Later this summer, a new generation of kids will be introduced to Spider-Man and his pals through the upcoming Disney Junior animated series Marvel's Spidey and his Amazing Friends. There's a rich history when it comes to Spider-Man theme songs and for this new series, Marvel turned to Fall Out Boy front man Patrick Stump to help craft the theme.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the famed rock-and-roller, who is also a self-proclaimed Marvel nerd, explained what it was like to be tasked with creating the new theme song for the Spider-Man series.
"I came in with decades of being a Marvel nerd. But I was like, well, this is probably going to be the first time a lot of kids in this generation are going to see an iteration of Spider-Man," Stump told EW. "What does that mean? There's so much history behind that."
Stump didn't actually get to watch any of the finished episodes, and only had a few basic descriptions to work from for inspiration. But Spider-Man has been around for decades, so Stump tried to channel some of that as well.
"In my head, I was like, 'Okay, you've got the '60s Spidey cartoon, with its surf rock theme. You've got the '90s cartoon, which has a little bit more of a metal, hard rock thing. Then there are the scores. There's the Danny Elfman score, the Horner score, the Michael Giacchino score. All of those things were swirling around my head in like one minute, you know, and I just sat down and had this explosion of inspiration. Then I just had to scramble to get to the studio to lay it all down. I was so excited at that point."
The result is this:
While it definitely has that Patrick Stump pop-punk feel to it, creating the theme for Marvel's Spidey and His Amazing Friends is a far cry from the music he ordinarily performs. Stump was also tasked with composing the score for Marvel's Spidey and His Amazing Friends which includes music for the various Spidey heroes — Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Gwen Stacy — as well as their friends like Hulk, Black Panther, and Ms. Marvel.
"I've been scoring for about five years. It's my day job, but no one really knows about it. I'm the guy from Fall Out Boy and that's usually what people think of me as, but I spend all day, every day scoring. I kind of assumed that they were going to like my theme song and then get someone that they prefer to score. But they offered me the chance to score a short demo reel kind of a thing, and they went for it and they hired me. It's kind of the same feeling I had writing the theme song, where I'm coming to it with all this story and I get to write music for Black Panther and Ms. Marvel. It's incredible, it's the coolest thing."
While we got a sneak peek of the opening theme from Marvel's Spidey and His Amazing Friends we'll be able to see Stump's full work when the series premieres on Disney Channel and Disney Junior this summer. Episodes in the series will be filled with themes of friendship, cooperation, problem solving, and using your abilities to help others.