The Twelve Greatest “Schoolhouse Rock” clips of ALL TIME!!

Yesterday, I posted a few commercials from ABC’s Saturday morning telecasts – these were commercials featuring “Timer,” a song-and-dance character that extolled the benefits of good nutrition.

And then I remembered.  What was the most popular part of ABC’s Saturday morning telecasts?

Of course.  It was Schoolhouse Rock.

“Schoolhouse Rock” – also known as “Multiplication Rock,” “America Rock,” “Grammar Rock,” “Science Rock” and a few other “Rocks”, worked off the idea that kids could learn complicated educational concepts if those concepts were crafted into pop songs and eye-catching videos.  The first in the series, “Multiplication Rock,” was originally released as a phonograph album; the producers then turned it into a series of 3-minute cartoons.  The ABC network was so impressed with the idea, they integrated “Multiplication Rock” into their Saturday morning broadcast day – and even got the producers of the other Saturday morning programs to trim 5 minutes out of their shows to make room for the “Multiplication Rock” series!

Normally I list ten video clips, but I just couldn’t limit this list to ten clips.  Especially when there’s such classics as…

CONJUNCTION JUNCTION

That’s right, if you imagine a sentence with a subject AND a predicate, a prefix AND a suffix, a Delaware AND a Hudson, then you’ve got a Grammar Rock classic.

THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER

This is the one that started it all.  And not only do we get the multiplication tables for the number three, we even get a little bit of the facts of life.  “A man and a woman had a little baby… yes they did… they had three-e-e in the family… that’s a magic number.”

FIGURE EIGHT

Sung by the ethereal voice of Blossom Dearie.  Turn the eight on its side and it’s a symbol for infinity.  Mind blown.

INTERJECTIONS

What you’re watching is a very rare version of the “Interjections” song.  It’s an early “rough cut,” so some of the voices don’t necessarily match up with what you might be used to.

SUFFERIN’ TILL SUFFRAGE

That’s right… the 19th Amendment in 1920 gave women the right to vote… and 55 years later, it gave us a rock-pop track about voting equality.

I’M JUST A BILL

Probably one of the most popular tracks, this “America Rock” classic explains, in three minutes flat, the progress by how a bill becomes law.

ZERO, MY HERO

This clip actually has the original opening and closing credits for the show, back when it was called “Multiplication Rock.”

THE PREAMBLE

You might not be aware of this, but if anyone starts to tell you that the preamble goes like this – “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…” you automatically know two things.  First, that they learned the Preamble to the Constitution by watching this episode of “America Rock,” and second, that they learned the Preamble incorrectly.  It’s “We the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union…”  But I guess that doesn’t work out with the lyrical meter.

I GOT SIX

Time to get down and get funky with the number 6.  Probably the grooviest of the Multiplication Rock songs.

LOLLY, GET YOUR ADVERBS HERE

Indubitably.

I’M A VICTIM OF GRAVITY

Nothing like having some doo-wop music explain the laws of gravity.  And dig that gigantic DA on the lead character!

INTERPLANET JANET

I would argue that this is one of only two songs out there that can use the word “Janet” as part of a rhyming couplet.  For the other one, you’ll have to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Okay, cartoons are over, go wash your face, brush your teeth and go outside and get some fresh air!!