Oh, man!

It was 30 years ago today that “The Simpsons” made their TV debut on an episode of “The Tracey Ullman Show,” a prelude to “The Simpsons” debuting as an animated series in its own right in 1989 on Fox TV.

Nothing has been quite the same since.

The show was created by Matt Groening. He is a major fan of the late music legend Frank Zappa, the former San Diegan whose biting satirical sensibilities and genre-leaping music greatly inspired the mastermind of “The Simpsons.”


“Frank Zappa was my Elvis,” Groening told Guitar World magazine in 1992.

“His example encouraged me, made me feel it OK to go my own way, to not do things the way the authorities told me to. One of the things that impressed me was that he didn’t allow anything to be beyond him, high culture or low culture. As soon as Bart Simpson is able to shave, he’ll have a moustache and goatee just like Frank Zappa.”

“The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening is shown with a projection of Homer Simpson during “The Simpsons” panel at Comic-Con International 2014 at the San Diego Convention Center. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Michael Jackson was such a big fan of “The Simpsons” that he pitched several story ideas. The result was the Season Three opening episode, “Stark Raving Dad,” in which Jackson was portrayed as a delusional 300-pound brick layer named Leon Kompowsky, who thought he was Michael Jackson.


Jackson wrote a song, “Lisa, It’s Your Birthday,” for the same episode. He also produced “Do the Bartman,” which was featured on the 1991 album “The Simpsons Sing the Blues.”

Fans of “The Simpsons” could easily spend an evening trading their favorite quotes and debating which are the most memorable.

For starters, there’s Bart Simpson’s “Making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel”; “You’re making me into a criminal when all I want to be is a petty thug”; and “Nothing you say can upset us. We’re the MTV generation!”

Two of our many other favorites include Homer Simpson’s “If you need me, I’ll be in the refrigerator” and “I’m a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are.”


Alas, at least one of Homer’s pithy observations appears to have become a mantra for an alarming number of concertgoers: “Marge, this ticket doesn’t just give me a seat, it gives me the right — no, the duty! — to make a complete ass of myself.”

Then again, Homer is an insightful music critic himself, as evidenced by his classic assessment of one of his favorite bands, Grand Funk Railroad, in the 1996 episode of “The Simpsons” entitled “Homerpalooza.”

“Nobody knows the band Grand Funk? The wild, shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner? The bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher? The competent drum work of Don Brewer? Oh, man!”

No wonder drummer Brewer told the Union-Tribune in 2014 that he hoped Grand Funk’s legacy will be as: “Homer Simpson’s favorite band!”


“The Simpsons” celebrates its 30th anniversary today. (AP Photo/Copyright 2000 Fox Broadcasting, Matt Groening)

And who can forget budding jazz saxophonist Lisa Simpson’s interaction with her early musical mentor, Bleeding Gums Murphy, or “The Jazz Hole,” their classic song collaboration?

Or the many cameo appearances on the show by everyone from Tony Bennett and Tito Puente to David Crosby, Ted Nugent and The Who?

Or the 2003 episode, “The President Wore Pearls,” which was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Music?


We could go on, but now it’s your turn.

Tell us about your favorite Simpsons’ quote, episode, song, or bit in the Comments section below. And remember Homer Simpson’s immortal words: “It takes two to lie: one to lie, and one to listen.”

Frank Zappa couldn’t have put it any better.

Twitter @georgevarga


george.varga@sduniontribune.com