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

Rejected because: It was pitted against a bunch of other possibilities in an "American Idol situation"

Mid-level Bond movie as sort of Murdoch media satire Tomorrow Never Dies had an unusually competitive contest to record the theme song. And then settled on a pretty unremarkable ballad from Sheryl Crow.

Composer David Arnold wrote a theme song for the movie that was performed by David McAlmont, but producers at MGM wanted a song from someone more widely known. So they opened the position up to a variety of big-in-the-90s acts to take their shot instead.

Alongside Pulp, the likes of The Cardigans, Marc Almond, k.d. lang and Saint Etienne (whose entry is also well worth a listen) all submitted potential Tomorrow Never Dies themes. The Sheffield indie idols' singer Jarvis Cocker later recalled that MGM "set up a kind off American Idol situation, where they asked about nine different artists to come up with a Bond song", adding that "I was really pissed off when they went with Sheryl Crow instead."

Pulp's song, called Tomorrow Never Lies (the film's original, and frankly more coherent, title), appeared instead as the B-side to their single Help The Aged.

It's not vintage Pulp, but Jarvis was right to be frustrated at being passed over for Crow, because at the very least his breathy Yorkshire vocals are imbued with a genuine emotion lacking in the actual movie soundtrack.