The Complicated History Of The South Park Theme Song

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The first song Primus delivered for South Park actually plays over the show's outro

According to a retrospective interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "South Park" co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, detailed the journey of getting the theme song for their hit show from Primus. They had initially approached Primus lead singer/bassist Les Claypool about doing the song for the pilot, which was taking three months to make, but since Primus had just added a new drummer to their lineup, Claypool suggested his band take a crack at it.

Claypool said, "We had watched their Christmas thing that was going around, and we realized these guys were pretty clever, but there was no way in hell that they were going to be able to get something like that on television. More than anything, it was just an excuse for us to go into the studio and start experimenting." The song that the band delivered is actually the song that plays over the end credits of each episode of the show.

Les Claypool recorded the opening title track over a tape recorder while Primus was on tour

The network behind "South Park," Comedy Central, wasn't thrilled with the Primus track as they thought it was too slow, and they asked the band to re-record a peppier song for the opening. "At that point, we were like, 'You know, we did this for you guys, we're out on the road, we're too busy to do this right now," Les Claypool told The Hollywood Reporter. We can't just go into a studio and re-record this.'"

With no opening theme song and after getting the cold shoulder from Primus' management, Matt Stone tracked down Claypool at a concert and begged him to re-record the song. While Claypool stated they were too busy with touring to stop and make a new song, Stone got creative. The team sped up the tune of the song and Stone sent a high school friend to record new vocals from Claypool into a tape recorder when Primus made a stop in Colorado. That is how the theme fans know and love today was created. Guess it's true what they say, especially for the "South Park" gang — pressure makes diamonds.