We all know that the show Cheers was written, performed, and aired from the early 80's to the early 90's, but only a few people know that the theme song was actually created two decades before the show was even thought of.
While watching The Newlywed Game with his parents in 1968, 21 year old Alan Thicke had a bright idea for a new song. He rushed to his dreary room and scribbled the words "Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got". It took seventeen straight hours and thirty cups of his fathers black coffee, but young, tenacious Thicke finished his first television show theme song.
While working at small convenience store in his home town of Canada, the 20-something shopped his song to movie and t.v. executives all over the world. But nobody in the biz thought that such a young and beautiful man could be taken seriously as a theme song composer. With no luck and no money, Thicke disappeared into a deep depression for several years. There were rumors about his mental health and sexuality, and ironically, everywhere he went everybody knew his name.
In the fall of 1979, a group of television producers happened upon Thicke's untitled theme song. The team mocked, scoffed at, and spit on the cheery lyrics until one producer read it aloud with an open mind and an open heart. At once, the men warmly read the words to themselves in disbelief. As they sat in silence for a few moments, one producer stood up and said, "I wouldn't mind going for a Thickey!" And that is how it all started for A.T.
The critically acclaimed Alan Thicke would then go on to write the catchy tune to Diff'rent Strokes and my personal favorite, The Facts of Life.
