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June 27, 2024 8:07 AM Subscribe
Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks is a tribute album released in 1995 containing cover tracks by major local bands, including one of the last recordings made by Blind Melon’s Shannon Hoon before his death (3 is a Magic Number).
Track listing
"Schoolhouse Rocky" - Bob Dorough and Friends
"I'm Just A Bill" - Deluxx Folk Implosion
"Three Is a Magic Number" - Blind Melon
"Conjunction Junction" - Better Than Ezra
"Electricity, Electricity" - Goodness
"No More Kings" - Pavement
"The Shot Heard 'Round the World" - Ween
"My Hero, Zero" - The Lemonheads
"The Energy Blues" - Biz Markie
"Little Twelvetoes" - Chavez
"Verb: That's What's Happening" - Moby
"Interplanet Janet" - Man or Astro-man?
"Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here" - Buffalo Tom
"Unpack Your Adjectives" - Daniel Johnston
"The Tale of Mr. Morton" - Skee-Lo
Track listing
"Schoolhouse Rocky" - Bob Dorough and Friends
"I'm Just A Bill" - Deluxx Folk Implosion
"Three Is a Magic Number" - Blind Melon
"Conjunction Junction" - Better Than Ezra
"Electricity, Electricity" - Goodness
"No More Kings" - Pavement
"The Shot Heard 'Round the World" - Ween
"My Hero, Zero" - The Lemonheads
"The Energy Blues" - Biz Markie
"Little Twelvetoes" - Chavez
"Verb: That's What's Happening" - Moby
"Interplanet Janet" - Man or Astro-man?
"Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here" - Buffalo Tom
"Unpack Your Adjectives" - Daniel Johnston
"The Tale of Mr. Morton" - Skee-Lo
All killer, no filler.
No more kings
We're gonna run our things our own way
Gonna run our things our own way
Gonna run it into the ground
posted by credulous at 8:09 AM on June 27 [5 favorites]
No more kings
We're gonna run our things our own way
Gonna run our things our own way
Gonna run it into the ground
posted by credulous at 8:09 AM on June 27 [5 favorites]
This CD spent a ton of time in my car stereo and was very well-produced. Good custom plastic and artwork. Standout tracks for me are from Goodness, Biz Markie, Man or Astro-man?, and Skee-Lo.
I post Pavement’s cover every time a court case goes against you-know-who.
posted by Captaintripps at 8:11 AM on June 27 [5 favorites]
I post Pavement’s cover every time a court case goes against you-know-who.
posted by Captaintripps at 8:11 AM on June 27 [5 favorites]
*checks pager* whatever
posted by HearHere at 8:15 AM on June 27 [4 favorites]
posted by HearHere at 8:15 AM on June 27 [4 favorites]
I could've sworn that this album featured the Mr. T Experience version of 'Unpack Your Adjectives,' but it doesn't.
posted by box at 8:16 AM on June 27 [4 favorites]
posted by box at 8:16 AM on June 27 [4 favorites]
I got this album from BMG's CD club (competitor to Columbia House). It's still around here somewhere.
posted by downtohisturtles at 8:22 AM on June 27 [2 favorites]
posted by downtohisturtles at 8:22 AM on June 27 [2 favorites]
I've got two copies of this on CD. It came in an opaque yellow case, which was neat. The first copy I picked up in the 90s, probably because of the Ween song. I have no idea when or why I got a second copy. Enough of both of the cases survived to cobble together a nearly complete working case. I had forgotten how fun this album was -- I'll put it on later this afternoon.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:29 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:29 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
Ironically (relative to the baseline Gen-X irony level) the year this album came out Bart Simpson delivered one of the most cold-blooded lines about Gen-X nostalgia perhaps ever...
posted by credulous at 8:31 AM on June 27 [6 favorites]
posted by credulous at 8:31 AM on June 27 [6 favorites]
We still have that cassette, somewhere...
posted by Windopaene at 8:33 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 8:33 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
so, so happy that "elbow room" isn't on this. yeesh!
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 8:37 AM on June 27 [4 favorites]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 8:37 AM on June 27 [4 favorites]
This record and it's spiritual companion from the same year Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits were in frequent rotation for sure. And Blind Melon's cover was perfection.
posted by AgentRocket at 8:43 AM on June 27 [12 favorites]
posted by AgentRocket at 8:43 AM on June 27 [12 favorites]
This record and it's spiritual companion from the same year Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits were in frequent rotation for sure
That album definitely shows the divide even among the Gen X cohort; I remember Schoolhouse Rock from Saturday morning cartoons, but that other album were shows I only ever saw in reruns when I was little. To me, HR PufnStuf and the like is foreign to me. (I mean, duh, most of the bands on there were definitely close to a decade older than me, so their Saturday morning memories are different.)
Scooby-Doo, the Jetsons, and the Flintstones were already retro by the time I watched them.
posted by Kitteh at 8:49 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
That album definitely shows the divide even among the Gen X cohort; I remember Schoolhouse Rock from Saturday morning cartoons, but that other album were shows I only ever saw in reruns when I was little. To me, HR PufnStuf and the like is foreign to me. (I mean, duh, most of the bands on there were definitely close to a decade older than me, so their Saturday morning memories are different.)
Scooby-Doo, the Jetsons, and the Flintstones were already retro by the time I watched them.
posted by Kitteh at 8:49 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
I'm just sitting here by the radio with my tape recorder waiting for "Three Is a Magic Number" to come on so that I can record it. Now get off my lawn.
posted by milnak at 8:51 AM on June 27 [11 favorites]
posted by milnak at 8:51 AM on June 27 [11 favorites]
yup yup, had (maybe still have?) the yellow case CD
posted by Glinn at 8:53 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
posted by Glinn at 8:53 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
This record and it's spiritual companion from the same year Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits were in frequent rotation for sure. And Blind Melon's cover was perfection.
I remember Saturday Morning Cartoons but I don't recall SchoolHouse Rocks at all. Not sure how I missed it.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:57 AM on June 27
I remember Saturday Morning Cartoons but I don't recall SchoolHouse Rocks at all. Not sure how I missed it.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:57 AM on June 27
Can't say I ever had much time for Blind Melon, but that take on Three Is A Magic Number really is magic
posted by philip-random at 9:07 AM on June 27 [2 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 9:07 AM on June 27 [2 favorites]
Call me old and stuck in my ways, but I'm still partial to the originals, especially the ones sung by Blossom Dearie, like Figure Eight.
posted by Daily Alice at 9:08 AM on June 27 [10 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 9:08 AM on June 27 [10 favorites]
I could've sworn that this album featured the Mr. T Experience version of 'Unpack Your Adjectives,' but it doesn't.
That was on that Kill Rock Stars/Lookout Records double album comp, "A Slice of Lemon" Coincidentally, released the same year. And also the first place I ever heard Elliott Smith.
I always forget that the T-I-O-N song was not part of Schoolhouse Rock (it was an "Electric Company" jam) so I'm always disappointed when it is not incluided
posted by thivaia at 9:11 AM on June 27 [4 favorites]
That was on that Kill Rock Stars/Lookout Records double album comp, "A Slice of Lemon" Coincidentally, released the same year. And also the first place I ever heard Elliott Smith.
I always forget that the T-I-O-N song was not part of Schoolhouse Rock (it was an "Electric Company" jam) so I'm always disappointed when it is not incluided
posted by thivaia at 9:11 AM on June 27 [4 favorites]
>> This record and it's spiritual companion from the same year Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits were in frequent rotation for sure.
Oh wow, I forgot about the Saturday Morning comp, the video of the Ramones cover of "Spiderman" is so good...
posted by jeremias at 9:13 AM on June 27 [2 favorites]
Oh wow, I forgot about the Saturday Morning comp, the video of the Ramones cover of "Spiderman" is so good...
posted by jeremias at 9:13 AM on June 27 [2 favorites]
Sometime around '91, a bunch of St Louis bands did this. I think it was for a charitable cause. I still regret losing that cassette somewhere in the mid 90s.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:17 AM on June 27 [3 favorites]
posted by 2N2222 at 9:17 AM on June 27 [3 favorites]
This version of Three is a Magic number is such a banger. I had it on heavy rotation for a long time, and I very likely got it from like Napster or Soulseek. It still slaps too.
posted by gc at 9:27 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
posted by gc at 9:27 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
Call me old and stuck in my ways, but I'm still partial to the originals
Have told this story before, am telling it again: sometime in the late 90s I was at New York's Bottom Line st a gig where 4 random folks shared the bill. One was an older guy who mostly did these mildly amusing jazz novelty songs, and we all clapped politely as he was a little different from the other grunge garage bands on the bill.
