10 Best James Bond Songs That Were REJECTED (And Why)

Rejected because: It was "too melancholy"

Cerebral Oxford indie artists Radiohead have demonstrated a love for a classic Bond theme ever since making a version of Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better a fixture of their mid-90s live shows. With Spectre they almost had a chance to add their own. In fact, they were so much the bookies favourites to record the Spectre theme that they stopped taking bets on it.

The band initially submitted Man Of War, a song that they had written during the OK Computer sessions in the 90s and which was briefly considered for the soundtrack to The Avengers (Steed and Peel not Iron Man and Thor). This was rejected as it would not have been eligible for the Best Original Song Oscar.

Radiohead returned with an original composition, simply titled Spectre and later made available on deluxe editions of the A Moon Shaped Pool album.

A mournful orchestral ballad driven by piano and strings, the song was turned down for being "too melancholy" and "too dark" for a Bond theme. Which begs two questions: Firstly, what exactly were they expecting from the most melancholy band in rock? And, secondly, is Sam Smith's actual Spectre theme supposed to be a bright smiling ray of sunshine?

Honestly, Smith's Writing's On The Wall is every bit as gloomy as Radiohead's Spectre, with the added downer note of really not being very good at it.

"It's somehow cooler for Radiohead to have written a song that was never used," was Spectre director Sam Mendes's response to the rejection. In which case every other band on this list must be just as cool as well.