The Disney Villain Song is a dying breed. As their villains get more relatable and less, well, cartoonish, their grand declarations of evil just don’t hit as hard anymore. Songs like “Shiny” and “Mother Knows Best” are serviceable, but they don’t really hold a candle to stuff like “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and the underrated “Hellfire” from Hunchback of Notre Dame.
It would be nice if The Mouse found its way back to the hammy dastardly anthems of old, so today we’re looking at the best non-Disney animated villain songs that have filled the niche.
10. “Toxic,” Ferngully: The Last Rainforest
Even when Disney was at its peak with villain songs they had competition, Tim Curry sings an ode to pollution that is garish, gay, and grimy in Ferngully. This is when Curry was in his heyday as a voice actor and leaving nothing on the table when it came to songs.
9. “Other Father’s Song,” Coraline
At first glance, the Other Father’s jaunty tune to Coraline isn’t much of a villain song. After subsequent re-watchings, though, it becomes more and more sinister as part of the Other Mother’s intended trap. Every lyric is dripping with double meaning that counteracts its happy, wholesome approach.
8. “In the Dark of the Night,” Anastasia
Anastasia is. . .not good. By 1997, Don Bluth was starting to lose his touch as a rival to Disney. However, the soundtrack was tops. “In the Dark of the Night” is sung by Rasputin, played by Christopher Lloyd with scene-eating joy. The presentation is terrifying, with Rasputin literally falling to pieces as a corpse, and the chorus has these awesome cheesy guitars that make it an instant bop.
7. “Other Friends,” Steven Universe: The Movie
Just because modern animated films are more grounded in realistic emotional stakes doesn’t mean the songs have to suffer. Case in point: “Other Friends,” a bitter but upbeat anthem by Spinel (Sarah Stiles) about how Pink Diamond cruelly abandoned her as a friend under the guise of a joke. It’s a set-up that will be instantly recognizable to any kid who has to go through middle school.
6. “Pretty Bird,” Rio
A pretty common villain song trope is talking about how awesome they used to be, but none captures the pure acidic rot of a fallen star like Jermaine Clement as Nigel in Rio. A former television star who lost his place in the spotlight, he is now dedicated to bringing the world down to his level. It’s absolutely spinecrawling and surprisingly catchy.
5. “Where There’s a Whip, There’s a Way,” Return of the King
The Rankin Bass version of Return of the King is a pale shadow of its predecessor The Hobbit, but there’s no denying it had a killer soundtrack. The orcish marching song “Where There’s a Whip, There’s a Way” is pulled from a throwaway line in the book and turned into something that sounds almost like a Devo tune. I thought it would be unfair to use two slots on the Rankin Bass Tolkien adaptations, so here’s a reminder that “Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees” also slaps as a goblin anthem.
4. “Trogdor the Burninator,” Strong Bad Email #58
The song that launched a million memes. While Trogdor is not really a villain, seeing as he is just a character that Strong Bad created, he still has an undeniably metal villain song. Trogdor has subsequently been an actual villain in the Strong Bad video game, so it counts.
3. “My Name is Mok,” Rock and Rule
If you’ve never seen Rock and Rule, you need to rectify that immediately. An odd combination of Disney’s Robin Hood and Heavy Metal, the film features some huge rock stars, including Lou Reed as the demon-summoning rock star Mok’s singing voice. It’s honestly one of Reed’s best songs, but because of copyright issues it’s rarely seen official release.
2. “Up There,” South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
Not every villain song is a banner. Every once in a while a villain gets a chance to pour their heart out just like the heroes do. None did this better than South Park’s Satan, who gets a soul-searing gospel tune about wanting to leave Hell.
1. “How Bad Can I Be?” The Lorax
Modern villains require modern tunes, and that’s where “How Bad Can I Be?” comes in. A powerful defense of unregulated capitalism and corporate greed, it sounds like an Elon Musk press release set to a solid guitar line. Grandiose while still staying the perfect level of petty, it’s the best non-Disney animated villain song of all time.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
