117-566: AJR is an American indie pop band founded by brothers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met (formerly Metzger), collectively a trio of vocalists, multi-instrumentalists , and songwriters. The brothers grew up in New York City , primarily focused on busking and singing covers until shifting to songwriting and touring. At their home studio, they have recorded more than 100 songs and have released five studio albums on various record labels along with their indie label . AJR wrote " I'm Ready " and promoted
234-459: A Melody Maker journalist in the late 1980s and founding member of pop band Saint Etienne , acknowledges that participants at the time reacted against lazy labelling, but insists they shared an approach: "Of course the 'scene', like any scene, barely existed. Like squabbling Marxist factions, groups who had much in common built up petty rivalries. The June Brides and the Jasmine Minks were
351-493: A counterpoint ." In an interview, Fagerbakke compared himself to the character and said, "It's extremely gratifying". Whenever Patrick is angry Fagerbakke models his performance after American actress Shelley Winters . Squidward Tentacles is voiced by Rodger Bumpass, who describes him as "a very nasally, monotone kind of guy." He said the character "became a very interesting character to do" because of "his sarcasm, and then his frustration, and then his apoplexy, and so he became
468-462: A fry cook at a fast food restaurant called the Krusty Krab . One of his life's greatest goals is to obtain a boat-driving license from Mrs. Puff 's Boating School, but he never succeeds. His favorite pastimes include "jellyfishing", which involves catching jellyfish with a net in a manner similar to butterfly catching , and blowing soap bubbles into elaborate shapes. He has a pet sea snail with
585-605: A BA from Columbia University , majoring in business and philosophy, an MA from New York University , and PhD in International Human Rights Law from the University of Birmingham , while Ryan and Jack studied film at Columbia University . The brothers are all singer-songwriters themselves. Being known for as a DIY band, they emphasize writing, producing, and mixing all of their own music collaboratively from their living room studio. AJR describes their musical style
702-408: A Utopian attempt to stop the inevitable cycle of bands being co-opted - and, it is assumed, corrupted - by the mainstream. —Emily I. Dolan, Popular Music Both indie and indie pop had originally referred to the same thing during the late 1970s, originally abbreviations for independent and popular . Inspired more by punk rock 's DIY ethos than its style, guitar bands were formed on
819-652: A boom box to play the Tiny Tim song [' Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight '] that comes on in the third act. We really went all out in that pitch because we knew the pilot lived or died by if the execs laughed. When it was over, they walked out of the room to discuss it. We figured they would fly back to New York and we'd hear in a few weeks. We were surprised when they came back in what seemed like minutes and said they wanted to make it. — Derek Drymon While pitching
936-411: A child," but needed "an abnormally large voice." In addition to the regular cast, episodes feature guest voices from many professions, including actors, athletes, authors, musicians, and artists. Recurring guest voices include: Ernest Borgnine , who voiced Mermaid Man from 1999 until his death in 2012; Tim Conway as the voice of Barnacle Boy from 1999 until his death in 2019; Brian Doyle-Murray as
1053-431: A father figure to SpongeBob. He is a single parent with a teenage daughter, a grey sperm whale named Pearl , who has no interest in taking over the family business. Another of SpongeBob's friends is Sandy Cheeks , a thrill-seeking and athletic squirrel from Texas , who wears an air-filled diving suit to breathe underwater. She lives in a tree enclosed in a clear glass dome locked by an airtight, hand-turned seal and
1170-713: A kid. Think a Stan Laurel , Jerry Lewis kind of child-man. Kind of like a Munchkin but not quite, kind of like a kid, but not in a Charlie Brown child's voice on the TV shows. —Tom Kenny Kenny voices SpongeBob and a number of other characters, including SpongeBob's pet snail Gary and the French narrator. He also physically portrays Patchy the Pirate in live-action segments of most special episodes. Kenny previously worked with Stephen Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life . When Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants , he approached Kenny to voice
1287-620: A mirror-image of it, a pop world where they were the stars... and a little bit of a raspberry blown at the larger musical world, which (sensibly) went right on preferring something more interesting than average white kids playing simple pop songs. Despite their relatively minor commercial success (their third album was sardonically titled They Could Have Been Bigger than the Beatles ), the Television Personalities are highly regarded by critics and have been widely influential, especially on
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#17328982537821404-424: A month after its premiere in 1999, the show became the highest-rated and most viewed animated Saturday morning program that year, beating Pokémon . The series received worldwide critical acclaim, and had gained more popularity by its second season. As of 2019, the series is the fifth-longest-running American animated series . Its popularity made it a multimedia franchise , the highest rated Nickelodeon series, and
1521-493: A music video on October 25. On October 11, 2023, AJR announced that the release date of The Maybe Man had been delayed by one week to November 10. On November 8, 2023, AJR announced The Maybe Man Tour, the band's first arena tour, beginning in 2024. On May 24, 2024, the band released an acoustic version of the song " Inertia ". The accompanying music video, filmed at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville , Florida ,
1638-527: A music video. After releasing on April 26, 2019, Neotheater debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 and hit number one on Billboard 's Top Rock Albums chart. A show for the Neotheater World Tour was later sold out at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on October 5, 2019. On October 25, 2019, the group released " Dear Winter 2.0 ", re-imagining the song by "changing the production and upping
1755-456: A pink shell and a blue body named Gary , who meows like a cat. Living two houses away from SpongeBob is his best friend Patrick Star , a dimwitted yet friendly pink starfish who resides under a rock. Patrick considers himself to be intelligent, with his ignorance of his stupidity being a key trait of his. Squidward Tentacles , SpongeBob's next-door neighbor and co-worker at the Krusty Krab,
