The beauty of Schoolhouse Rock in its original Saturday morning run (1973-85) was that kids watching couldn't tell whether the catchy three-minute cartoon jingles were meant to be commercials, shows, or something else entirely. That enabled overexposed TV youth to learn without realizing it between episodes of Scooby Doo and Fat Albert. Then the Brady Bunch generation became the alternative nation, and the innocence with which they took in these grammar, history, and math lessons was lost. Now comes the obligatory tribute album, Schoolhouse Rock Rocks--pleasant enough, but full of postmodern yuks and missed-the-point nostalgia that aim to celebrate but instead drain the joy from childhood memories.
Though it's somewhat interesting to hear Pavement turn "Mo More Kings" into lo-fi krautrock or Moby make "Verb: That's What's Happening" into industrial techno-pop, the performers who most successfully preserve Schoolhouse Rock's edutainment viability are those who are most cartoonish to begin with: Ween ("The Shot Heard 'round the World"), Biz Markie ("The Energy Blues"), and Daniel Johnston ("Unpack Your Adjectives"). The problem remains, nonetheless: Any revamping of these songs implies Schoolhouse Rock somehow needed to be made hipper. That none of these songs is better than its original proves how very unhip '70s kids have grown up to be. --Roni Sarig

uuid:	05E7A27E-B369-4D70-ABF0-7135C8D66D64
upc:	0075679268129
tracklisting:	Schoolhouse Rocky [Original Theme Music] - Bob Dorough and Friends I'm Just a Bill - Deluxx Folk Implosion Three Is A Magic Number - Blind Melon Conjunction Junction - Better Than Ezra Electricity, Electricity - Goodness No More Kings - Pavement Shot Heard 'Round the World - Ween My Hero, Zero - The Lemonheads Energy Blues - Biz Markie Little Twelvetoes - Chavez Verb: That's What's Happening - Moby Interplanet Janet - Man or Astro-man? Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here - Buffalo Tom Unpack Your Adjectives - Daniel Johnston Tale of Mr. Morton - Skee-Lo
title:	Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks
purchase date:	09-05-2005
published:	09-04-1996
price:	$9.98
net Rating:	4
last lookup time:	137389328
genre:	Lo-Fi Television Soundtracks 1990s Educational Indie Rock Novelty Music 1990-1999
fullTitle:	Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks
currentValue:	$3.29
created:	137389264
country:	us
aspect:	Audio CD
asin:	B000005J80
artist:	Various Artists