Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films which aired during the Saturday morning children's programming block on the US television network ABC. The themes covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. The series' original run lasted from 1973 to 1985; it was later revived from 1993 to 1996. Additional episodes were produced in 2009 for direct-to-video release.
History
Idea and development
The series was the idea of David McCall, an advertising executive of McCaffrey & McCall, who noticed his young son was struggling with learning multiplication tables, despite being able to memorize the lyrics of many Rolling Stones songs. McCall hired musician Bob Dorough to write a song that would teach multiplication, which became "Three Is a Magic Number." Tom Yohe, an illustrator at McCaffrey & McCall, heard the song and created visuals to accompany it. Radford Stone, producer and writer at ABC, suggested they pitch it as a television series, which caught the attention of Michael Eisner, then the senior vice president in charge of programming and development at ABC, and cartoon director Chuck Jones. Production was handled by Scholastic Rock, Inc., a subsidiary of McCaffrey & McCall.Original series
The first video of the series, "Three Is a Magic Number," originally premiered during the debut episode of Curiosity Shop on September 2, 1971. The Curiosity Shop version is an extended cut that includes an additional scene/verse of 15 seconds in length that explains the pattern of each set of ten containing three multiples of three, animated in the form of a carnival shooting game. This scene has never been rebroadcast on ABC, nor has it been included in any home media releases; the longer version is, however, available on the soundtrack album, as is an extended version of "My Hero Zero".Schoolhouse Rock! debuted as a series in January 1973 with Multiplication Rock, a collection of animated music videos adapting the multiplication tables to songs written by Bob Dorough. Dorough also performed most of the songs, with Grady Tate performing two and Blossom Dearie performing one during this season. General Foods was the series' first sponsor; later sponsors of the Schoolhouse Rock! segments also included Nabisco, Kenner Toys, Kellogg's, and McDonald's. During the early 1970s, Schoolhouse Rock was one of several short-form animated educational shorts that aired on ABC's children's lineup; others included Time for Timer and The Bod Squad. Of the three, Schoolhouse Rock was the longest running.
George Newall and Tom Yohe were the executive producers and creative directors of every episode, along with Bob Dorough as musical director. This first season was followed in short order by a second season, run from 1973 to 1975, entitled Grammar Rock, which included nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech. By this point, the seasons were collectively called Scholastic Rock in news articles. For this second season, the show added the services of Jack Sheldon, a member of The Merv Griffin Show house band, as well as Lynn Ahrens; both of them contributed to the series through the rest of its run. Blossom Dearie returned for a second episode, and Essra Mohawk joined the cast as a recurring singer. In contrast to the series name implying rock and roll, most of the artists and songs were performed by jazz musicians; Sheldon noted the irony of the arrangement and how "everybody loved it" anyway.
By 1974, the name Schoolhouse Rock! was used for the series as a whole. A third season, America Rock, began production at the same time as Grammar Rock. It aired in 1975 and 1976, timed to coincide with the United States Bicentennial, and had music videos covering the structure of the United States government along with important moments in American history.
A fourth series, titled "Science Rock," followed in 1978 and 1979, and included a broad range of science-related topics. The first video of this season, "A Victim of Gravity," parodied elements of the hit film Grease and featured a rare guest appearance from a pop band, with recently reunited doo-wop group the Tokens providing the vocals. In addition to episodes describing the human body's anatomical systems, episodes describing physical sciences such as astronomy, meteorology and electricity were also included, as was "The Energy Blues," an environmentalism-themed video.
A fifth follow-up series, titled "Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips," featuring the titular characters, premiered in the early 1980s and comprised just four segments about home computer technology, then just emerging onto the scene. ABC pulled Schoolhouse Rock! as a whole off the air in August 1985 in favor of fitness show ABC Funfit.
1990s
The popularity of Schoolhouse Rock! led to an effort to get the show back on the air by student Jennifer Wood in 1991. This eventually happened in 1993 and it came with new content; the original team reunited to produce two more Grammar Rock segments for television with J. J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. This was followed in 1995 by a new series, "Money Rock," which discussed themes related to money management on both the personal and governmental scale. Episodes from the new series aired in rotation with the original segments from 1993 to 1996.The Walt Disney Company acquired Schoolhouse Rock in 1996 along with its acquisition of ABC owner Capital Cities/ABC Inc.; Schoolhouse Rock was one of only two non-Disney children's shows to continue airing after the transition to One Saturday Morning. The series as a whole ceased airing on television in 2000, with newer episodes being released directly to home video. However, reruns occasionally aired on Toon Disney's Big Movie Show block in 2004, but were soon removed from the schedule.
