Do the Bartman

Do the Bartman is a pop / rap song that was released in 1990 on the album The Simpsons Sing the Blues. Author of the piece is Michael Jackson.

Background

The album The Simpsons Sing the Blues was released in September 1990. The first single was the song Do the Bartman. The chant was from Bart Simpsons voice actress Nancy Cartwright. On November 20, 1990, the song was released. Previously, there were rumors that Michael Jackson write a song for the Simpsons album in summer 1990. The title should Do the Bartman hot, but Simpsons producer James L. Brooks wanted to wait until after September 1990 in order to concentrate on the production of the series. However, the song was written before, and there have been numerous discussions about whether Jackson actually wrote the song.

1998 confirmed the Simpsons creator Matt Groening at a press conference in Pasadena (California ) that Michael Jackson Do the Bartman had written and produced the recording. Groening was surprised that by 1998 no one knew that Michael Jackson was the author of the song.

Michael Jackson was a big fan of the Simpsons, especially Bart and asked the producers of the series, if he could write a number -one hit for Bart entitled Do the Bartman. Then, Jackson got a guest appearance in the episode The Birthday Surprise ( Stark Raving Dad) with the pseudonym John Jay Smith. In addition, Jackson even wrote the song Happy Birthday Lisa, which was later included on the album Songs in the Key of Springfield. Jackson also took over the background vocals in the song Do the Bartman.

Criticism

Among critics, the song was recorded quite positive. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly described the song as a super duet between Nancy and Jackson. Most critics arranged the song in different musical genres, but the feedback was generally positive.

Commercial success

In the U.S. Do the Bartman was never released as an official single, but it was an international success, reaching # 1 on the respective charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom, and the top 5 in many European countries, including Germany. With over 400,000 units sold in the UK, the song reached there gold status. In 1991, the song from 16 February to 9 March No. 1 on the British charts and became one of the most successful singles of the year. The success of the song was the breakthrough of the Simpsons as a series in the UK. In Ireland, Do The Bartman stood nine consecutive weeks at number one and became one of the most successful songs in the history of the Irish charts.

Music Video

Brad Bird, one of the Simpsons directors, has directed the music video, which was released in 1991 and reached cult status.

The script for the music video was completed in just two days. Bird then flew to Budapest, where the music video in the Varga Studios was animated. The animators thought that it was an animation of The Simpsons shorts, but Bird told them the background.

In 1991, the music video was nominated for the MTV Video Music Awards 1991. Moreover, the music video was in this period frequently on American music channels such as MTV. After the death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, the song was played as a tribute to Jackson in the episode Wedding for Disaster.

Sales figures and awards

Formats

7 "single: