Composer Neal Hefti, best known for creating the theme for the 1960s Batman television series, passed away at his home in Toluca Lake, California this Saturday at the age of 85.

While a handful of our readers may have grown up watching the original Batman series when it first aired in the 60s, I think it’s safe to say that majority of us enjoyed them in rerun format. Regardless, two aspects of the show likely resonate in our psyche today are the catch phrase “same bat time, same bat channel”, and the unmistakable theme song laced with zany audio clips like “POW!” and “ZOK!”.

The geeked-out world of pop culture owes a great deal to Neal and his music, as it helped to introduce the caped crusader to America’s television audience, and ultimately pave the way for the Dark Knight we can’t seem to get enough of today.

A clip of the intro theme from the show is available after the jump.

Tags: 1960, Adam West, Batman, Neal Hefti, pop culture, TV

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1 Comment » PressStart on October 15, 2008 9:06 pm Aw bummer! I can’t say I’ve even heard of his name till now, but i definitely know the song…RIP RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.