[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL "Top Ten Simpsons Musical Guests"
08.01.07
BY MIKEY MIGO
With the movie finally coming out I've realized how much I love this show. When asked in the past, "What's your favorite television show?" I'd quickly respond with "The Simpsons" Call it dedication or just sad, but I can honestly say I know more about the history of The Simpsons more than even my own family.
About two years ago a friend and I would play a lot of road games. The one that I still randomly think about most is "Name the Musical Guest on The Simpsons". Basically, we'd keep going back and forth with all the musicians and bands that have appeared on The Simpsons. With all the material we had to reflect on, this game obviously lasted the entire trip and a few spontaneous phone calls the next few days.
So today I'm going to narrow it down to my personal TOP TEN musical guests that have appeared on the show over the past eighteen years. It's not a popularity contest because I like some of the bands in my honorable mention more than the top five of my list. It's all about the entertainment value each appearance had and how much I personally enjoyed it.
So without any more rambling, here it is:
Honorable Mentions: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, The Who, Kid Rock, David Byrne, Ludacris, REM, Metallica, Sting, and The Ramones
10.) NSync Episode: New Kids on the Blecch (Season 14)
This was the episode where "The Party Posse" took control over the pop world. With their hit song like "Drop da Bomb!" with the suspicious lyric "YVAN EHT NIOJ" and their popularity on the line NSync comes to save the day. Their entrance into the episode was great.
9.) Phish Episode: Weekend at Burnsie's (Season 13)
Quite possibly one of my top five favorite episodes of all time. I don't know why I got such enjoyment watching Homer smoke medicinal marijuana, but I did. The last act of the show featured Phish performing at a Marijuana rally. The point in which they stopped playing because they smelt marijuana and wanted a doctors note was classic thanks to Moleman's interactions.
8.) The White Stripes Episode: Jazzy and The Pussycats (Season 18)
I know this is from the last season and "there hasn't been a good season since Season 4/8/10/12" or whatever, but I really enjoyed this episode. Bart takes on drumming to balance out his attention deficient problem. As he gets better at drumming it consumes his life. This leads to a great meeting with The White Stripes.
7.)Spinal Tap Episode: The Otto Show (Season 3)
Like my number 8 pick, this time Bart takes on learning the guitar from Otto. This is all inspired by the awesomeness of Spinal Tap. The entire Spinal Tap scene is full of hilarity.
6.) The Smashing Pumpkins/Peter Frampton/Cypress Hill/Sonic Youth Episode: Homerpalooza (Season 7)
Hullabalooza! The greatest rock festival of all time featured The Smashing Pumpkins, Homer Simpson: Smiling Politely, Peter Frampton and his pig balloon he bought from Pink Floyd's yard sale, Cypress Hill and their stolen orchestra, and Sonic Youth. It was in my opinion the first great combination of musical guests on one show.
5.) Aerosmith Episode: Flaming Moe's (Season 3)
Homer took it upon himself to share his secret alcohol drink with Moe. In return Moe stole it and created the "Flaming Moe". Moe's popularity increased to the point where Aerosmith came to the bar to perform. You didn't hear it from me, but the secret ingredient was cough syrup.
4.) Barry White Episode: Whacking Day (Season 4)
Whacking Day should be celebrated by everyone. Every year we can all get together and bash snakes with whatever blunt object we can find. Okay, so that might be a tad extreme for us normal folk, but for the citizens of Springfeld it's a normal tradition. To save the snakes from getting whacked, the Simpson kids and help from legendary Barry White used the bass of his voice to bring them to safety. It seems a lot more sinister in Spanish.
3.) Paul and Linda McCartney Episode: Lisa The Vegetarian (Season 7)
It's Paul McCartney. What more can be said? Lisa had problems with everyone around her eating meat and was doing whatever she could to change people's eating preferences. Enter Apu with Paul and Linda McCartney to save the day. They explained to Lisa little bit about tolerance in really a great moment.
2.) Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/Elvis Costello/Lenny Kravitz/Tom Petty/Brian Setzer Episode: How I Spent My Strummer Vacation (Season 14)
Homer is bored with life and gets to be a weekend rockstar thanks to his family sending him to Rockstar Camp. In this allstar line up we had Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Petty, and Brian Setzer. They all take part in mocking rock star stereotypes and have no problem taking jabs at themselves. I just wonder if Tom Petty ever found his toe.
1.) Michael Jackson Episode: Stark Raving Dad (Season 3)
In this classic episode, Homer goes crazy and meets a big white guy who claims to be Michael Jackson. The truth was that the dialogue was in fact done by The King of Pop himself under the pseudonym of "John Jay Smith". Due to legal issues, the singing was done by an impersonator, but who cares. Bart is a bad brother and hooks up with the so-called "Michael Jackson" to perform "Happy Birthday, Lisa". It's a defining moment because it shows Bart does care about his family and shows that this cartoon is much more than pratfalls and one liners.
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