I'll Be There for You (The Rembrandts song)

"I'll Be There for You"
Single by the Rembrandts
from the album L.P.
B-side	Album snippets (US) "Fixin' to Blow" (UK)
Released	May 23, 1995 (1995-05-23)
Genre	Power pop[1][2] alternative rock[3]
Length	3:09
Label	East West America Elektra
Composer(s)	Michael Skloff
Lyricist(s)	David Crane Marta Kauffman Allee Willis Danny Wilde Phil Sōlem
Producer(s)	Gavin MacKillop
The Rembrandts singles chronology
"Waiting to Be Opened" (1993) "I'll Be There for You" (1995) "This House Is Not a Home" (1995)
Audio sample
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"I'll Be There for You" is a song by American pop rock duo the Rembrandts. The song was written by David Crane, Marta Kauffman, Michael Skloff, and Allee Willis as the main theme song to the NBC sitcom Friends,^[4] which was broadcast from 1994 to 2004.^[5] American rock band R.E.M. was originally asked to allow their song "Shiny Happy People" to be used for the Friends theme, but they turned the opportunity down. "I'll Be There for You" was subsequently written and Warner Bros. Television selected the only available band on Warner Bros. Records to record it: the Rembrandts. In 1995, after a Nashville radio station brought the song to mainstream popularity, Rembrandts members Danny Wilde and Phil Sōlem expanded the theme song with two new verses and included this version on their third studio album, L.P. (1995).

The extended version of the song was serviced to US radio on May 23, 1995, and was issued in the United Kingdom on August 7, 1995, as the first single from L.P. Following the song's release, it reached the top 10 in Australia, New Zealand and Norway, as well as in Ireland and the United Kingdom in both 1995 and 1997. In Canada, the song reached number one for five weeks and was the most successful single of 1995, while in the United States, the song reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart for eight weeks.