Spider-Man

If I ran a game store I would play Spider-Man by The Ramones.

In 1967, Grantray-Lawrence Animation produced an animated Spider-Man cartoon based upon the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The show lasted on the American Broadcasting Company for three seasons and after its initial broadcast it went into syndication, outlasting its 1967-1970 time frame by many decades. The longevity of the series exposed a generation or two of kids to the show and its hugely catchy theme song. The theme song, composed by Bob Harris and with lyrics by Paul Francis Webber, has gone on to become a standard with many bands covering it over the years. It's also been used in many of the live-action Spider-Man feature films.  The song's opening lyric of "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can" is arguably as synonymous with Peter Parker as the Spider-Man suit is. The version of the song I would play if I ran a game store is the version by The Ramones.

The Ramones covered the song late in their musical career, but it appears on various albums of theirs. Spider-Man was first released as a hidden track on the vinyl version of their 1995 album, ¡Adios Amigos!, originally marking the track as a rarity. It was also included in the 1995 compilation album, Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits. A live version was released on their 1996 compilation album, Greatest Hits Live. They included another live version on their 1997 album, We're Outta Here!. The next time the studio version appeared was in their 2005 box set, Weird Tales of the Ramones, on disc 3. The song was featured in the 1996 film, Bio-Dome, but was excluded from the movie's soundtrack.

Spider-Man (Weird Tales of the Ramones version) on Google Play

Peter Parker

If I ran a game store I would play the song Peter Parker by the great Luke Ski.

While Sony Pictures was producing the movie Spider-Man, the great Luke Ski was producing the song Peter Parker. Spider-Man was released in theaters on May 3, 2002 and was the biggest movie of the year. Peter Parker was first played on the Dr. Demento Show on May 5, 2002 and was the show's most requested song of the year.

Peter Parker is a parody of Run-D.M.C.'s Peter Piper performed by Luke Ski and Devo Spice. It's a hip-hop song that nostalgically samples the theme song to the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon series. The song broadly tells the tale of Peter Parker's life and the villains he faces. It also outlines a number of other Marvel superheroes but ranks Spider-Man above them for greatness. It's a fun song for the lyrics Luke Ski wrote and the song he parodies, but his sampling really make the song what it is. Rather than going on about Sam Raimi's movie, Luke Ski looked to an early version of Spider-Man. This gives the song a longer shelf life and makes it accessible to a generation familiar with that version of the web head - even the first time you hear it you will know some of the lyrics. Peter Parker was released on the great Luke Ski’s 2002 album, Uber Geek.

Peter Parker on Bandcamp