4. Smashing Pumpkins/Peter Frampton/Sonic Youth/Cypress Hill -(S7 E24- Homerpalooza)
This episode could be considered the pinnacle of The Simpsons success, its Jump the Shark moment, the mountaintop of mainstream. They were already preachy with the McCartneys on earlier in the season, then they got artsy with a show called 22 Short Films about Springfield. George Bush makes an appearance, as does Sideshow Bob (but not in the same show). It was a nod to Perry Farrell's Lollapalooza musical sideshow, an attempt at reaching out to the show's all-ages demographic and it was an episode that will make us older folk sigh and say things like 'remember when music mattered?' and other stereotypical sh*t that reminds us of our parents. The plot revolves around Homer's confrontation with the Hullabalooza crowd and his side-stage act of catching cannonballs with his stomach. The cannonballs start taking their toll on his health but he feels 'the show must go on' despite the medical cautions. Eventually Homer does the right thing and quits being a sideshow freak. This is all played around an eclectic soundtrack of guest bands with Sonic Youth doing their rendition of the end theme over the credits. Interesting notes from production; there is a brief shot of the musical group No Doubt in the background because Gwen Stefani's brother Eric Stefani, was working as an animator at The Simpsons at the time and added them in. Also, Courtney Love was considered as a guest voice but a certain other band's lead singer refused to participate if she was present (their name has something to do with breaking a type of squash).