All Scooby-Doo Theme Songs, Ranked

I tried to watch Scoob!, the new animated Scooby-Doo movie that is supposed to kick-start a Hanna Barbera cinematic universe. Long story short, it was unwatchable, but it made me think of Scooby-Doo. Why did I decide to rank all the theme songs from worst to best? Well, because I’m supposed to be writing an academic essay about Molière’s Tartuffe so of course I’m procrastinating.

17. The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1984)
As we will see below, the New Scooby-Doo Movies theme song gets recycled a lot. This, I kid you not, is a hip-hop version of the theme, and even the non-rapping parts are fully embarrassing. For example, at some point the following lyrics “Shaggy’s gonna be there” are sung in a soulful falsetto.

16. Scary Scooby Funnies (1985)
It’s basically the New Mysteries song again but with way less lyrics, which actually improves quite a bit.

15. Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979)
It’s not for hatred of Scrappy-Doo that I put this so low, but because it’s totally recycling the theme of The New Scooby Doo Movies but putting narration over it.

14. The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show (1983)
This is just nakedly the theme from New Scooby Doo Movies, which like I said, gets recycled a lot.

13. Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (2019)
It’s basically a shortened remake of the Where Are You? theme song, which is good on its own right, but come on.

12. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! (2006)
This is trying a little too hard to recapture the magic of the rockin’ theme for What’s New Scooby-Doo? and honestly, the corporate sounds of Simple Plan are just better suited for a cartoon than this ska-punk nightmare.

11. The Scooby-Doo Dynomutt Hour (1976)
There’s only a low-fi partial reconstruction of the theme song available on Youtube, and honestly, it’s nothing to write home about.

10. Be Cool, Scooby Doo! (2015)
I’ve never seen this show. The theme song is made up of generic guitar music.

9. Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics (1977)
Laff-a-Lympics is probably one of the best Hanna Barbera shows. The musical theme is good, but there’s too much narration over it to truly appreciate it.

8. The Scooby and Scrappy Doo Puppy Hour (1982)
Also a recycle of New Movies, but at least it has neither narration or lyrics over it, so you can enjoy the music.

7. The Scooby Doo Show (1980)
This theme song – which explains the plot of the show a little too much – seems like it’s trying a little too hard to be clever, and ends up totally forgettable.

6. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010)
A somewhat underrated entry in the Scooby-Doo canon, this show embraced serialization and played with the idea of an extended universe that included other Hanna Barbera cartoons. The theme song is purely instrumental, with a hint of theremin, and gets the job done.

5. The New Scooby Doo Movies (1972)
Weird that this song is the most recycled of all the Scooby songs since, judging by its lyrics, seems like something a composer banged out in a couple of hours after he forgot his deadline. Still, I have a soft spot for that “scooby, dooby-dee-doo” riff. This, by the way, is the show that had “guest stars,” including the Three Stooges, Batman, and the Harlem Globetrotters.

4. The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1983)
It has no lyrics, but the music is kind of a bop on its own. This is also one of the better Scooby shows, so nostalgia might be playing a strong role in my ranking it this high.

3. What’s New Scooby-Doo? (2002)
Not a particularly good show, but damn, if this isn’t a good theme. Thank you, Simple Plan, you Canadian sell-outs.

2. Scooby-Doo Where Are You? (1969)
The first two episodes had no theme song. Episode 3 introduces the iconic “scooby dooby doo where are you?” theme song. Obviously, this is a classic and a staple, only bested by a song that’s a true bop.

1. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988)
Probably the best Scooby-Doo series ever, so it’s fitting that it has the most banging theme song of them all. Clearly a rip-off of the masterpiece that is the DuckTales theme song, but with a Little Shop of Horros-style vocal performance, this is an all-timer bop nonetheless. Not a surprise, since the lyrics were written by Tom Ruegger, who also did the lyrics for the Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs theme songs, a master of the craft if there ever was one.