Family Guy was initially just meant to be a cash grab during the animation boom of the '90s that eventually grew into an animation empire of its own. With its harsh commentary, constant pop culture references, and Seth MacFarlane's distinctive panache, Family Guy is a brand well-known to every household, and it has entertained fans for the past couple of decades.
And while its jokes and stories have done a good job of beefing up the content, one thing that really sets it apart from the competition is its long line of musical numbers. Whether they're taking jabs with originals, parodying their favorites, or just doing an outright homage, this series is chock full of tunes. Here are a few of the time-tested series' best musical numbers. Don't worry. There won't be any Conway Twitty.
10 Gotta Give Up The Toad
A remnant from Family Guy's early, golden years, "Gotta Give Up the Toad," is one of the few PSAs from the series, where they tell the fans to not do drugs. When the new drug craze, toad, starts sweeping Meg's school, Peter gets the brilliant idea to infiltrate its halls Jump Street/Fonzie-style.
While there, he manages to get in good with the cool crowd and turn the entire school with this beautiful sock-and-hop number, outfitted with all the panache and dance moves of the 1950s.
9 Christmastime Is Killing Us
Family Guy isn't known for having nice Christmas specials. Besides its first one, the series has commonly skewed to some of the darkest holiday beats around, and "Road to the North Pole" takes the cake along with everyone's smiles. It's a dark depiction of what excess and greed has done to the holidays, and its counter-intuitive spirit is best encapsulated in this little jingle.
Santa Claus is fed up with the holidays and sings about the various ways that the modern age of the season has overworked his elves, polluted his land, and, well, slowly killed him. It's a powerful, sobering number to really take the Christmas spirit down a notch.
8 Mr. Booze
Seth MacFarlane has a strong affinity for referencing classic musicals and the Rat Pack in his show, and his rendition of "Mr. Booze" is a classic example. Brian and Peter have had a few too many DUIs and are forced to attend AA. However, deciding that they don't really need to change, they convert their AA team to a secret drinking den.
When the police catch wind of this, the group quickly transitions their room into an old-timey AA sermon and sing their own fun version of "Mr. Booze" from Robin and the Seven Hoods. It's soulful, campy, and everyone reveals the quirky ways that drinking has affected them, such as Carl watching too many movies or Ollie Williams' entire character.
7 Shipoopi
While "Mr. Booze" was a fun ditty, it's not quite as memorable or celebrated as another Family Guy musical rip-off. When Peter joins the New England Patriots, he struggles to keep his showboating in check.
After making a single touchdown during a game, Peter goes full force and gets the entire stadium to dance and sing to The Music Man's "Shipoopi." It's an outrageously fun performance and a grand example of showboating that gets him fired.
6 Rhode Island
Seth MacFarlane's love for the Rat Pack continues when he actually enrolls the help of legacy Frank Sinatra, Jr. to help him on the show. When Brian struggles with his own mortality, he finds new joy and purpose when he joins Frank's performances on stage.
During one performance that he brings Stewie along for, he unsuspectingly finds the little Griffin both joining the number and throwing in a few classic jabs to the rapport.
5 Road To Rhode Island
Frank Sinatra, Jr., however, was not the first person to get the show to sing about Rhode Island. One of the series' best musical numbers about the state occurs during the show's first "Road To" homage. In the episode "Road to Rhode Island," Brian and Stewie find themselves lost on their way back home.
After a wild journey that involves Brian meeting his mother, the two hitch a ride on a train. Putting on their best Bing Crosby and Bob Hope masks, the two undergo a fun song that is both celebratory and a little deconstructive of the musical number structure.
4 Music & Lyrics By Stewie Griffin
It's no secret that Stewie Griffin has quite a performative, creative flare. Incredibly in touch with his more vulnerable and emotional side, Stewie has been a constant voice for a lot of musical artists popular with everyone's moms.
This is at full display when he falls in love with Susie Swanson and creates an overly-indulgent and convoluted music video. It's filled with surreal imagery, congested symbolism, and no clear narrative thread to tie everything together. It's amazing.
3 The Rose
Not every musical number in the show needs to be funny or compliment some element of the show. Sometimes, they're just random homages and references that were just a fun time for the entire crew. In the episode "Baby Not on Board," the Griffins go on a road trip and decide to sing a neat ditty to pass the time.
However, instead of singing road trip classics like "99 Bottles of Beer" or "This Old Man," they do an entire recording session of Amanda McBroom's "The Rose." There' no wild antics. It's just five people with sincere attitudes and in fine tune with one another singing an emotional classic.
2 A Bag Of Weed
When this list started, it mentioned a classic PSA against drug abuse. That would, of course, be one of the rare instances of the show doing this. The series would become immensely pro-drug or, to be more specific, pro-marijuana, as the series went on.
After Brian gets arrested for having a small portion of pot, he enlists Stewie's help to try and get pot legalized in their town. While simply yelling and protesting struggled to get supporters, a grand musical number talking about the magic of a bag of weed managed to propel their campaign to new heights.
1 The Freaking FCC
Family Guy is unapologetically a controversial series. Reveling in raunchy and offensive content, the creators are always at odds with their producers and censors, namely the Federal Communications Commission, aka the FCC. They get an opportunity to express their frustration with the TV guide's natural predator in the episode "PTV."
When Peter's new TV broadcast comes to odds with the FCC, he, Peter, and Stewie try to explain the issues with the FCC in a fun musical number, going over the various things the FCC has come to influence and censor. The performance itself is racy in its own way and is one of the most popular bits in the series' history.