90s Sitcom Theme Songs

Back when a show needed a full minute to introduce itself, and earned it.

Entries
10
Category
TV
Updated
  1. A grand piano in a Manhattan loft with a dog bed under it and two coffee cups on the lid.

    10. Mad About You

    Andrew Gold · 1992

    Paul Reiser co-wrote Final Frontier with Don Was, which is a better side gig than most sitcom stars get. Andrew Gold sang it first; Anita Baker and later Lyle Lovett took turns. A gentle piano ballad about a married couple in Manhattan, the least dramatic premise on network TV.

  2. A bowling ball, a beer can and thick black-framed glasses on a picnic table overlooking Lake Erie and a city skyline.

    09. The Drew Carey Show

    The Presidents of the United States of America · 1997

    The show cycled through Moon Over Parma and the Vogues' Five O'Clock World before settling, in season three, on a Presidents cover of Ian Hunter's Cleveland Rocks. Three theme songs in three seasons, all pledging loyalty to the same city. Cleveland appreciated it.

  3. A wood-paneled station wagon parked on a suburban street at dusk, its radio dial glowing orange through the windshield.

    08. That '70s Show

    Cheap Trick · 1998

    A rewritten cover of Big Star's In the Street, sung by Todd Griffin in season one and then by Cheap Trick for the rest of the run. A 1972 cult song about cruising, recut by a band from Rockford, Illinois, for a show set in suburban Wisconsin. Basically a local band.

  4. Four cans of beer on the edge of a wooden backyard fence in an alley, a propane tank and grill in the background under a Texas sky.

    07. King of the Hill

    The Refreshments · 1997

    Yahoos and Triangles, a twangy instrumental by the Refreshments of Tempe, Arizona, otherwise best known for Banditos. It plays over Hank and friends standing in an alley not saying much, which is the whole show in thirty seconds.

  5. A leopard-print suitcase on the marble steps of a Manhattan townhouse, a cardboard box of bridal veils beside it.

    06. The Nanny

    Ann Hampton Callaway · 1993

    The pilot used Gwen Verdon's If My Friends Could See Me Now. Then Ann Hampton Callaway and her sister Liz recorded The Nanny Named Fran, a Broadway-style recap of how a fired bridal-shop worker from Queens landed in a Manhattan mansion. The whole backstory, every week, in song.

  6. A wooden ladder propped against a teenager's bedroom window, a hubcap and a computer with a homemade video game glowing inside.

    05. Clarissa Explains It All

    Rachel Sweet · 1991

    Rachel Sweet sings the entire thing on the syllable na, with the occasional way cool and a closing order to just do it. No plot summary, no names, no lyrics to speak of. Somehow it explains it all better than most themes with actual words.

  7. A Brooklyn brownstone stoop at golden hour with a stack of glossy magazines and a pair of high heels on the top step.

    04. Living Single

    Queen Latifah · 1993

    Latifah starred, wrote the theme, and performed it, which is three jobs for one opening credit. Fox renamed the show from My Girls three weeks before it aired. The song does not care what the show was called; it is about friends in the 90s, in a brownstone, doing better than you.

  8. A plate of tossed salad and a plate of scrambled eggs on a fine dining table beside a vintage radio microphone, the Seattle skyline in the window.

    03. Frasier

    Kelsey Grammer · 1993

    Bruce Miller was told to avoid radio and psychiatry, so Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs is about neither and both. Grammer sings it over the closing credits and recorded a rotating set of spoken sign-offs. The only theme song that requires a cravat.

  9. An orange velvet couch next to a splashing park fountain at night, six coffee mugs lined up on the fountain's rim.

    02. Friends

    The Rembrandts · 1994

    R.E.M. said no to Shiny Happy People, so Warner used the only band it had handy. A Nashville DJ looped the 45-second version into a full song, so the Rembrandts had to finish writing it. It topped the Hot 100 Airplay chart for eight weeks. The claps were not optional.

  10. A cab parked in front of a white mansion gate at sunset, a basketball and a backpack resting on the curb beside it.

    01. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

    DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince · 1990

    Will Smith wrote and performed Yo Home to Bel-Air over music by Quincy Jones, and it explains the entire premise before the first commercial. Smith took the job partly because he owed back taxes. A rapper in debt produced the most efficient pilot ever made.

Honorable mentions

  • A slap bass guitar leaning against a brick wall next to a bowl of cereal and a microphone stand.

    Seinfeld

    Jonathan Wolff · 1989

    Premiered in 1989, so technically disqualified, but the decade belongs to it. No melody, just sampled slap bass plus finger snaps and mouth noises, built to match Jerry's stand-up rhythms. NBC asked for a more normal theme in season two. Larry David said no.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A row of ten film clapboards in a television studio, each painted a different color, with a single spotlight between them.

    Ellen

    Texas · 1995

    In seasons three and four, every episode had a different opening sequence as a running gag about Ellen searching for the perfect credits. Some had celebrities, one had the Captain & Tennille. Admirable bit, but a theme song that changes every week is not a theme song.

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