 1990, used Kraftwerk's "Ruckzuck", from their 1971 self-titled debut album, then from 1990-1994, a remixed version, then an original song afterwards. For the home video releases, they used a different but similar-sounding tune, due to licensing issues.
 * The Newlywed Game used "Summertime Guy".
 * Noah's Arc: The remixed variety of "Remember the Love" by Adriana Evans.
 * The Norm Mac Donald Show used "Too Bad" by Doug and the Slugs.
 * In a rare game show example, the short-lived Mark Goodson-Bill Todman game Now You See It used Quincy Jones' "Chump Change" as the theme on both versions. Bill Cosby also used this same music on The New Bill Cosby Show. Other game shows that used actual recordings as themes:
 * The Price Is Right: From 1956 to 1961, they used "Sixth Finger Tune," which was taken from a stage show called "Six Fingers For A Five-Fingered Glove."
 * Password: Its 1961-1963 theme was called "Holiday Jaunt" and was used as early as 1958.
 * Seven Keys: "Everything's Coming Up Roses."
 * Match Game: From 1962 to 1967, it was "A Swingin' Safari" by Bert Kaempfert. The pilot used the Billy Vaughn arrangement.
 * Eye Guess: For the first two years the theme was Al Hirt's "Sugar Lips."
 * The Face Is Familiar (a short-lived CBS nighttime show from 1966): "Brasilia" by Herb Alpert.
 * Numb3rs used a sample from Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" in the first season.
 * The OC used Phantom Planet's "California."
 * The Office UK uses a cover of Handbags and Gladrags, as made famous by Rod Stewart.
 * In one episode, Ricky Gervais as Brent sang the song over the closing credits.
 * The Osbournes used a cover of Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, as remade by Pat Boone- in a jazz style.
 * One Tree Hill used Gavin DeGraw's I Don't Want To Be as its theme song for its first four seasons. From Season 5 onwards, they did away with the credits.
 * A few seasons later, they brought back the theme song, this time having it performed by a different artist every week.
 * Out of This World used David Lee Roth's cover of "Swinging on a Star", with reworked lyrics.
 * Party of Five used "Closer to Free" by the Bo Deans.
 * Peep Show uses Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta".
 * Pit Boss uses a hip-hop remix of Keith Mansfield's "Funky Fanfare" (as heard in those "feature presentation" bumpers in Kill Bill and Grindhouse).
 * Primeval uses "All Sparks" by Editors for its ending theme.
 * Unless you're not in the UK. It recycles the opening theme for the ending theme in overseas broadcasts (at least in Australia it does).
 * "All Sparks" was only used for the televised broadcast of the show's first season. When season 1 was released on DVD, the credits used the opening theme.
 * Portlandia uses "Feel It All Around" by chillwave artist Washed Out.
 * Providence used a cover of the Beatles' "In My Life".
 * The cover was done by Chantal Kreviazuk, if any one wants to know.
 * Reba, the eponymous sitcom of country singer/actress Reba McEntire, used a partial rewrite of her single "I'm a Survivor."
 * Rescue Me (The BBC version, not the American firefighter show) uses a male cover of the Fontella Bass song of the same name as its theme.
 * Rescue Me, the American firefighter show, also falls under this: it uses "C'mon C'mon" by the Von Bondies.
 * Roswell used a shortened version of "Here with me" by Dido.
 * Scrubs used the song "Superman" by Lazlo Bane, with a cover being used in the Post Script Season. The version of "Superman" used as the theme is faster and in a different key than the original version.
 * Los Simuladores, being an Argentine show, uses Astor Piazzolla's "Cité Tango".
 * Southland uses an instrumental version of Dulce Pontes' version of Cancao Do Mar.
 * Soul Man (and possibly another show) used, appropriately enough, "Soul Man". Doubly appropriate as the lead actor is also one of the Blues Brothers.
 * Hanging With Mr. Cooper used "Soul Man" for its first season before changing to an original theme song.
 * Smallville uses Save Me by Remy Zero.
 * The Sopranos uses "Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix)" by electro-blues group Alabama 3. The difference between the original and the Chosen One Mix (both of which predate their use in The Sopranos by a couple years) is that the former is in the first person, and the more famous latter version is in the second person.
 * Star Trek: Enterprise was the first of the series not to have a symphonic theme tune -- it used "Faith of the Heart", performed by Russell Watson. (A more well-known version of the song is performed by Rod Stewart.) In the third and fourth seasons, they decided something was missing--a thumping backbeat. In what was essentially a country song.
