Schoolhouse Rock! is all you have to say to almost immediately start a conversation with people spanning several generations. My mom watched it when she was little when it first aired in 1973 on ABC, and then I watched it when I was at a grade school age on VHS tapes that my mom made sure we owned at the house. To think, it’s all started with the song Three Is a Magic Number, written by Bob Dorough.
It’s always been much easier for me to remember words to songs, than it ever has to remember things I’m supposed to remember – apparently this was also the case for one of David McCall’s sons. This whole Schoolhouse Rock! adventure started when he realized one of his sons was having trouble remembering the multiplication tables, but could remember all the words to the songs on the radio. Put together some catchy tunes, add in awesome animations for great visual cues, and you have yourself a winner!
The first season began in 1973, and was of course, “Multiplication Rock”, since that’s what had inspired David in the first place. It was then followed by, my personal favorite, “Grammar Rock”, which is where you’ll find Conjunction Junction and other classic favorites to help you with sentence structure. Coinciding with the United States bicentennial, we received “America Rock” which aired in 1975 and 1976. Following it was “Science Rock”, which came in at the tail end of the 1970s. “Computer Rock” debuted in the early 1980s, but was not shown after 1985 because of the rapidly improving technology that would quickly make it irrelevant.
In the 1990s we actually got some new Schoolhouse Rock! sessions, which funny enough I didn’t realize were actually new at the time until doing research for this piece. Busy Prepositions and The Tale of Mr. Morton (which happened to be another of my personal favorites) were added as new “Grammar Rock” segments when the original team united in 1993. In 1995 “Money Rock” became the first new series of the 1990s, and taught lessons how both personal and government commerce works. When The Walt Disney Company acquired Schoolhouse Rock in 1996, we were able to continue to see the episodes on ABC as part of One Saturday Morning, which I watched every week.
In 2008 the Schoolhouse Rock! Election Collection was released, and it included a new song that was produced in 2002 called I’m Gonna Send Your Vote To College. This was done to celebrate the 30th Anniversary, and was centered on songs relating to American history and its government. Following this release in 2009 was “Earth Rock” which was created by the original team, and featured eleven songs focusing on the environment.
Most of my experience with the Schoolhouse Rock! series was from “Multiplication Rock” through “America Rock”, and I can tell you it was extremely valuable to my learning throughout my school years. There’s no way I would have been able to pass having to recite the Preamble to the Constitution aloud if it weren’t for “America Rock”. I also wouldn’t be nearly as finicky with my grammar if it weren’t for “Grammar Rock”, I can guarantee that. So, here’s to all the future generations that will be touched by this wonderful and entertaining way of learning, and getting these songs stuck in their heads so they’ll remember! I send a huge thank you to David McCall, Bob Dorough, Lynn Ahrens, and all of the countless others who filled our childhoods with the joy of learning.
From listening to the Disney soundtracks on vinyl from my early childhood years, to growing up adoring the animated films I’ve always had a huge place in my heart for the joy Walt Disney brought us. It’s been my dream to work for Disney Animation, and I hope to one day achieve that. For now, I love to write, draw, enjoy all things Disney, and cherish the moments I’ve had at the parks while using them as my inspiration.