"The Simpsons Theme", also referred to as "The Simpsons Main Title Theme" in album releases, is the theme music of the animated television series The Simpsons . It plays during the opening sequence and was composed by Danny Elfman in 1989, after series creator Matt Groening approached him requesting a theme. The piece has been noted by Elfman as the most popular of his career. [1]
In an interview, Danny Elfman claimed that Matt Groening was an initial music critic and gave a bad review Oingo Boingo show. In this review, Groening also confessed to only watching encores. Elfman wrote back, "You gotta watch the show if you're gonna write the damn review." In 1989, after Groening approached him requesting a theme. [2]
Groening showed Elfman a rough edit of the opening sequence in their initial meeting, where Elfman suggested "something retro" since it had "such a classic feel". [3] [4] He wrote the tune "in the car on the way home from the meeting" and recorded the demo in his home studio later that day. [3] Elfman sang the three opening notes of The Simpsons himself with two friends. [3] The theme is in the Lydian dominant scale (or 'acoustic scale'). [5] [6]
The theme was re-arranged during season 2, and the current arrangement by Alf Clausen was introduced at the beginning of season 3.[ citation needed ] It has also been edited many times to coincide with edits of various lengths for the opening sequence, and there have been extended edits and re-recordings for lengthened opening sequences. Several versions of the saxophone solo riff, ostensibly played by character Lisa Simpson in the animated sequence, have been created over the course of the series.
A slightly different arrangement of the theme usually plays over the end credits of the show. Originally, there were two main versions of the closing theme, with the longer version ending in a lower key. Both versions were re-arranged for season 3, but only the short version was in use by the time the show switched domestic production from Klasky Csupo to Film Roman in season 4, and that version was edited to be even shorter by the end of season 6. The alternate longer closing theme however resurfaced in a handful of post-season 4 episodes, but mostly in credit sequences that do not play music during the first half of the sequence (either with dialogue heard underneath or video footage playing under the first half of the credits).
The Simpsons theme has won the National Music Award for "Favorite TV Theme" in 2002 and the BMI TV Music Award three times in 1996, 1998, and 2003. It was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music in 1990. [7]
| "The Simpsons Theme" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Green Day | ||||
| Released | July 24, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | January 1, 2007 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 1:23 | |||
| Label | Reprise Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Danny Elfman | |||
| Producer(s) | Green Day | |||
| Green Day singles chronology | ||||
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In addition to the standard closing theme arrangement, certain episodes have had alternate versions of the closing theme used; some are composed in-house by Alf Clausen in alternate styles or as homages to other musical works, and some are covers by musical artists. Most of the time, these are used to tie into the plot of the episode itself. For example, several police or law-related episodes have ended with homages to the themes from Dragnet , and Hill Street Blues . Most of the Treehouse of Horror halloween episodes have opened with a horror or monster movie-styled arrangement, or with homages to themes such as The Addams Family .
The season 20 episode ”Father Knows Worst” features a live recording of the singing group Canvas performing the theme at the Washington Acapella Showcase in November 2000.
Other versions are performed by guest stars heard in an episode, such as a psychedelic rock version performed by Yo La Tengo, a chicano rock version by Los Lobos, and a post-rock version by Sigur Rós. The noise rock version by Sonic Youth, which aired at the end of the episode "Homerpalooza", has been ranked among the best versions of the theme by Matt Groening [8] and also by Chris Turner in his book Planet Simpson . [9] Other performers include Tito Puente, NRBQ, Fall Out Boy, The Supersonicos, and an a cappella version by Canvas. Guitarist Danny Gatton did a blues rock rendition of the theme on his 1991 album 88 Elmira St. In the Disney+ short When Billie Met Lisa, a version performed by Billie Eilish appears.
In 2007, Green Day recorded a cover version of the theme song for The Simpsons Movie and also released it as a single. [10] It placed as high as number six on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, number 19 on the UK Singles Chart, and number sixteen on the UK download chart. [11] Also for The Simpsons Movie, Hans Zimmer, who composed the score for the film, arranged his own version of the theme in an orchestral genre consistent with the original [12] and also inserted "tiny fragments" of it into the rest of his score. [13]
It marks the third time that Green Day has taped an instrumental track, following "Last Ride In" from Nimrod and "Espionage" from Shenanigans which was also an outtake from the Nimrod sessions. The song plays in the beginning, when they perform on the river. It also plays in the end credits.
In 2020, in the 21st episode of season 31 entitled "The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds", Weezer performed their own cover version of the instrumental theme, along with three other songs.
Daniel Robert Elfman is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.
Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the television series The Simpsons (1989–present), Futurama, and Disenchantment (2018–2023), and the comic strip Life in Hell (1977–2012). The Simpsons is the longest-running U.S. primetime television series in history and the longest-running U.S. animated series and sitcom.
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Developed by Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon, the series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Set in the fictional town of Springfield, it caricatures society, Western culture, television, and the human condition.
Bartholomew Jojo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed Bart while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip, Life in Hell, but instead decided to create a new set of characters. While the rest of the characters were named after Groening's family members, Bart's name is an anagram of the word brat. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for two years, the Simpson family received its own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989. Bart has appeared in every Simpsons episode except "Four Great Women and a Manicure".
