The most successful animated family in television history, the Simpsons were the brainchild of cartoonist Matt Groening, previously best known for his work on the weekly comic strip ~Life Is Hell. The Simpsons -- buffoonish father Homer, nervous mother Marge, juvenile delinquent son Bart, brainiac daughter Lisa, and toddler Maggie -- first appeared in brief "bumper" segments on the Fox network variety series #The Tracey Ullman Show, later graduating to a 1989 Christmas special and finally, in 1990, their own weekly series. Based on Groening's own family -- ten-year-old Bart, the name an anagram of "brat," served as the cartoonist's proxy -- #The Simpsons was an immediate ratings smash, and suddenly the characters' licensed images were everywhere from T-shirts to action figures; an LP proved inevitable, and in 1990 the Geffen label issued The Simpsons Sing the Blues, scoring a novelty hit with the single "Do the Bartman." Music played an essential role in the series, and many prominent performers agreed to supply their voices for guest roles; in addition to appearances from acts including U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Aerosmith, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, all three surviving Beatles even contributed voiceovers. While a second LP, The Yellow Album, was planned, and even recorded for a 1993 release, it sat on the shelves until late 1998; in the interim, Songs in the Key of Springfield -- a collection of themes and musical interludes composed by the program's musical director, Alf Clausen -- was issued in 1997. A sequel, Go Simpsonic with the Simpsons, followed two years later. A full decade later, The Simpsons Movie, a soundtrack penned by Hans Zimmer coincided with the Simpsons' first feature film.

~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi