Rock-ucation

If you were a kid growing up in the 1970s, chances are you were tapping your toes every Saturday morning to catchy educational cartoons like "I'm Just a Bill," Conjunction Junction," and "Three is a Magic Number." They were all part of "Schoolhouse Rock", ABC's groundbreaking cartoon series, which was first launched in 1973.

The genesis for a unique lineup of 3‑minute edutainment 'toons with unforgettable tunes began with David B. McCall, whose son couldn't master the multiplication tables, though he was able to memorize the lines to a myriad of Rolling Stones and Beatles numbers. The idea struck McCall that kids could grasp difficult school subjects easier if they were set to music. He passed on the idea to two friends, George Newall and Tom Yohe, who hired jazz pianist Bob Dorough to write the music. Dorough composed "Three is a Magic Number," which Yohe thought would make a great educational cartoon. The group pitched the idea for the Schoolhouse Rock series to ABC Television's then‑children's programming VP Michael Eisner and legendary animator Chuck Jones, and the network bought it, creating nearly 40 clips that featured the talents of songwriters like Dorough and Lynn Ahrens and animators such as J.J. Sedelmaier and Phil Kimmelman.

Thanks to classic SR videos like "A Noun Is a Person, Place or Thing," "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here," "Zero, My Hero," "Five, Ready or Not, Here I Come," "Interplanet Janet," "The Shot Heard Round the World," and "Preamble" (you know the chorus: "We the people...") kids were getting musically infectious lessons in American history, math, science and grammar that stuck with them into the classroom.

Schoolhouse Rock's popularity is as strong today as ever: Disney has reissued the original series on DVD and a new "Money Rock" series on home video; alternative rock bands like The Lemonheads and Pavement recorded a cover album of many of the songs a few years back; a live stage play adapted from the original videos has been performed in Chicago; and polite parodies of clips like "I'm Just a Bill" have surfaced on shows like "The Simpsons."