10 Best Rock Musician Guest Appearances In Animated TV Shows

One would not think to put together rock stars and cartoons, as they seem completely opposite to each other. However, many rock stars not only are fine to voice act for cartoons but are enthusiastic about it, jumping in all the way to whatever the animated project calls for.

Some animated shows are for more adult audiences, causing the rock star cameos to be a fun appearance while others are more geared towards children, ensuring that the appearance of a certain rock star can make fans out of the young. Some of this eclectic mix of rock stars have stood out on their shows more than others.

10 Sleater Kinney – Bob’s Burgers

The punk rock band Sleater Kinney broke out in Washington State’s grunge scene of the ’90s. One member of the band being Portlandia’s Carrie Brownstein, it is a perfect fit for the IFC sketch comedy star to guest star on one of the funniest animated shows around, Bob’s Burgers. Playing a band called Bad Hair Day, the group plays Linda’s musical rivals from her high school Battle of the Bands.

Despite Linda’s best efforts, her band the Ta-Ta’s just can’t best Bad Hair Day. After the viewers learn that Bad Hair Day is actually the celebrated Sleater Kinney, it’s understandable how Linda has been blown out of the water twice by her musical rivals.

9 Dave Mustaine – Duck Dodgers

Former Metallica guitarist and current Megadeth co-founder and vocalist, Dave Mustaine has been a metal music staple since his professional music debut in the early ’80s. While many of Mustaine’s fans may be familiar with his past drama with Metallica, many may not know that Mustaine was a guest star on the early 2000’s Daffy Duck-centered, space-set Looney Tunes spin-off series, Duck Dodgers.

Mustaine guest-starred in the episode ‘In Space, No One Can Hear You Rock.’ In addition to guest-starring on the show, Megadeth plays a song from their album, The System Has Failed. Mustaine isn’t the only musical guest star of the show with Tom Jones guest-starring in an episode while also being the singer of the show’s theme song, written by the Flaming Lips.

8 Aimee Mann – Steven Universe

As Opal in the ‘Giant Woman’ episode, Aimee Mann played Pearl and Ameythyst’s gem fusion. Since Pearl and Amethyst are such polar opposites, personality-wise, their fusion Opal is very stable and manages to pack quite a punch, which comes in handy when the Crystal Gems are up against formidable foes.

The voice behind Opal is Aimee Man, a singer-songwriter since the early ’80s who has jumped around different rock genres from new wave to rock country to rock to pop rock and alternative rock. Perhaps most notably known for her band Til Tuesday for which she was singer and bassist, the song “Voices Carry” is a highlight of Til Tuesday’s and Mann’s discography. In addition to providing the voice of Opal, Mann also provided musical contributions to Steven Universe: The Movie being a presence of the show in all its versions.

7 Mama Cass Elliot – Scooby-Doo

The Mamas and the Papas member Mama Cass Elliot of the folk-rock group, famous for their songs ” California Dreamin” and “Monday, Monday” was a guest star in The New Scooby-Doo Movies which had each episode feature a celebrity guest star that would be involved in the week’s mystery. In Mama Cass Elliot’s episode, titled ‘The Haunted Candy Factory’ the mystery revolved around a haunted candy factory that Cass Elliot was the owner of. This Scooby-Doo episode has aged like bad milk due to many of the jokes in the episode being aimed at Elliot’s weight.

Despite the jokes in poor taste, this episode is worthy of remembrance solely for the purpose of the inclusion of the late singer who unfortunately passed away shortly after it aired. Another great appearance on this iteration of the Scooby-Doo series was Sonny and Cher, who are some of the best guest stars of the show. However, Mama Cass Elliot is an unsung talent of the sixties that deserves recognition, even if it’s just recognition of being on an episode of Scooby-Doo.

6 Kiss – Family Guy

In the Family Guy episode ‘Road to Europe,’ legendary rock band Kiss makes an appearance at Kiss-stock, a Kiss-centric concert fest, and later reveals that Gene Simmons and Lois dated in the past. With Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley playing themselves, a hilarious appearance by the Kiss duo not only makes a cool rock-animation crossover moment but also adds to Lois’ character development as Gene Simmons elucidates Lois’ wild past.

The band famous for their clownish makeup and wild onstage antics as well as Gene Simmons freaky tongue, Kiss’ appearance in Family Guy broadened the long-running rock band’s audience to include a new young listening audience.

5 James Hetfield – American Dad

Playing a different James Hetfield, one who teaches water polo instead of fronting Metallica, James Hetfield guest-starred on the American Dad episode ‘The Life Aquatic With Steve Smith’. As strange as it is funny, James Hetfield’s appearance is a surprise from the singer as Metallica is such a heavy, hardcore band, that one would not expect a band member to not only guest star on an animated show but also to get some of the biggest laughs in the episode.

James Hetfield fans actually have more than one animated show guest appearance to choose from as their favorite, as Hetfield has also appeared on Dave the Barbarian and The Simpsons.

4 Axl Rose – New Looney Tunes

Guns N’ Roses frontman, Axl Rose stops a meteor from crashing to Earth through rock n’ roll in the New Looney Tunes’ episode ‘Armageddon Outta Here, Part Two.’  The exalted musician plays himself in the episode while also singing an original song in his signature octave-ranging voice. Rose’s drawn counterpart mirrors his iconic fashion and even mimics Rose’s famous serpentine slither dance.

Axl Rose must be a fan of cartoons as he has also made an appearance on Scooby-Doo and Guess Who. Not the only Guns N’ Roses member to be animated, lead guitarist Slash also has made a cartoon appearance in the movie Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the Second Dimension.

3 Robert Smith – South Park

The Cure lead singer Robert Smith made an unlikely appearance in South Park, one of the few times a celebrity has voiced themselves on the show along with Elton John, Joe Strummer, and Korn. In a Godzilla rip-off, Robert Smith transforms into a huge Mothra-like figure in order to battle Mecha-Streisand/Barbara Streisand.

This episode, called ‘Mecha-Streisand,’ was silly and ridiculous, completely on-brand for South Park.  Smith has fond feelings towards his appearance, remarking that the mention in the episode of his album Disintegration as “the best album ever” made him incredibly happy. Barbra Streisand, however, did not have the same positive feelings towards the episode.

2 David Bowie – Spongebob Squarepants

Whether he is called Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, or simply just David Bowie, the iconic rock star guested on the classic Nickelodeon show Spongebob Squarepants as the Lord Royal Highness of Atlantis in the hour-long episode, ‘SpongeBob’s Atlantis SquarePantis.’

Without knowing Bowie’s appearance in the show, it could be easy to overlook his appearance as Bowie puts on a faux posh accent for his role instead of using his natural speaking voice familiar to fans. As a result, Bowie does a fantastic job, bringing fun and energy as only David Bowie can and allowing a singular character to result instead of a plain, straightforward David Bowie cameo.

1 The Ramones – The Simpsons

With so many rock star appearances throughout The Simpsons’ three decades, fans have their favorites. But the rock appearance that most Simpsons followers call back to is The Ramones in the ‘Rosebud’ episode where the seminal punk rockers play Mr. Burns’ birthday party.

As raucous and unagreeable as if they were playing CBGB’s the rockers taunt the guests at Mr. Burns’ party as well as the guest of honor himself. Perfectly fitting The Ramones punk attitude, this appearance showed the band in true form. With a band that uses celebrity guest stars almost like a long-running gag of the show, The Ramones appearance is a punk, fun guest spot that stands out among more the adulating guest appearances on The Simpsons.

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