Original air date: 9/17/2006
Production code: HABF-18
After being a nuisance at the funeral of Homer's Vegas wife, Amber, Bart visits a psychiatrist, who recommends a drum kit for Bart to vent out his extra energy. Meanwhile, Lisa loses the chance to jam with a local jazz band and begins collecting animals.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: The Denied Dream magazine.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment:
- When the jazz band talked to Lisa, they gave the impression they wanted her to join. They wanted Bart.
- Earlier in the episode, Amber's death started being explained with a mention of the sign warning people not to stand up at the roller coaster. The viewer thinks she died after standing up on a roller coaster, but she actually died of a drug overdose while standing in line to go on that roller coaster.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Homer and Marge are hoping that the drums might be able to help Bart discipline and channel his anger after what happened at the funeral. However, while it worked to a certain degree, the continuous drumming left Homer and Marge unable to sleep for hours; they are even more upset to learn that Bart can still drum as he sleeps with his eyes shut.
- When Bart was given a jazz nickname for his outstanding performance at the jazz brunch, Lisa moaned that she never had one. She was then nicknamed "Downbeat Simpson".
- Bus Crash: The episode begins with Amber's funeral.
- Call-Back: Homer's Vegas wife from "Viva Ned Flanders" and "Brawl in the Family" is brought up again, having died offscreen.
- Captain Obvious:Bart: My arm! It hurts where the tiger's biting it!
- Career-Ending Injury: Bart's career as a drummer ends when a tiger bites his right arm.
- Creator Cameo: Matt Groening.
- Epic Fail: Homer, as a masked wrestler, lost to a skeleton.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: There's an extended sequence where the animation is tied to the drum beat playing on the background. At one point, Bart crashes his drumset into that of The White Stripes', and it turns into a chase that eventually leads them to a raised drawbridge. While the music lasts long enough for Bart to cross over, The White Stripes are still floating above the gap when the music stops, and fall onto a barge about a second after they resume real time.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Lisa gets jealous of Bart's knack for drums to the point of yelling at him for saying "Jazz" wrong.
- Incessant Music Madness: The montage of Bart practicing his drums takes over what seems to be a few days if not weeks, during which Bart drums at all hours of the day (even being able to keep on drumming while asleep), which means nobody in the house can sleep or hear each other without yelling.
- Instant Expert:
- Bart shows off the genes he got from Homer by learning to play the drum masterfully in no time flat. He is even capable of playing the drums while actually sleeping with his eyes shut.
- Subverted when Lisa assumes that, since Bart is instantly able to become a master drummer, she should be able to instantly become a pro skateboarder. She steps on Bart's skateboard, is unable to control it, and crashes into a hot sauce display.
- Master of the Mixed Message: Homer to Bart, knowingly.Homer: Boy, get dressed! You're going to a jazz brunch as a punishment for all the racket you're making!Bart: I thought you wanted me to drum!Homer: I'm sending you mixed messages! Now get the hell out of here! (slams door, then opens it again) I love you so much. Damn you! (slams door, opens it again to blow him a kiss, slams it again)
- Reading Foreign Signs Out Loud: In the Spanish dub, Lisa reads the Dream Denied magazine's title and cover in a sad voice.
- Riddle for the Ages: If Bart doesn't know who the third arm helping him drum was, then who was it?
- Special Guest: The White Stripes as themselves.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Lisa notes that Bart was supposed to be a jazz musician while she collected animals and laments that she never thought the two stories would intersect.
- Unexplained Recovery: Üter makes his first appearance in a few seasons when he had been implied to be missing or dead.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- While Amber is shown to have died since she was last seen in "Brawl in the Family," her sister Ginger (Ned's Vegas wife) is neither seen nor mentioned, despite other characters from "Viva Ned Flanders" being present at the funeral.
- The tiger that bites Bart's arm, thus ending his drumming career, is never seen again after that scene with no explanation as to what happened to it.