 * The closing credits music, now known as "Archer's Theme", was originally intended to be the Enterprise theme, and was written by the same man who wrote the theme for Deep Space Nine. Executive Meddling ensued, and it was replaced with "Faith of the Heart". This is what that would have looked like. An even earlier concept, however, was a throwback to other Trek series, including the Opening Narration and footage of the ship.
 * Starting in its third season, the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers used Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory" as its theme tune.
 * Sugar Rush (TV) uses Blondie's "One Way Or Another".
 * Super Nanny uses Men At Work's "Be Good Johnny" as its theme: it's actually a re-recorded version from a Colin Hay solo album, but it sounds practically identical to the original.
 * Series/Supernatural, as stated above, uses Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son", though the series only used it in the first season before it was relegated to being the theme for the Season Finale recap.
 * The Australian-set BBC sitcom Supernova used I Can See for Miles by the Who.
 * Teachers uses Belle & Sebastian's "The Boy With the Arab Strap".
 * That 70s Show uses a cover of Big Star's "In the Street". Obscure, but kinda famous in an underground way. From season 2 on it was performed by Cheap Trick.
 * Third Watch used "Keep Hope Alive" by the Crystal Method.
 * Tour of Duty, a Vietnam War series, used the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" over the opening credits.
 * Top Gear uses 'Jessica' by the Allman Brothers Band.
 * The Top Gear presenters lampshaded their use of the song during the second America special, when the original song came on over the radio. "On tonight's program..."
 * Orignally the closing theme was "Out of the Blue" by Elton John.
 * True Blood uses "Bad Things" by Jace Everett.
 * Twin Peaks used an instrumental version of Falling by Julee Cruise.
 * Two Broke Girls uses "Second Chance" by Peter Bjorn and John
 * Soul Train used several real songs as its theme: most famously "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia" by MFSB. Though "TSOP" was only used for nine of the show's 28 seasons (six of which used remixed versions), most fans consider it the theme song for the show.
 * TSOP was originally written to be the official song to be named "Soul Train," but it was decided not to closely associate it with the show. Mother Father Sister Brother (MFSB) released it as a single, becoming the first disco song to reach #1 on the Billboard charts.
 * Veronica Mars used "We Used To Be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols. For the third season, The Powers That Be switched to a slower, ostensibly Darker and Edgier version of the song.
 * Vision On, a BBC children's series of the '60s and '70s, used Al Hirt's "Java" over its end credits.
 * Weeds uses "Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds- the original in the first season, a different cover by a different artist every episode after that.
 * Including, on at least one occasion, a French version.
 * Whale Wars uses The Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"
 * What I Like About You used the song of the same title, covered by Lillix.
 * Wings: Piano sonata No. 20 by Franz Schubert
 * The Wire uses Tom Waits's "Way Down In The Hole". Each season is done by a different artist - season one was by The Blind Boys of Alabama, season two was Waits's original version and season three was by The Neville Brothers. Season four's version was a specially recorded R'n'B version to represent the show's shift in focus to children on the streets. Season five was sung by Steve Earle, who also played a recurring role in the show.
 * The Wonder Years: The Joe Cocker version of "With a Little Help From My Friends".
 * You Bet Your Life (Groucho Marx's Game Show) used an instrumental version of the song "Hello, I Must Be Going/Hurray for Captain Spalding" from the classic Marx Brothers movie Animal Crackers.
 * NYC 22 uses Jay-Z's "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)".

Professional Wrestling

 * Pro Wrestling This Week, a syndicated wrestling program in the late 1980's with Gordon Solie and Joe Pedicino, used the intro to the Eddie Murphy hit "Party All the Time" (Which was also the theme for Knoxville, TN's Continental Championship Wrestling).
 * Heck, lots of local Pro Wrestling shows used well-known songs as their themes. WWE used to use Michael Jackson's "Thriller", the Pointer Sisters' "Jump", and later Animotion's "Obsession" as themes. And Memphis' CWA Promotion used a techno version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra."
