"Pokémon Theme" (also known as "Gotta catch ’em all!")
is a song written by John Siegler and
John Loeffler and performed by
Jason Paige. It is the original
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...
for the
first season of the
English adaptation of the
''Pokémon'' anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
. Since its release, the song has been virtually synonymous with the
''Pokémon'' franchise because the line "Gotta catch ’em all!" has become its official English
slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan or a political, commercial, religious, or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group ...
; it is derived from the Japanese ポケモンGETだぜ! ("''Pokemon''
'getto''''da ze!''").
"Pokémon Theme" is a fast-paced
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
song in the key of G Minor, with continuous male vocals intermixed with a
backup vocal
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...
accompaniment.
Lyrics
The song is sung in first person by an aspiring Pokémon trainer. He is determined to become the very best, "like no one ever was". To do this, he intends to travel far and wide, catching new Pokémon. He exhorts the listener to follow him, knowing they will encounter a lot of challenges, but promising to surmount them all together, and that they will learn a lot of new things along the way.
Background and development
John Siegler and John Loeffler wrote the lyrics to the song. Siegler produced the track, also playing keyboards, bass, and programming drum machines. David Rolfe, the vocalist for later themes of the series, played the guitar while Jason Paige provided the vocals.
Siegler initially felt the show's concept was "incomprehensible" but decided it had potential after viewing its debut episode.
Jason Paige recorded the original theme song in four hours.
Paige initially received a "standard, three-figure flat fee" for the recording, but did not receive any royalties from the song. He received a one-time payment "in the mid-five figures" for the song in 2000.
Paige claimed that he "didn’t really know much about ''Pokémon''" when he did the demo, other than a
scene in the animated series that caused bouts of
epileptic seizure
A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...
s in Japan.
The theme song premiered on the debut episode "
Pokémon, I Choose You!" on September 8, 1998. In 1999, Paige recorded an extended version of the theme song for the album ''
Pokémon 2.B.A. Master''.
According to
Norman Grossfeld, the then-president of
4Kids Productions
Konami Cross Media NY, Inc. is an American production company owned by Konami.
Cross Media was founded in November 1992 as 4Kids Productions, a subsidiary of 4Kids Entertainment (which later became 4Licensing Corporation). After 4Kids was disso ...
, the line "Gotta catch 'em all!" was created as a "tagline for marketing purposes that would also be included in the theme song". It is derived from the Japanese tagline "(ポケモンGETだぜ!, Pokémon getto da ze!)". One other contender for the tagline was "Catch 'em if you can", which was used in an earlier version of the theme song.
Commercial reception
In 2015, the song was voted to be part of the annual Dutch
Top 2000 radio marathon, after a call-for-action on
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
went viral within the country. It peaked at number 115 in 2018.
In July 2016, after the release of the
mobile game
A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...
''
Pokémon Go
''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game originally developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices. It uses mobile devic ...
'', the song had a 382% increase in listeners on
music streaming
A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to s ...
platform
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
. There were instances of
police car
A police car is an emergency vehicle used by police for Police transport, transportation during Patrol, patrols and responses to Call for service, calls for service. Police cars are used by police officer, police officers to patrol a Beat (po ...
s playing the song through loudspeakers while driving near ''Pokémon Go'' players, as well as groups of people singing the song in public. The same month, after rising up to 1,079% in sales, the song hit number four on ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''s Kids Digital Songs chart after initially peaking at 10 in 2010.
Due to the popularity of ''Pokémon Go'', Jason Paige released a re-recorded version of the theme.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
NPO Radio 2 Top 2000 (Netherlands)
Cover versions
The theme song has been covered by various artists. A cover of "Pokémon Theme" was first released as a maxi single by
Robbins Entertainment
Robbins Entertainment LLC is an American dance music record label. It is owned by Cory Robbins and has released music by Cascada, such as their hit single " Everytime We Touch". It is also the company responsible for the ''Dance Party Like It's.. ...
on October 26, 1999. This version peaked at number three on the
Maxi-Singles Sales chart in January 2000.
