How the Theme Song Set the Tone (With a Twist of Irony)

Hey, it’s David Faustino here, Bud Bundy himself, looking back on one of the sharpest creative choices in television history. If you have ever watched even a single episode of Married with Children, you know exactly what I am talking about the second those opening notes hit. Frank Sinatra’s smooth, velvety voice kicks in with “Love and Marriage,” that classic 1955 anthem about how the two go together like a horse and carriage. It is elegant, optimistic, dripping with old-school Hollywood romance. And then the visuals roll: the grand Buckingham Fountain in Chicago shooting water into the air like it is celebrating some perfect suburban dream.

That contrast was not an accident. It was pure, intentional genius from the creators, Ron Leavitt and Michael Moye. They picked Sinatra’s version specifically because it clashed so hilariously with the reality of Al and Peggy Bundy’s life. Here was a song written by Sammy Cahn on lyrics and Jimmy Van Heusen on music. Sinatra originally performed it in a 1955 television production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. He recorded it for Capitol Records on August 15, 1955, and it became a big hit. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and even won an Emmy for Best Musical Contribution in 1956. It was the sound of mid-century American idealism: love leads to marriage, marriage leads to bliss, everything is tidy and fulfilling.

The Bundys? They probably had not had a genuinely romantic moment since the late 1970s, if ever. Al was a shoe salesman stuck in a dead-end job at Gary’s Shoes. Peggy was a stay-at-home wife who treated the couch like her full-time occupation. And the kids? Well, Kelly and I, as Bud, were more likely to cause headaches than heart flutters. The show was never about wholesome family lessons or feel-good resolutions. It was a full-on satire of the American dream, poking fun at the very idea that domestic life was supposed to be harmonious and aspirational.

Most sitcoms at the time leaned into upbeat, original theme songs that prepped you for heartwarming moments. Think something peppy to signal here comes the moral of the story. Married with Children did the opposite. From the very first second, the theme song was winking at the audience: Buckle up. This is not going to be like anything you have seen on TV before. It subverted every expectation. While other shows were still riding the wave of idealized family comedies, even as the 1980s started shifting, ours announced right away that we were going to flip the script. No lessons learned, no tidy endings. Just chaos, insults, and relentless comedy wrapped around the dysfunction.

The opening credits themselves amplified that whiplash. You would hear Sinatra crooning about eternal romantic partnership while the camera showed shots of Chicago landmarks, including that elegant Buckingham Fountain, a real spot in Grant Park often called the wedding cake fountain for its ornate design. It set up this classy, almost aspirational vibe for a city setting, only to slam you into the Bundy household in Chicago’s fictional Polk High territory. The irony became baked into the show’s identity. Audiences got the joke immediately, and it helped the series stand out when it premiered on the then-new Fox network in April 1987.

The original concept actually had variations of the theme that were even more exaggerated. But Sinatra’s voice, smooth, timeless, and dripping with theatrical optimism, created the perfect comedic whiplash. The moment you saw the fountain and heard that classic tune, you knew the joke had already started. The show was satire from the very first second. Even the theme song told you the Bundys were not going to act like any family you had seen before. And audiences loved it. That irony became part of the identity of the series.

Every time those first notes hit, you knew you were about to watch chaos wrapped in comedy. The song set the tone perfectly, promising viewers that nothing in this house would ever be normal, polite, or picture-perfect. It was a bold move for a new network trying to carve out its own space away from the big three broadcasters. Fox was young and hungry in 1987, and Married with Children became one of its early signature hits precisely because it refused to play by the old rules.

Looking back now, I still smile every time I hear those opening bars. It was not just a theme song. It was a declaration. It told America that television families did not have to be loving and supportive to be entertaining. Sometimes the funniest stories come from the ones that are falling apart at the seams. Sinatra sang about love and marriage like it was the greatest thing on earth. We showed what happened when it was not.

And somehow, that made eleven seasons of laughter possible. The Bundys were messy, selfish, and gloriously imperfect. But thanks to that brilliant ironic choice in the opening credits, we all knew from the start that was exactly the point.

Thanks for letting me share a little behind-the-scenes memory with you. If you are a fan of the show, you already understand the magic. If you are new to it, pop on an episode and listen closely to that theme. The joke starts before a single word of dialogue is spoken. That is how you set a tone.