50 Fun Facts About Hard TV Theme Songs

Which band was first asked to let its song 'Shiny Happy People' be the Friends theme, and turned it down?

Warner Bros. Television then picked the only available band on Warner Bros. Records to record the replacement. A Nashville radio station later made the theme a hit.

Which two Friends creators share the writing credit on the Rembrandts' theme with Allee Willis?

Danny Wilde and Phil Sōlem later added two verses for the 1995 single, which reached the top ten in Ireland and the UK.

Gary Portnoy co-wrote the Cheers theme with which songwriting partner?

The 2013 EP Cheers: Music from the TV Series includes Portnoy's demo and several earlier attempts the pair made before landing on the famous version.

Where did Andrew Gold's 'Thank You for Being a Friend' peak on the Hot 100 in 1978?

Gold called it 'just this little throwaway thing' that took him about an hour to write. Cindy Fee sang the sitcom version.

Who wrote the lyric of the M*A*S*H theme 'Suicide Is Painless' for Altman, reportedly in five minutes?

Altman wanted 'the stupidest song ever written' and found his own 45-year-old brain could not manage it. The vocal version hit number one in the UK in 1980.

Which instrumental group's 1968 cover of the Hawaii Five-O theme reached the US top five?

Morton Stevens composed the original. In 2015 his children sued CBS over the theme's use in the rebooted series.

Who realised Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1963?

Every note was made by cutting and splicing tape of a single plucked string and oscillator swoops, years before commercial synthesisers existed.

Julee Cruise's 'Falling', the Twin Peaks theme, topped the singles chart in which country in 1991?

David Lynch wrote the lyrics and Angelo Badalamenti the music; Badalamenti won a Grammy for the instrumental 'Twin Peaks Theme'.

John Sebastian's theme for a 1975 ABC sitcom had a knock-on effect on the sitcom itself. What was it?

Sebastian could not rhyme anything with 'Kotter' except 'otter', so he wrote around it. The single hit number one in May 1976 after only five weeks on the chart.

Which Mike Post-produced singer finally scored with 'Believe It or Not' from The Greatest American Hero?

Post recalled telling producer Stephen J. Cannell the flying-suit premise was 'nuts'. The pilot first played the theme without vocals.

'Miami Vice Theme' was the last instrumental to top the Hot 100 until which 2013 track?

The soundtrack sat atop the US album chart for 11 weeks in 1985, the most successful TV soundtrack until High School Musical in 2006.

Which guitarist is featured on Mike Post's Grammy-winning 'Hill Street Blues' theme?

The single reached number 10, matching Post's 1975 Rockford Files theme, and both men collected the 1982 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

What was the Flintstones' opening theme called for its first two seasons, before 'Meet the Flintstones'?

The instrumental resembled the Bugs Bunny Show overture also airing on ABC, which may be why it was replaced in season three.

Which soprano sang the wordless vocal line in Alexander Courage's original Star Trek theme?

Courage mixed voice and instruments equally for a mysterious sound, but Roddenberry had the vocal brought up. Courage also made the Enterprise 'whoosh' with his own voice.

Who actually wrote and sang the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme 'Love Is All Around'?

The former Cricket also recorded two full-length versions; his 1980 country arrangement reached number 29 on the country chart. The lyrics changed after season one.

Kevin Williamson used 'I Don't Want to Wait' for Dawson's Creek after failing to license which song?

Using a pre-existing song as a theme was novel at the time. Cole wrote the track at her spinet piano as her grandfather neared death.

The Smiths' 'How Soon Is Now?', covered for the Charmed theme, was first the B-side of which single?

The cover first appeared on the soundtrack of the 1996 film The Craft. The original runs nearly seven minutes.

Which entertainer's estate is co-credited on Phantom Planet's 'California' for its resemblance to an older song?

The title and chorus echo 'California, Here I Come'. The song is about driving Route 101 to a concert and became a top-ten hit in the UK and Ireland.

They Might Be Giants won their first Grammy in 2002 for which sitcom theme?

An earlier version was written for a Philadelphia radio contest with a very different chorus. The single made the top 30 in the UK.

Whose book Big Bang had Ed Robertson just read when he improvised the rap behind The Big Bang Theory theme?

Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady heard the freestyle at a Los Angeles concert and phoned him. A full-length version was released in October 2007.

Lazlo Bane's 'Superman', the Scrubs theme, first appeared in 2000 on which film's soundtrack?

That was a year before Scrubs debuted. The song is sometimes titled 'I'm No Superman'.

'Little Boxes', the Weeds theme, was written by Malvina Reynolds after seeing tract housing where?

Pete Seeger's 1963 recording was his only charting single, at number 70. Reynolds wrote it in the car while her husband drove to a gig in La Honda.

Who performed the version of Tom Waits' 'Way Down in the Hole' used in season four of The Wire?

Each season used a different recording; Waits himself sang season two. An extended Blind Boys version played over the series-finale montage.

Which HBO show made Jace Everett's flop 'Bad Things' chart in the UK and Scandinavia four years on?

It came from his only album for Epic Records Nashville and won a 2009 BMI cable television award.

The title of Nick Cave's 'Red Right Hand', the Peaky Blinders theme, comes from which epic poem?

Milton's phrase refers to the vengeful hand of God. The 1994 track was re-released as a single in 2014 thanks to the show, and had earlier featured in the Scream films.

Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' was originally meant to feature which star before Elizabeth Fraser?

The harpsichord-driven track was Massive Attack's only UK top-ten hit. Fraser, ex-Cocteau Twins, wrote the lyrics.

Inner Circle's 'Bad Boys', the Cops theme, was first released on which 1987 album?

It only became a US hit in 1993, reaching number eight, after 'Sweat (A La La La La Long)' broke the band internationally.

'Johnny's Theme', the Tonight Show opener, began life in 1959 as which Paul Anka instrumental?

Anka added lyrics for Annette Funicello under the title 'It's Really Love'. Tommy Newsom's arrangement was on the Tonight Show Band's Grammy-winning debut album.

Johnny Pearson wrote 'Heavy Action', the Monday Night Football theme, in 1970 for which production-library company?

In Britain it is the theme to Superstars, and it also opens Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl. Pearson wrote it while playing in the Top of the Pops orchestra.

The SpongeBob SquarePants theme is a sea shanty adapted from which traditional song?

Painty the Pirate is voiced by Patrick Pinney, who had no other role in the series. Creator Stephen Hillenburg reportedly wanted the most annoying song possible.

Which slogan was runner-up to the famous English Pokémon tagline and used in an early theme version?

Jason Paige sang the theme, written by John Siegler and John Loeffler in G minor. 4Kids' Norman Grossfeld said the winning tagline was created for marketing first.

Under what title did the Laverne & Shirley theme appear in season one's closing credits?

Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel wrote it; the unknown Cyndi Grecco took it to number 25, her only chart hit.

Which future film composer wrote the calypso songs for the unaired Gilligan's Island pilot?

The broadcast series switched to the ballad performed by The Wellingtons. The first aired episode, 'Two on a Raft', is often mistaken for the pilot.

What myth about Neal Hefti's 1966 Caped Crusader theme did Adam West's 1994 memoir help spread?

The eleven cries were sung by four tenors and four sopranos of the Ron Hicklin Singers, over the Wrecking Crew with Tommy Tedesco on guitar and Carol Kaye on bass.

Which sitcom creator co-wrote 'Everywhere You Look' with Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay?

Frederick sang the Full House theme, which was usually cut to its chorus for broadcast; seasons one to five used a longer version.

Merv Griffin originally composed the Jeopardy! 'Think!' music under what title?

It was a lullaby for his son. It has always played during Final Jeopardy and became the main theme when the syndicated version launched in 1984.

Danny Elfman says he wrote The Simpsons theme where?

He recorded the demo at home that day and sang the three opening notes himself with two friends. The tune uses the Lydian dominant scale, and Alf Clausen's arrangement arrived in season three.

The Curb Your Enthusiasm theme 'Frolic' was written for a 1974 Italian film to represent which character?

Larry David chose it after hearing it in a bank commercial four years earlier. Snoop Dogg has also used it in a rap track.

Which two U2 members recorded a Grammy-nominated version of the Mission: Impossible theme?

Schifrin's own 1967 recording, which won two Grammys in 1968, was nominated in the same category that year and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.

A popular theory links the 5/4 rhythm of the Mission: Impossible theme to what?

Two dashes and two dots fit a five-beat bar if a dash is a beat and a half. Schifrin did use Morse for his Concorde... Airport '79 theme, but the M:I link is unverified.

Whose 1986 electronic 'Peter Gunn' with Duane Eddy won the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance?

Mancini's original won an Emmy and two Grammys including Album of the Year. Eddy's own 1959 version had reached number six in the UK.

Which remix of Alabama 3's 'Woke Up This Morning' was shortened for the Sopranos opening titles?

Frontman Rob Spragg wrote the song after hearing about the Sara Thornton case, and it also plays over the end credits of The Many Saints of Newark.

Which producer pitched an early Fresh Prince theme before Jazzy Jeff suggested he and Will Smith do it?

Smith wrote the lyrics after reading the pilot scripts. The single reached number two in Spain and went silver in the UK in 2018.

Alabama 3, whose 'Woke Up This Morning' opens The Sopranos, are a band from which country?

Their 1997 album Exile on Coldharbour Lane is named for a street in Brixton. The song mixes hip-hop beats, Howlin' Wolf samples and a gospel choir.

Who co-wrote 'The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle' with series creator Sherwood Schwartz?

Schwartz threatened to take his own name off the song unless the Professor and Mary Ann were added to the final line.

Which pop group performed the Gilligan's Island theme in the first season, and also guest-starred on the show?

A different version of the theme was used for the second and third seasons.

Bruce Miller, composer of Frasier's 'Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs', had previously scored which sitcom?

He was told to avoid mentioning anything about radio or psychiatry, and Kelsey Grammer sang the result over the closing credits.

Ja'Net DuBois pitched Norman Lear on writing what became 'Movin' On Up' after brief roles on which sitcom?

She co-wrote the Jeffersons theme with Jeff Barry and sang it backed by a gospel choir.

The Cheers theme grew out of 'People Like Us', the opening number of which musical by Portnoy and Hart-Angelo?

Because that song was legally tied to the musical, the pair wrote several new attempts before landing on 'Where Everybody Knows Your Name'.

Game of Thrones theme composer Ramin Djawadi was born in which German city?

Born to an Iranian father and German mother, he studied at Berklee College of Music and has won two Emmys, both for Game of Thrones.