The single peaked at number 36 on the year-end Hot Dance Maxi-Singles Sales chart for that year. It was covered by
Billy Crawford
Billy Joe Ledesma Crawford (born May 16, 1982) is a Filipino actor and singer. Crawford is a recipient of a NRJ Music Awards, a FAMAS Award and a special Aning Dangal award from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
Crawfor ...
for the opening of ''
Pokémon: The First Movie'' and was included on its
soundtrack
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
. In 2014, it was covered by Ben Dixon and the Sad Truth for the English broadcast of ''
Pokémon: XY''.
A second cover by Ben Dixon was featured in the films ''
Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!'' (2017) and
''Pokémon Detective Pikachu'' (2019); this cover was also used in the official trailer for the
''Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!'' and ''Let's Go, Eevee!'' video games.
Others who have covered the theme song included
Postmodern Jukebox,
Kurt Hugo Schneider with
Lindsey Stirling
Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007.
Stirling per ...
,
Eric Calderone,
Baracksdubs,
Tay Zonday
Adam Nyerere Bahner (born May 21, 1982), better known by the pseudonym Tay Zonday or as "Chocolate Rain Guy",Fox News report about Numa Numa also mentions: ...fellow viral video star, 'Chocolate Rain Guy', aka Tay Zonday (Sep 22, 2010)Foxnews.co ...
,
Powerglove,
Xander Mobus,
Nathan Sykes
Nathan James Sykes (born 18 April 1993) is an English singer, best known as a member of the boy band The Wanted. In 2013, Sykes appeared with his bandmates in the E! channel reality television series '' The Wanted Life''. After the band's hia ...
, and
Poppy
A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, '' Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug ...
.
In popular culture
The theme song was featured in the 2000 video game ''
Pokémon Puzzle League'', as well as the 2004 video game, ''
Donkey Konga''.
In November 2005, the
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
comedy duo
Smosh
Smosh () is an American YouTube sketch comedy-improv collective, independent production company, and former social networking site founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. In 2002, Padilla created a website named "smosh.com" for making Flas ...
recorded a lip-dubbed video for the song on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. It briefly became the
most viewed video on the site in March 2006 before being surpassed by "
The Evolution of Dance" that May.
In June 2007, Smosh's video was removed on YouTube due to a copyright notice. In 2010, Smosh recreated the video with altered lyrics that criticized the original video being taken down.
During the
2012 primary election, the original vocalist Jason Paige performed a parody of the song in support of the
Republican candidate
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977, and again from 1979 to 1985, as well as for Texas' ...
. In 2016, Paige performed another parody of the song featuring
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional w ...
as well as YouTube stars
MatPat
Matthew Robert Patrick (born November 15, 1986), known professionally as MatPat, is an American internet personality, political advisor, and former YouTuber. He is the creator and former host of the YouTube series ''Game Theorists'', and its s ...
and
Ali-A
Alastair Aiken (born 6 November 1993), better known by his online alias Ali-A (or by his original alias Matroix), is a British YouTuber known for ''Call of Duty'' and ''Fortnite'' commentaries and vlogs. His main channel has a subscriber coun ...
.
During the
Eurovision Song Contest 2021
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...
, the Norwegian representative,
Tix, sang a parody of the theme song as a love serenade to the Azerbaijani representative,
Samira Efendi
Samira Azer gizi Efendiyeva (; born 17 April 1991), known as Samira Efendi or Efendi, is an Azerbaijani singer. She Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Mata Ha ...
, whom Tix had shown an affection for since the beginning of the contest.
See also
*
List of ''Pokémon'' theme songs
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pokemon Theme
1998 songs
1999 songs
1999 singles
American pop rock songs
Animated series theme songs
Billy Crawford songs
Children's television theme songs
Songs about fictional characters
Songs about monsters
Songs from Pokémon