History WesternAnimation / AmericanPop

The story is a GenerationalSaga starting at the turn of the 20th century, offering a perspective on the different styles of music, as well as the family line that takes a strong involvement in the creation of this music, beginning with a JewishMother and her son Zalmie (Jeffrey Lippa) escaping from a pogrom. The son begins working for Louie (Jerry Holland), a comedian at a burlesque house, and she dies in a sweatshop fire. The kid later marries a stripper named Bella (Lisa Jane Persky) and becomes involved with the mob, which continues to be associated with this family until the 1950s, when his grandson Tony (Ron Thompson) involves himself in Beat culture and later writes lyrics for a PsychedelicRock band -- and fathering Pete (Thompson), a blond-haired, blue-eyed son with a waitress in Kansas who will eventually accomplish what all the others in his family could not.

* PreMortemOneLiner: During a World War II battle, a German soldier says "Danke"[[note]]Thank you[[/note]] and [[spoiler:guns Benny down after listening to the latter's rendition of "Lili Marleen"]].

* PreMortemOneLiner: During a World War II battle, a German soldier listening to Benny's piano rendition of "Lili Marleen" says "Danke"[[note]]Thank you[[/note]] just before [[spoiler:he guns him down]].

* PreMortemOneLiner: During World War II, a German soldier listening to Benny's rendition of "Lili Marleen" says "Danke"[[note]]Thank you[[/note]] and [[spoiler:guns him down]].

* AnImmigrantsTale: It all begins with Zalmie, who came from Russia.

** Tony also falls for the blonde waitress at the dinner in Kansas, or at least [[LovingaShadow he claims this]] and even tries to convince her to come with him. She declines but still has sex with him [[spoiler: which resulted in Pete, whom he recognized as his son immediately because he had the same blonde hair and eyes he presumably fell for all those years ago]]. It's worth noting that it's also implied he fell for Frankie as soon as he met her, and was very distraught when he learned that she married a bandmate during his stay at the hospital.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: This is the reason Palumbo has Zalmie take the fall for something and end up in prison for eight years. In a more straight example, he wanted to have him killed, and it it's only because of Louie that he at least got to live.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Out of all of the Belinskys, Benny was the only one who rejected an unclean or criminal lifestyle in general, the latter which Zalmie got involved in, and became a soldier in World War II in the hopes of redeeming his family name. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Of course, you can imagine how that worked out for him:]] [[spoiler: he got killed for it, which left his son Tony without a father. To make matters worse, [[DramaticIrony his son grew up to be unscrupulous]], [[AllForNothing making his attempt at redeeming the Belinsky family name completely backfire]] until years later, when Pete came into the picture and finally got fed up with being a drug dealer like his father]].
* TooDumbToLive: You do not put your weapon down in a hostile area just to play the piano. [[spoiler:Benny found that out the hard way]].
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Benny. He's actually willing to put aside his love of the piano and go to war in the hopes that doing so will make his wife and son more financially secure with the steady job he can get afterwards from his GI Bill. And what does he get for trying to do that? [[spoiler: A German soldier shoots him in the back when he lets his guard down to play an undamaged piano he finds.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: This was the reason Palumbo had Zalmie take the fall for something and end up in prison for eight years. In a more straight example, he wanted to have him killed, and it was only because of Louie that he at least got to live.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The blonde waitress is the only one of the "mothers" whom we never find out anything about after her fling with Tony, besides the fact that she gave birth to his son. We don't know why Pete left her, if she raised him, or if she was even alive by the time her son is introduced.

* ShouldHaveThoughtOfThatBeforeX
-->'''Palumbo''': Don't you think it's time for a wedding?
-->'''Zalmie''': How can I ask her? I don't have a cent.
-->'''Palumbo''': You should have thought of that before you got her pregnant.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: "Why the hell do you think?" said by preteen Little Pete when Tony, [[spoiler:now a heroin addict,]] asks why he stayed with him if Little Pete didn't trust him,[[spoiler: revealing that he knows Tony is his father. Tony says it back moments later upon realizing he's not helping Little Pete and gives him Benny's harmonica as a family heirloom, with Pete asking him why he's giving it to him]].