21st century
Starting in 2002, the team once again reunited to produce a new song, "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College," written by George Newall and performed by Bob Dorough and Jack Sheldon for the 30th Anniversary VHS and DVD releases. For the new song, Tom Yohe Jr. took over as lead designer for his father, Tom Yohe Sr., who had died in 2000. Another contemporary song, "Presidential Minute," also written by George Newall, which explains the process of electing the President of the United States in greater detail, was included on the 2008 DVD Schoolhouse Rock! Election Collection, which centers on songs relating to American history and government.In 2009, in response to the threat of climate change, a new series of shorts was released directly to DVD, with the title Schoolhouse Rock! Earth. Animations were created by members of the original production team, and 11 environmentally themed songs were written and performed by a combination of veterans of the original series and newcomers such as composer George Stiles and performers Tituss Burgess, Barrett Foa, and Shoshana Bean, all of whom were veterans of Broadway theatre. In a first for the series, an additional 12th song, "The 3 R's," a reworked version of "Three Is a Magic Number" rethemed around the message "reduce, reuse, recycle," was included as a live action music video rather than as a new cartoon. Also unique to this iteration of the series was the inclusion of interstitial introductions featuring recurring animated characters created for the DVD, Jack, Bob, and Lou, a trio of Arctic polar bears.
On January 6, 2013, George Newall and Bob Dorough appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as part of their ongoing series of free concerts on the Millennium Stage. It was deemed the largest attendance to date of the venue. Dorough played five songs, accompanying himself on the piano: "Three Is a Magic Number," "Figure Eight," "Conjunction Junction," "Preamble," and "I'm Just a Bill." . He also performed "Interjections!" accompanied by DC-area kids' band Rocknoceros. Rocknoceros also performed "Electricity, Electricity," "Unpack Your Adjectives," "Energy Blues," and "Fireworks."
On March 20, 2019, it was announced that Schoolhouse Rock!: The Box Set was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in its 2018 class.
Music videos
Multiplication Rock
- No shows were produced featuring the number 1 explicitly, though several of them, including "Elementary, My Dear," do include this number. "My Hero, Zero" introduced the subject of how to use zero for multiplying by 10, 100, and 1,000. "Little Twelvetoes" introduced the subject of how math arranged on base 12 rather than on base 10 would work, as well as covering multiplication by 12.
- In 1973, Capitol/EMI Records released a soundtrack album of Multiplication Rock, featuring all 11 songs. Two tracks, "My Hero, Zero" and "Three Is a Magic Number," had been edited for TV to keep each video within three minutes. This LP features both songs in their full, uncut forms. Also, the album version of "The Four-Legged Zoo" has a slightly shorter ending compared with the television version. Released with the album was a single with the two Grady Tate–sung tracks. This album was re-released on Record Store Day 2019 by UMe on red/blue-colored vinyl.
Grammar Rock
- This segment introduces Jack Sheldon and Lynn Ahrens as series regulars. "Conjunction Junction" and "A Noun Is a Person, Place, or Thing" were Sheldon and Ahrens' debuts on Schoolhouse Rock! respectively.
- "Busy Prepositions" and "The Tale of Mr. Morton" were produced for Schoolhouse Rock!s return to ABC in 1993 with J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. producing the animation.
America Rock
- "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College" and "Presidential Minute" were produced for DVD.
Science Rock
- In the Disney+ version of "Electricity, Electricity," the flashing light visuals for the "electricity" text are toned down to reduce the risk of anyone with photosensitive epilepsy.
- Sometime after its initial airing, "The Greatest Show on Earth," also known as "The Weather Show," was pulled from broadcast rotation because the Ringling Bros. and [Barnum & Bailey Circus] objected to its use of their trademark slogan and filed a lawsuit against the network for copyright infringement. As a result, after the 1987 release, it was not included on any other VHS release.
Earth Rock
- These songs did not air on ABC. They premiered on a DVD released in 2009. They were also available for purchase on iTunes.
Tie-ins
Several tie-ins were released in 1995:- Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks, a tribute album featuring covers of Schoolhouse Rocks songs performed by popular music artists.
- Schoolhouse Rock! The Official Guide, written by Tom Yohe and George Newall, and including synopses, lyrics, and production notes about each of the shorts created to date, except "The Weather Show," which was the subject of pending litigation and so could not be included. "The Weather Show" was shown with all the other Science Rock episodes in 1979. The book was updated in 2023 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the show, with songs added from Money Rock.
- The Schoolhouse Rock Songbook, containing sheet music for 10 songs.
- Schoolhouse Rock! Soundtrack The 4-CD release with bonus tracks on each CD was released on June 18, 1996, by Rhino Records.
Home video
A 1987 production of the series for VHS tapes released by Golden Book Video featured Cloris Leachman opening the collection and some songs with child dancers and singers. America Rock was called History Rock for this release; a 1988 review praised it for its handling of complicated events, though it noted that "Elbow Room" had "gushed" over westward expansion without mentioning that Indigenous Americans were displaced in the process. Three songs were not included on the videos.In 1994, ABC/King Features sold exclusive licensing rights for apparel to Coastal Concepts, Inc. of Vista California, the first company to produce Schoolhouse Rock! apparel. Tom Yohe worked with contemporary artist Skya Nelson to create over 50 new designs and update the Schoolhouse Rock! image for a new market, which sold $1.1 million in its first year and exploded selling over $12 million the next year. A variety of bands working with Rhino Records were furnished with newly minted Schoolhouse Rock! T-shirts for the music videos youth market. The licensing rights were expanded to include other manufacturers in 1996.
On August 8, 1995, Paramount Home Video re-released four segments of Schoolhouse Rock! on VHS with alternative covers and a revamped opening. That same year, ABC Video and Image Entertainment released two volumes of Schoolhouse Rock! on LaserDisc, Schoolhouse Rock! Volume 1: Multiplication Rock and Grammar Rock, and Schoolhouse Rock! Volume 2: America Rock and Science Rock. For both volumes, the first side was in the CLV Extended Play format and the second was in the frame-accessible CAV format, and both contained CX-encoded analog and digital audio soundtracks. The "Grammar Rock" volume included the 1993 shorts "Busy Prepositions" and "The Tale of Mr. Morton". The VHS Grammar Rock release was listed on Billboard's top video sales for the week ending December 16, 1995.
In 1997–1998, for the show's 25th anniversary, Walt Disney Home Video, which became a sister company to ABC after their purchase in 1996, released five segments on VHS, along with "Money Rock" being released in 1998. The other four releases in the 25th anniversary collection each ended with a Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks music video.
On August 27, 2002, Walt Disney Home Entertainment released a two-DVD set to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the show. The set features 52 of the 53 episodes that had been produced up to that point, including three of the lost "Computer Rock" segments, with the exception of "Introduction". "The Weather Show" and "Presidential Minute" are found on the bonus disc, the former in modified form with the problematic lyric removed, and the latter viewable only upon completing the "Earn Your Diploma" Trivia Game. An abbreviated VHS, featuring 25 episodes and "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College", was released at the same time.
In 2008, DVDs of the individual Schoolhouse Rock! series were released for classroom use.
On September 23, 2008, Schoolhouse Rock! Election Collection was released, including 14 songs about American history and the government and a "new to DVD" song.
On March 31, 2009, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Schoolhouse Rock! Earth, including 11 newly written and animated songs, as well as "Energy Blues".
On June 5, 2020, a majority of the shorts were made available for streaming on Disney+, with a disclaimer stating the shorts contain "outdated cultural depictions."
| DVD name | Ep # | Release date | Additional information |
| Schoolhouse Rock! Special 30th Anniversary Edition | 52 | August 27, 2002 |
|
| Schoolhouse Rock! Election Collection | 14 | September 23, 2008 | |
| Schoolhouse Rock! Earth | 13 | March 31, 2009 |
Tribute albums
In 1996, the album Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks was released by Rhino Records, with fifteen covers of Schoolhouse Rock songs including the theme. Covers by notable artists included "Three is a Magic Number" by Blind Melon, "No More Kings" by Pavement, "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" by Ween, "My Hero, Zero" by The Lemonheads and "Verb: That's What's Happening" by Moby.On August 18, 1998, Rhino also released Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote!: A Benefit for Rock the Vote, a tribute album containing covers and original songs in the style of Schoolhouse Rock!, all with an electoral theme. It was released as a fundraiser for Rock the Vote, an organization advocating for political awareness and voting among young people. Several well-known artists contributed tracks to the album, including Isaac Hayes, Joan Osborne, The Sugarhill Gang and The Roots, alongside original Schoolhouse Rock! performers Bob Dorough, Essra Mohawk and Grady Tate.
| Track | Title | Artist | Type |
| 1 | "Rock the Vote" | The Virtuals | |
| 2 | "I'm Just a Bill" | Isaac Hayes, Joan Osborne | Cover |
| 3 | "Sufferin' Till Suffrage" | Etta James | Cover |
| 4 | "The Campaign Trail" | Bob Dorough | Cover |
| 5 | "The Preamble" | John Popper | Cover |
| 6 | "Do You Wanna Party?" | Essra Mohawk | New |
| 7 | "Fireworks" | The Sugarhill Gang | Cover |
| 8 | "Three-Ring Government" | The Roots, Jazzyfatnastees | Cover |
| 9 | "Get to Know Your Electoral College" | Spicy T & Shihan | New |
| 10 | "Messin' With My Bill of Rights!" | Grady Tate | New |
''Schoolhouse Rock Live!''
A musical theatre adaptation of the show, titled Schoolhouse Rock Live!, premiered in 1993. It featured a collaboration between artists Scott Ferguson, Kyle Hall, George Keating, Lynn Ahrens, Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg, and Kathy Mandry, utilizing some of the most famous songs of Newall and Yohe.A follow-up production entitled Schoolhouse Rock Live, Too, written by the same team as Schoolhouse Rock Live!, premiered in Chicago in 2000.