"Our whole universe was in a hot dense state..." You probably just sang that in your head. Honestly, it’s hard not to. The The Big Bang Theory theme song is one of those rare TV artifacts that became just as famous as the show itself. It’s fast. It’s frantic. It crams 14 billion years of history into a 24-second blur of scientific milestones and pop-rock energy. But if you look past the catchy "Bang!" at the end, there’s actually a pretty wild story involving a lawsuit, a nervous lead singer, and a random concert in Toronto that changed everything.
Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, the creators of the show, knew they wanted something different. They didn't want a generic orchestral swell or a soft sitcom jingle. They wanted science to feel like a party. Specifically, they wanted the Barenaked Ladies.
How Ed Robertson Wrote the History of Everything
It started with a book. Ed Robertson, the lead singer and songwriter for the Barenaked Ladies, had recently read Simon Singh’s Big Bang, a book that traces the history of the universe. He was fascinated by it. Shortly after finishing it, the band played a show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. During the set, Robertson started freestyle rapping about the origins of the universe based on what he’d just read.
He didn't think much of it. It was just a bit of stage banter to keep the crowd moving.
However, Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady happened to be in that audience. They were already fans of the band, but hearing Robertson turn cosmological expansion into a rhythmic hook was a "lightbulb" moment. They called him up. They asked him to write the theme song. Robertson, ever the skeptic, initially hesitated. He told the creators he didn't want to spend time writing a song if they were also asking twelve other bands to do the same thing. He’d been burned by the "pitch process" before. Once Lorre assured him they only wanted him, the work began.
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The result was "The History of Everything." It’s a lyrical marathon. It mentions everything from autonomy to Australopithecus. Robertson actually wrote a full-length version of the song, which was later released on the band's greatest hits album, Hits from Yesterday & Tomorrow. The TV edit is just the first verse and the chorus, but even that short snippet is a masterclass in prosody—matching the rhythm of the words to the beat of the music.
The Science Behind the Lyrics
People often wonder if the lyrics are actually accurate. For the most part, yeah, they are. Robertson did his homework. When he sings about the earth beginning to cool and the autotrophs beginning to drool, he’s referencing the transition from early chaotic geological states to the emergence of self-sustaining life forms.
- The "Hot Dense State" refers to the singularity at the start of the Big Bang.
- The expansion of the universe is a core tenet of the Lambda-CDM model.
- The "Neanderthals" and "tools" section touches on the Pleistocene epoch.
It’s not a peer-reviewed paper, obviously. It’s a rock song. But it grounded the show in a sense of intellectual curiosity that matched Leonard and Sheldon’s lifestyles.
That Massive Lawsuit Nobody Saw Coming
Everything seemed fine for years. The show became a global juggernaut. The The Big Bang Theory theme song was being played millions of times a day in syndication. Then, in 2015, things got messy. Steven Page, the former co-lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies who left the band in 2009, filed a lawsuit against Ed Robertson.
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The claim? Page alleged that he was promised 20% of the proceeds from the song, even though Robertson wrote it alone. Page argued that as part of the band’s internal structure, he was entitled to a cut of the "theme song money," which he claimed was substantial. Robertson and the rest of the band disagreed.
The lawsuit was eventually settled, and the details remain largely confidential. But for a while there, the most upbeat song on television was the center of a very tense legal battle over royalties. It’s a reminder that even when a song sounds like a spontaneous burst of joy, the business side is usually lurking in the shadows.
The Visual Timeline: Why You Can't Stop Watching
The song works so well because of the visuals. If you watch the opening credits closely—and I mean really closely—you’ll notice the timeline in the bottom right corner. It starts at 15 billion years ago (which is slightly off from the current scientific consensus of roughly 13.8 billion, but close enough for 2007) and races toward the present day.
The images flash by at a rate of roughly 10 per second. You see:
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- Ancient cave paintings.
- The Great Wall of China.
- The Wright Brothers' plane.
- The 1960s space race.
- A modern-day wedding.
This visual "crescendo" mirrors the music. It creates a sense of momentum. By the time the cast is shown sitting on the couch eating takeout, you’ve been mentally prepped for a fast-paced show. Interestingly, the very last image in the sequence—just before the logo appears—is of the cast. It suggests that the entire history of the universe led up to these five friends sitting in a living room in Pasadena. It’s a bit pretentious if you think about it too long, but it’s perfect for the "nerd-centric" vibe of the series.
A Cultural Earworm
Why does this song rank so high on "Best TV Theme" lists? It’s the contrast. Most sitcoms of that era were moving away from lyrical themes. The Office had an instrumental. 30 Rock was a jazzy jingle. Modern Family was a quick blast of horns. The Big Bang Theory doubled down on the old-school approach of having a song that actually explained the premise of the show, but it did so with a modern, alternative rock twist.
It’s also incredibly difficult to sing. If you’ve ever tried to do it at karaoke, you know the struggle. You usually run out of breath somewhere around "Deism." Ed Robertson has admitted that even he has to stay sharp to perform it live because the syllable count is so high.
The song has been covered by fans, played by marching bands, and used in science classrooms to get kids excited about the origins of the world. It’s more than a theme; it’s a mnemonic device.
Actionable Takeaways for Superfans
If you’re a fan of the show or just interested in how TV music is made, here are a few things you can actually do to dive deeper into the history of this track:
- Listen to the full version: Look up "The History of Everything" on Spotify or YouTube. The full version includes extra verses that cover the rise of religion, the development of the telescope, and more modern history that didn't make the TV cut.
- Check the math: Compare the timeline in the credits to the actual geologic time scale. It’s a fun exercise to see where the editors prioritized visual flair over chronological precision (like the placement of certain prehistoric creatures).
- Watch the Barenaked Ladies' live performances: The band often plays the song at their shows, and they usually do it even faster than the recorded version. It’s a testament to Robertson’s vocal agility.
- Explore the Simon Singh book: If you want to see the literal inspiration for the lyrics, read Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe. It’s surprisingly accessible for a science book.
The The Big Bang Theory theme song survived cast changes, legal disputes, and over a decade of television evolution. It remains a 24-second masterclass in how to capture the essence of a show in a single breath. Whether you find it catchy or annoying after the 500th time you've heard it in syndication, you can't deny its impact. It turned astrophysics into a Top 40 hook. That's no small feat.