* CloseToHome: Giving Tony a bowl of Cornflakes is a surprising and unusual way to set him off. [[spoiler: Justified since Tony was in a cornfield when Frankie died, which unsurprisingly connects the memories in a bad way]].
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler: Years later after Benny's death and spending years in jail waiting to be freed by Palumbo (which Palumbo never did), Zalmie comes clean on TV and essentially rats out Palumbo and begins the downfall of his gang]].
* DestructiveRomance: The best (or worst) way you could define Tony and Frankie's relationship is with this trope, to summarize: they started their relationship almost right after her divorce and both of them already using drugs, which set them as a co-dependent couple where they're even shown getting high together. Later, we see Frankie being plastered right before a concert and Tony presumably black-out drunk next to her. It ends tragically after she dies from a heroin overdose, pretty much destroying Tony; he disappears altogether from the music business, becoming an AddledAddict and homeless, with only Pete staying by his side.
* EverybodyMustGetStoned: Tony is slipped LSD during a concert. He sees the crowd as live-action actors rather than rotoscoped animation, falls and injures himself, and winds up in the hospital. After which, he becomes addicted to heroin and painkillers. Definitely not a good trip.
* FalseFriend: Palumbo, during the wedding of Benny to his daughter, he claimed that he gained a "brother" in Zalmie, but the moment he stops being useful [[note]] claiming he became "useless" because of his son's death, presumably out of grief [[/note]] he let him take the fall (presumably for a botched job) which landed him in the state prison and made lots of promises of getting him out of there as soon as he could with no intentions of ever doing it (even worse, he had meant to kill him; letting him be arrested had been [[PetTheDog Louie's idea,]] with the promise that Zalmie would not talk. [[spoiler: After eight years, [[TheDogBitesBack Zalmie responded in kind by ratting him out in live television]]]]

* MurderByMistake: Towards the end of the first half, Bella picks up a package that is assumed to be pretzels ordered by Zalmie. Unfortunately, Bella discovers too late that the package is a bomb meant for her husband and she's killed instantly.

* TheOneThatGotAway: The blonde waitress from Kansas that Tony had a one-night-stand with, he confessed to her and offered her to travel with him but she refused which is understandable since they just met. Later on [[spoiler: when Tony meets Pete and realizes he must be his son conceived that night, he goes to the cornfield while remembering the short time he spent with her while the lyrics of the song imply he laments what could have been.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: After Tony sits down and gives his [[spoiler: son]] Benny's Harmonica, [[spoiler: he disappears and sends a messenger to hand him a bag of drugs and has them say goodbye for them]].

-->'''Messenger''': [[VerbalBackspace No...--Yeah!]] [[spoiler: He said to say, "''goodbye''"...]]

* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Implied between Benny and Palumbo's daughter. Despite having married for convenience and at the request of their parents, what little time they spent together was enough for Benny to try and find a steady job and provide for their son. After he is killed in the war, her father is shown berating her on still carrying a torch for him eight years later, and even when Tony is already a teenager, it's mentioned that she apparently locks herself in her bedroom to listen to his records.

* PunchClockHero: The only reason Benny ever joined the army during WWII against Zalmie's wishes was that he wanted to redeem his family name and earn money for his wife and future child, even though he was more interested in playing piano music. [[spoiler: Sadly, that last part is what causes him to let his guard down and get him killed in the war]].

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: While on the battlefield, Benny comes across a piano and begins to play when he's found by a Nazi. Benny plays a song, the Nazi listens, thanks him for it... and then guns him down.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Out of all of the Belinskys, Benny was the only one who rejected an unclean or criminal lifestyle in general, the latter which Zalmie got involved in, and became a soldier in World War II in the hopes of redeeming his family name. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Of course, you can imagine how that worked out for him:]] [[spoiler: he got killed for it, which left his son Tony without a father. To make matters worse, [[DramaticIrony his son grew up to be unscrupulous]], [[AllForNothing making his attempt at redeeming the Belinsky family name completely backfire]] until years later when Pete came into the picture and finally got fed up with being a drug dealer like his father]].
* TooDumbToLive: You do not put your weapon down in a hostile area just to play the piano. Benny found that out the hard way.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The blonde waitress is the only one of the "mothers" whom we never find out anything about after her fling with Tony, besides that she gave birth to his son. We don't know why Pete left her, if she raised him, or if she was even alive by the time her son is introduced.

* RealityEnsues: While on the battlefield, Benny comes across a piano and begins to play when he's found by a Nazi. Benny plays a song, the Nazi listens, thanks him for it... and then guns him down.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Out of all of the Belinskys, Benny was the only one who rejected an unclean or criminal lifestyle in general, the latter which Zalmie got involved in, and became a soldier in World War II in the hopes of redeeming his family name. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Of course, you can imagine how that worked out for him:]] [[spoiler: he got killed for it, which left his son Tony without a father. To make matters worse, [[DramaticIrony his son grew up to be unscrupulous]], [[AllForNothing making his attempt at redeeming the Belinsky family name completely backfire]] until years later when Pete came into the picture and finally got fed up with being a drug dealer like his father]].

* TheOneThatGotAway: The blonde waitress from Kansas that Tony had a one-night-stand with, he confessed to her and offered her to travel with him but she refused which is understandable since they just met. Later on [[spoiler: when Tony meets Pete and realizes he must be his son conceived that night, he goes to the cornfield while remembering the short time he spent with her while the lyrics of the song imply he laments what could have been.]]