The Amp will sadly admit that before spotting news about singer/songwriter Andrew Gold's death on Stereogum, we were unaware he'd written "Thank You for Being a Friend," a.k.a. the theme song from The Golden Girls. Then we learned he'd sung "Final Frontier," the theme song from Mad About You, and realized Andrew Gold had a disproportionately massive impact on how we experienced NBC sitcoms that aired in 1992.
Gold, who suffered a heart attack in Los Angeles on Friday, was the son of two artists who played key roles on the big screen: Marni Nixon (who dubbed vocals for stars like Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn) and Ernest Gold (who won an Oscar for composing the Exodus score). Aside from his small-screen successes, he was best known for his work with Linda Rondstadt -- he was a multi-instrumentalist in her band and arranger starting in the mid-'70s -- and his Top 10 single "Lonely Boy," which appeared on the soundtrack to Boogie Nights.
"Thank You for Being a Friend" first arrived on Gold's third album, 1978's All This and Heaven Too. Cynthia Fee provided vocals on the Golden Girls version, which has been covered in many ways, including the following death metal rendition from the Betty White-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live: