‘Doing Friends killed our cool’ – theme tune revelations from The Sopranos to The OC and more
So no one told you life was gonna be this way (clap, clap, clap, clap). But what’s it like being in a band whose biggest hit is a TV theme? Is it creatively gratifying, financially life-changing or frustrating to live for ever in its shadow? We tracked down the artists responsible for five theme tunes. Roll title sequence …
‘It put my kids through college – but broke up the band’
Danny Wilde is one half of Californian alt-rock duo the Rembrandts, whose song I’ll Be There for You became the theme tune to Friends.
It all happened wildly fast. Our manager said a sitcom was looking for a theme song and Kevin Bright, the show’s executive producer, was a Rembrandts fan. Would you be interested? The camp was split but they sent us a VHS tape of the pilot and it was cute, so we agreed. It had REM’s Shiny Happy People playing over the fountain scene and they wanted something with the same tempo.
We recorded the 43-second version two days later. The producers came to the studio and wanted to do the handclaps, but they couldn’t get it at all. We were like: “Guys, it’s just four claps.” They did a few takes, we told them it was fine, then after they left, we erased it and
