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On December 1990, due to high demand for merchandise, the creators of The Simpsons” decided to get an album out called “The Simpsons Sing The Blues”. The 10-tack album ended up at #3 on Billboard charts 200 and the first single “Do the Bartman” was an international success.
it all started with the success of the episode “Moaning Lisa” and the co-creators Sam Simon, Jim Brooks, and Matt Groening got an offer to do an album of Simpson’s music with Geffen Records.
“I had known James Brooks for quite a while, since Terms of Endearment,” the album’s producer John Boylan said. “I was peripherally involved with that movie as a music consultant, not on record or anything. I had been friendly with Jim Brooks, and I think he’s a wonderful filmmaker. Probably what happened was, and I have no proof of this, but Geffen gave him a shortlist of record producers and I was the only one on the list that Brooks knew.”
“You gotta remember this was highly collaborative and it was under tremendous pressure,” John said. “The Simpsons were at the top of the zeitgeist at the time. I think they were selling something like 250,000 Bart T-shirts a week. It was just ridiculous. And, of course, all the right-wing people were getting mad at The Simpsons. It was the talk of the country at that time. David wanted to get the album out ASAP. At one point, I was collaborating with Geffen Records and Fox and Gracie Films all were involved with it. A guy named Matt Walden was the guy at Fox. Of course, I dealt with Jim Brooks, Richard Sakai at Gracie Films, and The Simpsons characters. Geffen Records [was] mostly dealing with Eric Eisner, Al Coury, and Eddie Rosenblatt. We were trying to keep that all together.”
Without a doubt, the biggest star on "The Simpsons Sing The Blues" was Michael Jackson. The King of Pop has had a long history with The Simpsons, mostly because he was a big fan!
“[Michael Jackson] called and volunteered [to do the album],” John said. “I knew Michael because he was an Epic artist. He was our top-selling artist while I was there. Being an A&R person at Epic, I knew him enough so that he recognized me. He brought in a co-producer name Bryan Loren. He and Loren were going to write a song based on a dance that Michael made up called ‘The Bartman.'”
Of course, the album also featured a number of other artists who helped the piece gain massive success. One of those artists was DJ Jazzy Jeff.
"[The album] came out and just blew up. It was great," DJ Jazzy Jeff stated. "It was really funny because, I remember after the success of the record, didn’t just go around telling people I produced "Deep Deep Trouble" on The Simpsons Sing the Blues. But when I’d tell people, "I did a song on The Simpsons album," it was amazing. almost got more props from doing that than some of the other records that I did. You knew people were really big fans of The Simpsons but not to the point that people bought the record and actually knew the name of the record."
To date the album sold over 2 million copies worldwide peaking at #3 on Billboard 200, #6 in the UK charts and was certified gold at the time.
[video=youtube;wdntmGp7lO4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdntmGp7lO4&feature=emb_title[/video]
https://www.thethings.com/the-true-origin-of-the-simpsons-music-album/
it all started with the success of the episode “Moaning Lisa” and the co-creators Sam Simon, Jim Brooks, and Matt Groening got an offer to do an album of Simpson’s music with Geffen Records.
“I had known James Brooks for quite a while, since Terms of Endearment,” the album’s producer John Boylan said. “I was peripherally involved with that movie as a music consultant, not on record or anything. I had been friendly with Jim Brooks, and I think he’s a wonderful filmmaker. Probably what happened was, and I have no proof of this, but Geffen gave him a shortlist of record producers and I was the only one on the list that Brooks knew.”
“You gotta remember this was highly collaborative and it was under tremendous pressure,” John said. “The Simpsons were at the top of the zeitgeist at the time. I think they were selling something like 250,000 Bart T-shirts a week. It was just ridiculous. And, of course, all the right-wing people were getting mad at The Simpsons. It was the talk of the country at that time. David wanted to get the album out ASAP. At one point, I was collaborating with Geffen Records and Fox and Gracie Films all were involved with it. A guy named Matt Walden was the guy at Fox. Of course, I dealt with Jim Brooks, Richard Sakai at Gracie Films, and The Simpsons characters. Geffen Records [was] mostly dealing with Eric Eisner, Al Coury, and Eddie Rosenblatt. We were trying to keep that all together.”
Without a doubt, the biggest star on "The Simpsons Sing The Blues" was Michael Jackson. The King of Pop has had a long history with The Simpsons, mostly because he was a big fan!
“[Michael Jackson] called and volunteered [to do the album],” John said. “I knew Michael because he was an Epic artist. He was our top-selling artist while I was there. Being an A&R person at Epic, I knew him enough so that he recognized me. He brought in a co-producer name Bryan Loren. He and Loren were going to write a song based on a dance that Michael made up called ‘The Bartman.'”
Of course, the album also featured a number of other artists who helped the piece gain massive success. One of those artists was DJ Jazzy Jeff.
"[The album] came out and just blew up. It was great," DJ Jazzy Jeff stated. "It was really funny because, I remember after the success of the record, didn’t just go around telling people I produced "Deep Deep Trouble" on The Simpsons Sing the Blues. But when I’d tell people, "I did a song on The Simpsons album," it was amazing. almost got more props from doing that than some of the other records that I did. You knew people were really big fans of The Simpsons but not to the point that people bought the record and actually knew the name of the record."
To date the album sold over 2 million copies worldwide peaking at #3 on Billboard 200, #6 in the UK charts and was certified gold at the time.
[video=youtube;wdntmGp7lO4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdntmGp7lO4&feature=emb_title[/video]
https://www.thethings.com/the-true-origin-of-the-simpsons-music-album/
