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Schoolhouse Rock Appreciation

mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
edited April 2008 in Strut Central
I've been rewatching all these classic eps with my daughter. I forgot how creative and enjoyable these were:

  Comments

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    I have the DVD Box......


    "Number 9....will put u on the spot"
  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    Singing these in the car with my sons this morning.

    Bob Dorough rules.
  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    I still love those, and I will enjoy them with my son in a couple years for SURE
  • paquelaspaquelas 206 Posts
    bob dorough is the man






  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Thanks to the '70s revival movement in the '90s, I definitely haven't forgotten Schoolhouse Rock. I have the CD box, haven't purchased the DVD, but seeing the occasional rerun it amazes me how little it's dated. All my life, if I ever had to count in threes, I always did it in the same cadence as the Schoolhouse Rock song about the 3's time tables.

    Matter of fact, I probably paid more attention to the Rock than I did In The News (those one-minute newscasts on CBS - even though they were aimed at seven-year-olds like myself, it still came off as just another news broadcast to me).
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    You have to ride for this stuff. If you grew up with these they stuck with you for life. They beat the hell out of kids TV today.
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    The thing I'm most amazed by is that they're taking concepts which are generally kind of complicated to explain in general - grammar rules are not intuitively simple to grasp in any language - and yet, by making the rules memorable ("a noun is a person, place or thing!"), you begin to pick up on the basics even if you don't fully comprehend.

    Another favorite:


    By the way, re-watching the DVD, I was struck by how many songs found their way into Diamond D's first album.
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts

    I had never seen this one before..perhaps for good reason:
    Wow that one was pretty Heavy. I dig it.

    I always thought Bob Dorough, and Soft machine should've collaborated.

    - spidey
  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    My kids love this, I highly recommend the DVD set for all the Strut parents. Something you can actually tolerate instead of Dora and Thomas the Tank Engine.

    To this day I can still recite the preambleto the Constitution, but only if I think of the cadence and melody from SchoolHouse Rock as I do it.
  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    To this day I can still recite the preamble to the Constitution, but only if I think of the cadence and melody from SchoolHouse Rock as I do it.

    Haha! In my 7th grade US History class, we all had to memorize and recite the Preamble. Once the teacher realized we were reciting it from Schoolhouse Rock memory, he forbade us from "singing" it--but it's still really hard NOT to hear that melody.

    One quibble: the Schoolhouse Rock version omits "of the United States" right after "We the People."
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    To this day I can still recite the preamble to the Constitution, but only if I think of the cadence and melody from SchoolHouse Rock as I do it.

    Haha! In my 7th grade US History class, we all had to memorize and recite the Preamble. Once the teacher realized we were reciting it from Schoolhouse Rock memory, he forbade us from "singing" it--but it's still really hard NOT to hear that melody.

    One quibble: the Schoolhouse Rock version omits "of the United States" right after "We the People."

    Well, they had to - it wouldn't sing very well if they had left it in.

    But, it didn't take much to insert those words back in the Constitution. On the eventual Constitution test, I believe we all aced the Preamble part without having to memorize it too hard. Schoolhouse Rock - how did kids get along without it?
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    To this day I can still recite the preamble to the Constitution, but only if I think of the cadence and melody from SchoolHouse Rock as I do it.

    Haha! In my 7th grade US History class, we all had to memorize and recite the Preamble. Once the teacher realized we were reciting it from Schoolhouse Rock memory, he forbade us from "singing" it--but it's still really hard NOT to hear that melody.

    One quibble: the Schoolhouse Rock version omits "of the United States" right after "We the People."

    Well, they had to - it wouldn't sing very well if they had left it in.

    But, it didn't take much to insert those words back in the Constitution. On the eventual Constitution test, I believe we all aced the Preamble part without having to memorize it too hard. Schoolhouse Rock - how did kids get along without it?

    Schoolhouse Rock saved me a gang of times during elementary school Math tests.
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    I really want to do my Bands website in Schoolhouse Rock style. I know Mike is busy, and he reccomended a couple cats, but I'm not sure they can pull off what I'm lookin for.

