From the very beginning, The Simpsons have always used music and parodies of popular music, themes songs, and musicals for comedic effect. As time went on, and the writing seemed to slip, the musical parodies and lampoons still seemed sharp and fresh.

Sometimes, those songs were the ONLY truly funny things on the shows, and fans clamored for copies of those them, and soon two CDs of songs from the show were released. Even stripped from the context of the show, those songs were inventive and hilarious, and much better than the albums they released of “original songs.”

The third volume of tunes from the show, Testify was recently released. It will bring back memories, mostly good, of the past nine seasons of songs.

Of course, this being The Simpsons, there’s a veritable plethora of guests and cameos, from Los Lobos‘ inspired version of the closing theme, to Mr. T, Charo, Charlie Callas, and that guy who always went “You can call me Ray, and you can call me Jay”¦” making fun of themselves as being has-beens that play in Branson. An assortment of artists, from Shawn Colvin to David Byrne to Weird Al to Jackson Browne also appear. Even the Baha Men are immortalized.

The Internet has been a boon for music geeks. I do have fond memories of scouring the LP stacks at my favorite independent record store, but for instant gratification the Internet is the prime way to buy music. Where else can you find someone to express mail you a copy of Dave Clark Five CDs released in Italy? Do you really want to hear that Alcatrazz album that someone mentioned in a blog post? Pop onto iTunes and give the songs a sample before plunking down money for it.

But I must tell you for those who use Napster, iTunes, eMusic, or other Internet downloading sites — buyer beware! There are rip-offs afoot.

Music geeks like me read about famous recordings of the past and decide then and there they want to own it. Many times you will be able to find the original recordings online. However, some of the songs listed are not the original records, nor are they reasonable facsimiles. In trying to purchase songs made famous by artists from the 50s and 60s, I was left with note-for-note copies that may have featured one of the original performers that have been re-recorded for the digital marketplace. You can immediately tell this because of how ‘clean’ the recordings sound and that something is ‘too perfect’ about the song.

Elvis Presley was a rare singer and performer that if he put his heart and soul into a song, much like Otis Redding and John Lennon, he could sing the phone book and it could sound rich, soulful, and powerful. Unfortunately, most of the material that Elvis was given was worse than the phone book, and Elvis really mailed in some of those movie soundtrack performances and other recordings in the latter stages of his career.

It was his 1968 “comeback special” (a misnomer in some senses, since Elvis had many charting singles and albums in 1967 and 1968 — but it was an artistic comeback for sure) that Elvis regained his footing. Leaving dreck like “Long Legged Girl With The Short Dress On” behind, Presley sought to regain his title as the “King of Rock And Roll,” and on many counts, he succeeded.

Doing so, Presley then set his sights on the one venue where he had been a professional failure — Las Vegas. Elvis had made one disastrous foray into Sin City back in the 50s, when he was a relatively green performer. Plus, his music wasn’t quite what Vegas has in mind. But in 1969 and 1970, the material he was recording and comfortable in performing was prime for the Vegas stage.

Out now on DVD, the complete series of the classic Saturday Morning TV show The Archie Show, featuring The Archies, the cartoon band behind the hit “Sugar, Sugar.”

When Mike Nesmith of The Monkees lambasted Don Kirshner and his company for how they controlled the music of The Monkees on record and in their appearances, and didn’t allow them any chance to play on their albums (except for some guitar work by Nesmith on the songs he wrote), Kirshner vowed that he wouldn’t have that problem with musicians on his next television musical project.

How to do that? Simple — instead of hiring actors, you create a cartoon series. And since Archie and the gang already had storylines of them having a band (The Archies) that was almost a pre-arranged marriage made in TV land.

In 1968, the Archie Show (based on the classic Archie comic book) debuted on Saturday Morning TV, and soon it became a sensation. The red-headed all-American teen with the tic-tac-toe board somehow etched in his head became a celebrity, and soon The Archies also controlled the airwaves.

You know, there hasn’t been a big screen adaptation of an old children’s cartoon starring Jason Lee in one role or another since … well … this month.

But this time, you get to see his face, and does he look weird without the Earl-stache!

In the “you wonder why this wasn’t done earlier” category, Alvin and the Chipmunks will come to theaters this Christmas. For years, the singing rodents charmed kids with their high-pitched perennial holiday favorites and their 1980’s cartoon show. Many kids, like me at the time, figured out how they made the “chipmunk” sound by slowing their record players down to 16 rpm ( I think the only reason they ever made a 16 speed on a turntable was to decipher the Chipmunks!)

About 25 years ago, they had a brief renaissance, resulting in the album Chipmunk Punk. But since then, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore have been silent. Now, in 2007, the Chipmunks are back, and they sound the same as they ever did.

Instead of a cartoon, the movie will be live action with CGI chipmunks. The first trailer has been released, and it gets some points for cleverness, but loses some by going to a doody joke right away. Watch it here after the jump.