 * WWE has used several "real" hard-rock and heavy-metal songs as theme tunes for their various programs, including Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" and Papa Roach's "To Be Loved". When they don't use a real song, they often use a Thematic Theme Tune recorded by a popular artist (such as Smackdown's theme, "Rise Up" recorded by Drowning Pool, and Raw's former theme, "Across the Nation" by Union Underground)
 * This was pretty much the case for most wrestler's entrance themes, until the music industry started cracking down on "unauthorized use" of copyrighted music and demanding royalties. After that, in all but a few exceptions (Ex. Hulk Hogan shelled out of his own pocket for the rights to "Voodoo Child"), organizations either switched to a Suspiciously Similar Song version of songs (Sting's late run WCW music was Metallica's "Seek And Destroy" with the serial numbers filed off), original tunes, or public domain ("Macho Man" Randy Savage's use of "Pomp And Circumstance").
 * The biggest exception would be ECW, who continued to use real songs as entrance themes as part of their image as an "outlaw organization". Even their TNN/SpikeTV theme counted (White Zombie's "More Human Than Human").

Videogames

 * Both Twisted Metal: Black and Conflict: Vietnam used Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones.
 * The use of Paint it Black in Conflict: Vietnam might have been intentional, to promote a mood similar to and as a Shout-Out to Tour Of Duty.
 * Burnout Paradise uses Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" in all its glory.
 * Perfect Dark Zero uses real songs by Morisson Poe for its opening and ending themes; Glitter Girl (Evil Side) and Pearl Necklace, respectively. The Nightclub Stakeout mission features Kepi & Kat's "Limelight".
 * Cool Spot used The Surfaris' "Wipe Out" as its opening theme.
 * Here's a somewhat obscure one: Did you know that the main theme from Frogger is the original Japanese opening theme from the anime Rascal The Raccoon? See for yourself here. Naturally, this one wouldn't have been obscure to Japanese kids who watched the cartoon, but since the show's theme was changed for international release, it went completely unnoticed even in other countries where the show aired.
 * Additionally, among the little jingles that play when you safely guide the frogs to their homes, three of them are snippets of other anime themes. They are "Oshiete" from Heidi, Girl of the Alps, "Hana no Ko Lunlun", from the show of the same name (split into two jingles), and "Ore wa Arthur" from Moero Arthur: Hakuba no Ouji.
 * Rock N Roll Racing, as the name suggests, used a number of actual classic rock songs: George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone", Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", Deep Purple's "Highway Star", Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn" (also used in Spy Hunter), and Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild". Admittedly, since it was an SNES game, they were instrumental arrangements, but they were arrangements that pushed the SNES' sound chip to its limits (largely thanks to Tim Follin's sound programming).
 * Even more impressive was that he did this without the manual, and actually did a better job than the people who developed the program Tim used. When Shigeru Miyamoto heard it he wanted to know how it was done.
 * Fat Princess has, of course, "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-lot.
 * SSX Tricky uses "It's Tricky" by Run DMC.
 * The arcade game Bomb Jack uses the ending theme from the anime version of Mrs Pepperpot as the first round theme.
 * When you get an extra life in the arcade game Mr. Do, the round (or "scene" as the case may be) is cleared and you see an intermission with the Astro Boy theme playing in the background.
 * Every FIFA game since Road to World Cup '98 has had a soundtrack of popular contemporary music including one of these.
 * "Getting Away with Murder" by Papa Roach from Mech Assault 2.
 * Borderlands uses Cage the Elephant's "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" as the game theme in both the opening video and commercial trailers. It fits the setting quite well, and is quite the Ear Worm to boot.
 * It also plays Champion's "No Heaven" in one of the trailers and during the end credits.
 * Some of the Paradox Interactive games use classical (and in the case of Victori An Empire Under The Sun and Europa Universalis, period) music. The most famous example is probably Hearts of Iron and its use of "Ride of the Valkyries".
 * ~inFamous~ features Silent Melody by Working For a Nuclear Free City.
 * The virtually unknown space shooter Omega Boost has this in spades: The Japanese release features "Shade" by Feeder, in US, "Otsegolation" by Static-X, and in Europe, "Fly" by Loudmouth. And this is just the openings. It has three diferent endings as well: "Dip in the pool" by Ismeel (apparently a Japanese Enka), "Dreamer" by Cast, and "The Road" by Loudmouth.
 * Although in the AUS version they only used Dreamer for some reason. Plus it seems to be a recording of the song specifically for the game, when you listen to it from the cd's and so forth it sounds completely different.
 * The American version of R-Type Final uses "Piano Smasher" by the Blue Man Group as its credits theme.
 * Scarface the World Is Yours features a version of "Burning Inside" by Ministry as its theme song for the movie-style opening credits.
 * A number of Bitmap Brothers games in the late 80s and early 90s used music from Rhythm King artists, e.g. Xenon 2 used "Megablast (Hip Hop On Precinct 13)" by Bomb the Bass and Magic Pockets used "Doin' The Do" by Betty Boo.
 * Tony Hawk Pro Skater: RIDE which brought the series out with a musical bang with The Meters' "Cissy Strut".
 * Bayonetta also uses remixes of "Fly Me To The Moon", and the song usually only plays whenever the title character starts kicking a lot of ass.
 * The Gran Turismo series releases in Japan tended to open up with a variation of an original piece called "Moon Over the Castle". The European releases, however, have opened up with "Everything Must Go" by Manic Street Preachers, "My Favorite Game" by The Cardigans, "Just A Day" by Feeder and "Reason Is Treason" by Kasabian respectively.
 * The US version of Gran Turismo 4 uses a choral version of Moon Over The Castle, followed by Van Halen's "Panama". It also has a techno remix of Mo TC.
 * GT 3 used "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and "Again" by Lenny Kravitz for its opening and ending themes, respectively.
 * Wolfenstein 3D uses "Horst Wessel Lied", the Nazi national anthem, as its theme tune.
 * Sled Storm, at least the PS 1 version, used Rob Zombie's "Dragula" (Hot Rod Herman remix).
 * The first version of the arcade game Pengo features the late 60's-early 70's electronic instrumental "Popcorn" which was famously (though not originally) recorded by a group called "Hot Butter" in 1972. A later version used an original composed tune.
 * In Parappa the Rapper, the intro to the fourth stage plays a slightly slow-tempo snippet of "Tijuana Taxi" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. It can be heard after the "I gotta believe" part during the part where the announcer announces Cheap Cheap the Cooking Chicken (Parappa's opponent in this stage).
 * The rock band Journey got their own video game during The Golden Age of Video Games, which consists entirely of these (in electronic form; this is an important point). Moreover, a tape drive in the machine plays an edited, looped version of Separate Ways (not an electronic rendition, but the real song) during the bonus stage.
 * The SNK arcade game TNK III uses "The Yellow Rose of Texas" for its opening theme, and part of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" for the Game Over jingle.
 * Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War used Puddle of Mudd's "Blurry" in the trailer and over the end credits.
 * Taito's Wild Western uses Stan Jones' "Ghost Riders in the Sky" for its main theme. Which in turn, is a a Suspiciously Similar Song version of the public domain song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".
 * Both the Medal of Honor 2010 Continuity Reboot and Gundam Extreme Vs. use "The Catalyst" by Linkin Park; the band has noted themselves as being both video game players and Gundam fans, hence why they let Electronic Arts and Namco Bandai/Capcom go ahead.
 * An obscure arcade game by Midway called Domino Man uses Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag as its main theme.
 * Which was also used in speaker bleep form in the DOS pseudo-3D Pac-Man clone 3-Demon, along with "The Entertainer".
 * The Iron Helix used the Xorcist song of the same name. The rest of the soundtrack was also by Peter Stone.
 * Call of Duty: Black Ops uses Eminem's "Won't Back Down" as its theme.
 * All of the canonical Fallout games have this: "Maybe" by the Ink Spots for the original, "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" by Louis Armstrong for Fallout 2, "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" by the Ink Spots for Fallout 3 and "Blue Moon" sung by Frank Sinatra (originally by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart) for Fallout: New Vegas.
 * The MSX and NES/Vs. versions of The Goonies video game feature Cyndi Lauper's "The Goonies R Good Enough" from the movie in question.
 * Wizard of Wor used the "Danger Ahead" portion of the Dragnet theme to open each stage. If the player is able to shoot the Worluk, the "DOUBLE SCORE DUNGEON" screen will appear, and the fifth note of the theme will play.
 * Punch Out uses the "Look Sharp/Be Sharp March" by Mahlon Merrick for its opening theme, and the character's themes are all based on real folk songs from their countries of origin.
 * Though it should be obvious, each of the Rock Band games has one of the songs from the game play during the opening cutscene from each iteration. The original Rock Band had "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, Rock Band 2 had "Hello There" by Cheap Trick, and Rock Band 3 has "Break On Through" by The Doors.
