You can’t indulge in any kind of visual media these days without running into a superhero. While they’ve long been a staple of television and cinema, those caped crusaders and men (and women) of steel have been particularly prevalent in this millennium. From the MCU to the Arrowverse, they’re everywhere.
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Except over the radio airwaves, that is. There just haven’t been too many songs about superheroes, at least if you’re not counting theme songs. But we were able to dig up five songs that, at the very least, have superheroes in their titles. Some of those titles are merely coincidental, while others are used to make an ironic point. In any case, these five songs might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But they can rock your world for a few minutes.
1. ”(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman” by The Kinks
Kinks frontman Ray Davies was apparently none too pleased when his record label (specifically famous exec Clive Davis) asked him for a song that could be played in disco clubs. As a result, there’s probably some cathartic disgust at play in the tenor of the music. But the subject matter was earnest for Davies, as he actually was a big fan of the most iconic of all superheroes, both in the comics and in the movie starring Christopher Reeve. His self-deprecating lyrics tell the story of a nine-stone weakling who’s displeased with himself and the state of the world. He realizes that only the Man of Steel can come to the rescue, but he’s ill-equipped to fill his boots.
2. “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath
No, Black Sabbath did not have Tony Stark in mind when they put this heavy metal classic together in 1970. At the time, Iron Man was a character who was known mostly to comic book nuts and not really part of the mainstream culture. As a matter of fact, the title of the song came when singer Ozzy Osbourne heard Tony Iommi’s sludgy opening guitar riff and decided it sounded like, as he put it, an “iron bloke” walking around. Granted, some of the qualities displayed by the character in the song are superhuman. But unfortunately, a close perusal of the lyrics shows that he plans on using these qualities to wreak vengeance on those puny humans who once ignored his warnings.
[RELATED: The Meaning Behind “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath]
3. “That’s Really Super, Supergirl” by XTC
The English critical darlings XTC scored their biggest commercial hit with the 1986 album Skylarking; although, in retrospect, frontman Andy Partridge was unhappy with the production by Todd Rundgren. In any case, the kind of clangorous anti-pop Rundgren cooked up suits “That’s Really Super, Supergirl” well enough, in large part because the metaphor is so colorful and brazen. Partridge pulls out every bit of Supergirl lore he can, from Kryptonite to the Fortress of Solitude. He uses all of these details as a way of saying that the narrator’s current paramour seems to be on a different plane of popularity than he is. Or, if you choose, you can imagine the song being about a guy who goes out with the actual Supergirl and finds out she’s way too busy and important for a sap like him.
4. “Magneto and Titanium Man” by Paul McCartney & Wings
OK, we’re stretching it a bit here, because in this case, the characters named in the song were all bad guys from Marvel Comics. Magneto, the longtime arch enemy of the X-Men, was by far the most famous of the three (the Crimson Dynamo also makes an appearance in the song). Paul McCartney definitely had the actual comic book characters in mind when writing this song off Wings’ 1975 album Venus and Mars. He was indeed a Marvel Comics fan. But McCartney doesn’t really put us in the middle of some cosmic superhero warfare in the song. If anything, the trio of villains seem like nothing more than small-time criminals in this bouncy lark.
5. “Wonderboy” by Tenacious D
Our research shows that there have been several characters in the DC world who have gone by the title Wonderboy. Truth be told, though, we were just looking for any excuse to mention this magnificently proggy track from Jack Black and Kyle Gass. The duo was joined by some heavyweights on the track: Dave Grohl on drums, Phish’s Paige McConnell on keyboards, and The Dust Brothers producing. But they’re all window-dressing to a story that serves as the mythical origin for Tenacious D, as two warring superhumans decide to come together and form a rock band—but only after dealing with hydras and yaks. Frankly, if you ask us, any song with a final line like There, the crevasse, fill it with your mighty juice deserves mention in any list.
Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns
