“There was a time for quite a while that just hearing the Friends theme song would really… uggh”
The Rembrandts’ catchy theme tune defined an era in television but for one Friends cast member, it soon became annoying.
It’s one of the most instantly recognizable theme tunes of the 90s, and hearing just the first few bars of it conjures up images of those six 20-somethings doing their best to deal with the ups and down of everyday life in central Manhattan in NBC’s iconic hit show, Friends.
The sitcom’s indie, jangly guitar pop theme, I’ll Be There For You was co-written by the show’s creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman, along with and Allee Willis and performed by The Rembrandts.
‘Friends theme’ song starts to grate
It’s catchy melody and feelgood lyrics captured the essence of Friends and its main characters but David Schwimmer, who played Monica’s jovial, geeky older brother Ross Geller, admits there was a time when he couldn’t bear hearing it.
“I have to say, there was a time that, just hearing the theme song would really... (sighs) you know what I mean, I just have that reaction. It’d just heard it so many times, and any time you’d go on a show or a talk show or an interview, that would be your intro song. So I just didn’t have the greatest response to it for a period of time“ he told David Walliams and Matt Lucas in this week’s Making a Scene podcast.
Schwimmer says he only warmed to the song when his daughter Cleo found out about her dad’s role in the series and began avidly watching episodes.
Schwimmer reconnects with Friends through his daughter
“And then, at about age nine, my kid discovered it and started watching it and, I’d be making breakfast or whatever and I’d hear my kid’s laughter... My whole relationship to that song and to the show changed again,” he revealed.
Friends first hit our screens on September 22 1994, and ran for 10 seasons and while the cast kept in touch and remained just as close in real life long after the final episode aired in May 2004, Schwimmer admits he was ready to move on. “I never watched the show after we finished it,” he told Lucas and Walliams.
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