Thirty years ago today, America’s favorite animated family made their debut on Fox. To celebrate, Consequence of Sound is re-broadcasting live from Springfield by revisiting Philip Cosores’ ranking of the 10 best songs from the show’s history.
The Simpsons has literally been on for as long as a decent portion of Americans can remember. From its impressive list of guest stars to its often timely critique of politics and social values, the cartoon has become more than a TV show. Books have been written on it. College courses have studied it. Children bear names of popular characters featured on it. You get the idea.
The music featured on The Simpsons is an integral component to the show. Like most television programs, it opens with a theme song — an iconic theme song most of us have heard as many times as such classics like “Happy Birthday” and “The Wedding March”. Show creator Matt Groening has made his mark on the indie community through his work with ATP. The show has also had numerous music-themed episodes and some completely musical episodes. It has even spawned the release of a series of soundtrack albums, which include Songs in the Key of Springfield, Testify, The Yellow Album, and more.
Musical guests are also commonly featured on The Simpsons, beginning with Ringo Starr in an episode about Marge’s devotion to the Beatle and continuing through the years to include R.E.M., Aerosmith, Sonic Youth, Green Day, and a festival lineup’s worth of others. But, it’s the original numbers that are the most memorable (not to say that the melodies aren’t parodies of other songs, but the content of the songs is original). These are 10 musical moments that capture The Simpsons at their best.
10. “Homer’s Hat Dance”
There are many moments like this throughout The Simpsons — brief musical interludes of common songs with hilarious alternate lyrics courtesy of Homer (also of note: “Nacho Man” sung while wearing a delicious-looking nacho hat, Bart and Homer’s conga-style declaration that “you don’t win friends with salad”). Watching Homer’s excitement to hear “The Mexican Hat Dance” as a ringtone is a weird reminder that ringtones used to be a new thing; hell, even cellphones used to be a new thing. The Simpsons has run through the rise of both and manages to incorporate whatever technology is current into its episodes on a weekly basis.
09. “Monorail Song”
Perhaps the most famous song to ever feature on The Simpsons, and it’s not hard to see why. Lyle Lanley shows up to a town meeting deciding what to do with three million dollars that Mr. Burns has paid in fines. Lanley is a smooth talker, noting that his monorail is probably more of a Shelbyville idea, and uses his song to quickly convince the Springfield audience to spend their money on his transportation system. The song’s best moment, though, comes at its conclusion, when everyone has stopped singing, except Homer who lets out one last “mono.” D’oh indeed, my friend.
