About that reworked version of the theme for “The Big Bang Theory”: There’s a story here.
Last Thursday night. The Big Bang Theory came to a very satisfying conclusion after 279 episodes and 12 seasons. The final shot showed the class in Leonard and Penny’s apartment, eating take-out food, taking and joking as they had throughout the series. In the background was a different version of the Bareknaked Ladies’ iconic theme.
When show creator Chuck Lorre first approached BNL to write the theme, Ed Robertson submitted an acoustic demo. When Lorre wanted to use that demo, Ed pushed back, saying that it had to be recorded using the entire band. That’s what we ended up hearing all these years.
When the show became a hit, the money started flowing in. BNL gets a royalty every time the show runs–and we all know that there’s never a moment of the day when The Big Bang Theory isn’t running somewhere on the planet.
I asked Ed about that once. He just smiled and said “No mortgage.” I’ll bet.
When it came to the series finale, Lorre and partner Bill Prady went back to the band and asked for a new twist on the song. Remembering how he originally composed the demo, Ed delivered this.
That version along with an instrumental is now available on streaming music services.
