The One Where the Friends Theme Song Ruined a Band's Career
Sometimes an unexpected success actually becomes a setback, when it occurs in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Look, for example, at what happened to the US rock duo The Rembrandts.
You might remember that they've sung I'll Be There For You, the theme song of Friends… and that's the only thing you're likely to remember them for.
Back in early 90s, The Rembrandts, consisting of Danny Wilde and Phil Solem were gradually building popularity among the alternative rock crowd.
They weren't yet famous, but they were working their way up, with one of the songs from their first album (titled the same as the duo), reaching 14 But in 1994 they've reluctantly agreed to record I'll Be There For You, which was co-written by the executive producers of Friends, David Crane and Marta Kauffman. Wilde, who believed that at the time they were a "pretty hip band", told The Guardian that they've stipulated they didn't want to be named in the credits: "We didn't want anyone to know we'd sold out." The things obviously did not go as planned: "But the song stuck, the show stuck and it snowballed. The record company rushed us into the studio to cut a full version. We shot a video on the SNL set, with the cast goofing around on our instruments." Indeed, the song struck, and became known worldwide. When The Rembrandts made an extended version of I'll Be There For You in 1995, it reached the top 10 in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Ireland and the UK. The only problem was, while the song became very popular, the group didn't. People who listened to it did not care for the rest of The Rembrandt's creative output. Furthermore, The Rembrandts became so associated with it, that the clubs they considered cool no longer cared to invite them. "The song became an albatross round our necks and broke up the band for a few years," Wilde said. The duo even split in 1997, only to re-unite to put out a couple of albums later. They are still performing and creating songs, but they are unlikely to record anything that might rival I'll Be There For You. Wilde mentioned a bright side, to it, though: "Friends is on 24 hours a day somewhere. Every time it gets played, there's a little ker-ching. It's only a nickel or whatever, but they add up."