The Simpsons‘ 10 Greatest Rock Moments

The Simpsons‘ 10 Greatest Rock Moments

With the 500th episode of The Simpsons airing last Sunday, the last few weeks have been a celebration of everything Simpsons, where all your favorite pundits and prognosticators have combed through the show's venerable timeline to select their favorite gags, cameos, characters and episodes. And, we, like them, desire to reside within the seem geekish glee of choosing our own ...
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9. ELVIS COSTELLO: “How I Spent My Strummer Vacation” (’02), the one where Homer goes to a fantasy rock camp, is a feeding frenzy of prominent rocker cameos (Jagger + Richards, Kravitz, Tom Petty, etc.), but an easy highlight is when Elvis Costello’s glasses get knocked off, and he desperately exclaims, “My image!”

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8. U2: Homer runs for Sanitation Commisioner in “Trash Of The Titans” (’98), overtaking a U2 concert to promote his candidacy. U2 eventually lends a hook to his "The Garbage Man Can!" jingle.

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7. GREEN DAY: Green Day populates the opening montage to the excellent The Simpsons Movie (’07), where Springfield’s general crappiness and indifference to environmental concerns leads to the band’s (cue Titanic imagery) demise.

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6. R.E.M.: In "Homer The Moe" ('01), Homer's garage bar hosts R.E.M. Lenny: "How'd you get R.E.M. to play in your garage?" Homer: "I told them we were billionaires trying to save the rainforest." Stipe, enraged, later breaks a bottle, but then sweeps it up to recycle it.

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5. SONIC YOUTH: One of the running gags in “Homerpalooza” (’96) is the continued punking of veteran rocker Peter Frampton. This is Sonic Youth taking their liberties with Frampton's cooler after Homer spoils his finale.

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4. THE RAMONES: From “Rosebud” (’93), after the Ramones play a sneer-heavy "Happy Birthday" at Mr. Burns' birthday party: “Smithers, have the Rolling Stones killed!”

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3. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: In “Krusty Gets Kancelled” (’93), RHCP gets brought on board to resuscitate Krusty's career with a comeback special. Krusty the Clown: "Now, boys, the network has a problem with some of your lyrics. Do you mind changing them for the show?" Anthony Kiedis: "Forget you, clown." Chad Smith: "Yeah, our lyrics are like our children, man. No way." Krusty the Clown: "Well, okay, but here where it says, 'What I got you gotta get and put it in ya,' how about just, 'What I'd like is I'd like to hug and kiss ya.'" Flea: "Wow. That's much better."

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2. JOHNNY CASH: In the fan-beloved “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer” (’97), Johnny Cash voices the coyote spirit guide in Homer's hallucination. Homer: "Well, what should I do? Should I meditate? Should I get rid of all my possessions?" Coyote: "Are you kidding? If anything, you should get more possessions. You don't even have a computer."

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1. GEORGE HARRISON: From “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet” (’93): Homer (recalling): "Then came to the greatest thrill of my life." George Harrison: "Hello, Homer, I'm George Harrison." Homer: "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Where did you get that brownie?" Harrison: "Over there. There's a big pile of 'em."

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