Are you ready to “Schoolhouse Rock?!” ABC has announced “Schoolhouse Rock! 50th Anniversary Singalong” to celebrate the iconic children’s program. The special will be hosted by Ryan Seacrest, along with plenty of celebrity guests performing iconic songs from the show.
The guests and their songs include:
- Black Eyed Peas – “Three Is A Magic Number”
- Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert – “Figure 8”
- Jason Biggs and Jenny Mollen – “I’m Just a Bill”
- Julianne Hough – “Interplanet Janet”
- The Muppets & Fortune Feimster – “Unpack Your Adjectives”
- Ne-Yo – “Verb: That’s What’s Happening”
- Raven Symoné and Kal Penn – “Interjections”
- Retta – “Ready or Not, Here I Come”
- Shaquille O’Neal and Boys & Girls Club of Atlanta – “Conjunction Junction”
- Stars from Disney’s Broadway and touring productions – “A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing”
“Schoolhouse Rock!” premiered on January 6th, 1973, and ran every Saturday morning until 1985. The show featured short, animated songs that taught kids about math, grammar, science, and more. The musical approach it took really resonated with kids across generations, which was by design. When advertising executive David B. McCall was frustrated by his son’s ability to memorize songs on the radio but not his math problems for school. McCall suggested singer-songwriter Bob Dorough give some thought to writing music with an educational twist.
This clearly worked because Dorough when on to write absolute bangers like “Conjunction Junction” and “Interjections!.” Not to mention the undeniable cultural impact of plenty of other songs from the show. Like the often parodied “I’m Just a Bill,” which uses a bill sulking on the steps of Capital Hill to explain to kids how a bill becomes a law.
The “Schoolhouse Rock! 50th Anniversary Singalong” will air Wednesday, February 1st on ABC. It will be available to stream on Hulu the next day, and Disney+ at a later date. Enjoy this classic hit below:
