Alf Clausen (born March 28, 1941) is an American composer and musician. He has scored every episode of The Simpsons except for the 13 episodes of Season 1 and 4 early Season 2 episodes. Clausen has been the sole composer on the show since 1990, with his first episode being "Treehouse of Horror". He was later fired on August 30, 2017[1] after "Dogtown" (technically his last episode was "Whistler's Father") and was replaced by Bleeding Fingers Music, consisting of Hans Zimmer and Russell Emanuel.
Despite being fired, Alf Clausen still works for the show, now as a composer emeritus.
Clausen has scored or orchestrated music for more than 30 films and television shows, including Moonlighting, The Naked Gun, ALF, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Awards and nominations
Awards include 2 Emmy awards, 27 Emmy nominations, 3 Annie Awards, 3 Annie nominations, 3 International Monitor Awards, Grammy and CLIO nominations, Honorary Doctor of Music Degree-Berklee College of Music, Honorary Doctor of Music Degree-North Dakota State University, Alumnus Recognition Award-Berklee College of Music, “One of Top 50 Alumni” Award-Berklee College of Music, the Alumni Achievement Award-North Dakota State University, the “1:00 O'Clock” Award-North Texas State University, two National Endowment For The Arts Composition Fellowship Grants, and 7 times recipient of the ASCAP Popular Award For Music Composition. Clausen is also a recipient of several ASCAP Film and Television Music awards.
Credits
Music By
Season 2
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror" (7F04)
- Episode – "Dancin' Homer" (7F05)
- Episode – "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" (7F07)
- Episode – "Bart the Daredevil" (7F06)
- Episode – "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" (7F09)
- Episode – "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" (7F10)
- Episode – "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" (7F11)
- Episode – "The Way We Was" (7F12)
- Episode – "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment" (7F13)
- Episode – "Principal Charming" (7F15)
- Episode – "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" (7F16)
- Episode – "Bart's Dog Gets an F" (7F14)
- Episode – "Old Money" (7F17)
- Episode – "Brush with Greatness" (7F18)
- Episode – "Lisa's Substitute" (7F19)
- Episode – "The War of the Simpsons" (7F20)
- Episode – "Three Men and a Comic Book" (7F21)
- Episode – "Blood Feud" (7F22)
Season 3
- Episode – "Stark Raving Dad" (7F24)
- Episode – "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" (8F01)
- Episode – "When Flanders Failed" (7F23)
- Episode – "Bart the Murderer" (8F03)
- Episode – "Homer Defined" (8F04)
- Episode – "Like Father, Like Clown" (8F05)
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror II" (as Sheer Terror Clausen) (8F02)
- Episode – "Lisa's Pony" (8F06)
- Episode – "Saturdays of Thunder" (8F07)
- Episode – "Flaming Moe's" (8F08)
- Episode – "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk" (8F09)
- Episode – "I Married Marge" (8F10)
- Episode – "Radio Bart" (8F11)
- Episode – "Lisa the Greek" (8F12)
- Episode – "Homer Alone" (8F14)
- Episode – "Bart the Lover" (8F16)
- Episode – "Homer at the Bat" (8F13)
- Episode – "Separate Vocations" (8F15)
- Episode – "Dog of Death" (8F17)
- Episode – "Colonel Homer" (8F19)
- Episode – "Black Widower" (8F20)
- Episode – "The Otto Show" (8F21)
- Episode – "Bart's Friend Falls in Love" (8F22)
- Episode – "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" (8F23)
Season 4
- Episode – "Kamp Krusty" (8F24)
- Episode – "A Streetcar Named Marge" (8F18)
- Episode – "Homer the Heretic" (9F01)
- Episode – "Lisa the Beauty Queen" (9F02)
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror III" (as Sheer Terror Clausen) (9F04)
- Episode – "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" (9F03)
- Episode – "Marge Gets a Job" (9F05)
- Episode – "New Kid on the Block" (9F06)
- Episode – "Mr. Plow" (9F07)
- Episode – "Lisa's First Word" (9F08)
- Episode – "Homer's Triple Bypass" (9F09)
- Episode – "Marge vs. the Monorail" (9F10)
- Episode – "Selma's Choice" (9F11)
- Episode – "Brother from the Same Planet" (9F12)
- Episode – "I Love Lisa" (9F13)
- Episode – "Duffless" (9F14)
- Episode – "Last Exit to Springfield" (9F15)
- Episode – "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" (9F17)
- Episode – "The Front" (9F16)
- Episode – "Whacking Day" (9F18)
- Episode – "Marge in Chains" (9F20)
- Episode – "Krusty Gets Kancelled" (9F19)
Season 5
- Episode – "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" (9F21)
- Episode – "Cape Feare" (9F22)
- Episode – "Homer Goes to College" (1F02)
- Episode – "Rosebud" (1F01)
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror IV" (as Sheer Terror Clausen) (1F04)
- Episode – "Marge on the Lam" (1F03)
- Episode – "Bart's Inner Child" (1F05)
- Episode – "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood" (1F06)
- Episode – "The Last Temptation of Homer" (1F07)
- Episode – "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)" (1F08)
- Episode – "Homer the Vigilante" (1F09)
- Episode – "Bart Gets Famous" (1F11)
- Episode – "Homer and Apu" (1F10)
- Episode – "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" (1F12)
- Episode – "Deep Space Homer" (1F13)
- Episode – "Homer Loves Flanders" (1F14)
- Episode – "Bart Gets an Elephant" (1F15)
- Episode – "Burns' Heir" (1F16)
- Episode – "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" (1F18)
- Episode – "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" (1F19)
- Episode – "Lady Bouvier's Lover" (1F21)
- Episode – "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" (1F20)
Season 6
- Episode – "Bart of Darkness" (1F22)
- Episode – "Lisa's Rival" (1F17)
- Episode – "Another Simpsons Clip Show" (2F33)
- Episode – "Itchy & Scratchy Land" (2F01)
- Episode – "Sideshow Bob Roberts" (2F02)
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror V" (as Sheer Terror Clausen) (2F03)
- Episode – "Bart's Girlfriend" (2F04)
- Episode – "Lisa on Ice" (2F05)
- Episode – "Homer Badman" (2F06)
- Episode – "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" (2F07)
- Episode – "Fear of Flying" (2F08)
- Episode – "Homer the Great" (2F09)
- Episode – "And Maggie Makes Three" (2F10)
- Episode – "Bart's Comet" (2F11)
- Episode – "Homie the Clown" (2F12)
- Episode – "Bart vs. Australia" (2F13)
- Episode – "Homer vs. Patty and Selma" (2F14)
- Episode – "A Star is Burns" (2F31)
- Episode – "Lisa's Wedding" (2F15)
- Episode – "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" (2F18)
- Episode – "The PTA Disbands" (2F19)
- Episode – "'Round Springfield" (2F32)
- Episode – "The Springfield Connection" (2F21)
- Episode – "Lemon of Troy" (2F22)
- Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)" (2F16)
Season 7
- Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" (2F20)
- Episode – "Radioactive Man" (2F17)
- Episode – "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily" (3F01)
- Episode – "Bart Sells His Soul" (3F02)
- Episode – "Lisa the Vegetarian" (3F03)
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror VI" (as Sheer Terror Clausen) (3F04)
- Episode – "King-Size Homer" (3F05)
- Episode – "Mother Simpson" (3F06)
- Episode – "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" (3F08)
- Episode – "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" (3F31)
- Episode – "Marge Be Not Proud" (3F07)
- Episode – "Team Homer" (3F10)
- Episode – "Two Bad Neighbors" (3F09)
- Episode – "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield" (3F11)
- Episode – "Bart the Fink" (3F12)
- Episode – "Lisa the Iconoclast" (3F13)
- Episode – "Homer the Smithers" (3F14)
- Episode – "The Day the Violence Died" (3F16)
- Episode – "A Fish Called Selma" (3F15)
- Episode – "Bart on the Road" (3F17)
- Episode – "22 Short Films About Springfield" (3F18)
- Episode – "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish"" (3F19)
- Episode – "Much Apu About Nothing" (3F20)
- Episode – "Homerpalooza" (3F21)
- Episode – "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" (3F22)
Season 8
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror VII" (as Sheer Terror Clausen) (4F02)
- Episode – "You Only Move Twice" (3F23)
- Episode – "The Homer They Fall" (4F03)
- Episode – "Burns, Baby Burns" (4F05)
- Episode – "Bart After Dark" (4F06)
- Episode – "A Milhouse Divided" (4F04)
- Episode – "Lisa's Date with Density" (4F01)
- Episode – "Hurricane Neddy" (4F07)
- Episode – "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)" (3F24)
- Episode – "The Springfield Files" (3G01)
- Episode – "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" (4F08)
- Episode – "Mountain of Madness" (4F10)
- Episode – "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" (3G03)
- Episode – "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" (4F12)
- Episode – "Homer's Phobia" (4F11)
- Episode – "Brother from Another Series" (4F14)
- Episode – "My Sister, My Sitter" (4F13)
- Episode – "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" (4F15)
- Episode – "Grade School Confidential" (4F09)
- Episode – "The Canine Mutiny" (4F16)
- Episode – "The Old Man and the Lisa" (4F17)
- Episode – "In Marge We Trust" (4F18)
- Episode – "Homer's Enemy" (4F19)
- Episode – "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" (4F20)
- Episode – "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" (4F21)
Season 9
- Episode – "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" (4F22)
- Episode – "The Principal and the Pauper" (4F23)
- Episode – "Lisa's Sax" (3G02)
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror VIII" (as Sheer Terror Clausen) (5F02)
- Episode – "The Cartridge Family" (5F01)
- Episode – "Bart Star" (5F03)
- Episode – "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" (5F04)
- Episode – "Lisa the Skeptic" (5F05)
- Episode – "Realty Bites" (5F06)
- Episode – "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" (5F07)
- Episode – "All Singing, All Dancing" (5F24)
- Episode – "Bart Carny" (5F08)
- Episode – "The Joy of Sect" (5F23)
- Episode – "Das Bus" (5F11)
- Episode – "The Last Temptation of Krust" (5F10)
- Episode – "Dumbbell Indemnity" (5F12)
- Episode – "Lisa the Simpson" (4F24)
- Episode – "This Little Wiggy" (5F13)
- Episode – "Simpson Tide" (3G04)
- Episode – "The Trouble with Trillions" (5F14)
- Episode – "Girly Edition" (5F15)
- Episode – "Trash of the Titans" (5F09)
- Episode – "King of the Hill" (5F16)
- Episode – "Lost Our Lisa" (5F17)
- Episode – "Natural Born Kissers" (5F18)
Season 10
- Episode – "Lard of the Dance" (5F20)
- Episode – "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" (5F21)
- Episode – "Bart the Mother" (5F22)
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror IX" (as Sheer Terror Claws-son) (AABF01)
- Episode – "When You Dish Upon a Star" (5F19)
- Episode – "D'oh-in' in the Wind" (AABF02)
- Episode – "Lisa Gets an "A"" (AABF03)
- Episode – "Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"" (AABF04)
- Episode – "Mayored to the Mob" (AABF05)
- Episode – "Viva Ned Flanders" (AABF06)
- Episode – "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" (AABF07)
- Episode – "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" (AABF08)
- Episode – "Homer to the Max" (AABF09)
- Episode – "I'm with Cupid" (AABF11)
- Episode – "Marge Simpson in: "Screaming Yellow Honkers"" (AABF10)
- Episode – "Make Room for Lisa" (AABF12)
- Episode – "Maximum Homerdrive" (AABF13)
- Episode – "Simpsons Bible Stories" (AABF14)
- Episode – "Mom and Pop Art" (AABF15)
- Episode – "The Old Man and the "C" Student" (AABF16)
- Episode – "Monty Can't Buy Me Love" (AABF17)
- Episode – "They Saved Lisa's Brain" (AABF18)
- Episode – "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" (AABF20)
Season 11
- Episode – "Beyond Blunderdome" (AABF23)
- Episode – "Brother's Little Helper" (AABF22)
- Episode – "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?" (AABF21)
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror X" (as Sheer Terror Claws-son) (BABF01)
- Episode – "E-I-E-I-D'oh" (AABF19)
- Episode – "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" (BABF02)
- Episode – "Eight Misbehavin'" (BABF03)
- Episode – "Take My Wife, Sleaze" (BABF05)
- Episode – "Grift of the Magi" (BABF07)
- Episode – "Little Big Mom" (BABF04)
- Episode – "Faith Off" (BABF06)
- Episode – "The Mansion Family" (BABF08)
- Episode – "Saddlesore Galactica" (BABF09)
- Episode – "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" (BABF10)
- Episode – "Missionary: Impossible" (BABF11)
- Episode – "Pygmoelian" (BABF12)
- Episode – "Bart to the Future" (BABF13)
- Episode – "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" (BABF14)
- Episode – "Kill the Alligator and Run" (BABF16)
- Episode – "Last Tap Dance in Springfield" (BABF15)
- Episode – "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" (BABF18)
- Episode – "Behind the Laughter" (BABF19)
Season 12
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XI" (as Sheer Terror Claws-son) (BABF21)
- Episode – "A Tale of Two Springfields" (BABF20)
- Episode – "Insane Clown Poppy" (BABF17)
- Episode – "Lisa the Tree Hugger" (CABF01)
- Episode – "Homer vs. Dignity" (CABF04)
- Episode – "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" (CABF02)
- Episode – "The Great Money Caper" (CABF03)
- Episode – "Skinner's Sense of Snow" (CABF06)
- Episode – "HOMR" (BABF22)
- Episode – "Pokey Mom" (CABF05)
- Episode – "Worst Episode Ever" (CABF08)
- Episode – "Tennis the Menace" (CABF07)
- Episode – "Day of the Jackanapes" (CABF10)
- Episode – "New Kids on the Blecch" (CABF12)
- Episode – "Hungry, Hungry Homer" (CABF09)
- Episode – "Bye Bye Nerdie" (CABF11)
- Episode – "Simpson Safari" (CABF13)
- Episode – "Trilogy of Error" (CABF14)
- Episode – "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" (CABF15)
- Episode – "Children of a Lesser Clod" (CABF16)
- Episode – "Simpsons Tall Tales" (CABF17)
Season 13
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XII" (CABF19)
- Episode – "The Parent Rap" (CABF22)
- Episode – "Homer the Moe" (CABF20)
- Episode – "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" (CABF18)
- Episode – "The Blunder Years" (CABF21)
- Episode – "She of Little Faith" (DABF02)
- Episode – "Brawl in the Family" (DABF01)
- Episode – "Sweets and Sour Marge" (DABF03)
- Episode – "Jaws Wired Shut" (DABF05)
- Episode – "Half-Decent Proposal" (DABF04)
- Episode – "The Bart Wants What It Wants" (DABF06)
- Episode – "The Lastest Gun in the West" (DABF07)
- Episode – "The Old Man and the Key" (DABF09)
- Episode – "Tales from the Public Domain" (DABF08)
- Episode – "Blame It on Lisa" (DABF10)
- Episode – "Weekend at Burnsie's" (DABF11)
- Episode – "Gump Roast" (DABF12)
- Episode – "I Am Furious Yellow" (DABF13)
- Episode – "The Sweetest Apu" (DABF14)
- Episode – "Little Girl in the Big Ten" (DABF15)
- Episode – "The Frying Game" (DABF16)
- Episode – "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" (DABF17)
Composer Emeritus
- Episode – "The Serfsons"
- Episode – "Springfield Splendor"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XXVIII" (as "You Don't Know Jack O'Lantern")
- Episode – "Grampy Can Ya Hear Me"
- Episode – "The Old Blue Mayor She Ain't What She Used To Be"
- Episode – "Singin' In The Lane"
- Episode – "Mr. Lisa's Opus"
- Episode – "Gone Boy"
- Episode – "Haw-Haw Land"