What's the deal with the Seinfeld theme music? What? They couldn't afford to shoot a real theme sequence? Remember "The Brady Bunch"? And how did that theme explain everything you need to know about the show? The Brady Bunch even had a handy 3x3 grid of all the characters so you could keep them all straight. "Seinfeld" was just some bass grooves and some guy beatboxing, just kind of freestyle. You'd think they could at least write some lyrics. “Here's Jerry, he's neurotic and selfish. Here's George. He is neurotic and selfish.” It kind of writes itself!

Jerry Seinfeld impersonations aside, the "Seinfeld" theme music has always been unique. It was made of beatboxing, some harmonica-like electronic sounds, and a lot of electric bass, and it was never the same from episode to episode. The music was performed by musician Jonathan Wolff, who has also composed music for sitcoms such as "Who's the Boss?", "Will & Grace," "Married... with Children" and "The King of Queens." Wolff never composed a single "Seinfeld" theme song, instead using a jaunty, shifty rock riff. The riffs tended to be of varying lengths, as they were meant to be played under one of Jerry Seinfeld's stand-up beats.

"Seinfeld" was supposedly built around these bits. The premise of the show, such as it is, was that Jerry lived a strange and neurotic life, and his day-to-day experiences would eventually form the basis of his stand-up career on the show. Jerry's stand-up act served as the thematic introduction for each episode. Because Jerry's beats were different lengths, however, the background theme music had to be lengthened and shortened accordingly.

In a video interview for "Big Big Story", Wolff talked about his work on "Seinfeld" and how he had to write a piece of music that would be anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute long to fit the little opening segments. A useful, single 90 second song was not feasible under the circumstances.

Some famous television shows already played shortened versions of pop songs, usually cutting a three-minute hit into a 45-second segment (see: "Friends", "Full House" and others). Many TV theme songs, you'll find, have an "extended version" somewhere in the world. "Seinfeld," however, didn't have the freedom of just two different music mixes. She needed a new one for each episode. Wolff, then, just attached a new theme for each episode to his synthesizer, and using his own finger, mouth and breath snaps. As Wolf described it:

"I have no idea how many themes we did for 'Seinfeld.' I knew each monologue was going to be different "Because he tells different jokes of his own recording of the 'Seinfeld' theme to match those timings."

Speaking of timing, Wolff's theme song wasn't just a wild, open riff, but very specifically based on Jerry Seinfeld's delivery style. Seinfeld, perhaps without realizing it, seems to have a tendency to speak and deliver his jokes in a very musical cadence. Wolff notes that one could set a metronome to Seinfeld's delivery. He continued:

"I was watching his HBO special and I noticed that Jerry had a lyrical delivery to his jokes. And I put a clock on it. About 110 (beats per minute). And that became the tempo of the 'Seinfeld' theme. The bass line for 'Seinfeld' was so simple." , which can stop and start for his jokes, to make me laugh and that way I was able to architect every piece of music for every monologue, LEGO style."

Wolff also noted that the network — perhaps predictably — hated his improvisational style, finding it boring. Fortunately, "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David has come to Wolf's side, insisting that the "boring" music will remain. David felt that NBC was screwing things up anyway. Thanks to David, Wolf kept his job. These days, Seinfeld's bass riffs are as famous as its actors.