Toon Tunes: Batman the Animated Series
Because I was an 80s kid obsessed with Batman, my Grandad (who was the only one in the family with a VHS recorder) made the fatal mistake of taping the Tim Burton Batman movie for me. I then made him watch it with me every. single. Friday. night. for the rest of my childhood. Batman: The Animated Series was somewhat based on that Tim Burton film - the music had the same Danny Elfman orchestral themes, and the design stayed true to the dark art deco style so I devoured it when it came out a few years later. I think even then though, I always felt like I shouldn’t be enjoying it so much. You’re too old for this, Ben, at your grand old age of 10. I definitely felt too old when I bought my final B:TAS action figure at age 14. It was so pretty though.
Fast forward another 15 years or so, with my other half working nights and me almost definitely trying to find comfort in nostalgia, I finally went back to my beloved Gotham and used it as my go to sleep blanket every night for a few months. It still stands up, man. The artwork is stunning (apparently all painted on black card backgrounds to give it that super-noir feel), the cast is so freaking good (Mark Hammill as the Joker anyone?) and the score harkens back to all those beautiful old Warner Bros Looney Tunes shows. Please go watch. Oooh, and if you can find time to watch the movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, please do. I don’t feel too old for it now.
Anyway, this playlist started off Batman themed (nostalgia, love and loss and beating up bad guys, etc) but sorta morphed into songs I’m really into at the moment too. So I hope that’s ok. Thanks for reading, and thanks for having me, TGE, it’s been a fun wee project.