24th episode of the 7th season of The Simpsons
"
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
(both Forrester and Archer left to work on
King of the Hill
).
[1]
Peter Frampton
and musical groups
Sonic Youth
,
Cypress Hill
, and
The Smashing Pumpkins
guest star as themselves.
Plot
[
edit
]
After
Otto
destroys the school bus, Homer is forced to
carpool
several students to school. He is shocked to find all the kids hate the
classic rock
radio station
he listens to. Homer realizes that music from his high school days is no longer considered cool after a
hipster
at a record store derides it.
Hoping to impress them, Homer takes
Bart
and
Lisa
to the Hullabalooza music festival. Homer tries to act cool by wearing a
Rastafarian
hat, but an angry crowd of
Generation Xers
confronts him after mistaking him for a
narc
. After being tossed out by the crowd, Homer angrily kicks a cannon, which shoots one of
Peter Frampton
's
inflatable pigs
at his stomach. The festival head is impressed by Homer's ability to absorb cannon fire and hires him for the festival's
freak show
(played by the
Jim Rose Circus
), called the pageant of the transmundane.
Homer tours with the festival and parties with rap and rock stars ?
Sonic Youth
,
Cypress Hill
and
The Smashing Pumpkins
? while earning respect among young people, including Bart. As the tour approaches a stop in Springfield, Homer's stomach aches and he is sent to a veterinarian. The doctor informs Homer he will die if he takes another cannonball to his gut. Homer decides to perform his act one last time, but he dodges the cannonball at the last second. After a warm sendoff from the touring bands, Homer leaves the festival and loses his kids' respect for no longer being cool, which he embraces.
[3]
Production
[
edit
]
The entire story of this episode was developed by
David Cohen
, although it was written by
Brent Forrester
,
[1]
who felt that Cohen at least deserved a "story by" credit.
[4]
To do research for this episode, Forrester went to one of the Lollapalooza concerts, which he thought would be a fun little perk, but ended up being a horrible experience. Several of the jokes in this episode are based on his experiences: cameras were being seized and thrown in the garbage, there were numerous advertisements, several "sour faced teens", a real freak show (
Jim Rose Circus
), and at one point a stranger approached Forrester and asked, "how's it going,
narc
?".
[4]
During Homer's confrontation with the Hullabalooza crowd, there is a brief shot of Homer with the members of the band
No Doubt
behind him.
Eric Stefani
, the founding member of No Doubt and the brother of its lead singer
Gwen Stefani
, was working as an animator on the show at the time and added them in.
[5]
The writers were aiming to have artists that represented several genres:
hip hop
(Cypress Hill),
alternative rock
(Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins), and a classic rock singer. Originally,
Bob Dylan
was sought for this role, but he was replaced by Peter Frampton.
[6]
Billy Corgan
impressed the production staff by doing strong impersonations of Homer and
Marge
, though it was decided to not have him use them in the episode.
Pearl Jam
was asked to appear in the episode but declined.
Originally,
Courtney Love
and
Hole
were wanted for this episode, but they declined.
[7]
According to the DVD commentary, an unnamed group (later revealed by
Entertainment Weekly
to be Sonic Youth) said that they would refuse to appear in the episode if Courtney Love was involved.
[8]
It was thought that Love would appear in the episode because she had recently done a film with
James L. Brooks
, but she never responded to the request.
[7]
Love was wanted specifically for one joke which would be in an exchange between her and Homer:
Courtney Love
: Hi Homer! I'm a big fan, Courtney Love.
Homer
: Homer Grateful!
However, she did not appear and the joke was reworded for
Billy Corgan
of the Smashing Pumpkins:
Billy Corgan
: Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins.
Homer
: Homer Simpson, smiling politely.
Cultural references
[
edit
]
The flashback where Homer meets the guys in the van is based on the film
Dazed and Confused
.
[6]
Several of the scenes where Homer is hit with a cannonball are based on famous
stock footage
of
Frank "Cannonball" Richards
being hit with a cannonball, as is the entire concept of a "cannonball catcher".
