It was the soundtrack of the ’90s.
However, Friends alumni Jennifer Aniston recently revealed that she and fellow cast members didn’t like the show’s famous opening theme song.
In an interview with BBC’s ‘The One Show’ Aniston explained that: “No one was really a big fan of that theme song. We felt it was a little … I don’t know. Dancing in a pond? A fountain felt sort of odd. We did it because we were told to.”
The song, “I’ll Be There For You” by The Rembrandts, gained instant success following the airing of the show’s first episode, and went on to become #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
And in an admission that proves that stars really are like us sometimes, Aniston also went on to reveal that even she gets sucked into ‘Friends’ reruns. “I can’t help it. First, I’m trying to remember which episode it is, and then half the time I’m saying to myself, ‘I don’t remember that’,” she said. “You get sucked into the nostalgia of it.”
Friends producers Marta Kauffman and David Crane co-wrote the show’s theme song, which is said to have been offered to several bands before they finally landed on The Rembrandts. When a radio station DJ at WYHY in Nashville played it looped it into a full length song the response from fans was so overwhelmingly positive that The Rembrandts went on to record a single version.
The song has since ranked high on several charts from more than ten countries including four number 1 positions worldwide.