PropagandaRock

A Schoolhouse Rock! Retrospective

Join @shel and @junipertheory as we rewatch and review all 64 Schoolhouse Rock! songs in chronological order.


Shel might finish it here
shelraphen.com/

Originally Aired: February 17th, 1973
Written by: Bob Dorough & Maurice Irby Jr.
Performed by: Bob Dorough

Shel's Review

Music: 🎡🎡🎡🎡🎡
Animation: πŸ“Ί πŸ“Ί πŸ“Ί πŸ“Ί
Pedagogy: πŸŽ“πŸŽ“πŸŽ“πŸŽ“πŸŽ“
Accuracy: 🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯
Yikes Factor: Zero!! (my hero)

This is the best one so far, by far. It's catchy. It's a bop. It's fun. It's funny. It's the most racially integrated one we've seen so far, and remembering what year this came out, that's pretty significant. In general, it's pretty wholesome! You'll notice this is the first song we've had where someone besides Bob has been involved in the writing, we'll start to see more of that going forward. The animation has some cute gags and fun stylized numerals. The pedagogy is fantastic. It's so catchy that its catchiness becomes a useful pedagogical tool to teach more math concepts. I definitely got this one stuck in my head a lot and still use it for multiplication by fives. Also, nothing is factually wrong here, and nothing made me cringe or say yikes at all! Really fantastic song all around.

June's Review

Music 🎡🎡🎡🎡🎡

Bob finally figured out how to talk over songs and have it be entertaining: Jazzβ€”and it works! The song is a fuckin' banger. When it cuts to him actually singing, it's got a solid musical tuneβ€”and when it's just freestyling in the background it makes him talking even better. 5/5, as is fitting.

Animation πŸ“Ί πŸ“Ί πŸ“Ί πŸ“ΊπŸ“Ί

Also fantastic. Love the 17 fingers gag, love the baffling way all the numbers show up, love the way things stop when he stops, love just the big group shots of all the kids. the sheer number of them makes it more fun to rewatch cause you can always refocus on someone.

Pedagogy πŸŽ“πŸŽ“πŸŽ“πŸŽ“πŸŽ“

This song has two modes: "force you to memorize all your 5s in order" and "here's some fun facts about 5s" and unlike Elementary, here it works Perfectly. 5/5.

Accuracy🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯

I mean, it's still multiplication. I guess maybe you could take a point off for his focus on nickles, since most kids don't use that anymore? but eh, it can have a 5.

Yikes Factor

Yeah, I can't think of anything. There is a baffling scene where two kids run into each other and trade hairstyles resulting in a white kid with a big afro but it's mostly a tiny momentary gag that's pretty funny. 0 yikes.

Next Up: A very, uh, formative memory for some of you, apparently. Cohost's first Sexyman helps you learn multiplication.


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in reply to @PropagandaRock's post:

i didnt have the embed on so i was like "which one is this again" and then i saw it was the 5 one and it popped back into my head immediately. every time i multiply by 5s this is somewhere deep at the very back of my head doing at least a little of the work.