 * Jet Set Radio Future had a remix of "Concept of Love" by Hideki Naganuma, as well as a soundtrack mostly comprised of remixes from the first game.
 * Primal for the Playstation2 uses 16Volt's And I Go for the theme music, along with instrumental versions and edits of other 16Volt songs for the game's soundtrack.
 * Inverted in the case of Silent Hill 2. One of the songs from the game, "Promise (Reprise)" was used by the Philadelphia Eagles' splash page on their official website.
 * The original Mario Bros. used the first phrase of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" for its game start jingle.
 * Spy Hunter had the theme from "Peter Gunn" as its theme, which was then updated into "The Spy Hunter Theme" by Saliva for the PS2/XBOX installment.
 * Enter the Matrix used Evanescence's "Going Under" as its credits theme.
 * Subverted with Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing. In the DS version, part of the credits was accompanied by "Into the Wind" by American metal group Crush 40, which was off of their album Thrill of the Feel when they were known as Sons of Angels (that is, before they got busted for using another band's name. Also, in both versions, the Ending Theme, "So Much More..." by British pop singer Bentley Jones, was released on a later EP of the same name.
 * The opening theme and the final boss battle's soundtrack of Necro Vision, is Preliator.
 * Going by the trailers, Duke Nukem returns to kick some alien ass to the tune of The Prodigy's aptly-named song, Invaders Must Die.
 * The first Homeworld game had the titular progressive rock song from Yes as the credits theme, to great effect due to how closely the lyrics match the game's central theme.
 * Yes wrote the song because they really, really liked the premise of the game, and the devs asked them if they could use it.
 * In an unusual subversion, Mass Effect's use of M4 (Part II) from Faunts as credits theme is what catapulted the group into fame in the first place.
 * The Amiga game Putty (also known as Super Putty for the SNES) used the Joe90 theme song as its opening theme.
 * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver used "Ozar Midrashim" by Information Society, from their 1997 album Don't Be Afraid.
 * Speed Punks uses "Travelling Without Moving" by Jamiroquai as its opening theme.
 * The Rance Series has a very unusual example. Rance's Leitmotif is a remix of East Germany's national anthem. It wouldn't be so unusual if said Leitmotif wasn't the protagonist's default sex music.
 * Rance was born in the Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Germany.
 * Phantom Dust prominently features classical music mixed into an ambient-industrial tone, to fit the mood of the game.
 * Saints Row the Third uses "Power" by Kanye West as the Villain Song of the protagonist.
 * Way to Fall by Starsailor plays during the ending credits of Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater.
 * Never Dead uses the song by the same name from Megadeth as it's theme song.
 * Xenon 2 for the Atari ST and Amiga has "Bomb the Bass" by Megablast as its title theme.
 * Hatoful Boyfriend uses Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy" as Shuu's character theme.

Web Originals

 * The Twilight Chronicles uses Ke$ha's "We R Who We R". Episode 7 had a special opening credits montage consisting of:
 * "Yes" by LMFAO (Jacob)
 * "Miss New Booty" by Bubba Sparxx (Edward's Mom)
 * "Cherry Lips" by Garbage (Edward)
 * "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO (Bella and Carlisle).
 * From That Guy With The Glasses we have:
 * Benzaie's Hardcorener uses the arranged version of "Roar of the Twin Dragons" by Kazuhiro Hara and Nobuhito Tanahashi from the album Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
 * All of Brad Jones's current shows use Theme Tunes from 1980s TV shows:
 * The Cinema Snob - The Greatest American Hero
 * Kung Tai Ted - The Master (but not "Master Ninja Theme Song"!)
 * The Big Box - Automan
 * Brad Tries... - Newhart
 * Eighties Dan - Probably the most obscure of all, this one is from a James D Parriot/Universal cop show called Hawaiian Heat. It ran on ABC in 1984 and flopped horribly.
 * Brad and Jerrid - Bay City Blues, another extremely obscure one.
 * Chad Rocco uses the famous remix of "Little Less Conversation" for his Familiar Faces show.
 * That Dude in the Suede's theme songs are all Real Song Theme Tunes.
 * They're Having An Evangelion Moment! - Unknown Song.
 * Animénia - How Do You Have Your Tea? by Urbantramper
 * AMV Heaven - Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy
 * Fandom Stranger - Return of the Phantom Stranger by Rob Zombie . When it was Anime Weirdness, it used Let’s Fighting Love by DVDA
 * Suede Played has Airbrushed by Anamanaguchi.
 * Film Brain's is "Ready to Roll" by Jet Black Stare.
 * Oancitizen uses the composition "Procession of the Nobles" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
 * Spoony's theme is "Break Me" by The Irresponsibles.
 * What the Fuck Is Wrong With You's theme in both its episodic and live incarnations is "Crazy" by Patsy Cline
 * Nash's other show The Musical Chair has "My Guitar" by Jump, Little Children as its theme.
 * Luke Mochrie and The Inners use the Ouverture from 1981 musical Shock Treatment
 * ... and Obscurus Lupa uses The Supernaturals' Smile for her feature Manic Episodes.
 * Kit Harrison's MachineCAST starts with Pendulum's "Showdown" and ends with "The Other Side".
 * Two Best Friends Play uses "Green Greens" from Kirby, but with their own lyrics on top of it.

Western Animation

 * Bill The Minder, a British children's series of the 1980s based around the drawings of Heath Robinson, used Giuseppe Verdi's famous march from "Aida" as its theme.
 * Phineas and Ferb uses Bowling For Soup's "Today Is Gonna Be a Great Day" (which, in extended form, ironically does not directly mention the show's characters, yet describes things that they do in the episodes).
 * Although one of the verses is, "This is Ferb-tastic!"
 * Transformers: Beast Machines used the techno song "Phat Planet" for its theme, spiced up with animal noises. The music in the series itself modeled itself off the theme.
 * Mission Hill uses an instrumental version of Cake's "Italian Leather Sofa".
 * Ka Blam!'s theme song is an instrumental to "2-Tone Army" by The Toasters, with the original closing theme being "Skaternity" then later changed to "Everything You Said has been a Lie" from season two onward, all by the same band.
 * G4's Code Monkeys uses Jonathan Coulton's song "Code Monkey", one of his better-known works.
 * The French cartoon A Kind of Magic uses the Queen song of the same name.
 * Fillmore uses the instrumental opening to "Das Uber Tuber" by Ookla the Mok.
 * In 1985, DiC Entertainment created an animated show called Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling which was based on the WWE (then known as the WWF) superstars of the era. The theme song was a Bonnie Tyler song called "Ravishing", however, this is a subversion of the trope since it doesn't use the actual song proper (it doesn't even feature any of the lyrics), just various musical sections of the song as an instrumental with occasional chants of "Hulk! Hulk!".
 * Finding Nemo features a Robbie Williams cover of Bobby Darin's "Beyond The Sea" (originally Charles Trenet's French-language "La Mer") during the closing credits.
 * Father of the Pride opens with John Goodman's rendition of Elvis Presley's "Viva las Vegas".
 * The Totally Spies theme uses the tune of Moonbaby's "Here We Go" with Expository Theme Tune lyrics.
 * The Beatles cartoon used real Beatles songs throughout the series, including the title sequences. "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Help!" were both used as theme songs, but the one that seems to be the best remembered is "And Your Bird Can Sing," which was used during the last season.
 * The Back to The Future cartoon used "Back in Time" by Huey Lewis and the News (which also appeared in the first movie).
 * The Jackson 5ive cartoon used the group's song "ABC" for the opening and "Mama's Pearl" for the closing.
 * The Baby Blues cartoon used "It's All Been Done" by Barenaked Ladies.
 * Though it's best known as the Looney Tunes theme, "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" was originally a #1 hit in 1937.

Other

 * A Prairie Home Companion uses a version of "Tishomingo Blues" with rewritten lyrics. Nobody really seems to remember the original.
 * The original 1970s-80s run of the show opened with Garrison Keillor singing Hank Snow's "Hello Love", a #1 country hit in 1974.
 * The CBC Radio international affairs program Dispatches uses "What It Is" by Mark Knopfler, which this troper is now unable to hear without superimposing the comforting yet authoritative voice of Rick MacInnes-Rae.
 * Rush Limbaugh uses the instrumental parts of "My City Was Gone" by The Pretenders as his theme.
 * Jean Shepherd opened and closed each episode of his long-running local New York radio show with "Bahn Frei" by Austrian composer Eduard Strauss.
 * The theme song for most Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy media is "Journey of the Sorcerer" by The Eagles. It appeared as the opening theme for the television and radio programs and appears in the scene introducing the titular guide in the 2005 film adaptation.