History WesternAnimation / SchoolHouseRock

The initial pitch was made to Michael Eisner, then vice president of ABC's children's programming, who brought along one Creator/ChuckJones. Jones loved the concept, Eisner persuaded his regular program lineup to snip three minutes off each program's running time to accommodate it, and a legend was born. The Saturday morning format provided a perfect vehicle to repeat the shorts over and over until the lesson was learned; from the start, ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' was a roaring success as both education and entertainment, running for 37 episodes repeated ''endlessly'' over 12 years. Many of the shorts were permanently burned into the minds of young viewers.

* GeniusBonus: The equation spouted by the "brainy" kid in "Unpack Your Adjectives" is a mathematically correct integral calculus equation which the show's target demographic certainly wouldn't understand.

The initial pitch was made to Creator/MichaelEisner, then vice president of ABC's children's programming, who brought along one Creator/ChuckJones. Jones loved the concept, Eisner persuaded his regular program lineup to snip three minutes off each program's running time to accommodate it, and a legend was born. The Saturday morning format provided a perfect vehicle to repeat the shorts over and over until the lesson was learned; from the start, ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' was a roaring success as both education and entertainment, running for 37 episodes repeated ''endlessly'' over 12 years. Many of the shorts were permanently burned into the minds of young viewers.

** Several of the names on the different selections in the voting booth in "I'm Going to Send Your Vote to College" are the names of the show's creators.

On February [=1st=], 2023, ABC celebrated the show's [=50th=] anniversary with a special called ''Schoolhouse Rock! [=50th=] Anniversary Singalong''. As the name implies, this is a [[FollowTheBouncingBall singalong]], with 10 new arrangements of the show's most famous songs sung by various celebrities and musicians, and hosted by Ryan Seacrest of ''Series/AmericanIdol'' fame.

* "[[http://youtu.be/3FI2tTNjrUI Three is a Magic Number]]" (Multiplication Rock, performed by Bob Dorough) -- Yes, it is. It's a magic number. The song that started it all, used as the initial pitch to ABC and still one of the best ever produced for the series, centered on the three times tables and the RuleOfThree. Eventually used in Nike and ESPN commercials years later and was sampled for the Music/DeLaSoul song "The Magic Number" off their ''Three Feet High And Rising'' album in 1989.

* "[[https://youtu.be/UCGNUo-XQJ8 Figure Eight]]" (Multiplication Rock, performed by Blossom Dearie) -- One of three songs to include famed American jazz singer Blossom Dearie, and also serves as a time capsule to the early days of ''Schoolhouse Rock!'', when the show would start with a wintry overhead shot of a school set to an instrumental piece before ultimately being replaced by the "Schoolhouse Rocky" skit.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uqa1mT1XX0 Conjunction Junction]]" (Grammar Rock, performed by Jack Sheldon) -- What's your function? A kindly railroad freight conductor explains conjunctions (ie. "and", "but", "or") in terms of 'hookin' up cars and makin' 'em run right', in possibly the most insanely catchy children's song of all time. It marks the debut of series regular Jack Sheldon. For the 30th Anniversary Countdown, this was ranked as the greatest ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' song. Notable for the number of cover versions by big name jazz artists (both Harry Connick Jr. and Doctor John have covered it, to name two). Also gave the name to Rachel Maddow's Debunktion Junction segments, and was once parodied on ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' as "Dysfunction Junction", about the dangers of overprescribing ADHD medication. In 2013, the real railroad Norfolk Southern [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI8pNnmDzdE made a commercial with an updated tempo of the iconic song.]]

* "[[https://youtu.be/4OLWJ1TMuNE Mother Necessity]]" (America Rock, various performers) -- The most elaborate of the segments, in which all five of the regular performers (Dorough, Dearie, Ahrens, Sheldon & Essra Mohawk) each sing about different inventions. Notable in that this was a complicated process in the pre-Internet era; the producers had to travel to four different studios across the country to record a couple of lines at a time.

*** Samuel Morse was never known for having an attachment to horses, and his inspiration for creating the telegraph came from an encounter with Charles Thomas Jackson, who was knowledgeable in electromagnetism, while he was traveling by boat.

* BadGuysPlayPool: Naughty Number Nine.

* CapeSnag: "My Hero Zero".

* DemBones: "Them Not-So-Dry Bones" is all about the bones in one's body.

* FallingIntoThePlot: "A Victim of Gravity" starts with a teacup falling from the sky and breaking when it hits the ground. {{Justified}}, as this is meant to be an initial showcase of the effects of gravity.

* FloatingLimbs: Little Twelvetoes takes the concept to extremes. Empty space is apparently a key part of his biology (and his hat), and also his head, hands, and feet are held on like with magnets (i.e. pretty easy to remove and stick on somewhere else) instead of like with flesh and blood.

* FreeRangeChildren: The girl from “A Noun Is A Person, Place, or Thing” travels on “a train to another state” and “a ferry to the Statue of Liberty” apparently alone.

* TalkingAnimal: Lucky Seven Sampson.

** "No More Kings" completely vilifies UsefulNotes/GeorgeIII, pinning the blame for everything that lead to the revolution on him. Never mind that it is now typically agreed that George had the least influence over what happened, and most of it was the fault of the British Parliament.

** The newspaper that the Paperboy is selling in "Fireworks" comes from the [[Franchise/SpiderMan Daily Bugle]].
** In "Interplanet Janet", the people seeing her exclaim, "[[Franchise/{{Superman}} It's a bird! It's a plane!]]"

** "Mother Necessity" has quite a number artistic licenses, some PlayedForLaughs, and some being historical inaccuracies.

* AcceptableTargets: "No More Kings" makes a complete and utter ''mockery'' out of UsefulNotes/GeorgeIII, turning him into a pompous buffoon who lives a life of greed and hedony. He borders on being a CardCarryingVillain due to a combination of both HandRubbing and an EvilLaugh.

*** The also claims that the Boston Tea Party involved conolists dumping cups of tea into the harbor. What really happened was they stormed a merchant ship carrying bags of tea, smashed the crates they were being kept in, and dumped those into the harbor- the fact that they were dressed as Native Americans and used tomahawks to do so is also left out.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
** Several of the America Rock shorts, which as noted were produced around the [[SeriousBusiness Bicentennial celebrations]]. Suffice it to say that the nuances of history tend to be really difficult to stuff into catchy three-minute songs, with the notable exception of "I'm Just a Bill", which gets the process of lawmaking impressively straight.
*** "No More Kings" completely vilifies UsefulNotes/GeorgeIII, pinning the blame for everything that lead to the revolution on him. Never mind that it is now typically agreed that George had the least influence over what happened, and most of it was the fault of the British Parliament.
*** "Fireworks" has a minor mistake regarding the Committee of Five. The five members are said to be Creator/BenjaminFranklin, Philip Livingston, UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, Roger Sherman, and UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson. While this is ''mostly'' true, Philip Livingston was not part of the Committee. Rather, it was his cousin, Robert Livingston. The only thing Philip did was sign the Declaration in his place, as Robert ended up getting recalled by his state before he had the chance to sign it.
*** "Mother Necessity" has quite a number artistic licenses, some PlayedForLaughs, and some being historical inaccuracies.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Multiple characters are seen barefoot in their regular outfits.

*** The rocking chair's origin is heavily disputed, often being attributed to Creator/BenjaminFranklin, but whoever it was, most historians seem to think that it wasn't created by one single woman.
*** Eli Whitney did not create the original cotton gin. Its roots go as far back as Buddhist UsefulNotes/{{India}}.
*** UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison created the first ''functional'' incandescent lightbulb, but he didn't create the first one, as fellow inventors were trying to create lightbulbs of their own, and the first definitional lightbulb was created by Humphry Davy 70 years prior to Edison. Edison also didn't create the lightbulb for his mother's sake, as he was an opportunistic inventor prior to its creation, with him having previously created the phonograph.
*** Samuel Morse was never known for having an attachment to horses, and his inspiration for creating the telegraph came from an encounter with Charles Thomas Jackson, who was knowledgeable in electromagnetism, while he was traveling by boat.
*** Elias Howe may have created the lockstitch sewing machine, but he did not invent the first sewing machine, with it being attributed to Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal exactly 90 years prior.
*** UsefulNotes/TheWrightBrothers weren't working on the first airplane as kids, and instead first sketched the blueprints for it when Orville was in his 20s and Wilbur was in his 30s. Their mother also wasn't a [[MyBelovedSmother nagger]], and in fact assisted them in many of their projects when they were younger.
*** Robert Fulton did ''not'' invent the steamboat, with Alexander Hart being the one to create the first functional one. Fulton merely sought to improve upon the finalized design.
*** Henry Ford had no involvement in the creation of the automobile, with Gustave Trouvé being the one to create the first functioning automobile. Ford's contribution was mass producing automobiles.
*** Factories have a history that go over 10,000 years back. Samuel Slater is only known for inventing textile manufacturing factories.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeJ55o3El0&feature=related I'm Just a Bill]]" (America Rock, written by Dave Frishberg and performed by Jack Sheldon) -- Yes, he's only a bill, and he's sitting there on Capitol Hill. A forlorn little bill sitting on the steps of the Capitol explains the long, contentious process by which he someday 'hopes and prays' to become a law. This one became so iconic that not only has it been screened in Washington as an instructional film for new Congressional aides, but it also earned ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' parody "Amendment to Be" (about an amendment against flag-burning waiting to be ratified)[[note]]in the season seven episode "The Day the Violence Died"[[/note]], a ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' throwaway joke in "They Call Me Bill" (which ends with the bill being poked with a trash pick and put into a garbage bag), and the ''Series/TheDailyShow'' parody "Midterm Elections". It was also referenced by ''[[Creator/{{MSNBC}} The Rachel Maddow Show]]'''s coverage of the 2009/10 health care law, and on the season 40 ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' episode hosted by Creator/CameronDiaz, wherein the Bill (Kenan Thompson) gets pushed down the stairs by UsefulNotes/BarackObama (Jay Pharaoh) and replaced with an executive order (Bobby Moynihan) to grant legal status to 5 million undocumented immigrants.