1872-458: A pirate. Brown decided to use a "piratey" voice for the character with "a little Scottish brogue" after hearing Hillenburg's description of his boss. According to Brown, his Mr. Krabs voice was mostly improvised during his audition and it was not challenging for him to find the correct voice. Mr. Lawrence had met Hillenburg before on Rocko's Modern Life . While working on the pilot episode of SpongeBob , Hillenburg invited him to audition for all
1989-482: A resurgence in popularity after four years, AJR released a music video for the album's second track, " The Good Part ", on November 24, 2021. On January 30, 2019, AJR released the song " 100 Bad Days ", which would later become the lead single for Neotheater . A music video for the single was released on March 7. The song was additionally included on Taylor Swift 's Apple Music playlist, "Playlist by ME!", in May 2019, with
2106-449: A sample of SpongeBob SquarePants repeatedly singing his catchphrase "I'm ready" from the eponymous animated series ' premiere episode , was commercially released on August 22, 2013. The song was placed in regular rotation on Sirius XM Radio 's Top 20 on 20 and Hits 1 stations, and they performed it on Good Day New York and VH1 's Big Morning Buzz . The official music video for "I'm Ready" premiered on VEVO on October 15, 2013. It
2223-625: A theatrical SpongeBob film. The fourteenth season of the main series was announced in March 2022, and premiered in November 2023. In September 2023, the show was renewed for a fifteenth season, which premiered in July 2024. SpongeBob SquarePants has won a variety of awards including six Annie Awards , eight Golden Reel Awards , four Emmy Awards , two BAFTA Children's Awards , and a record-breaking twenty-one Kids' Choice Awards . A Broadway musical based on
2340-441: A wide spectrum of emotions". Arthur Brown, author of Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Cartoons! , has compared Squidward's voice to that of Jack Benny 's, a similarity Bumpass says is mostly unintentional. Voice acting veteran Clancy Brown voices Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob's boss at the Krusty Krab. Hillenburg modeled Mr. Krabs after his former manager at a seafood restaurant, whose strong Maine accent reminded Hillenburg of
2457-463: Is Mrs. Puff's most diligent student and knows every answer to the oral exams he takes, but he panics and crashes when he tries to drive a real boat, hence failing the course multiple times. When Mrs. Puff endures one of SpongeBob's crashes or is otherwise frightened, she puffs up into a ball. An unseen figure called the French Narrator often introduces episodes and narrates the intertitles as if
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#17328982537822574-515: Is a multi-platinum band for having seven platinum singles—including the three aforementioned songs; " Weak ", " Burn the House Down ", " 100 Bad Days ", and " Way Less Sad "—all of which accounted for eleven million certified units of their digital single sales in America. Your early covers on YouTube were kind of what inspired me to get into making covers on my own ... your " Ho Hey " cover ... that
2691-625: Is a Japanese style from the 1990s that was embraced by indie pop enthusiasts, partly because many of its bands were distributed in the United States through major indie labels like Matador and Grand Royal . Out of all the Japanese groups from the scene, Pizzicato Five was the closest to achieving mainstream success in the US. Chamber pop is a subgenre of indie pop that features lush orchestrations. Heavily influenced by Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach ,
2808-419: Is a grumpy and bitter octopus who lives in an Easter Island moai . He despises his job as a cashier and enjoys playing the clarinet and painting self-portraits. He is constantly annoyed by SpongeBob and Patrick's antics, who are unaware of Squidward's animosity towards them, though they get along well when the situation calls for it. Mr. Krabs , a greedy red crab, is the owner of the Krusty Krab. He serves as
2925-509: Is a mixture of many different genres such as dubstep , doo-wop , hip-pop and theatrical musical like Broadway , whereas the band has been categorized as indie pop by the news and magazine. AJR Touring/session members Former touring member Studio albums COVID-19 concerts In 2020, the band postponed a second leg of the Neotheater World Tour and an upcoming Everything Everywhere Tour, later canceling them due to
3042-478: Is a popular beach hangout. When the SpongeBob crew began production of the series' pilot episode , they were tasked with designing stock locations, to be used repeatedly, where most scenes would take place like the Krusty Krab and SpongeBob's pineapple house. The idea was "to keep everything nautical", so the crew used plenty of rope, wooden planks, ships' wheels, netting, anchors, boilerplates, and rivets to create
3159-519: Is an expert in karate . Located across the street from the Krusty Krab is an unsuccessful rival restaurant called the Chum Bucket. It rarely has any customers due to its sale of chum -based food constituting as cannibalism by the majority of the fish population. It is run by a small, green, one-eyed copepod named Plankton and his computer wife, Karen . Plankton, being a childhood friend and eventual rival of Mr. Krabs, constantly tries to steal
3276-413: Is animation about kids in school... We want you to put SpongeBob in school." Hillenburg was ready to "walk out" on Nickelodeon and abandon the series, since he wanted SpongeBob to be an adult character. He eventually compromised by adding a new character to the main cast, Mrs. Puff, who is a boat-driving teacher. Hillenburg was happy with the compromise and said, "A positive thing for me that came out of it
3393-627: Is divided into two 11-minute segments. Hillenburg explained: "[I] never really wanted to deliberately try to write a half-hour show". He added, "I wrote the shows to where they felt right". SpongeBob SquarePants features the voices of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke , Rodger Bumpass , Clancy Brown , Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley , Carolyn Lawrence , Mary Jo Catlett , and Lori Alan . Most one-off and background characters are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker , Sirena Irwin , Bob Joles , Mark Fite and Thomas F. Wilson . Steve described SpongeBob to me as childlike and naïve. He's not quite an adult, he's not quite
3510-404: Is the character! This is the guy!'" Jill Talley, Tom Kenny's wife, voices Karen Plankton. Being a Chicago native, she uses a Midwestern accent for the character. Electronic sound effects are underlaid by the series' audio engineers to create a robotic sound when she speaks. Talley and Mr. Lawrence often improvise Plankton and Karen's dialogue. Lawrence called improvisation his "favorite part of
