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Michael Jackson and The Simpsons
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Michael Jackson, who died in Los Angeles at age 50 on Thurs-
day, June 25, 2009, wrote songs and did a guest voice on The
Simpsons. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Michael Jackson, who died June 25th, is renowned for his singing, his dancing and his songwriting, and much has been written about all of that. What has not received much attention, however (which is not surprising, as it's only two credits) is the work Michael Jackson did for one of his favorite TV shows: The Simpsons.
Michael Jackson was a fan of The Simpsons, and especially the character of Bart, which led him to call the producers offering to write Bart a "number one single" and do a guest voice on the show. The producers immediately accepted the offer.
Mr. Jackson's first contribution to The Simpsons was the song, "Do the Bartman" (performed by Nancy Cartwright), which was released in September, 1990 on the album, "The Simpsons Sing the Blues". Although rumors had flown since the summer of 1990 that Michael Jackson had written a song for the album, The Simpsons' executive producer James L. Brooks issued a press release apologizing for any misunderstanding, and said that "Do the Bartman" was written by a friend of Michael Jackson's, Byron Loren (who is credited as the writer). At the 1998 World Animation Celebration in Pasadena, California, Simpsons creator Matt Groening acknowledged that "Do the Bartman" was co-written by Mr. Jackson. "It was always amazing to me that no one ever found out that Michael Jackson wrote that song," Mr. Groening said at the time. "He was a big fan of the show." As Michael Jackson was under contract to another studio at the time he could not receive credit for his work on the song.
"Do the Bartman" was not released as a single in America, but internationally it was extremely popular. Especially surprising was its reception in the United Kingdom, where "Do the Bartman" was the number one song in Britain for three weeks, and the seventh best selling song of the year, despite the fact that The Simpsons would not be shown on British television until 1995.
Timed to be released with "The Simpsons Sing the Blues", a music video was developed quickly. Directed by Brad Bird (who has gone on to great fame in animation, with his work including The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille), the video was storyboarded in only two days. Michael Chambers provided the choreography for the short. The work that had to be done in a short time was massive, and the animation company, Varga Studio in Budapest, Hungary was shocked to learn that the entire video was to be done in full animation with no repeated scenes. The video was nominated for Best Special Effects at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards (losing to "Falling to Pieces" by Faith No More), and "Do the Bartman" was the number one music video on MTV between January and March 1991. The video was re-aired as a tribute to Mr. Jackson on June 28, 2009, and can be seen below:
Michael Jackson made good on his second offer when he appeared on the "Stark Raving Dad" episode of The Simpsons, which aired September 19, 1991. Credited as John Jay Smith, Mr. Jackson voiced Leon Kompowsky. Accused of being a "free-thinking anarchist" because he wore a pink shirt to work one day, Homer Simpson is placed in a mental institution, where he meets Leon Kompowsky, a 300-pound white man who believes he's Michael Jackson. When Homer brings Leon home, Leon helps Bart write a song for Lisa's birthday to make up for Bart forgetting his sister's birthday. Lisa proclaims the song the best gift she's ever gotten, and forgives her brother. After this, Leon Kompowsky admits that he knows he's not Michael Jackson, and that he's really a bricklayer from New Jersey. Claiming that he felt angry for most of his life and that he earned people's respect when he did his Michael Jackson impersonation, he started to tell people his was Michael Jackson. At the end of the episode he leaves Springfield as Leon Kompowsky, his confidence renewed.
The use of a pseudonym was one of Mr. Jackson's requirements for his appearance, which led the producers of the show to decide that any celebrity who wished to appear on The Simpsons had to agree to be credited under their real name. Mr. Jackson also asked that any singing done of the show be done by an impersonator as a joke on his family, and Kipp Lennon was hired to sing for the episode. Although Michael Jackson also sang the songs, the singing of Mr. Lennon was used in the episode, according to The Simpsons' music editor Chris Ledesma. When Leon explains why he was impersonating Michael Jackson, the character was voiced by Hank Azaria. The song, "Happy Birthday, Lisa" was written by Mr. Jackson, but was credited to "W. A. Mozart".
"Stark Raving Dad" may be seen on syndicated reruns of The Simpsons, and is on the third season DVD release of The Simpsons.
For more coverage on Michael Jackson, please click here.
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