A little more than a year ago, Ted Harbert, the president of ABC Entertainment, told reporters his network would reconsider the use of theme songs on its sitcoms. The proposal bordered on pop-cultural heresy.
Among other things, he cited his belief that these ditties are expensive to produce, take valuable creative time away from producers and, more often than not, are eminently forgettable. But that was before “Friends” became a runaway hit for NBC and its theme song “I’ll Be There for You” zoomed up the charts.
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This past July, Harbert admitted he had altered his opinion, telling critics, “I think maybe I went a little further than I should have.. . . If somebody’s got a good idea for a song, we’d love to hear it.”
No kidding.
“Friends” was a successful series before the Rembrandts returned to the recording studio last winter to cut a radio-length version of their catchy “I’ll Be There for You.” In the great tradition of “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” (“The Beverly Hillbillies”) and “Secret Agent Man” (“Secret Agent”), the tune stormed the hit parade, prompting a widely seen music video and probably helping the freshman show become the top-rated series of the summer.
Last January, the producers of “Friends” at Warner Bros. Television got together with their corporate cousins at Reprise Records–both under the Time-Warner banner–to compile a companion album to the series. It resembles a soundtrack but, in fact, mostly anticipates music in episodes yet to be aired.
Released at the end of September, more than 300,000 units of “Friends” were shipped to distributors, and it debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 46. After only a week in circulation, a publicist for the company was able to declare the album “a hit.”
Included on the album are new songs or remakes of old favorites by several high-profile alternative rock groups–including Toad the Wet Sprocket, Barenaked Ladies, R.E.M., Paul Westerberg and Grant Lee Buffalo–and such venerated old-timers as Lou Reed, Joni Mitchell and the Pretenders. The Rembrandts are represented with three separate versions of “I’ll Be There for You” (including a karaoke track) while current pop flavor-of-the-month Hootie & the Blowfish contribute “I Go Blind.”
It is an eclectic mix, designed to attract teenagers and the Gen X coffeehouse crowd already drawn to the show, as well as fans from a slightly older, more affluent demographic.
“The show’s already been on a season, but we haven’t used any songs that have run in the past,” said Howie Klein, president of Reprise Records. “We’re using songs, many of which will be on the new season’s episodes they’re shooting right now.
“For example, you see there’s a song on the album by Chrissie Hynde . I brought Chrissie to a taping last week and she performed that song live on the set–not as Chrissie, but she played a character who had a dramatic part and she was in three scenes.”
Teamwork, ’90s style
This collaboration practically defines the concept of synergy in the contemporary entertainment world, as giant companies are able to extend their corporate tentacles throughout their many subsidiaries. Still, with the “Friends” album, at least, several competing interests saw a way to benefit by putting aside old rivalries.
“Some of the songs are from Reprise and Warners, some from Elektra, and Hootie and the Blowfish are on Atlantic,” Klein explained. “The current single we have out right now is from Toad the Wet Sprocket, who are on Sony.
The songs came to the album from different creative directions, as well.
“Everything is different,” he said. “For example, Lou Reed wrote a song specifically for the show. Chrissie Hynde had recorded a song and given it to me a year ago. We were keeping an ear open for a place for it and, when I met with the producer of `Friends’ to discuss what we wanted to accomplish, I thought of this song right away.”
Klein says that the company’s “optimistic hopes” are that “Friends” will sell “a couple of million” copies. A plug on the TV show–where a 30-second ad spot costs about $400,000–is out of the question, but Reprise is getting mileage out of in-store displays, ads in trade publications and the Internet.
Over on the Fox network, “The X-Files” finally has managed to elevate itself above cult-success status and now is enjoying mainstream acceptance. The show’s stars recently were featured on the covers of both People and Entertainment Weekly magazines.
It, too, soon will have an album to call its own.