3627-399: Is written differently to many television shows." Unlike most of its contemporaries, SpongeBob SquarePants does not use written scripts . Instead, storylines are developed by a team of five outline and premise writers. A two-page outline is then assigned to a team of storyboard directors, who produce a complete rough draft of the storyboard. One of the methods used to assemble storyboards
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3744-636: The C86 generation. Reynolds has said that "what we now know as indie music was invented in Scotland," with reference to the emergence of Postcard Records in 1979. However, some have posited that the concept of indie music did not crystallise until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Brisbane band the Go-Betweens were an early influential indie pop band, releasing their first single " Lee Remick " in 1978. American indie pop band Beat Happening 's 1985 eponymous debut album
3861-604: The COVID-19 pandemic . On July 21, 2020, AJR announced their drive-in show, "A night in your car with AJR", which took place on August 19, 2020, in Philadelphia. Two days later after the first show had sold out entirely, they announced a second show for Philadelphia which took place on August 20. The first show saw the debut of " Bummerland ". On November 19, 2020, AJR announced their first virtual concert, AJR's One Spectacular Night , which took place on December 26, 2020. The livestream
3978-516: The California Institute of the Arts . His thesis film, Wormholes , is about the theory of relativity . It was screened at festivals, and at one of these, Hillenburg met Joe Murray , creator of the popular Nickelodeon animated series, Rocko's Modern Life . Murray was impressed by the style of the film and offered Hillenburg a job. Hillenburg joined the series as a director, and later, during
4095-678: The Ocean Institute , an organization in Dana Point, California , dedicated to educating the public about marine science and maritime history . While Hillenburg was there, his love of the ocean began to influence his artistry. He created a precursor to SpongeBob SquarePants : a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone used by the institute to teach visiting students about the animal life of tide pools . The comic starred various anthropomorphic sea lifeforms, many of which would evolve into SpongeBob SquarePants characters. Hillenburg tried to get
4212-603: The Tiki influence on the show, the background painters use a lot of pattern." Pittenger said the sky flowers were meant to "evoke the look of a flower-print Hawaiian shirt ". Series creator Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean as a child and began developing his artistic abilities at a young age. Although these interests would not overlap for some time—the idea of drawing fish seemed boring to him—Hillenburg pursued both during college, majoring in marine biology and minoring in art. After graduating in 1984, he joined
4329-482: The fourth season , he took on the roles of producer and creative director . Martin Olson , one of the writers for Rocko's Modern Life , read The Intertidal Zone and encouraged Hillenburg to create a television series with a similar concept. At that point, Hillenburg had not even considered creating his own series. However, he realized that if he ever did, this would be the best approach. He began to develop some of
4446-402: The series bible . Although Drymon would go on to have a significant influence on SpongeBob SquarePants , he was not offered a role on the series initially. As a late recruit to Rocko's Modern Life , he had not established much of a relationship with Hillenburg before SpongeBob ' s conception. Hillenburg first sought out Drymon's storyboard partner, Mark O'Hare —but he had just created
4563-512: The Flying Dutchman; and Marion Ross as Grandma SquarePants. Notable guests who have provided vocal cameo appearances include: David Bowie as Lord Royal Highness in the television film Atlantis SquarePantis ; John Goodman as the voice of Santa in the episode " It's a SpongeBob Christmas! "; Johnny Depp as the voice of the surf guru, Jack Kahuna Laguna, in the episode " SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One "; and Victoria Beckham as
4680-481: The Kings . Indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop ) is a subgenre of alternative rock and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music . It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine , label , and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock ,
4797-564: The Lobster ; and the merman god of the sea, King Neptune . There is also a large variety of characters who serve as the main background characters for the show and are featured in almost every episode. They are each referred as "Incidental" followed by their given model number. Their names, jobs, personalities, relationships, voices, ages, and sometimes gender are inconsistent and tend to differ from each episode. There are 222 of these characters. Special (generally half-hour or hour-long) episodes of
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4914-647: The Lumineers later inspired pop singer Shawn Mendes to perform his own covers. In 2012, AJR self-released their first and eponymous limited edition EP in CD format. In November 2012, Ryan tweeted a link to a video of their debut single , " I'm Ready ", to about 80 celebrities, including Australian singer Sia . Sia told her manager about the song, and he contacted Steve Greenberg , former president of Columbia Records and current CEO and founder of S-Curve Records , who now acts as their manager. "I'm Ready", which features
5031-576: The Netherlands, and the US , additionally generating over 250 million streams on Spotify within its first year. All five tracks from What Everyone's Thinking were included on AJR's second studio album, The Click , which was released on June 9, 2017. The album, on the AJR Productions label, was released by S-Curve Records in the United States, Ultra Records in Canada, and Black Butter Records in
5148-462: The Sponge resembles an actual sea sponge, and at first, Hillenburg continued to use this design. In determining the new character's behavior, Hillenburg drew inspiration from innocent, childlike figures that he enjoyed, such as Charlie Chaplin , Laurel and Hardy , Jerry Lewis , and Pee-wee Herman . He then considered modeling the character after a kitchen sponge and realized this idea would match
5265-543: The angst and abrasiveness of its indie rock counterpart, the majority of indie pop borrows not only the stripped-down quality of punk, but also "the sweetness and catchiness of mainstream pop". Music critic Simon Reynolds says that indie pop defines itself against "charting pop". Abebe explains: One of those things was the idea that rock music was supposed to be cool – "cool" meaning sexy, tough, arty, fiery, or fantastical... The charts had "cool" covered – these kids, in their basements and bedrooms, were trying to hand-craft
