A talent search show similar to American Idol is in town. Phineas and Ferb wonder what it would be like to be pop stars for a short amount of time. Linda explains that such a star is a "One-Hit Wonder": someone who quickly rises to the top of the charts with a catchy, meaningless song, is famous for five minutes before fading into obscurity, the song only ever to be used again as elevator music…not that she'd know anything about that. The boys decide that this sounds like great fun, and recruit the Fireside Girls to create the band “Phineas and the Ferb-Tones”.
Candace, meanwhile, is lining up to audition for the talent show. Her crush Jeremy says that the 100th person in line gets to sing with a new hit band! Imagine her dismay, then, when it turns out her brothers are that band, now famous for their meaningless song "Gitchee Gitchee Goo"? Can she choose between telling her mom and just having a good time?
But what does this have to do with Perry's ongoing attempts to stop Doofenshmirtz to spread terror all across the Tri-State Area? (Actually, it turns out, very little.)
Tropes:
- Artist and the Band: Phineas and Ferb's band is called Phineas and the Ferb-Tones, or PFT for short.
- Artistic License – Linguistics: In the credits, Lindana's song is apparently translated into several languages, including Aborigines. In actuality, Aborigines is a highly diverse language group encompassing the entire Australian continent. Canadian is also listed as a language, when in reality, Canada's official languages are English and French. All of this is likely due to Rule of Funny.
- Artistic License – Music: Generally the premise of a "one-hit wonder" that Linda describes. Most one-hit wonders attempt to establish multi-album careers (to varying degrees of success), instead of just making one song and becoming famous for just a few minutes. Phineas and Ferb manage to pull this off in one straight day. Probably justified, as her description is based solely on her own experience of being one.
- Awkward Stoplight Moment: While on his way to stop Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest scheme, Agent P ends up pulling up next to Linda at a stoplight. She has a Double Take, but Perry manages to ward off suspicion with a pair of Groucho glasses.
- Bait-and-Switch: Double Subverted. At first it seems Doof's robot is going to smash the building with the PFT poster before Candace brings Linda out, but it gets piloted away. THEN it was revealed the poster was put up for free because the building was scheduled for demolition, and the building explodes before Candace and Linda come out.
- Bait-and-Switch Silhouette: When Candace attempts to show Linda how Phineas and Ferb were performing on stage, she sees a silhouette that resembles Phineas and Ferb. The curtain then opens to reveal... Marty the Rabbit Boy and his Musical Blender.
- Band Episode: The episode is about the titular brothers making a band called "Phineas and the Ferb-Tones" just because the idea of going through the life cycle of a one-hit wonder sounded fun. It's noted for the catchy song "Gitchie Gitchie Goo".
- Barely Missed Cushion: Double Subverted. Doofenshmirtz falls away from a great height atop his giant robot and lands... on a conveniently placed mattress. Until it's revealed that it is a folding mattress, which promptly clasps itself and sandwiches him inside. And then him and the mattress are both crushed by the foot of his own giant robot.Doofenshmirtz: CURSE YOU, PERRY THE PLATYPUS!!
- Blind Mistake: Linda assumes that Candace mistook Marty the Rabbit and his musical blender for Phineas and Ferb due to needing glasses, and promptly takes her to get an eye exam.
- Book Ends: When Candace is chosen as the hundredth contestant and is to perform with PFT, she refuses to sing when Phineas cues her. Near the end, she accepts to join singing with the band at the reunion concert and sings on cue.
- Bow Chicka Wow Wow: The lyrics of "Gitchie Gitchie Goo" describe this as the method by which the narrator's partner expresses her affection.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: Candace at the very end when the mall is closed.
- Call-Back:
- Linda says her song was reduced to elevator music; if you listen closely in the previous episode, you can hear it playing when Candace plays the elevator.
- Doofenshmirtz reuses the mechanical arms he trapped Perry in in "Rollercoaster".
- Costume-Test Montage: Candace as she goes through several decisions over what to wear to the audition (ranging from her bikini to her mom's old popstar clothes), only to end up back in her regular outfit.
- Debut Queue: Although he previously appeared two full episodes ago, this is Jeremy's first speaking role.
- Fanservice: Lindana, Linda as an '80s singer with an in-universe One-Hit Wonder definitely counts with her outfit. Candace is even seen wearing her mom's singing clothes
at one point when she looked in her closet. - Garage Band: Phineas and the Ferb-Tones, the band Phineas and Ferb form to become one-hit wonders.
- It Wasn't Easy: How Phineas explains his and his friends' sudden popularity. Apparently it took most of the morning and half a dozen phone calls.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Phineas denies that he's too young to be a pop star; this is actually true in real life.
- Nerd Glasses: Candace has these briefly after her eye exam.
- One-Hit Wonder: Invoked In-Universe. The boys set out to become pop stars with a goal of retiring after just one hit single, modeling their career trajectory after Lindana's experience.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Doofenshmirtz proves completely unable to see through Perry's disguise (one of those pairs of novelty glasses with the nose attached). And that's despite Perry wearing his iconic hat.
- Record Needle Scratch: Happens during the second time that the Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. jingle is played.
- Shout-Out:
- Linda's stage name, Lindana, takes after Madonna. Her outfit also features a belt with the word "Toy", a reference to a belt worn by Madonna in the 1980s that read "Boy Toy". The song "I'm Lindana and I Wanna Have Fun" is a parody of Cyndi Lauper's
Signature Song, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". - During Candace's Costume-Test Montage, she tries on outfits for a cowboy, a Native American, a construction worker, a Navy sailor, and a policeman. note
- The full name of Phineas and Ferb's band, Phineas and the Ferb-Tones, nods to real-world one-hit wonder Tommy Tutone.
- Dan Povenmire confirmed that "Gitchee Gitchee Goo" was mainly inspired by "Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah" from The Jetsons episode "A Date with Jet Screamer".
- Linda's stage name, Lindana, takes after Madonna. Her outfit also features a belt with the word "Toy", a reference to a belt worn by Madonna in the 1980s that read "Boy Toy". The song "I'm Lindana and I Wanna Have Fun" is a parody of Cyndi Lauper's
- Silly Love Songs: "Gitchee Gitchee Goo" takes the trope name literally, featuring comedically cheesy lyrics about a romantic partner.
- Subverted Catchphrase: "By the way, aren't you a little young to be pop stars?" (Beat) "No."
- Sudden Downer Ending: After Candace sings onstage at the reunion concert and is excited to become the next superstar, the band suddenly announces their immediate retirement and she just stands there as everybody leaves and the mall closes.
- Tantrum Throwing: A very minor one does by Phineas, as he pretends to throw a "diva tantrum" at Ben Baxter so PFT can check that off their list for becoming a one hit wonder.
- The Television Talks Back: Happens with Candace during the advertisement for the talent show's audition.Candace: Auditions?! Today?!Announcer: Yes! Today! At 2 o'clock sharp.
- Truth in Television: When Phineas is asked, "Aren't you too young to be pop stars?", his reply is simply, "No...". He's actually right, as there are many child pop stars in real life, including ones whose careers were kickstarted by other Disney Channel shows.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Nobody seems to bat an eye over the fact that Marty the Rabbit Boy is an anthropomorphic rabbit.
- Vocal Dissonance: The Fireside Girls' singing voices in "Gitchee Gitchee Goo" don't match their normal speaking voices.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We don't see what happens to Doofenshmirtz's robotic building after Doof gets caught underneath its foot.
- Word Salad Lyrics: "Gitchee Gitchee Goo", which is done on purpose In-Universe.