*** The rocking chair's origin is heavily disputed, often being attributed to Creator/BenjaminFranklin, but whoever it was, most historians seem to think that it wasn't created by one single woman.
*** Eli Whitney did not create the original cotton gin. Its roots go as far back as Buddhist UsefulNotes/{{India}}.
*** UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison created the first ''functional'' incandescent lightbulb, but he didn't create the first one, as fellow inventors were trying to create lightbulbs of their own, and the first definitional lightbulb was created by Humphry Davy 70 years prior to Edison. Edison also didn't create the lightbulb for his mother's sake, as he was an opportunistic inventor prior to its creation, with him having previously created the phonograph.
*** Samuel Morse was never known for having an attachment to horses, and his inspiration for creating the telegraph came from an encounter with Charles Thomas Jackson, who was knowledgeable in electromagnetism, while he was traveling by boat.
*** Elias Howe may have created the lockstitch sewing machine, but he did not invent the first sewing machine, with it being attributed to Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal exactly 90 years prior.
*** UsefulNotes/TheWrightBrothers weren't working on the first airplane as kids, and instead first sketched the blueprints for it when Orville was in his 20s and Wilbur was in his 30s. Their mother also wasn't a [[MyBelovedSmother nagger]], and in fact assisted them in many of their projects when they were younger.
*** Robert Fulton did ''not'' invent the steamboat, with Alexander Hart being the one to create the first functional one. Fulton merely sought to improve upon the finalized design.
*** Henry Ford had no involvement in the creation of the automobile, with Gustave Trouvé being the one to create the first functioning automobile. Ford's contribution was mass producing automobiles.
*** Factories have a history that go over 10,000 years back. Samuel Slater is only known for inventing textile manufacturing factories.

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: "Tyrannosaurus Debt" observes the continuous growth of the United States debt and prescribes a balanced budget to "spend within our means." Outside of the most ardent fiscal hawks, most economists agree that government debt and deficits are normal as long as they don't outpace economic growth.

* CapeSnag: "My Hero Zero."

* CreepyChild: Arguably, the cute little skater from "Figure Eight", whose eerily ethereal song (by Blossom Dearie) includes the wholly non-sequitur lines "If you skate/Upon thin ice/You'd be wise/If you thought twice/Before you made another single move..."

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Even though the banker recommended that Becky Sue could invest her birthday cash and let it grow in the bank, she disregarded his advice and instead took out a loan from the bank to purchase "a guitar, an amp, and some quadraphonics, and several hundred dollars' worth of electronics" for her musical aspirations... and there was no electrical outlet to plug them all into on her farm. Lampshaded by the line "You gotta use them dollars with a little bit of common sense."
* DissonantSerenity: In "Unpack Your Adjectives", asked to describe her trip to eager friends, the protagonist promptly unpacks... "frustrating" and "worst". "Then I picked 'soggy' and/Then I picked 'foggy' and/Then I was ready/To tell them my tale..." All this without breaking the adorably chipper tone of the song.

* FourthDateMarriage: Exaggerated in "The Tale of Mr. Morton." Mr. Morton and Pearl get married after one planned date, though [[ShrinkingViolet Mr. Morton]] didn't even have the nerve to go through with it.

* KarmaHoudini: The pool-playing cat in "Naughty Number Nine." For the entire duration of the segment, the cat puts a mouse through absolute hell on a billiards board; and at the very end, the cat tips his bowler, smiles at the audience, and struts away. But don't worry, the mouse pops out of the #9 ball, making for a HappyEnding.