5382-452: The artwork, gluing the sleeves together, releasing them and sending them out, writing fanzines because the music press lost interest really quickly." Many of the actual C86 bands distanced themselves from the scene cultivated around them by the UK music press - in its time, C86 became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" (a John Peel -coined description celebrating
5499-476: The biggest names at Alan McGee 's Living Room Club and couldn't stand the sight of each other. Only when the Jesus and Mary Chain exploded and stole their two-headed crown did they realise they were basically soulmates". Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire remembers that it was the bands' very independence that gave the scene coherence: "People were doing everything themselves - making their own records, doing
5616-412: The brothers' relationship with their father, Gary, who was terminally ill at the time of its release. The band announced later that day that Gary had died. On August 28, AJR announced the album's title, The Maybe Man , with a release date of November 3. The album's tracklist and artwork was revealed on September 12, and the band released the fifth and final single " Yes I'm a Mess " on September 29 with
5733-439: The cancellation of 2020's Everything Everywhere Tour, which would have seen both artists performing alongside each other. On April 21, 2023, the band released the album's third single, " The Dumb Song ". The next day, a music video was released detailing the events of the one-and-a-half-year-long process of creating the song. The band surprise released a lyric video for a new song titled " God Is Really Real " on July 3, detailing
5850-410: The cartoon to Nickelodeon executives, Hillenburg donned a Hawaiian shirt, brought along an "underwater terrarium with models of the characters", and played Hawaiian music to set the theme. The setup was described by Nickelodeon executive Eric Coleman as "pretty amazing". They were given money and two weeks to write the pilot episode " Help Wanted ". Drymon, Hillenburg, and Jennings returned with what
5967-428: The character for a "Cheese Man". He settled on the name "SpongeBob". "SquarePants" was chosen as a family name after Kenny saw a picture of the character and remarked, "Boy, look at this sponge in square pants, thinking he can get a job in a fast food place." When he heard Kenny say it, Hillenburg loved the phrase and felt it would reinforce the character's nerdiness. Derek Drymon , who served as creative director for
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#17328982537826084-432: The character's square personality perfectly. Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Pearl, and Squidward were the next characters Hillenburg created for the show. To voice the series' central character, Hillenburg turned to Tom Kenny , whose career in animation had started alongside Hillenburg's on Rocko's Modern Life . Elements of Kenny's own personality were employed to develop the character further. Initially, Hillenburg wanted to use
6201-434: The characters from The Intertidal Zone , including the comic's "announcer", Bob the Sponge. He wanted his series to stand out from most popular cartoons of the time, which he felt were exemplified by buddy comedies like The Ren & Stimpy Show . As a result, Hillenburg decided to focus on a single main character: the "weirdest" sea creature he could think of. This led him to the sponge. The Intertidal Zone ' s Bob
6318-436: The characters. Since other voices had been found for the main cast already, Lawrence began by voicing a variety of minor characters. This included Plankton, who was initially only set to appear in one episode. Mr. Lawrence recalls that Nickelodeon executives told Hillenburg, "'we could stunt-cast this. You know, we could have Bruce Willis do this voice.' And Steve was just like, 'it's Doug [Lawrence], don't you hear it? This
6435-422: The comic professionally published, but none of the companies he sent it to were interested. A large inspiration to Hillenburg was Ween 's 1997 album The Mollusk , which had a nautical and underwater theme. Hillenburg contacted the band shortly after the album's release, explaining the baseline ideas for SpongeBob SquarePants , and also requested a song from the band, which they sent on Christmas Eve. This song
6552-536: The early psychedelic sounds of 1960s garage rock . Names that indie pop fans use for themselves are popkids and popgeeks , and for the music they listen to, p!o!p , twee , anorak and C86 . Abebe says that the Scottish group the Pastels typified the "hip end of 'anorak': Their lazy melodies, lackadaisical strum, and naive attitude transformed the idea of the rock band into something casual, intimate, and free from
6669-508: The emotion". " Bang! " was released as the lead single for the band's fourth studio album on February 12, 2020. The song charted in the Billboard Hot 100 at number eight, making it AJR's first and only Hot 100 top-ten single . The album's second single, " Bummerland ", released on August 31, 2020, later being performed by the band at the virtual concert " We the People " on January 17, 2021 for
6786-417: The episode when Mr. Krabs uses even more profanity than SpongeBob and Patrick was inspired "by the fact that my [Drymon's] mother has a sailor mouth herself". The idea for the episode "The Secret Box" also came from one of Drymon's childhood experiences. Hillenburg explained, "Drymon had a secret box [as a kid] and started telling us about it. We wanted to make fun of him and use it." Almost every episode
6903-441: The film was finalized and the third season finished, Hillenburg resigned as the series' showrunner. Although he no longer had a direct role in the series' production, he maintained an advisory role and reviewed each episode. It reached a point where I felt I'd contributed a lot and said what I wanted to say. At that point, the show needed new blood, and so I selected Paul [Tibbitt] to produce. I totally trusted him. I always enjoyed
7020-425: The first three seasons, has said that Hillenburg wanted to surround himself with a "team of young and hungry people." Many of the major contributors to SpongeBob SquarePants had worked before with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life , including: Drymon, art director Nick Jennings , supervising director Alan Smart , writer/voice actor Doug Lawrence (often credited as Mr. Lawrence), and Tim Hill , who helped develop
7137-453: The genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop . Indie pop is not just "indie" that is "pop." Not too many people realize this, or really care either way. But you can be sure indie pop's fans know it. They have their own names for themselves ...
