{{About|''The Simpsons'' album|the Zebrahead album known by the same name|Zebrahead (album){{!}}''Zebrahead'' (album)|other uses}} {{more citations needed|date=March 2009}} {{Use American English|date=October 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox album | name = The Yellow Album | type = studio | artist = The Simpsons | cover = The Yellow Album.PNG | alt = The album cover which parodies Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | released = November 24, 1998 | recorded = January 1992 – December 1994 | studio = | genre = * Hip hop * R&B * blues * gospel | length = 46:35<ref name="allmusic1">{{cite web|author=Review |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-yellow-album-mw0000090833 |title=The Yellow Album - The Simpsons &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic |date=1998-11-24 |accessdate=2013-09-18}}</ref> | label = Geffen, Gracie | producer = * Matt Groening * David X. Cohen * Anthony D'Amico * John Pickles * Greg Haver | prev_title = Songs in the Key of Springfield | prev_year = 1997 | next_title = Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons | next_year = 1999 }}

'''''The Yellow Album''''' is ''The Simpsons''{{'}} franchise second studio album, released as a follow-up to the 1990 album ''The Simpsons Sing the Blues''. Likewise with the previous album, "The Simpsons" characters sing (with their respective voice actors performing) covers and original songs. Unlike the previous musical album, reception and promotion was poor, and this would possibly be the final pop music album by "The Simpsons", as future music releases were soundtrack, comedy, or musical score albums.

Though it was released in 1998, the album remarkably consists of songs that were not included in "Simpsons Sing The Blues", and/or, recorded figuratively around that time as well. Reason being due to conflict with the record label, and essentially several (up to twenty) featured artists such as Elton John, Mariah Carey, and Sting, (which none of the above artists would make the final album), who would later be removed from the album. However the album does feature Prince, Linda Ronstadt, and C+C Music Factory.<ref name="newsbank1">{{cite news |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3D275732BE6B7&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Archives #124 |publisher=Nl.newsbank.com (Dallas Morning News, dallasnews.com) |date=1992-10-29 |accessdate=2013-09-18 |archive-date=2015-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721181413/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3D275732BE6B7&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The album title is a play on the name of the Beatles' self-titled 1968 album, commonly known as "The White Album", with the skin color of the characters of ''The Simpsons''. In addition, the cover is a parody of the Beatles' 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''.

The parody was also used for a couch gag in Season 8 ''Simpsons'' episodes "Bart After Dark" and "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" (until it was replaced in reruns of the latter episode with the couch gag from "Kamp Krusty", where the Simpsons find the Flintstones on their couch and Fred invites Homer to sit with him). A similar version of it is on the inside of the United Kingdom version of ''The Simpsons'' Season 9 DVD. An outtake named "My Name Is Bart" is a parody of musician Prince's 1992 single "My Name Is Prince".<ref name="google1">{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hcbFj_1xS7QC&dq=%22the+yellow+album%22+simpsons&pg=PA23 |journal=SPIN |date=February 1993|page=23|volume=8|issue=10|issn=0886-3032|publisher=SPIN Media LLC|title=Bart Me Up}}</ref> In 1993, it was also reported that Matt Groening had penned a rap song to be performed by Bart.<ref name="google1"/>

James L. Brooks, producer of the show, wanted to produce a follow-up album based on the popular reception of the debut, but creator Matt Groening was against it. The cast then recorded ''The Yellow Album'', but it was not released until 1998, at which time it suffered poor reception.<ref name="ortved">{{cite book| last = Ortved| first = John| title = The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History| publisher = Faber and Faber| year = 2009| isbn = 978-0-86547-988-3| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/simpsonsuncensor00ortv}}</ref> Plans were in the works for music videos to accompany ''The Yellow Album''.<ref name="prince">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OO0uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9zIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3489,4797032&dq=the+simpsons+sing+the+blues&hl=en| title=Prince will sing with Bart Simpson|author=Stephanie DuBois|date=December 15, 1992|work=Rome News-Tribune|accessdate=April 23, 2011}}</ref>

==Production== Greg Haver cowrote and produced "Ten Commandments of Bart".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0506/S00011.htm |title=Official New Zealand Music Chart June 1, 2005 &#124; Scoop News |publisher=Scoop.co.nz |date=2005-06-01 |accessdate=2013-09-18}}</ref>

==Album artwork== The ''Yellow Album'' cover artwork, illustrated by Bill Morrison (although signed by Matt Groening as with all ''Simpsons'' promotional art), is a parody of the cover art for the Beatles album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', replaced with characters from ''The Simpsons''.<ref>Adair, Torsten. [https://www.comicsbeat.com/kaws-made-14-million-from-bill-morrison-art-and-morrison-isnt-happy/ "KAWS made $14 million from Bill Morrison art, and Morrison isn’t happy: When copies of comics art appear in glass houses, should creators throw stones?"], ''The Beat'' (11/19/2019).</ref><ref>[https://en.thevalue.com/articles/kaws-record-nigo-sothebys/ "KAWS Painting Sold for Record Breaking HK$116m at Sotheby's NIGO Sale,"] ''The Value'', 1 April 2019. Accessed 15 June 2020.</ref>

