Simspons Composer Alf Clausen Fired from Post
After 27 years scoring over 560 episodes, Simpsons composer Alf Clausen has been unceremoniously fired from his nearly three-decade post. Clausen says he received a phone call from show producer Richard Sakai that they would be seeking “a different kind of music,” for the show’s future, and that plan did not include Clausen. Alf Clausen is believed to hold the record for composer with the most Emmy nominations, earning 30 in total since 1981 with 21 of those coming from work with The Simpsons. He won the Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics two years in a row, in 1997 for the song “We Put the Spring in Springfield,” from “Bart After Dark,” and the following year for “You’re Checking In,” from the episode “The City Vs. Homer Simpson.” Clausen scored the show’s most recent season finale, and the new season is set to premiere in October, but no word on if Clausen and his 37-piece orchestra have scored the episode or what direction the Simpsons sounds will take next.
Flava Flav Takes Chuck D to Court
Flava Flav and Chuck D are locked in a legal battle. Over what? Royalties, what else? The two have a longstanding profit-sharing agreement, but Flava Flav says he hasn’t received a royalty check in several years, nor did he consent to have his voice or image used in the free-download album Public Enemy released earlier this summer, saying he was only paid one-tenth of what he requested.
-Taylor Wallace