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#17328982537827254-418: The genre's spread across the country. Everett True , a writer for NME in the 1980s, believes that C86 was not the main factor behind indie pop, arguing that Sarah Records was more responsible for sticking to a particular sound, and that: "C86 didn't actually exist as a sound, or style. ... I find it weird, bordering on surreal, that people are starting to use it as a description again". Bob Stanley ,
7371-517: The inauguration of the 46th United States president Joe Biden . On December 22, 2020, AJR released " My Play " as the third single, followed by " Way Less Sad " as the fourth single on February 17, 2021. OK Orchestra was officially released on March 26, 2021, with the Blue Man Group featuring on its ninth track, "Ordinaryish People". At the 2021 Billboard Music Awards , "Bang!" received an award for winning " Top Rock Song ", and they performed
7488-452: The main character. Kenny originally used the voice of SpongeBob for a minor character on Rocko . He forgot how to perform the voice initially and did not intend to use it afterward. Hillenburg, however, used a video clip of the episode to remind Kenny of the voice. When Hillenburg heard Kenny perform the voice, he knew immediately he wanted it for his character. He said to Nickelodeon executives, "That's it—I don't want to hear anybody else do
7605-534: The majority of Louis Phillipe 's productions for él Records embodied the sophisticated use of orchestras and voices that typified the style, whilst the Divine Comedy were the most popular chamber pop act of the Britpop era. SpongeBob SquarePants SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon . It
7722-504: The majority of indie as "all about that 60s-styled guitar jangle ". The Monochrome Set's early singles were so heavily influential to indie pop band the Smiths that Johnny Marr stated without them, the Smiths would not have existed. Indie pop was an unprecedented contrast from the gritty and serious tones of previous underground rock styles, as well as being a departure from the glamour of contemporary pop music . Distinguished from
7839-625: The most profitable intellectual property for Paramount Consumer Products . By 2019, it had generated over $ 13 billion in merchandising revenue. The series has run for a total of fourteen seasons, and has inspired three feature films: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), Sponge Out of Water (2015), and Sponge on the Run (2020). Two spin-off series, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years and The Patrick Star Show , premiered in 2021. As of February 2022, four additional films are planned: three character spinoff films for Paramount+ and Netflix , and
7956-408: The music they listen to ... their own canon of legendary bands ... and legendary labels ... their own pop stars ... their own zines ... websites ... mailing lists ... aesthetics ... festivals ... iconography ... fashion accessories ... and in-jokes ... in short, their own culture. —Nitsuh Abebe, Pitchfork Within indie genres, issues of authenticity are especially prominent: indie was born in
8073-470: The name SpongeBoy—the character had no last name—and the series was to have been named SpongeBoy Ahoy! However, the Nickelodeon legal department discovered—after voice acting had been completed for the original seven-minute pilot episode—that the name "SpongeBoy" was already copyrighted. In choosing a replacement name, Hillenburg felt he still had to use the word "Sponge", so that viewers would not mistake
8190-508: The neighboring houses of SpongeBob , Patrick , and Squidward ; two competing restaurants, the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket ; Mrs. Puff 's Boating School, which includes a driving course and a sunken lighthouse ; the Treedome, an oxygenated glass enclosure where Sandy lives; Shady Shoals Rest Home; a seagrass meadow called Jellyfish Fields; and Goo Lagoon, a subaqueous brine pool that
8307-463: The pilot) and was offered the role of story editor , but turned it down—he would go on to pursue a career as a family film director. In his stead, Pete Burns was brought in for the job. Burns hailed from Chicago and had never met any of the principal players on SpongeBob before joining the team. The execs from Nickelodeon flew out to Burbank , and we pitched it to them from the storyboards . We had squeezy toys, wore Hawaiian shirts, and used
8424-422: The pre- chorus ' lyrics being used for Taylor's description of the playlist of songs she loves and appreciates. On March 10, the band announced their third studio album, Neotheater , which was to be released on April 26. On March 12, the promotional single " Birthday Party " was released and "100 Bad Days" was performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! . The second single, " Dear Winter ", was released on April 5 alongside
8541-542: The pretense of cool". Following on from the aforementioned Postcard Records, in the UK, Bristol-based Sarah Records became the archetypal indie pop record label. They began releasing 7" singles in 1987 by bands with overt feminist and left wing principles that made "sweet pop". In the US, Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson founded K Records in Olympia, Washington , and later labels like Slumberland and Harriet encouraged
8658-412: The process for SpongeBob SquarePants —even though Nickelodeon was beginning to show a greater preference for script-driven cartoons. Another series' writer, Merriwether Williams , explained in an interview that she and Mr. Lawrence would write a draft for an episode in an afternoon and be done at 4:00 pm. The writing staff often used their personal experiences as inspiration for the storylines of
8775-510: The project. On October 23, 2015, they released the individual single " Let the Games Begin ". On September 16, 2016, AJR released their fourth EP, titled What Everyone's Thinking . It was preceded by " I'm Not Famous " as a single earlier in the year, followed by " Weak " as a single upon release. The latter became a hit, receiving Platinum certifications in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany,
8892-463: The rest of the world. " Drama " was released prior as the album's third single, while " Sober Up " became the fourth single upon the album's release. The latter featured Rivers Cuomo and became AJR's and Cuomo's first chart-topping song apart from his band Weezer ; atop Billboard 's Alternative Airplay chart for two weeks in 2018. The Click primarily stayed within AJR's signature pop sound. It
9009-417: The role, Alan was shown an early drawing of the characters and noted that Pearl was much larger than the rest of the cast. She decided to reflect the character's size in her voice by making it deep and full in tone. She aimed to make it invoke the sound of whales' low vocalizations while also sounding "spoiled and lovable." In an interview with AfterBuzz TV , Alan said she knew Pearl "had to sound somewhat like
9126-485: The role. American actress Mary Jo Catlett, who is known for her live-action roles on television programs from the 1970s such as Diff'rent Strokes and M*A*S*H provides Mrs. Puff's voice. As of 2017, voicing Mrs. Puff has become her only regular television role; Catlett described herself as "basically retired" in 2013, since she feels that voicing Mrs. Puff requires less preparation than her performances in person. Lori Alan voices Pearl Krabs. During her audition for
9243-408: The same time when Hillenburg, Derek Drymon and Tim Hill were writing the pilot "Help Wanted", Hillenburg was also conducting auditions to find voices for the characters. Fagerbakke auditioned for the role of Patrick after Kenny had been cast. Fagerbakke recalled that during this audition, "Hillenburg actually played for me a portion of Tom [Kenny]'s performance [as SpongeBob], and they were looking for
9360-423: The secret recipe for Mr. Krabs's popular Krabby Patty burgers, hoping to gain the upper hand and put the Krusty Krab out of business. Karen supplies him with evil schemes to obtain the formula, but their efforts always fail and their restaurant rarely has any customers. When SpongeBob is not working at the Krusty Krab, he is often taking boating lessons from Mrs. Puff , a paranoid but patient pufferfish . SpongeBob
9477-514: The self-conscious primitive approach of some of the music) and underachievement . Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from C86 . Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy-girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love. For many years, most bands were distributed by Sarah Records (in the UK) and K Records (in the US). Shibuya-kei
9594-423: The series opened in 2017 to critical acclaim. The series is also noted as a cultural touchstone of Millennials and Generation Z . The series revolves around the title character and an ensemble cast of his aquatic friends. SpongeBob SquarePants is an energetic and optimistic yellow sea sponge who lives in a submerged pineapple . SpongeBob has a childlike enthusiasm for life, which carries over to his job as
9711-473: The series were a nature documentary about the ocean. His role and distinctive manner of speaking are references to the oceanographer Jacques Cousteau . Recurring guest characters appear throughout the series including: the retired superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy , who are idolized by SpongeBob and Patrick; a pirate specter known as the Flying Dutchman ; the muscular lifeguard of Goo Lagoon, Larry
9828-472: The series would continue after his death. In February 2019, incoming president Brian Robbins vowed Nickelodeon would keep the show in production for as long as the network exists. As of the ninth season, former writers and storyboard directors Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli act as showrunners. Hillenburg is still posthumously credited as executive producer in episodes as of 2024. According to writer and storyboard artist Luke Brookshier , " SpongeBob
9945-420: The series' episodes. For example, the episode " Sailor Mouth ", where SpongeBob and Patrick learn profanity , was inspired by creative director Derek Drymon's experience as a child of getting into trouble for using the f-word in front of his mother. Drymon said, "The scene where Patrick is running to Mr. Krabs to tattle, with SpongeBob chasing him, is pretty much how it happened in real life". The end of
10062-490: The show are hosted by a live-action pirate named Patchy and his pet parrot Potty , whose segments are presented in a dual narrative with the animated stories. Patchy is portrayed as the president of a fictional SpongeBob fan club , and his greatest aspiration is to meet SpongeBob himself. He gets into absurd escapades in a similar matter to the actual show, with Potty constantly making fun of Patchy's nonsensical aspirations and causes trouble for him while he tries to host
10179-556: The show as a writer, director, and storyboard artist, to take over his role as showrunner to produce additional seasons. Hillenburg considered Tibbitt one of his favorite members of the show's crew, and "totally trusted him". On December 13, 2014, it was announced that Hillenburg would return to the series in an unspecified position. On November 26, 2018, at the age of 57, Hillenburg died from complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), with which he had been diagnosed in March 2017. Nickelodeon confirmed via Twitter
10296-400: The show's setting. Transitions between scenes are marked by bubbles filling the screen, accompanied by the sound of rushing water. The series features "sky flowers" as a main setting material. When series background designer Kenny Pittenger was asked what they were, he answered, "They function as clouds in a way, but since the show takes place underwater, they aren't really clouds. Because of
10413-523: The show. The series takes place primarily in the benthic underwater city of Bikini Bottom located in the Pacific Ocean beneath the real-life coral reef known as Bikini Atoll . Its citizens are mostly multicolored fish who live in buildings made from ship funnels and use "boatmobiles", amalgamations of cars and boats, as a mode of transportation. Recurring locations within Bikini Bottom include
10530-438: The song " I Won't " through the label on July 29 with an accompanying music video. On November 12, the band released a video teaser announcing their new album, abbreviated as TMM , and released the follow-up single " The DJ Is Crying for Help " on November 18. On January 27, 2023, Quinn XCII released "Too Late", featuring AJR. The song appeared as track 7 on Quinn's fifth studio album, The People's Champ . The single came after
10647-654: The song alongside "Way Less Sad". Following the release of OK Orchestra , AJR collaborated with the American bands Weezer and Daisy the Great , releasing a remix of Weezer's " All My Favorite Songs " on May 12, 2021, and a remix of Daisy the Great's " Record Player " on August 31, 2021. On April 22, 2022, the band announced that a new song would be released before the OK Orchestra Tour resumed. AJR signed to Mercury Records / Republic Records in May 2022, and officially released
10764-502: The song onto Twitter in 2012, which led to Australian singer and songwriter Sia sharing her talent management network with the trio prior to the release. After the song became their breakout single on radio, AJR formed their own label AJR Productions and released three EPs— 6foot1 (2013), Infinity (2014), and What Everyone's Thinking (2016). Since their debut, AJR has written or co-written every song in their five-album discography : Living Room (2015); The Click (2017);
10881-410: The soon-to-be syndicated comic strip, Citizen Dog . While he would later join SpongeBob as a writer, he lacked the time to get involved with both projects from the outset. Drymon has said, "I remember Hillenburg's bringing it up to Mark in our office and asking him if he'd be interested in working on it ... I was all ready to say yes to the offer, but Steve didn't ask; he just left the room. I
10998-474: The then-novel premise that one could record and release their own music instead of having to procure a record contract from a major label. According to Emily Dolan, indie is predicated on the distorted music of the Velvet Underground , the "rebellious screaming" of early punk, and "some of rock's more quirky and eccentric figures", such as Jonathan Richman . Pitchfork ' s Nitsuh Abebe identifies
11115-490: The two U.S. Billboard 200 top-ten albums— Neotheater (2019), OK Orchestra (2021); and The Maybe Man (2023). The 2017 electropop platinum album contained their first Billboard Alternative number-one song " Sober Up " (featuring Rivers Cuomo ), and the 2021 orchestral pop gold album spawned—their first Hot 100 top-ten single and the Billboard Music Award Top Rock Song —" Bang! ". AJR
11232-455: The voice of Queen Amphitrite in the episode " The Clash of Triton ". Voice recording sessions always include a full cast of actors, which Kenny describes as "getting more unusual". Kenny said, "That's another thing that's given SpongeBob its special feel. Everybody's in the same room, doing it old radio-show style. It's how the stuff we like was recorded". Series writer Jay Lender said, "The recording sessions were always fun ..." For
11349-590: The voice over" in 2009. He elaborated in a 2012 interview, saying, "I always enjoy the back-and-forth. [Talley and I] start to actually overlap so much talking to each other that [the voice directors] have to tell us, 'hey, stop doing that, separate what you're saying!'" Carolyn Lawrence voices Sandy Cheeks. She was in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, with a friend who knew SpongeBob SquarePants casting director Donna Grillo. Her friend said to Grillo that Lawrence had "an interesting voice". Grillo invited her to audition and she got
11466-518: The voice. We've got SpongeBob." The network insisted on auditioning more actors, but Hillenburg turned them down; in the words of Tom Kenny, "one of the advantages of having a strong creator is that the creator can say, 'No, I like that—I don't care about celebrities.'" While Kenny was developing SpongeBob's voice, the show's casting crew wanted him to have a unique, high-pitched laugh in the tradition of Popeye and Woody Woodpecker . Fagerbakke voices Patrick Star and other miscellaneous characters. At
11583-467: The way he captured the SpongeBob character's sense of humor. And as a writer, you have to move on—I'm developing new projects. — Stephen Hillenburg , The Washington Post When the film was completed, Hillenburg intended it to be the series finale , "so [the show] wouldn't jump the shark ." However, Nickelodeon wanted more episodes. Hillenburg appointed Paul Tibbitt , who had previously served on
11700-521: Was "Loop de Loop", which was used in the episode "Your Shoe's Untied". While working as a staff artist at the Ocean Institute, Hillenburg entertained plans to return eventually to college for a master's degree in art. Before this could materialize, he attended an animation festival, which inspired him to make a slight change in course. Instead of continuing his education with a traditional art program, Hillenburg chose to study experimental animation at
11817-418: Was [how it brought] in a new character, Mrs. Puff, who I love." Until his death in 2018, Hillenburg had served as the executive producer over the course of the series' entire history and functioned as its showrunner from its debut in 1999 until 2004. The series went on hiatus in 2002, after Hillenburg halted production on the show itself to work on the feature film The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie . Once
11934-497: Was also influential in the development of the indie pop sound, particularly in North America. In the early 1990s, English indie pop influenced and branched off to a variety of styles. The US, which did not have as much of a scene in the 1980s, had many indie pop enthusiasts by the mid 1990s. Most of the modern notion of indie music stems from NME ' s 1986 compilation C86 , which collects many guitar bands who were inspired by
12051-438: Was also instrumental in SpongeBob ' s genesis. Kenny has called him "one of SpongeBob's early graphics mentors". On weekends, Kenny joined Hillenburg, Jennings, and Drymon for creative sessions where they recorded ideas on a tape recorder. Kenny performed audio tests as SpongeBob during these sessions, while Hillenburg voice acted the other characters. Hill contributed scripts for several first-season episodes (including
