It’s a revolutionary idea: use cartoons to actually teach
something to the kids of America. In the summer of 1972,
the suits at a major television network bring together a
motley crew of songwriters and musicians to work on Pop
Goes the Classroom, a series of short, catchy, educational
songs that will air during Saturday-morning cartoons. And
so four young, talented songwriters find themselves in the
basement studios of ATN, at the height of the Age of
Aquarius, tasked with writing the songs that will come to
define an entire generation’s childhood. Led by free-loving folk legend Pamela Sanchez, the
self-styled prefab
four–naïve, sweet, sheltered Sarah; Peter, a struggling
Bob Dylan wannabe; Julie, who cut her professional teeth
on commercial jingles; and Levon, a bassist most recently
known by the stage name Apollo Von Funkenburg–struggle to
stifle their uncertainty and tap into their creativity. With the help of an enormous amount of pot and a little
sexual innuendo, they eat, sleep, drink, smoke, couple and
uncouple–as they work to change the world, one song at a
time.
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