Is there any theme song more iconic than The Simpsons’, now renewed for a 23rd season? No. The answer was no. Composed, of course, by Danny Elfman, it is estimated that every human being in history has seen this at least once every day of their lives. According to scientists.

The tune is upbeat and fun and a bit repetitive, as per usual for Danny Elfman:

In this sequence, we meet a lot of the main characters and get a brief sense of their activities: Homer’s an idiot who works at a power plant, Marge is a housewife, Bart is a bad kid, Lisa is an overachieving saxophonist, and Maggie is a baby. We also meet some other people from around town, but a bit too quickly:

What Bart writes on the blackboard, Lisa’s saxophone solo, and the Simpsons Couch Gag all vary from week-to-week:

The sequence was animated primarily by Kevin Petrilak of Klasky-Csupo (with the rest of their crew), which definitely makes sense. You can see the expressiveness of design in their other projects (Rugrats, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, etc).

In 2009, with the show’s 20th season, it transitioned to HD, and so did its opening credits sequence. This allowed them to add more varying gags (e.g., billboard design):

…and more characters to the sequence:

What some maintain, though, is that with this transition came a loss of character. Compare here the change in movement, from the fun and jaunty and musical to the stiff and careful:

(Image via Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew)

Jaime Weinman attributes the Simpson’s early freeness (in part) to Brad Bird, who also helped the digital images of Ratatouille to remain expressive even with the challenges (!) of superior animation.

According to Dane Romley, an animator who worked on the new version:

The reason why the show has stiffend up is because there was an era when fox would tell directors that we had to draw every pose we drew perfectly on model. No distorting of the forms of any kind. It has slowly been dieing down the past couple seasons but they still insist on making the show more about the writing and less about the looks. Every once in a while we’ll get let loose and we can do some fun stuff but on the whole don’t blame the artists please. Believe me all of us working there would love to express the characters in more ways but there’s just so much we can do.

What becomes of an opening sequence that is that iconic? Of course, it gets covered a lot:

Of the above four (and there are so many other versions to be found online), the first was the opening to The Simpsons Movie, with the song actually performed by Green Day (!). The second was commissioned to be directed by Banksy, fresh off the success of Exit Through The Gift Shop. The third inexplicably aired in May of this year. The last was made by the British channel Sky One (and directed by Chris Palmer) as a promo for the show, and eventually broadcast in the place of the opening sequence in a 2006 episode.

On a barely related note, I absolutely love live-action recreations of animated sequences, so here’s another one you should enjoy:

Days when you get to see monsters, drawn in the Simpsons style, redo the opening to The Office, are good days, even when it is not your favorite episode of The Simpsons, or even your favorite decade of The Simpsons.

This is part of the Animated Shows Created by Simpsons Writers series. It’s Futurama, in my opinion the best of the series, and often (SORRY HATERS) much better than The Simpsons. But we’re not here to discuss the quality of the show, are we? We want to talk about how freaking cool this opening sequence is.

It’s by Christopher Tyng (who’s done music for quite a few series), and it is a pretty clear rip-off (not meant pejoratively) of Psyche Rock by Pierre Henry and Michel Colombier. The song’s from 1967, and I highly recommend watching this video through:

Futurama’s opening sequence is so all about homage. Every episode has a different old-time cartoon playing on the screen that Planet Express crashes into. The show’s about the future, but it’s a future heavily informed by the past and present, where things are intentionally barely better, and technology has moved forward only to be marginally less convenient. I think the theme song, adapted from a trippy number from 1967, supports that. And, because I know you’re curious, here’s the opening to the Futurama movie “The Wild Green Yonder,” which has Seth MacFarlane singing lyrics to the theme song (turn your audio down, this is a terrible recording):

Enjoy!

Time for Part Two (also known as the last part) of the series “Instrumental versions of songs by the band Cake.” This is Mission Hill, with its adaptation of Cake’s Italian Leather Sofa.

This show, incidentally, is extremely missed by yours truly. It started up during the era when Simpsons writers could make shows whenever they wanted (sort of like Family Guy writers today). It, along with The Critic, Futurama, and probably other stuff, made up the stars in a galaxy of delightful and short-lived shows by Simpsons writers (yes, Futurama’s coming back - will The Critic be next?). The show was about a guy living with his little brother and some wacky roommates in The Big City (“Cosmopolis”).

The song’s pretty great, instrumentally, because it lets the show’s characters do their little I-am-stoned dances, making this a slightly edgier version of FRIENDS (right? That makes sense). You don’t get to know a ton about the characters, other than that they enjoy each other’s company to varying degrees, and isn’t that mostly what we need from a show like this? Incidentally, according to wikipedia, this show’s pilot included the first EVER gay male kiss in television history. So, that’s something.

The whole series (one season) is on DVD, and I recommend checking it out. I’d be surprised if you were disappointed, sincerely.