"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" is the series premiere of the American animated television series The Simpsons. A Christmas special, the show had a very long delayed release. It first aired on Fox in the United States on December 17, 1989. Introducing the Simpson family into half-hour television in this episode, Bart Simpson disobediently gets a tattoo without the permission of his parents. After Marge spends all the family's holiday budget on having it removed, Homer learns that his boss is not giving employees Christmas bonuses, and takes a job as a shopping mall Santa.
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1,000 years and revived on December 31, 2999. Fry finds work at the interplanetary delivery company Planet Express, working alongside the one-eyed mutant Leela and the robot Bender. The series was envisioned by Groening in the mid-1990s while working on The Simpsons; he brought David X. Cohen aboard to develop storylines and characters to pitch the show to Fox.
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons by Matt Groening. The film was directed by series veteran David Silverman and stars the series' regular cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Pamela Hayden, and Tress MacNeille reprising their roles and Albert Brooks as the film's main antagonist, Russ Cargill, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The film follows Homer Simpson, who irresponsibly pollutes Springfield's local lake, causing the EPA to imprison the town under a giant glass dome. After he and his family escape to Alaska, they ultimately abandon Homer for his selfishness and return to Springfield to prevent the town's demolition by Cargill. Homer then works to redeem his folly by returning to Springfield himself in an effort to save it.
"Homerpalooza" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 1996. In the episode, Homer is shocked to find classic rock is no longer considered cool. Hoping to earn "street cred", he joins the Hullabalooza music festival as a carnival freak. The episode's title is a play on the Lollapalooza music festival. It was the last Simpsons episode written by Brent Forrester and the last one directed by Wes Archer. Peter Frampton and musical groups Sonic Youth, Cypress Hill, and The Smashing Pumpkins guest star as themselves.
Alf Faye Heiberg Clausen is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, for which he was the sole composer between 1990 and 2017. Clausen has scored or orchestrated music for more than 30 films and television shows, including Moonlighting, The Naked Gun, ALF and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Clausen received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music in 1996.
The Doctor Who theme music is a piece of music written by Australian composer Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Created in 1963, it was the first electronic music signature tune for television. It is used as the theme for the science fiction programme Doctor Who, and has been adapted and covered many times.
"A Streetcar Named Marge" is the second episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on October 1, 1992. In the episode, Marge wins the role of Blanche DuBois in a community theatre musical version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Homer offers little support for his wife's acting pursuits, and Marge begins to see parallels between him and Stanley Kowalski, the play's boorish lead male character. The episode contains a subplot in which Maggie Simpson attempts to retrieve her pacifier from a strict daycare owner.
"Powerhouse" (1937) is an instrumental musical composition by Raymond Scott, perhaps best known today as background music for chase and assembly line scenes in animated cartoons released by Warner Bros.
The first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons premiered on the Fox network on December 17, 1989, with the Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", with the rest of the season airing from January 14 to May 13, 1990. The executive producers for the first production season were Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon. It was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television.
The third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991, and August 27, 1992. The showrunners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes for the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, and Sam Simon, with it being produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. An additional episode, "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?", aired on August 27, 1992, after the official end of the third season and is included on the Season 3 DVD set. Season three won six Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" and also received a nomination for "Outstanding Animated Program" for the episode "Radio Bart". The complete season was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 26, 2003, Region 2 on October 6, 2003, and in Region 4 on October 22, 2003.
The second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between October 11, 1990, and July 11, 1991, and contained 22 episodes, beginning with "Bart Gets an "F". Another episode, "Blood Feud", aired during the summer after the official season finale. The executive producers for the second production season were Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon, who had also been executive producers for the previous season. It was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. The DVD box set was released on August 6, 2002, in Region 1, July 8, 2002 in Region 2 and in September 2002 in Region 4. The episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment" won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, and was also nominated in the "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special" category.
Treehouse of Horror is a series of annual Halloween-themed anthology episodes of the animated sitcom The Simpsons. Also known as The Simpsons Halloween Specials, each episode typically consists of three separate, self-contained segments. Each segment involves the Simpson family in some comical horror, science fiction, or supernatural setting; plot elements operate beyond the show's normal continuity, with segments exaggeratedly more morbid and violent than a typical Simpsons episode. With 34 episodes as of 2023, each Treehouse of Horror episode is numbered in Roman numerals, one less than the respective season it is in.
The Simpsonsopening sequence is the title sequence of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It is accompanied by "The Simpsons Theme". The first episode to use this introduction was the series' second episode "Bart the Genius".
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom starring the animated Simpson family, which was created by Matt Groening. He conceived of the characters in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office and named them after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The family debuted as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show called The Simpsons, which debuted on December 17, 1989. The show was an early hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the top 30 ratings in a season (1990).
The Simpsons is an American animated comedy franchise whose eponymous family consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The Simpsons were created by cartoonist Matt Groening for a series of animated shorts that debuted on The Tracey Ullman Show on Fox on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into The Simpsons, a half-hour prime time show that was an early hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990). The popularity of The Simpsons has made it a billion-dollar merchandising and media franchise. Alongside the television series, the characters of the show have been featured in a variety of media, including books, comic books, a magazine, musical releases, and video games.
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