Yes, the 1970s gave us Watergate and long lines to buy gas, but there was also the bicentennial, "Jaws" and "Schoolhouse Rock!" Who does not have fond memories of those 3-minute cartoons that aired on ABC television on Saturday mornings teaching a generation of children about history, government, math, grammar, and science? What kid does not know that a noun is a person, place, or thing or cannot explain how a bill becomes a law? (I am shocked that "I'm Just a Bill" is only #2 on the list of most popular Schoolhouse Rocks! behind "Conjunction Junction"). As you can tell, "interplanetary Janet" (#8), with its tour of the solar system, is my favorite Science Rock, although I guess it is not too shocking that "Electricity, Electricity" (#5) ranks higher. For the record, here the complete list of Science Rocks:

"Body Machine" which needs things like chicken salad sandwiches as fuel;
"Circulation," the big new craze as everybody is doing the circulation;
"Electricity, Electricity" on the use of electrical power;
"Energy" or more accurately Energy Conservation;
"Interplanet Janet" and a tour of the Solar System;
"Telegraph Line" all about the Nervous System;
"Them Not-So-Dry Bones" without which you would be just a blob;
"Victim of Gravity" sung by the Tokens; and
"Weather" the greatest show on Earth!

Science teachers around the U.S. can still use these wonderful little "rock videos" to both introduce key topics and to provide a bit of musical reinforcement. I know that music is still being used in schools to help students learn material (my daughter can sing a song with all the state capitals and there is a woman at work who can do all the nations of the world) and that was the guiding principle behind "Schoolhouse Rock." The series was created by an advertising executive who noticed his song was having trouble with memorizing multiplication tables but knew all the words to the latest rock songs. Faster than you can say, "you got chocolate in my peanut butter" he put the two together and the rest is not just history, but science, math, grammar and government.

You can pick up individual videos of "Science Rock," "America Rock," "Grammar Rock," and "Multiplication Rock," but be aware that there is also a DVD edition that has ALL of the "Schoolhouse Rock" cartoons and the proverbial much, much more. I might have been too old for "Sesame Street," but I was never too old for "Schoolhouse Rock!"