James Bond’s Themes Got a Much-Needed Update With Tina Turner

The late Tina Turner left a significantly smaller footprint in the movies than she did in music, but she always made her film projects so memorable. That includes “GoldenEye,” the theme song to the 1995 James Bond film of the same name. Turner performs the song over the opening credits, and it was later included in her 1996 album Wildest Dreams.

The title song to a Bond film is a singular honor in the music world. Spaces are limited and the image-conscious spy franchise doesn’t go with flash-in-the-pan acts for its theme songs. Turner’s powerful voice makes a perfect fit for 007’s often over-the-top music, and had the track record to prove it in 1995. But more than that, the Bond films were at a precarious point, and the success of Turner’s song played a part in pulling it out of a tailspin.

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GoldenEye was the First James Bond Film in Six Years

GoldenEye arrived after the failure of 1989’s License to Kill, which ended Timothy Dalton’s brief run as 007 and eventually gave way to Pierce Brosnan. In the interim, the Soviet Union fell and the Cold War ended, which caused a huge conundrum for the durable spy series. Producer Albert R. Broccoli was in failing health during the production of GoldenEye: he passed away a couple of months after the film opened, and his daughter Barbara assumed his producer’s position on the franchise for the first time. That constituted a sea of change in leadership as the senior Broccoli had overseen 007 from the beginning.

On top of all that, Brosnan had been circling the role for many years, and some Bond fans felt that the actor should have replaced Roger Moore in the role rather than Dalton. That left a daunting combination of high expectations and big risks for GoldenEye itself. It needed to show that Bond was still relevant in a post-Soviet world while honoring 007’s roots. It succeeded with the help of a splashy debut from Brosnan and Judi Dench’s now-legendary first appearance as M. But it also nailed a lot of little details that overcame some unforced errors like Joe Don Baker’s butt tattoo or replacing Bond’s Aston Martin with a BMW.

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Tina Turner Was the Perfect Choice for 007’s Return

GoldenEye’s success included the title song, which would introduce Brosnan’s Bond to the world and kick off a new chapter in the franchise. Turner fit the bill to a “T.” Even then, she was a legacy, with a career stretching back to Bond’s roots in the 1960s, and a voice to match the likes of 007 musical staple Shirley Bassey. But she was also exceedingly contemporary, with a huge comeback in the 1980s that continued well past the release of GoldenEye. Wildest Dreams, for example, went double-platinum in the UK in 1996. That gave her the right combination of timelessness and pertinence to cement Bond’s comeback.

Turner was also a noted abuse survivor, who left her ex-husband Ike in 1976, and whose subsequent solo career has become a symbol of artistic validation and endurance. Her presence on the soundtrack sent the right message for Bond himself: a survivor who had come through the years intact, despite the ghosts of his past clinging to his heels. The song hits hard, in the face of one of the more bizarre opening title sequences as female silhouettes pound on crumbling statues of Lenin with a hammer. The opening action scene preceding it takes place in the mid-80s with the Cold War at its height. Turner’s performance bridges the gap perfectly, and leaves the audience ready to accept a 007 for a new era.

Brosnan’s turn in the role never fulfilled the promise of its first effort. He made a fine Bond, but the material never rose to his level. GoldenEye got the James Bond franchise over tough hump, however, with another quarter-century of films to follow. Turner was perhaps the only choice to serenade it in.