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I noticed a few animes in the 00s feature Western opening and closing themes.

For example:

  • Ergo Proxy's ending theme is Paranoid Android by Radiohead
  • Speed Grapher's opening theme is Girls on Film by Duran Duran.

Both of which are pretty big names.

But, most anime usually have an artist/group performing the songs that hails from Japan.

When did a track from the West first appear as an opening or ending to an anime?

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  • To clarify, is this specific to the Japanese version, or does this include the new openings bundled with dubbings? EG Pokemon, Dragonball Z
    – Quill
    Commented Feb 28, 2016 at 15:06
  • @Quill the original Japanese version (although, I'm sure dubs might be interesting too)
    – Toshinou Kyouko
    Commented Feb 28, 2016 at 15:07

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In your eyes by Samantha Newark in Project A-Ko (1986)

The earliest use of an English song as an opening in the Japanese version of an anime I can find is In your eyes by Samantha Newark in Project A-Ko (1986), however, English songs were fairly common in versions dubbed for North America and Europe, often getting complete song rewrites instead of translations.

See the differences between Dragonball Z's English and Japanese openings for a good example of this.

Later on, however, when they stopped shipping new openings with anime (around 2000, for memory), English songs became more common, sporting names like Radiohead (Ergo Proxy, 2006) and Oasis (Eden of the East, 2009). An early and particular favourite of mine is Serial Experiments Lain's opening, Duvet by Boa (1998).

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  • Ah, I'd thought of "Duvet" when I saw this question as well!
    – Maroon
    Commented Feb 29, 2016 at 4:19

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