David Was, of Was (Not Was), has been given the task of compiling a group of songs that are intended to dovetail with the otherworldliness of the series and, yet, be accessible to both fans and potential newcomers to the show. “X-Files” tackles unexplained occurrences and various conspiracy theories in a dramatic format.
“The hard thing about this is that it’s not a show that lends itself to a crass, demographically inclined TV soundtrack album,” said Was. “With a `Beverly Hills 90210′ or `Melrose Place,’ you’ve got a highly defined audience and are really only trying to sell them a bunch of songs they might have heard otherwise, but not on a single collection.
” `The X-Files’ is a show whose use of original music has been very sparing, so it mostly uses a soundtrack to underscore a mood or setting, with no regard whatsoever to who’s listening or what the audience is. It’s simply something the creator of the show–Chris Carter–fancies.
`Lonesome sound from Mars’
Was–not to be confused, as often happens, with former partner and celebrated record producer Don Was–explains that, sonically, he’s trying to find “the high, lonesome sound from Mars.”
“My only requirement with this is–even with the nastier sounding death metal, like Danzig–is to make it quieter than louder and slower than faster . . . that’s the only recipe. Otherwise, the songs that have been in the show–few of which will be featured in the album–are as disparate as any songs on the face of the Earth.”
Because of the series’ quirky take on reality, it has amassed a devoted group of followers who follow the show’s investigators’ every lead into the paranormal. Rockers aren’t exempt from its hold.
“Foo Fighters–the Nirvana survivor band–are huge fans of the show,” he said. “They want to make sure their song is in a show–other guys want to be in a show.”
He runs down a list of other confirmed artists that includes a cut by R.E.M., with a vocalist yet to be named, possibly Patti Smith or Marianne Faithfull; Glenn Danzig; Moby and Chrissie Hynde. There will be around a dozen tracks, plus some remixes of the theme.
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Most of Was’ job, so far, has involved the “pre-schmoozing of artists and managers.” Securing rights to songs is another difficult and costly process.
“This is the kind of record that you hope to get tracks for $25,000 to $100,000 from an artist,” he explained. “Movie soundtracks can cost more than a million dollars for rights.”
It’s a big business
But the soundtrack craze has become big business in Hollywood, especially in the wake of the success of “The Big Chill.” Much attention is being paid to the artists who contribute songs to an album and securing rights for the music in anticipation of a film’s release into theaters and on video.
Some soundtrack albums (“Singles” and “Empire Records,” for example), in fact, are distributed well in advance of the release of a picture in hopes that the music will encourage good word-of-mouth.
With the possible exception of the “Miami Vice” compilation from the ’80s, television hasn’t been able to exploit the soundtrack genre as effectively, if only because a musical track is less important in most shows than is a laugh track. But, things are picking up here, as well.
Music taken from the MTV “Unplugged” series has proven to be a successful commodity, while Beavis and Butt-head have been influential in pushing such now-popular artists as White Zombie.
Similarly, cartoon characters Ren & Stimpy have just become the focal point of an album of original rock material, “Radio Daze.” Nick at Nite Records has put out “Dick Van Dyke’s Dance Party” and “Donna Reed’s Dinner Party,” featuring theme songs and period hits.
Rhino Records, which practically serves as a pop-cultural archivist for the nation, this summer released a three-album set of some of our most enduring TV theme songs. “Tube Tunes” covers the 1970s and ’80s, and includes immortal selections from such shows as “Welcome Back, Kotter,” “The Love Boat,” “Love American Style,” “Cheers,” “Square Pegs” and “WKRP in Cincinnati.” All the songs are by the original artists.
Several other compilation albums are available in record stores, including collections of love songs from soap operas, familiar commercial jingles and selections of music from “The Ed Sullivan Show” and PBS programs.
With an enduring cultural–if not intellectual–legacy such as this, it’s a wonder ABC’s Ted Harbert even broached the possibility of doing away with theme songs. After all, this is a country where more people probably know the words to the themes of “The Flintstones” and “The Brady Bunch” than can sing the National Anthem.