You might have noticed the peculiar name “Alf Clausen” standing out in the credits of most classic Simpsons episodes. The man was the show’s main musical composer starting in the second season and for over 550 episodes afterward. Alf passed away on Thursday after a long battle with Parkinson’s; his daighter Kaarin Clausen broke the news to the press late Friday.
After graduating college with a major in music, Clausen moved to Los Angeles in the late 60s, where he gradually rose in rank until landing his first real composing gig for the show Donny and Marie. He waved his baton for several notable movies and TV shows after that — Splash, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Airplane II, Moonlighting…and yes, Alf made the music for Alf.
But his most memorable – and longest — gig wouldn’t happen until 1990, when Matt Groening asked him if he would score an animated series. Thinking of the bouncy tunes of Disney and Hanna-Barbera, Clausen initially turned the job down. Groening explained to him that “traditional” cartoon music wasn’t what they wanted. Matt is quoted as saying “We look on our show as being, not a cartoon, we look upon it as a drama where the characters are drawn, and we would like it scored that way. Could you do that?” He could.
Clausen’s first episode was the original Treehouse of Horror, and he became the central composer after that, directing the Fox live orchestra from the second to the 28th season. He’d take home an Emmy twice, for his work on “We Put the Spring in Springfield” in 1997 and “You’re Checkin’ In” from the New York episode in 1998, and he also won five Annie Awards.
Clausen’s tenure with The Simpsons would come to an abrupt end when executives decided to cut costs by eliminating the orchestra, handing off The Simpsons’ score to Bleeding Fingers Music in 2017. Clausen sued them, claiming he was fired due to age discrimination. His family would reach a settlement with 20th Television in 2022.
Clausen is survived by his wife Sally, daughter Kaarin, sons Scott and Kyle and stepchildren Joshua and Emily. He was 84 years old.
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