In 2005, the artist and designer Kaws (commissioned by Nigo) created ''The Kaws Album'', a "traced interpretation" of ''The Yellow Album''. In 2019, Sotheby's auction house in Hong Kong sold ''The Kaws Album'' for 115.9 million Hong Kong dollars, or about $14.7 million U.S. dollars, a new auction record for the artist at the time.<ref>[http://www.artnews.com/2019/04/01/kaws-auction-record-14-7-million/ Kaws Auction Record $14.7 Million]. Artnews, Annie Armstrong, 1 April 2019. Accessed 12 May 2019</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-04-01|title=Millennials in Hoodies Spend $28 Million on Simpsons Art|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-01/millennials-in-hoodies-spend-28-million-on-simpsons-themed-art|access-date=2020-03-01|website=www.bloomberg.com}}</ref> ''Yellow Album'' artist Bill Morrison felt "ripped off" by this,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217122170860078|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004072732/https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217122170860078|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 4, 2020|title=I have joined Russ Heath, John Romita, Mike Sekowsky, Tony Abruzzo, and many other comic artists who have been ripped off by "fine artists."|website=Facebook|date=2019-11-19}}</ref> re-igniting a conversation about the appropriation of commercial illustrations for fine art (see Roy Lichtenstein).

==Critical reception== {{Album ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref name="allmusic1" /> }} There was some hype leading up to the release of the album. ''Entertainment Weekly'' writer David Browne said he "eagerly await[ed]" it in March 1993, a month before it was set to be released.<ref>{{cite news|last=Browne |first=David |url=https://ew.com/article/1993/03/26/celebrity-albums/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202093845/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305995,00.html |url-status=live |archive-date=December 2, 2008 |title=I Act, Therefore I Sing |website=EW.com |date=1993-03-26 |access-date=2013-09-18}}</ref>

Nevertheless, the album received mixed to negative reviews. ''The Star-Telegram'' compared the album to the ''South Park'' album ''Chef Aid'', arguing that "the subversion [included in ''The Simpsons'' and ''South Park''] is only skin-deep, especially when both shows thrive on the type of money-grubbing merchandising that results in junk like ''Chef Aid: The South Park Album'' and ''The Simpsons The Yellow Album'', both released just in time for Christmas."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ST&s_site=dfw&p_multi=ST&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB042F020A75927&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | title=Newsbank | date=1998-12-04 | access-date=2013-09-18 | archive-date=2015-12-08 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208080104/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ST&s_site=dfw&p_multi=ST&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB042F020A75927&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | url-status=dead }}</ref> The ''Tampa Bay Times'' said the album "is an uninspired collection whose best feature is a too-tiny takeoff on the cover of ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''," noting that songs such as "Ten Commandments of Bart" sounded dated, though others like "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" are praiseworthy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/263325838 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106012359/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/tampabay/doc/263325838.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec%2005%2C%201998&author=&pub=St.%20Petersburg%20Times&edition=&startpage=&desc=Some%20favorite%20TV%20shows%20now%20featured%20on%20albums%20Series%3A%20HOME%20%26%20GARDEN |url-status=live |archive-date=January 6, 2015 |title=Some favorite TV shows now featured on albums Series: HOME & GARDEN |publisher=Pqasb.pqarchiver.com |date=1998-12-05 |access-date=2013-09-18| id={{ProQuest|263325838}} }}</ref>

==Track listing== {| class="wikitable" |+Track listing for ''The Yellow Album'' |- !scope="col"| Track number !scope="col"| Title !scope="col"| Performers !scope="col"| Length |- | 1|| "Love?"|| Bart Simpson || 3:50 |- | 2|| "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" ''(originally by Eurythmics)''|| Lisa Simpson, Ann Wilson & Nancy Wilson of Heart, Patty and Selma Bouvier|| 4:00 |- | 3|| "Funny How Time Slips Away" ''(originally by Willie Nelson)''|| Homer Simpson and Linda Ronstadt|| 4:06 |- | 4|| "Twenty-Four Hours a Day" || Apu|| 4:24 |- | 5|| "Ten Commandments of Bart"|| Bart Simpson|| 6:08 |- | 6|| "I Just Can't Help Myself"|| Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, Homer Simpson|| 4:58 |- | 7|| "She's Comin' Out Swingin'" || Lisa Simpson and the P-Funk All-Stars|| 6:37 |- | 8|| "Anyone Else"|| Bart Simpson and Lisa Simpson|| 3:56 |- | 9|| "Every Summer with You"|| Marge Simpson and Homer Simpson|| 3:36 |- | 10|| "Hail to Thee, Kamp Krusty"|| Children's Choir, feat. Otto Mann, Lisa Simpson, Martin Prince, Bart Simpson|| 5:00 |- | 11|| "My Name Is Bart"|| Bart Simpson|| 4:56 |} "My Name Is Bart" is a bonus track only found on promotional copies of the album.

==Cast== * Dan Castellaneta - Homer Simpson, Krusty the Clown * Julie Kavner - Marge Simpson, Patty and Selma Bouvier * Nancy Cartwright - Bart Simpson * Yeardley Smith - Lisa Simpson * Hank Azaria - Apu Nahasapeemapetilon * Harry Shearer - Otto Mann * Russi Taylor - Martin Prince

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://www.avclub.com/bureau-of-regrettable-ideas-case-file-36-the-simpsons-1798237475]

{{Simpsons albums}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yellow Album, The}} Category:The Simpsons albums Category:1998 soundtrack albums Category:Geffen Records albums Category:Albums with cover art by Matt Groening