TV THEMES/THE '90s

The '90s
Classic TV theme: Friends
Written by Allee Willis and Michael Skloff

It's like you're always stuck in second gear.
Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.
TV theme songs met their doom in the '90s. Everyone had a remote control and cable, creating plenty of viewing options and shorter attention spans. Programming executives wanted to go "seamless," with one show flowing into the next so we'd see the first segment and get hooked before our willpower could take over and trigger the channel change synapse. Seinfeld was the new model: a few bass notes and into the episode. No cast introductions, no song. Unfortunately, not every show was written as well as Seinfeld, and that extra 45 seconds of show content was the stuff that would have been edited out in the olden days. TV was getting bloated and fragmented to the point that writers stopped being necessary, and reality shows took over, making the music even less relevant (with one big exception listed below).

It was radio that needed the songs, and the biggest radio song of 1995 was the theme to Friends, recorded by The Rembrandts. Desperate for an identifiable pop song that could catch on in the post-grunge landscape, radio stations put "I'll Be There For You" in heavy rotation. But first they had to get the song - it was never released as a single. Allee Willis, who wrote it with Michael Skloff, told us:

It was just DJs who made a cassette of the song and just started playing it. And it became the #1 airplay record of the year, but the Rembrandts never wanted it out as a single because they didn't write the song. So they kind of bit off their nose to spite their face. At that point, the only way they could get the Rembrandts to do the record was if they got songwriting credit. So the song needed a bridge, and it needed a second verse lyric, and they wrote that. They don't have credit on the theme, but they have it on the record.
So to recap: a semi-famous rock group records a poppy theme song that they didn't write for a TV show that becomes a huge hit. Popularity led to interest in a full length version of the song, but the group had no intention of recording a full version unless they could get a writing credit and make lots of money in exchange for the loss of their musical souls, which they give up in the deal, as they will forever be identified by this pop platitude and not for their art.

Allee wasn't thrilled with the song either, but she took the assignment and overdelivered, coming up with a song about those who care for you no matter how screwed up you are. It was fed into the corporate machine: Warner Brothers owned the show, their publishing division had Allee, and their record label had The Rembrandts. Allee wrote the song very quickly and didn't think much of it. This was around the time when the music industry started digging in their heels, refusing to embrace new technology like the internet, and Allee was already forming online social networks, partnering with Mark Cuban and figuring out how to move music forward. She ended up creating one of the last huge hits using the old - and doomed - business model she hated.

Allee Willis

Allee wrote "Boogie Wonderland" and "September" with Earth, Wind & Fire. She has a museum of kitsch, throws fabulous parties, and makes interesting videos, like this one with Pomplamoose.
Some of the most beloved shows of the '90s bucked the trend and used unusual theme songs. Primus sang quick and dirty for South Park. Danny Elfman wrote the clever instrumental on The Simpsons, which left room for Lisa's improvs on sax. Will Smith did the rap intro on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, opening his show with a Brady Bunch-like extended introduction that explains why he's living with his rich uncle. TV themes weren't dead, but they had to be different to work.

Other famous theme songs from the '90s:

•"Woke Up This Morning" from The Sopranos - Written by A3 after their lead singer heard a story about a wife who shot her abusive husband.


•"Bad Boys" from COPS - A Reggae song that set the tone for a real-life cop show. It let us know that we were allowed to laugh at these idiots getting arrested.


•"Cleveland Rocks" from The Drew Carey Show - The song was written by an Englishman: Ian Hunter. The version used on the show was by the Presidents Of The United States Of America.