    I wanta do my site in a Hoagy Carmichael/schoolhouse rock style. Anyone know of any illustrators who could pull it off?

    - Spidey
  • jaymackjaymack 5,199 Posts
    method man interpolates the first one for "i gets my thing in action"
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Compton's Most Wanted - Music To DriveBy - Intro uses Blossom Dearie's Figure 8.



    MC EIHT...get it?
  • cpeetzcpeetz 2,112 Posts
    The DVD is a big hit at my house too.
    My only beef is the new ones are doo doo, they don't
    even come close to the originals from back in the day.
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    Figure 8.

    I loved how they used that in The Squid and the Whale.

    - spidey
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts


    i used to play this out during my blues/soul set
  • Big_StacksBig_Stacks "I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts


    i used to play this out during my blues/soul set

    Yeah,

    That one has Grady Tate on the vocals, what's up? I ride for the original Schoolhouse Rock joints and I own them on DVD (and I don't have kids). I also ride for the "Multiplication Rock" LP too. Also, let me big up the "Rock Gospel" LP put out by Motown in 1971.

    Peace,

    Big Stacks from Kakalak
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I ride for the original Schoolhouse Rock joints and I own them on DVD (and I don't have kids). I also ride for the "Multiplication Rock" LP too. Also, let me big up the "Rock Gospel" LP put out by Motown in 1971.

    What's Rock Gospel have to do with Schoolhouse Rock?
  • Big_StacksBig_Stacks "I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
    I ride for the original Schoolhouse Rock joints and I own them on DVD (and I don't have kids). I also ride for the "Multiplication Rock" LP too. Also, let me big up the "Rock Gospel" LP put out by Motown in 1971.

    What's Rock Gospel have to do with Schoolhouse Rock?

    Hey Pickwick,

    Absolutely nothing, it's a simple case of cognitive priming. All the "Rock" references brought it to mind.

    Peace,

    Big Stacks from Kakalak
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I ride for the original Schoolhouse Rock joints and I own them on DVD (and I don't have kids). I also ride for the "Multiplication Rock" LP too. Also, let me big up the "Rock Gospel" LP put out by Motown in 1971.

    What's Rock Gospel have to do with Schoolhouse Rock?

    Hey Pickwick,

    Absolutely nothing, it's a simple case of cognitive priming. All the "Rock" references brought it to mind.

    I always thought that the cover of that Motown album was interesting, to say the least - Jesus getting down OFF the cross...
  • Big_StacksBig_Stacks "I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
    Yeah,

    I thought it was an odd cover too. I love "There is a God" by Valerie Simpson on that joint. That's one of those "pop's records" that happened to "slip" into my collection. I know he knows, so it's all good. He went all CD about 20 years ago, so as usual, I inherited joints (pop's younger brother gave me a grip of disco 12"s back in 1981). It pays to come from a musical family!

    Peace,

    Big Stacks from Kakalak
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Any opinion on Phonic Rock (this children's album on Sussex that appears to be a Schoolhouse Rock ripoff)?
  • vinylstalkervinylstalker 397 Posts
    pickwick33 said:
    Any opinion on Phonic Rock (this children's album on Sussex that appears to be a Schoolhouse Rock ripoff)?

    I remember finding Phonic Rock in my young-digger phase in the mid 90's.
    Its on Sussex, looks appropriately funky etc. I recall being excited about its
    prospects, and terribly underwhelmed upon listening. Lo-fi and marginal.
  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    3

    is a magic number.
  • goatboygoatboy 371 Posts
    Agree with all the praise already mentioned.
    In many ways, Dorough was the voice of my Saturday mornings.

    One more favorite to add: I Got Six...

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    While Bob Dorough rightly gets a lot of credit for these, he was far from the only creative force behind Schoolhouse Rock. A surprisingly detailed breakdown on Wikipedia:

    http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:t27gg19F9xUJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Rock!+schoolhouse+rock+grady+tate&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
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