The Simpsons Sing the Blues is the debut musical album by characters of The Simpsons animated franchise. The album features these characters (their singing voices performed by their regular voice actors) singing both covers and original songs in pop, blues, jazz, soul and hip-hop styles.
The album features "Moaning Lisa Blues,” which was first featured in the episode "Moaning Lisa” aired in the United States on February 11, 1990. The album was released on December 4, 1990, and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
An early musical number, "Do the Bartman,” starts the album off as the first track and its leading single. It was an international success, including being the United Kingdom number one single on February 16, 1991, staying there for a further two weeks being certified gold after selling over 400,000 copies. The second single released, "Deep, Deep Trouble" also did well in the UK, reaching number 7. "Do the Bartman" and "Deep, Deep Trouble" were released as music videos in 1990 and 1991.
Different cast members lent their voices to the album with both new material and cover songs. There were a number of notable musicians who appeared on the album, including B.B. King, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Dr. John, and Marcy Levy.
Background
David Geffen, founder of Geffen Records, had the idea to record an album based on The Simpsons, to be released in time for Christmas 1990. The writers wrote humorous lyrics for the actors to perform over blues and hip-hop. The voice actors for the series recorded the album in September 1990. The album was difficult to produce in between production for the second season of The Simpsons, which was due to premiere just two weeks later.
By September 28, 1990, the vocal cast had been recording for around a month, and had completed two rough cuts of songs in between recording for the TV show. At this point, the album was due out in November. Early published reports attributed Jackson as the composer of "Do the Bartman", which led to James L. Brooks issuing a press release apologizing for any misunderstanding about who actually wrote the song, instead revealing that Bryan Loren wrote the song. Fox also organized a media event around the album, pulling in nearly a half-dozen camera crews to interview and tape the would-be recording stars in action. The album was also a success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at #6 on the albums chart and was eventually certified gold. The lead single from the album, "Do the Bartman", was released on November 20, 1990, followed by the unveiling of animated music video after the Simpsons episode "Bart the Daredevil" on December 6. After the Fox network premiere, the video was exclusive to MTV. The song wasn't actually released as a physical single in the US, which perhaps helped sales of the album. The music video for "Deep, Deep Trouble" debuted after "Bart's Dog Gets an "F" on March 7, 1991.
On December 14, 1990, the album was certified platinum, having sold over 1 million copies in its first week of release. Within a matter of weeks, the record was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, on February 13, 1991, for sales of over 2 million copies.
On July 22, 2013 the album was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry in the UK.
Reception
The New York Times placed the album on their list of worst albums of the year in 1990, stating that "The television series was at least mildly subversive, not to mention funny; the album mangles old songs and takes no chances with bland new ones" People described it as a "slick, supercommercial novelty act", and that it seemed the producer's main goal was money rather than comedy or drama. Florida Flambeau expressed relief that the album wasn't a Christmas record, although felt that it was "mostly pointless" without being paired with the funny visuals of the show, and wished more songs had been written specifically for the characters. Thrust magazine expressed disdain that such a popular album was created by fictional recording artists, noting "Most people have to die before they sell so many records, but The Simpsons will never die. They don't exist". Commoner found it as an example of the rampant commercialization of The Simpsons in the early 1990s.
Hatchet negatively compared it to the 1997 television series soundtrack album Songs in the Key of Springfield, noting that the latter is "actually funny". Lambda felt the new album would be a "nice change" from the former, whose single “Do the Bartman” had become tiring.
Legacy
The Simpsons Sing the Blues is today regarded as a novelty from The Simpsons early popularity. Disney also issued an album of Caribbean songs sung by The Little Mermaid's Sebastian as well as an album of songs sung by the cast of Dinosaurs, a series often compared to The Simpsons during its run. "Do the Bartman" inspired a dance, "The Bartman", that was popular in early 1991.
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Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+Annual chart rankings for The Simpsons Sing the Blues
!Chart (1991)
!Position
|-
! scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| 22
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! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 55
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!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|28
|}
Certifications and sales
References
External links
- The Simpsons Discography (SNPP/The Simpsons Archive), as of March 19, 2007.