Covercraft

"Covercraft" is the eighth episode in the 26th season of the animated series The Simpsons, and the 560th episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 23, 2014.

Plot

Moe and the owner of King Toot's have a fight and get arrested, forcing their businesses to be closed down. Homer buys a bass guitar that he plays wherever he is. Annoyed, Marge meets up with other wives in town who also have been annoyed by their husbands' constant playing. They decide to have their husbands form a band so they won't always have to listen to their music. Homer gathers Reverend Lovejoy on guitar, Kirk Van Houten on keyboard, and Dr. Hibbert on drums. Apu later joins as the lead singer when they hear him sing a classic song called "Hopin' for a Dream" by the famous, heydey, 1980s glam metal band, Sungazer (which is not actually a real band). They call their band Covercraft and start playing shows. After a successful gig at the Cabbage Festival, Sungazer sees the video and asks Apu to replace their dead singer.

When Homer first sees the success Apu has gotten, he is happy to announce that his friend is becoming rich and successful, until Kirk mentions his jealousy. Then he gets angry. When Lisa calls out his jealousy, Homer corrects her, stating he is envious, not jealous, because he wants what someone else has, whereas being jealous is being afraid someone will take what you already have. Lisa quickly pulls out a giant dictionary out of nowhere, flips it open and exclaims, "Wow, he's right!"

At a concert in Springfield, Homer uses a backstage pass to sneak into Apu's dressing room and steal his special Apu shirt, but Apu catches him and admits that he feels lonely and homesick. Homer decides to get revenge on Sungazer by poisoning them with Kwik-E-Mart hot dogs. Apu brings out Covercraft to perform until Homer and Apu get arrested by Chief Wiggum for food poisoning.

During the credits, Homer, Apu, Moe, and the owner of King Toot's listen to a story from Sammy Hagar in jail.

Production

Matt Selman posted a picture from this episode in which Sideshow Mel's family appeared.^[1] It was originally titled "Band of Dads".^[2][3] Musician Matthew Sweet contributed to this episode's score and wrote a new song.^[4]

Reception

The episode received an audience of 3.45 million, making it the most watched show on Fox that night.^[5] Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B-, saying, "I don’t know if there was a particular point where The Simpsons stopped doing B-stories, or whether this is just a case where they chose to place all their energy into the A-story, but the linearity of the episode ends up a missed opportunity."^[6]

References