--- title: Tom Petty Had a Hilarious Cameo on The Simpsons description: Tom Petty appeared on 'The Simpsons' in 2002 to give Homer Simpson a lesson on meaningful lyric writing, as only he can. canonical: https://time.com/4966372/tom-petty-simpsons-cameo/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-03T04:30:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:43.601Z og:title: Watch Tom Petty's Music Memorable Cameo on 'The Simpsons' og:description: "See that drunk girl? She's worried about the state of public schools" og:url: https://time.com/4966372/tom-petty-simpsons-cameo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e6de2f3ead1f065/6988e040fb4eac54d6893fa5/tom-petty-simpsons.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tom-Petty-Simpsons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Tom Petty's Music Memorable Cameo on 'The Simpsons' twitter:description: "See that drunk girl? She's worried about the state of public schools" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e6de2f3ead1f065/6988e040fb4eac54d6893fa5/tom-petty-simpsons.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tom Petty's Simpson Cameo Perfectly Captured the Thinking Rock Star's Dilemma  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 3, 2017 4:30 AM UTC   by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 3, 2017 4:30 AM UTC As one of the most celebrated musicians of his time, [Tom Petty](http://time.com/4472317/jimmy-fallon-kevin-bacon-tom-petty/) will always be remembered for what he brought to culture as an artist. However, his legacy in entertainment wasn’t just musical — he also made appearances on the big and small screens, one of which was a memorable cameo on [_The Simpsons_](http://time.com/4667462/simpsons-predictions-donald-trump-lady-gaga/). For his animated appearance in 2002, Petty played a music tutor to Homer Simpson, teaching him the fine art of meaningful lyric writing in the episode “How I Spent My Strummer Vacation.” The episode also featured fellow rock musicians Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Lenny Kravitz, and Elvis Costello. In the clip, Petty attempts to teach Simpson and others how to write a sensitive rock song, but soon finds out that they would rather sing along to more boorish lyrics. Watch the hilarity ensue below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4966372/tom-petty-simpsons-cameo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4966372/tom-petty-simpsons-cameo/"},"headline":"Tom Petty's Simpson Cameo Perfectly Captured the Thinking Rock Star's Dilemma","datePublished":"2017-10-03T04:30:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:47:43.601Z","description":"\"See that drunk girl speedin' down the street? She's worried about the state of public schools\"","url":"https://time.com/4966372/tom-petty-simpsons-cameo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","viral","The Simpsons","tom petty","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e6de2f3ead1f065/6988e040fb4eac54d6893fa5/tom-petty-simpsons.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e6de2f3ead1f065/6988e040fb4eac54d6893fa5/tom-petty-simpsons.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tom-Petty-Simpsons","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4966372/tom-petty-simpsons-cameo/","name":"Tom Petty's Simpson Cameo Perfectly Captured the Thinking Rock Star's Dilemma"}}]}] ```