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Alf Clausen

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Composer

The Resume

    (March 28, 1941- )
    Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota
    Primary composer for The Simpsons (1990-2017)
    Also scored episodes of ‘Moonlighting,’ ‘Bette’ and ‘The Critic’
    Orchestrated the films ‘The Beastmaster’ (1982), ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ (1986) and ‘The Naked Gun’ (1988)

Why he might be annoying:

    He dropped out of the University of Wisconsin over what he considered to be the school’s ‘anti-jazz’ attitude.
    As music director and conductor for Donny & Marie, he tried to convince viewers that Donny was ‘a little bit rock and roll.’
    He was reluctant to join The Simpsons team, because he wanted to be ‘a drama composer.’
    Plenty of people erroneously assume that Danny Elfman, who composed The Simpsons theme song, also scored the episodes.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He also scored the series ALF and was the namesake for the title character.
    He decided to work on The Simpsons after Matt Groening told him, ‘We don't look upon this as being a cartoon but a drama where the characters are drawn, and we would like it scored that way.’
    After more than 25 seasons of scoring Simpsons episodes, he was fired as a cost-cutting measure.
    He has been nominated for 30 Emmys, more than any other composer.
    ’Film Score Monthly’ declared, ‘He has proved beyond a doubt that television scoring is not the vast wasteland it is often purported to be and that an intelligent composer can take even the most demanding shows and elevate them to new heights.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying