Top five TV themes ripe for mashup

Have you heard "Office Musik" yet? It's Clockwork mashing Lil' Wayne's "Hustler Musik" with the theme from The Office. It's good. So good that we listened to it about fifteen times yesterday. So good that it was Hype Machine's number one track at the same time that Entertainment Weekly wrote it up. Neither one of those endorsements counts for much independently. But combined, we're pretty sure that counts as crossover appeal these days.

The lesson here is that, just when we thought mashups were roasted and toasted, someone found what looks a lot like fertile ground. Here, then, are the next five TV themes in line for a trip through Pro Tools.

5. Doogie Howser, M.D.

We did not fully appreciate until we went to compile this list just how many TV show themes are cheese ball embarrassments. It seems irresponsible not to include one song that sounds like it was composed by a 16-bit smiley face, so pre-pubescent Neil Patrick Harris sneaks in at number five. You'd pretty much have to play it for irony and mash it with a verse from someone like 50 Cent. They're a match for simplicity, at the very least.

4. The Simpsons

Part of the reason "Office Musik" is so successful is the recognizability of the theme song. The Simpsons has maybe the most well-known theme song ever, so you're sure to hit on that level. We're confident that you could take a really fast rapper like Busta and blow that shit up.

3. The Wire (Season 3)

This is the funkiest version of a grimy theme for a show that seriously gets the ideological roots of rise-from-the-streets hip-hop. No need to get fancy -- throw some T.I. or Young Jeezy on there and don't mess with it too much. T.I.'s first post-prison single, "I'm Back" would sound pretty fucking boss if you slowed it down a touch to match tempos.

2. Sanford and Son

Is it cheating to take a theme song composed by Quincy Jones and stick some Michael Jackson over it? Granted, it would probably just sound like a Michael Jackson song from the 80s, but who's going to complain about that?

1. Mister Roger's Neighborhood

"Everyday Struggle" by Biggie. Done.