TORONTO -- Barenaked Ladies singer Ed Robertson was skeptical when first approached to write the theme song for "The Big Bang Theory."
The Toronto band says they are approached "all the time" to write songs for movies, TV shows and commercials, and it isn't always a positive experience.
"You talk to somebody about what they want and what they're looking for, and then you realize that they've asked the same thing of Counting Crows, Jane's Addiction, Maroon 5 -- there's 40 people writing for the same show," Robertson said in an interview in Toronto on Thursday.
"You realize, what they want is just a hit song. They're not looking for a cool song that's all about the mood they say they're going for, they want a song that's going to be a huge hit on the radio.
"So I was a little bit standoffish when they first called. I said, 'Look, how many people are writing for this?' I said, 'I can give you whatever you need, if you can tell me what you want, I can provide that, but I don't want to spend a whole bunch of time working on this if I'm up against 30 other bands.
"I'd rather enjoy my time at the cottage."'
But Robertson misread the situation.
It turned out that the show's creators, Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre, hadn't asked anyone else. In fact, Robertson says Prady and Lorre had been at a Ladies show in L.A. when, midway through the set, they turned to each other and said: "I think we know who needs to write the theme song to this show."
Robertson is certainly glad now that he agreed to do it.
Cast members of the show were greeted by more than 1,000 fans at CTV studios in Toronto on Thursday.
The Barenaked Ladies played the show's theme to rousing cheers and followed with a brief run through some of their other biggest hits.
The American show, about a group of gifted, socially awkward scientists and the bemused girl next door, has become a smash on both sides of the border, but it has consistently rated even higher in Canada than it has in the U.S.
The cast suggested Thursday that the Barenaked Ladies' buoyant, ruthlessly infectious theme might have something to do with that.
"Maybe that's the Canadian draw," Emmy winner Jim Parsons told reporters.
Added Kunal Nayyar: ""It's so cool to have a theme song that could go down in the history of sitcoms as one of the best."
Robertson began writing the theme after producers sent the pilot and a simple set of instructions: "'We just want you to summarize everything that's ever happened in about 25 seconds,"' he recalled.
From there, he devised the lyrics: "The Earth began to cool/ The autotrophs began to drool/ Neanderthals developed tools/ We built a wall (we built the pyramids)/ Math, science, history, unravelling the mysteries/ That all started with the big bang."
"It was meant to be really silly and they loved it," said Robertson, noting that he actually completed a full version of the song at the producers' request.
Since, it's become a staple of the band's live set.
"We played it kind of on a lark one night and the reaction was huge," he said, flanked by his young sons. "So now we play it all the time. It's really one of the hits in the set. Millions and millions of people watch that show every night. It goes over huge."
But Robertson laughs off the notion that the theme has anything to do with the show's disproportionate popularity in Canada.
"I would like to take full credit for the show's success, but no, I don't think so," he said. "It's just a really funny show that resonates with people.
"I think it's one of very few things out there that celebrates smart people. It's a show where it's cool to be smart. I think it started out walking the line a little bit, making fun of those characters, but the show's gotten more and more positive.
"It's cool to understand science. It's a very cool show."
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