How the Seinfeld Theme Was Created

With its slides, slaps, boops and clicks, the theme to Seinfeld is one of the most familiar TV themes ever created. And contrary to what anyone what might think a bass guitar was NEVER involved. It’s all Yamaha DX-7 synth, baby.  Noisey/Vice looks at how the theme was created.

Before writing the most iconic theme song in the history of TV sitcoms, Jonathan Wolff was playing in studios during the day and jazz clubs at night as a young professional musician in Los Angeles. But his utility talents in the studio, a hard work ethic, and keen business savvy allowed him to build a TV theme music empire in the heart of Burbank, California. Just a few miles outside of Hollywood and home to the entrainment industry’s biggest studios, Wolff composed theme songs for shows like Will & Grace, Married… With Children, and Who’s The Boss? It was also here, at his Music Consultants Group Inc., that the theme to Seinfeld was born.

Everyone knows Seinfeld’s signature slap bass theme, complete with all sorts of pops, clicks, and other mouth sounds that Wolff made with, you guessed it… his mouth.

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