5 Gen X Cartoon Characters With Surprising Rock Star Voices

‘Rugrats’ ran for 13 years starting in 1991. Around the time the 'Rugrats' movies came out, most of its original fan base was too grown up to pay attention, but if you did happen to catch a glimpse of 'The Rugrats Movie' (or a handful of episodes following the 1998 film), you might have caught a snippet of Busta Rhymes giving voice to the iconic Reptar in dad Stu Pickles’ Reptar wagon invention.

Eight years before Fergie met musical fame with Wild Orchid, she was the darling Sally in ‘Peanuts,' voicing two made-for-TV movies and a slew of episodes in the 1980s.

Flea, the bassist and co-founder of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, was also the voice of the youngest and wildest son on Nickelodeon’s ‘The Wild Thornberrys.' The producers (who also gave life to ‘Rugrats’) tapped Flea to animate young Donnie Thornberry. In the cartoon, Donnie was raised in the wild by apes, and he comes to be adopted by the Thornberry parents. Flea’s trademark energy gave the perfect hyper voice to the little boy.

‘Ren and Stimpy,' one of the most off-color cartoons of its time, if not all time, offered a tiny role to one of the most iconic rockers of all time, Frank Zappa. He only had a few lines as the Pope in an episode featuring Powdered Toast Man, but the show seems an appropriate match for the eccentric Zappa.

The sagacious Johnny Cash gave voice to an also wise, spirit-guiding coyote in a guest spot on the long-running ‘Simpsons.' In the clip, Homer climbs a Mayan pyramid and meets Cash’s coyote, whom advises him that “clarity is the path to inner peace,” right before gnawing on Homer's leg.