But then towards the end of his act he mentioned he was the guy who had written "I'm Just A Bill", and the entire Gen-X audience all collectively lost our shit cheering. And then sang along when he played the first verse and cheered again.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:39 AM on June 27 [7 favorites]
Have told this story before, am telling it again: sometime in the late 90s I was at New York's Bottom Line st a gig where 4 random folks shared the bill. One was an older guy who mostly did these mildly amusing jazz novelty songs, and we all clapped politely as he was a little different from the other grunge garage bands on the bill.
But then towards the end of his act he mentioned he was the guy who had written "I'm Just A Bill", and the entire Gen-X audience all collectively lost our shit cheering. And then sang along when he played the first verse and cheered again.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:39 AM on June 27 [7 favorites]
I had a dear friend who passed away last year; one of her favorite songs ever was the Skee-Lo track. Today happens to be her birthday.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 9:56 AM on June 27 [7 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 9:56 AM on June 27 [7 favorites]
The original of Verb is so great.
There are (or were, maybe not so much any more) certain NYC subway announcements that at least in my headcanon were recorded by Blossom Dearie. I've never actually seen that verified anywhere. But every time I heard that voice I thought of Figure 8 (and "I'll Take Manhattan")
posted by bgribble at 10:03 AM on June 27
There are (or were, maybe not so much any more) certain NYC subway announcements that at least in my headcanon were recorded by Blossom Dearie. I've never actually seen that verified anywhere. But every time I heard that voice I thought of Figure 8 (and "I'll Take Manhattan")
posted by bgribble at 10:03 AM on June 27
I loved this album when it came out and now I want to go find it and re-rip it into whatever we're calling iTunes these days. Thank you for reminding me it exists.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:13 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:13 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]
(My favorite Schoolhouse Rock parody was The Simpsons, but then I saw this.)
posted by box at 10:32 AM on June 27
posted by box at 10:32 AM on June 27
The Schoolhouse Rock song that most often pops up in my head, for some unknown reason, is the chorus of "Interjections". (which isn't on that album. Darn!)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:32 AM on June 27 [3 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:32 AM on June 27 [3 favorites]
Electricity, eeeeelectricity.
Electricity, eeeeelectricity.
Electricity, eeeeelectricity.
That's how you cover a song! What a banger.
posted by oddman at 11:21 AM on June 27 [2 favorites]
Electricity, eeeeelectricity.
Electricity, eeeeelectricity.
That's how you cover a song! What a banger.
posted by oddman at 11:21 AM on June 27 [2 favorites]
The "Mickey's Tape Collection" account is gonna get a lot of traffic now that MTV has axed their archives. I'll have to remind myself to watch the Dr. Demento video countdown when I have a chance.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 11:21 AM on June 27
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 11:21 AM on June 27
2N2222: like this? https://stlpunkarchive.omeka.net/items/show/390
posted by adekllny at 11:31 AM on June 27 [3 favorites]
posted by adekllny at 11:31 AM on June 27 [3 favorites]
I love these and also the "the time for timer" PSAs. Hankering for a hunk of cheese and Sunshine on a stick. I'm sure Timer is MAGA now or something equally awful, but at the time, they were nice.
posted by BeReasonable at 11:56 AM on June 27 [6 favorites]
posted by BeReasonable at 11:56 AM on June 27 [6 favorites]
I have it on cd.
posted by j_curiouser at 2:04 PM on June 27 [1 favorite]
posted by j_curiouser at 2:04 PM on June 27 [1 favorite]
Hankering for a hunk of cheese
There's a line in that song I think about an inordinate amount:
I've got something planned, which is
little cheese sandwiches.