[6]
Otto's drug-induced hallucination of his "talking shoes" is based on the opening of the album version of
Prince
's song "
1999
".
[6]
Homer's walk in one scene parodies the walk in
Robert Crumb
's comic
Keep on Truckin'
.
Reception
[
edit
]
In its original broadcast, "Homerpalooza" finished 57th in ratings for the week of May 13?19, 1996, with a
Nielsen rating
of 7.8, equivalent to approximately 7.5 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following
The X-Files
and
Married... with Children
.
[9]
In 1998,
TV Guide
listed it in its list of top twelve
Simpsons
episodes.
[10]
The BBC website called the episode "One of the most memorable episodes, if not one of the greatest ? the satire on youth counterculture is well handled, and Homer's flashback to his youth is fabulous."
[1]
and
IGN
said the episode was one of the best of season seven.
[11]
In 2019,
Consequence of Sound
ranked it the third greatest episode on its list of top 30
Simpsons
episodes.
[12]
In a list of the 25 greatest guest voices on the show, released September 5, 2006, IGN ranked the Hullabalooza performers 23rd.
[13]
The
noise rock
version of the end credits performed by Sonic Youth has been ranked among the best versions of the theme by Matt Groening
[13]
[14]
and also by
Chris Turner
in his book
Planet Simpson
.
Bill Oakley has said that Peter Frampton is one of his favorite guest stars and he wished he could have done a TV show with him.
[16]
Alternatively, the Rover Hendrix act break joke has been called one of the worst jokes in
The Simpsons
history by the writers and producers.
[4]
[6]
[14]
[16]
In 2007, Simon Crerar of
The Times
listed the Smashing Pumpkins' and Cypress Hill's performances among the 33 funniest cameos in the history of the show.
[17]
Andrew Martin of Prefix Mag named Cypress Hill his sixth-favorite musical guests on
The Simpsons
out of a list of ten.
[18]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Homerpalooza
Archived
December 1, 2004, at the
Wayback Machine
BBC.co.uk
. Retrieved on February 8, 2007
- ^
Martyn, Warren; Adrian Wood (2000).
I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide
. Virgin Books.
ISBN
0-7535-0495-2
.
- ^
a
b
c
Forrester, Brent (2005).
The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
Archer, Wes (2005).
The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Weinstein, Josh (2005).
The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
a
b
Keeler, Ken (2005).
The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
Snierson, Dan (May 10, 1996).
"
The Simpsons
rock and roll"
.
Entertainment Weekly
.
Archived
from the original on January 22, 2022
. Retrieved
January 21,
2022
.
- ^
"NBC keeps its lock on no. 1 spot".
Sun-Sentinel
. Associated Press. May 23, 1996. p. 4E.
- ^
"A Dozen Doozies"
.
TV Guide
. January 3?9, 1998.
Archived
from the original on January 16, 2019
. Retrieved
January 13,
2019
.
- ^
Canning, Robert; Goldman, Eric; Iverson, Dan; Zoromski, Brian (January 2010).
"The Simpsons: 20 Seasons, 20 Episodes"
.
IGN
.
Archived
from the original on June 29, 2015
. Retrieved
January 21,
2022
.
- ^
"The Simpsons' Top 30 Episodes"
.
Consequence
. December 17, 2019.
Archived
from the original on December 5, 2021
. Retrieved
January 21,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Zoromski, Brian; Goldman, Eric; Iverson, Dan (January 4, 2010).
"Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances"
.
IGN
.
Archived
from the original on June 22, 2007
. Retrieved
January 21,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Groening, Matt (2005).
The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
a
b
Oakley, Bill (2005).
The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
Crerar, Simon (July 5, 2007).
"The 33 funniest Simpsons cameos ever"
.
The Times
.
Archived
from the original on November 16, 2020
. Retrieved
January 21,
2022
.
- ^
Martin, Andrew (October 7, 2011).
"Top 10 Best Musical Guests On 'The Simpsons'
"
.
Prefix Mag
.
Archived
from the original on October 15, 2011
. Retrieved
October 8,
2011
.
- Bibliography
External links
[
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]