The Distillers Unspin "Spider-Man Theme" Cover from 2004 Spider-Man 2 Video Game (Plus, Spidey Film & Covers Spotify Playlist)
"Theme from Spider-Man" was originally written by Academy Award-winner Paul Francis Webster with music composed by Robert "Bob" Harris for the now-iconic 1967 Spider-Man animated TV series. "Spider-Man" was recorded at RCA Studios in Toronto, Canada featuring 12 CBC vocalists—including members of The Billy Van Singers & Laurie Bower Singers groups—who embellished the musical backing track supplied by RCA Studios, New York; according to a long-standing rumor, the song's bassline might have even been played by American Jazz heavy-weight Charles Mingus... It's been 52 years since Webster & Harris' composition was originally released and there have been countless Spider-Man animated series and live-action TV shows, as well as several made-for-TV films since. Although, most fans are, likely, most familiar with the onslaught of Spider-Man films released since 2002, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 1-3, The Amazing Spider-Man 1-2 starring Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone, and most recently, Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Over the years, said directors have recruited everyone from Dashboard Confessional to Post Malone to record original material for inclusion on their accomapying film soundtracks.
Amazingly, a whole web-full of artists have uttered the sticky sing-songy words, "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can..." including Web Spinners, The Ramones, Aerosmith, Michael Bublé, and The Mr. T Experience. Now, it appears as though a "new" version of "Spider-Man Theme" has been unspun by newly-reformed LA Punk/Hardcore band, The Distillers. "it feels like spidey season, so in honor of the new movie being released, we'd like to share our cover of the "spider-man theme" we recorded back in 2004," @The_Distillers_ Tweeted earlier this month. From what I can gather with a bit of Peter Parker-esque digital sleuthing, Brody Dalle & The Distillers originally recorded their "Spider-Man" cover for inclusion on Activision's video game adaption of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. For their 2004 rendition, The Distillers recruited Alain Johannes (Spinnerette) & Natasha Shneider to co-produce the track together at 11AD Studios in Hollywood. Now, for this 2019 re-release of "Spider-Man Theme," The Distillers recruited Linas Garsys (@lgarsys) to design the Spider-Man/Brody Dalle-melding "Spider-Bro" single artwork. The Distillers first proper release in 15 years, "Man vs. Magnet" / "Blood In Gutters" was recently issued on Third Man Records and they will soon enter the studio with Talking Heads & Yeah Yeah Yeahs producer Nick Launay to work on their fourth full-length album. Below, you will find a The Witzard-curated Spotify playlist consisting our personal favorite Spider-Man film compositions, covers, etc.