I just love this line. It's a tri-syllabic rhyme -- the only one in the song (the 10-gallon hat/5 gallons flat rhyme does not count, no) -- and it's a suprisingly solid one at that. It's also the most awkward line in the song. I could see myself writing a line like this, being quite proud of it, and insisting it remain in the song as-is, making the phrasing someone else's problem (or, in my case, my future self's problem) to work out.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:50 PM on June 27 [1 favorite]
There's a line in that song I think about an inordinate amount:
I've got something planned, which is
little cheese sandwiches.
I just love this line. It's a tri-syllabic rhyme -- the only one in the song (the 10-gallon hat/5 gallons flat rhyme does not count, no) -- and it's a suprisingly solid one at that. It's also the most awkward line in the song. I could see myself writing a line like this, being quite proud of it, and insisting it remain in the song as-is, making the phrasing someone else's problem (or, in my case, my future self's problem) to work out.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:50 PM on June 27 [1 favorite]
I have both this and the Saturday Morning CD sitting in my closet. 3 is a Magic Number and Reverend Horton Heat's Johnny Quest/Stop The Pigeon were mix CD mainstays.
posted by LostInUbe at 3:33 PM on June 27 [2 favorites]
posted by LostInUbe at 3:33 PM on June 27 [2 favorites]
I think "Three Is A Magic Number" might be one of the most-skipped tracks in my entire collection of music. It's certainly got the lowest playcount recorded in iTunes of anything on the album.
I recall mostly getting the album because I wanted to hear what Man Or Astro-Man? did with "Interplanet Janet" but the real standout for me was someone I'd never heard of called "Chavez" doing "Little Twelvetoes". That is a weird, weird little song, and they rocked the fuck out with it.
(The video for Twelvetoes is a hell of a thing, too. It's one of two Schoolhouse Rocks directed by Rowland B. Wilson at Phil Kimmelman & Associates; the other one he did is Lucky Seven Sampson. Sampson is a gorgeous treat for the eyes; Twelvetoes feels kind of unfinished next to it - it's largely just colored keyframes, with a couple cycles animated here and there, and has a lot of reuse compared to, well, pretty much every other Schoolhouse Rock. They've both got a really distinctive, angular look that stands out from the squat, doodly shapes of Tom Yohe's work on the series; everyone else who worked on it followed his style. Not Wilson.)
(Wikipedia has a list of who animated each episode, of course.)
posted by egypturnash at 4:38 PM on June 27 [1 favorite]
I recall mostly getting the album because I wanted to hear what Man Or Astro-Man? did with "Interplanet Janet" but the real standout for me was someone I'd never heard of called "Chavez" doing "Little Twelvetoes". That is a weird, weird little song, and they rocked the fuck out with it.
(The video for Twelvetoes is a hell of a thing, too. It's one of two Schoolhouse Rocks directed by Rowland B. Wilson at Phil Kimmelman & Associates; the other one he did is Lucky Seven Sampson. Sampson is a gorgeous treat for the eyes; Twelvetoes feels kind of unfinished next to it - it's largely just colored keyframes, with a couple cycles animated here and there, and has a lot of reuse compared to, well, pretty much every other Schoolhouse Rock. They've both got a really distinctive, angular look that stands out from the squat, doodly shapes of Tom Yohe's work on the series; everyone else who worked on it followed his style. Not Wilson.)
(Wikipedia has a list of who animated each episode, of course.)
posted by egypturnash at 4:38 PM on June 27 [1 favorite]
2N2222: like this? https://stlpunkarchive.omeka.net/items/show/390
Yup, that's the exact one!
posted by 2N2222 at 4:49 PM on June 27
Yup, that's the exact one!
posted by 2N2222 at 4:49 PM on June 27
"Conjunction Junction" is a big part of why I was an English major, and I love this cover.
I love the cover of "Three Is A Magic Number." My wife and I have a daughter so it makes me a little misty sometimes.
What kind of a name is Hoon?
Comanche Indian.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:46 PM on June 27 [2 favorites]
I love the cover of "Three Is A Magic Number." My wife and I have a daughter so it makes me a little misty sometimes.
What kind of a name is Hoon?
Comanche Indian.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:46 PM on June 27 [2 favorites]
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posted by Kitteh at 8:09 AM on June 27 [19 favorites]