[Dogeatdog]

Originally Posted by Strictly Jake

Shiny happy people was going to be the original theme?

Yh there’s lots of articles about it. REM didn’t give them the rights to use the song so we got The Rembrandts instead. There was a video of the original opening theme with the REM song and different titles of the show on YouTube somewhere. Not sure if it’s still about tho?

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Dogeatdog

Yh there’s lots of articles about it. REM didn’t give them the rights to use the song so we got The Rembrandts instead. There was a video of the original opening theme with the REM song and different titles of the show on YouTube somewhere. Not sure if it’s still about tho?

…Michael Stripe didn’t give the rights because he didn’t see the ‘fit’ with the vibe of the series as it was a serious political song…the lyrics were more ironic of those ‘shiny happy people’ that were seen in propaganda posters…depicting something that wasn’t a reality of lives …REM lyrics/songs do tend to often be quite political in meaning and quite deep….I think the catchiness on the tune of Shiny Happy People was more meant as an ironic contrast…?..but that’s the very thing that made it so popular, wasn’t it…so there was an irony……I wounder if Michael Stripe ever regretted his decision with the multiple million dollars earned in Royalties of the Friends theme tune….

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/rem-shi...nanmen-square/

[Ammi]

…for Jake…(…and Shaun…)…

Youtube video

[Strictly Jake]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…for Jake…(…and Shaun…)…

Youtube video

I absolutely love it. Was obsessed with Friends back in the day and this song has a lovely lovely 90s feel to it so to see them go together like this is great

[Dogeatdog]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…Michael Stripe didn’t give the rights because he didn’t see the ‘fit’ with the vibe of the series as it was a serious political song…the lyrics were more ironic of those ‘shiny happy people’ that were seen in propaganda posters…depicting something that wasn’t a reality of lives …REM lyrics/songs do tend to often be quite political in meaning and quite deep….I think the catchiness on the tune of Shiny Happy People was more meant as an ironic contrast…?..but that’s the very thing that made it so popular, wasn’t it…so there was an irony……I wounder if Michael Stripe ever regretted his decision with the multiple million dollars earned in Royalties of the Friends theme tune….

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/rem-shi...nanmen-square/

Now your comments for this song choice make sense to me . I never realised it was a political song. You learn something new everyday

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Dogeatdog

Now your comments for this song choice make sense to me . I never realised it was a political song. You learn something new everyday

…I had previously not known that it had been the original chosen ‘Friends song’ either until I googled it so your choice of it, led me to discovering that, also…that’s one of the great things about music, isn’t it…discovering a meaning and how it attaches and different attachments can then create those multiple meanings…but yeah, it was quite unexpected for me because of how I attached it as having a political slanting…and that’s only because I know that REM tracks often do…so I wasn’t sure how to judge it…(…hence my googling and seeing how it was originally considered for Friends……)…in hindsight, actually…it’s the one song that I think that I should have scored a bit higher…