On the way to work this morning “My Life” by Billy Joel came on the radio. I love this song; think it’s one of Billy’s best. Of course, Bosom Buddies came to mind since the song was used as the opening theme to the show. “My Life” was released in 1978 and Bosom Buddies premiered in 1980.
So, I was wondering, have any other popular songs become themes to tv shows or movies after their original release?
“Rock Around the Rock” used for the first season of “Happy Days”
“Love and Marriage” used for “Married…with Children.” Irony at its best.
The Wonder Years: “With a Little Help From My Friends” - Joe Cocker (orginally by The Beatles)
“Who Are You” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by the Who are themes for the various CSI’s.
For CSI and CSI: Miami respectively. And Baba O’Riley is used for CSI:NY.
Tea for the Tillerman for Extras, and *Handbags and Gladrags * for The Office.
“Stand” by REM for Get a Life
Not sure if they were hits before they were themes, but:
“Closer To Free” by the Bo-Deans for Party of Five
“I Don’t Wanna Wait” by Paula Cole for Dawson’s Creek
The oddest choice ever: John Prine’s “Illegal Smile” for The Texas Wheelers.
Why a song about smoking marijuana was chosen as a theme song for a comedy about a bunch of motherless kids (including Gary Busey and a pre-Star Wars Mark Hamill) and their ne’er-do-well father (Jack Elam) is hard to comprehend.
There’s also “Ob La Di, Ob La Da” (though sung by the show’s cast) in Life Goes On.
I was just about to post an essay on this song.
It was written by Mike D’Abo and first charted at #33 in the UK for Chris Farlowe in December 1967, but later became better known as a Rod Stewart standard. A few months after The Office aired over here the Stereophonics released a version which reached #4 in December 2001. The theme to the TV programme is actually sung by Fin, then a session musician but formerly the singer with Waysted.
If you already knew this I forgive you.
“Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” by Louis Armstrong for ‘Frank’s Place’
“Lady Madonna” covered by Aretha Franklin for ‘Grace Under Pressure’
“Reflections” by Diana Ross and the Supremes for ‘China Beach’
“In the Streets” by Alex Chilton (covered by the show cast) for ‘That 70s Show’
“Cleveland Rocks” by Ian Hunter (covered by the show cast) and “Five O’Clock World” by the Vogues for different seasons of ‘The Drew Carey Show’
An instrumental riff from “Corona” by the Minutemen for ‘Jackass’
My favorite version is was done by a group lead by trumpet player Bill Chase. He had a too brief run with a jazz-rock fusion band in the early '70s.
“As Time Goes by” for As Time Goes By
Murphy Brown used to use snippets of popular Motown songs as a theme; the song was changed every episode.
A cover version of How Soon Is Now? by the Smiths was used for the opening credits of the series “Charmed.” It was previously used on the soundtrack of the film “The Craft.” The series and the film had nothing to do with each other except that they were both about modern-day witches, with which the song has absolutely nothing to do.
“Life on Mars?” and “Ashes to Ashes” are named for David Bowie songs. I haven’t seen the series and I don’t know if they use the actual music in any way.
In the final season these two songs (along with “Moon Over Parma”)
were covered by a number of guest bands.
Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” was used for Freaks & Geeks.
And the contemporary Tour of Duty used the Stones’ “Paint it Black”.
Thanks for forgiving me. I’m not sure why you’re forgiving me, but I’ve done enough rotten things in my life that I’ll never turn my back on a little forgiveness.
For what it’s worth, I did check out the history of the song before posting. It’s a popular song, covered many times. And it was used as a TV show theme. So I posted.
Dave’s World, a sitcom based on the writings of Dave Barry, used You May Be Right by Billy Joel.
The pre-Urkel Family Matters used Louis Armstrong’s recording of What A Wonderful World.
The short-lived That '80s Show used Eighties by Killing Joke
The first of those quoted by me was actually Grace Under Fire. Although That '70s Show used the cast for the first season of the theme song, it was re-recorded by Cheap Trick for subsequent seasons. And Drew Carey’s rendition of Cleveland Rocks was not performed by the cast, but by The Presidents of the United States of America.
Does the William Tell Overture count? 
Not sure how popular it was before, but Rod Stewart’s “Faith of the Heart” was sung by Russel Watson as the theme for Star Trek: Enterprise.
And the Beatles’ “In My Life” was the theme song from Providence.
The Romantics’ “What I Like About You” was the theme for the TV show of the same name.