12168-457: Was cancelled in 1996, he began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series that same year, and in 1997, a seven-minute pilot was pitched to Nickelodeon. The network's executives wanted SpongeBob to be a child in school, but Hillenburg preferred SpongeBob to be an adult character. He was prepared to abandon the series, but compromised by creating Mrs. Puff and her boating school so SpongeBob could attend school as an adult. In only
12285-585: Was certified Platinum in America and three times Platinum in Australia. AJR released their second EP , 6foot1 , on December 20, 2013, later being re-released as I'm Ready – EP via Warner Music Group on March 25, 2014. They were named Clear Channel 's "Artist on the Rise" for the month of October 2013. By 2014, the band was named iHeartRadio 's Artist of the Month for Top 40 in January. The band's third EP, Infinity ,
12402-497: Was described by Nickelodeon official Albie Hecht as, "a performance [he] wished [he] had on tape". Although executive producer Derek Drymon described the pitch as stressful, he said it went "very well". Kevin Kay and Hecht had to step outside because they were "exhausted from laughing", which worried the cartoonists. In an interview, Cyma Zarghami , then-president of Nickelodeon, said, "their [Nickelodeon executives'] immediate reaction
12519-564: Was inspired by Fun , Twenty One Pilots , Kanye West , and Kendrick Lamar , stylistically incorporating hip-hop , electronic dance music , and jazz . In support of the album, AJR announced the Click Tour in late 2017, which embarked through North America in 2018. The album amassed over two billion streams on Spotify , while the tour sold over 100,000 tickets, featuring Hundred Handed, Grizfolk , Ocean Park Standoff , MAX , and Robert DeLong as opening acts . A deluxe version of The Click
12636-499: Was interactive, allowing viewers to clap after songs and change the camera to both simulate a live concert and experiment with livestreaming. AJR has opened for Andy Grammer , American Authors , Demi Lovato , Fifth Harmony , Fitz and the Tantrums , Hoodie Allen , Imagine Dragons , Ingrid Michaelson , Lindsey Stirling , Melanie Martinez , Sammy Adams , the Wanted , Train , and We
12753-465: Was like one of the first covers that I saw that made me want to put out covers. —Mendes AJR, originally known as TB³ (Tapping Brothers to the Third Power), began street performing in the parks of New York City in 2005. Prior to releasing original music, they posted covers of popular songs onto YouTube , under the username of AJRbrothers. Jack revealed in 2017 that their cover of " Ho Hey " by
12870-655: Was one of the original founding partners of AJR Productions, LLC. She held an executive and management role until 2022. The three members of AJR grew up in Bayside, Queens , until moving to Chelsea, Manhattan , in 2001. There, Jack attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan. Jack was a child actor, appearing in The Pink Panther 2 as well as an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent . Adam received
12987-434: Was pretty desperate ... so I ran into the hall after him and basically begged him for the job. He didn't jump at the chance." Once Hillenburg had given it some thought and decided to bring Drymon on as creative director, the two began meeting at Hillenburg's house several times a week to develop the series. Drymon has identified this period as having begun in 1996, shortly after the end of Rocko's Modern Life . Jennings
13104-514: Was released on September 21, 2018. The Click (Deluxe Edition) included three new tracks: " Burn the House Down ", " Role Models ", and "Normal". The former was released in March 2018 as a single, reaching number two on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. Also included was an acoustic recording of " Pretender ", a collaboration from earlier in the year between AJR, EDM artist Steve Aoki and American rapper Lil Yachty . Due to
13221-412: Was released on September 23, 2014. It contains 5 tracks, including the lead single "Infinity". A lyric video directed and produced primarily by AJR was released for the single. The EP was released instead of their debut album, Living Room , which was pushed back to a release date of March 3, 2015. The band expressed the delay in their debut album was because they wanted to add some of their newer music to
13338-476: Was released the day after. The video features AJR, Arnetta Johnson, and Ginny Luke sitting in one section of the arena, towards the front, with a spotlight on the band members. The brothers are Jewish , describing themselves as "culturally Jewish". Their father was Gary Metzger, an architect who died in July 2023; their mother is Laurie Marvald, who began her career as an architect, attending Cornell University , then moving on to entrepreneurship. Laurie created and
13455-585: Was revealed as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1999, and officially premiered on July 17, 1999. It chronicles the adventures of the titular character and his aquatic friends in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom . Many of the series' ideas originated in The Intertidal Zone , an unpublished educational comic book Hillenburg created in 1989 to teach his students about undersea life. Hillenburg joined Nickelodeon in 1992 as an artist on Rocko's Modern Life . After Rocko
13572-477: Was to see it again, both because they liked it and it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before". Zarghami was one of four executives in the room when SpongeBob SquarePants was screened for the first time. Before commissioning the full series, Nickelodeon executives insisted that it would not be popular unless SpongeBob was a child who went to school, with his teacher as a main character. Hillenburg recalled in 2012 that Nickelodeon told him, "Our winning formula
13689-453: Was to use Post-it notes . Most of the dialogue and jokes are added during this stage. Brookshier has likened this process to how cartoons were made "in the early days of animation ". The decision to eschew scripts for storyboards is one that Hillenburg made early in the series' development. Rocko's Modern Life had also used storyboarding derived from short outlines, and having worked on that series, Hillenburg felt strongly about adopting
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