* TheMetricSystemIsHereToStay: ''The Metric Marvels'', a cartoon bumper series produced by the same folks who made ''Schoolhouse Rock!''. It had shorts intended to teach about metric units such as the meter, liter and kilogram, featuring metric super heroes like "Super Celsius" and "Wonder Gram."

* PlutoIsExpendable: "Interplanet Janet" contains the lines "Nine planets" and "And Pluto, little Pluto, is the farthest planet from the sun." The fact that an entire generation grew up with ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' may have had a little bit to do with the fervor over Pluto's demotion from planethood.

** Others just use the updated lyrics of "Eight planets large and small, parading by." and "Pluto, little Pluto, used to be a planet, but now it's not."
** Another variant of that line is "Pluto, little Pluto, used to be a planet when they wrote this song."

* RunningGag: In "The Good Eleven", an angel bumps against the number 10 at any utterance of "She never gave me any trouble till after 9."

* TinCanTelephone: Facetiously suggested as an alternative to the normal telephone if the family stops paying the phone bill in "Where the Money Goes."

* ArtifactTitle: Despite being called Schoolhouse ''Rock'', there aren't many songs that can be classified as rock music.

** "No More Kings" completely vilifies George III, pinning the blame for everything that lead to the revolution on him. Never mind that it is now typically agreed that George had the least influence over what happened, and most of it was the fault of the British Parliament.
** "Mother Necessity" has quite a number artistic licenses, some PlayedForLaughs, and some being historical inaccuracies.
*** The rocking chair's origin is heavily disputed, often being attributed to Creator/BenjaminFranklin, but whoever it was, most historians seem to think that it wasn't created by one single woman.
*** Eli Whitney did not create the original cotton gin. Its roots go as far back as Buddhist UsefulNotes/{{India}}.
*** UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison created the first ''functional'' incandescent lightbulb, but he didn't create the first one, as fellow inventors were trying to create lightbulbs of their own, and the first definitional lightbulb was created by Humphry Davy 70 years prior to Edison. Edison also didn't create the lightbulb for his mother's sake, as he was an opportunistic inventor prior to its creation, with him having previously created the phonograph.
*** Samuel Morse was never known for having an attachment to horses, and his inspiration for creating the telegraph came from an encounter with Charles Thomas Jackson, who was knowledgeable in electromagnetism, while he was traveling by boat.
*** Elias Howe may have created the lockstitch sewing machine, but he did not invent the first sewing machine, with it being attributed to Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal exactly 90 years prior.
*** UsefulNotes/TheWrightBrothers weren't working on the first airplane as kids, and instead first sketched the blueprints for it when Orville was in his 20s and Wilbur was in his 30s. Their mother also wasn't a [[MyBelovedSmother nagger]], and in fact assisted them in many of their projects when they were younger.
*** Robert Fulton did ''not'' invent the steamboat, with Alexander Hart being the one to create the first functional one. Fulton merely sought to improve upon the finalized design.
*** Henry Ford had no involvement in the creation of the automobile, with Gustave Trouvé being the one to create the first functioning automobile. Ford's contribution was mass producing automobiles.
*** Factories have a history that go over 10,000 years back. Samuel Slater is only known for inventing textile manufacturing factories.

The initial pitch was made to Michael Eisner, then vice president of ABC's children's programming, who brought along one Creator/ChuckJones. Jones loved the concept, Eisner persuaded his regular program lineup to snip three minutes off each program's running time to accommodate it, and a legend was born. The Saturday morning format provided a perfect vehicle to repeat the shorts over and over until the lesson was learned; from the start, ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' was a roaring success as both education and entertainment, running for 37 episodes repeated ''endlessly'' over 12 years. Many of the shorts were permanently burned into the minds of young viewers.

** Thank goodness it's not a carnivore.

* DumberThanTheyLook: Implied in the song "Unpack Your Adjectives". The camper places the adjectives "dumb" and "brainy" on two boys - one who is relatively average-looking, and one who wears glasses and a well-trimmed suit, respectively. However, when the average-looking boy starts spouting complex mathematical formulas, the camper switches the adjectives to indicate that the average-looking boy is actually the brainy one, while the well-dressed boy is actually the dumb one.

* TheDogBitesBack: In "A Noun is a Person, Place, or Thing", a [[GrumpyOldMan Grumpy Old Lady]] gets her dog to bark after the heroes, who give it a bone, causing it to turn against her.

* TrashCanBand: One of the Earth Rock shorts (literally called[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "The Trash Can Band"]]) involves one of these composed of three AnimateInanimateObject pieces of "garbage"- [[ADogNamedDog Box, Bottle, and Can]].

* ExcitedShowTitle: To emphasize the whole "Knowledge is power!" mantra.