The student office at my first station was two doors down from the main studio and was generally referred to as the "Music Library," named for the three or four floor-to-ceiling metal bookcases full of music. There were attempts over the years to group music together by format and therefore give a shelf of "office space" to each format coordinator, a student who helped the music director (also a student) keep tabs on all the jazz, rock, hip-hop or whatever else we had in rotation. How the shelves actually fit in the cramped space is one thing but they always managed to be full – mostly CDs but also some old vinyl, audio cassettes for air checks, and then some tape cartridges – those devices that look like 8-tracks, smell like 8-tracks but – brother! – ain't 8-tracks.
My first year in senior student management was probably the fall of 1996 when I was named Production Director – since, I'm sure, no one else felt it a worthy enough position to apply. As Production Director I also got my own shelf in the office and was now able to officially use the office to "hang out," "relax," and "do stuff." One of the things we did to spruce up the place was utilize a bunch of the old CDs we had floating around the office. There were always extras discs: the Ad Council sent public service announcements that were only good for six months; musicians sent music in formats we hadn't even heard of; or discs in the control room got damaged and couldn't be used on the air anymore.
For grins, it was decided to hang the discs on the wall of the office, spelling out the station call letters. The idea sounded good on paper; carrying it out was another problem. The K looked okay but the other letters...well, let's just say we had to explain to visitors what they were looking at on more than one occasion. One of the discs used in this loving project was LP by the Rembrandts, an album I didn't know we even had. I'm sure we only had one track from the disc in rotation – the hastily added theme from Friends – that probably was taken out of our control room after the song hit its saturation point. So Danny Wilde and Phil Solem, the two members of the Rembrandts, hung around on our wall for a year or so.
Most of the discs were never fastened properly so in two or three months there were gaping holes in our artwork. When what was left became too much of an eyesore a few of us grabbed a handful of the discs and went outside the Communication Building to launch them into the air, like Frisbees. I know we tried to throw LP hard enough so that it could break but since corrugated cement with pebbles wasn't strong enough, we just made a mess.
I think we ended up giving it away to someone.
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I'll Be There for You
(David Crane/Marta Kauffman/Michael Skloff/Phil Solem/Danny Wilde/Allee Willis)
The Rembrandts
From the album LP
1995
So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke
You're broke
Your lovelife's DOA
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year, but
Chorus:
I'll be there for you
when the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too...
You're still in bed at 10 and work begins at 8
You burned your breakfast so far things are going great
Your mother warned you there be days like these
But she didn't tell you when the world was brough down to your knees
Repeat Chorus
No one could ever know me
No one could ever see me
Seems you're the only one who knows
What it's like to be me
Some one to face the day with
Make it through all the mess with
Someone I'll always laugh with
Even at my worst, my best with you, yeah.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year, but
Repeat Chorus
