describes the show's style as changing "from intentionally rough to much more polished and plushie-toy ready." Voice acting Kricfalusi originally voiced Ren, styled after a demented Peter Lorre from the film The Maltese Falcon. When Nickelodeon terminated Kricfalusi's contract, Billy West, already the voice of Stimpy, took the role using a combination of Burl Ives, Kirk Douglas, and a slight "south of the border accent" for the rest of the Nickelodeon run. West voiced Stimpy for the Spümcø and Games Animation episodes, basing the voice on an "amped-up" Larry Fine. Some notable artists and performers who voiced incidental characters on the show were Frank Zappa, Jack Carter, Stan Freberg, Tommy Davidson, Randy Quaid, Gilbert Gottfried, Rosie O'Donnell, Dom DeLuise, Phil Hartman, Mark Hamill, and Soleil Moon Frye. Music The Ren & Stimpy Show features a wide variety of music, spanning rockabilly, folk, pop, jazz, classical music, jingles, and more. The opening and closing themes are performed by a group of Spümcø employees under the name "Die Screaming Leiderhôsens". Three Ren & Stimpy albums have been released. In 1993 a compilation album, You Eediot!, was released as a soundtrack album. The album's front cover is a parody of The Beatles' 11th studio album Abbey Road. Stimpy's rousing anthem titled "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" was composed by Christopher Reccardi and written by Charlie Brissette and John Kricfalusi. A cover of this song, performed by Wax, is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records. Grunge icon Kurt Cobain wanted to write a song for the show and proposed the idea to Billy West and John Kricfalusi, but was ultimately turned down. This was thought to be around 1992 when Cobain's band Nirvana was just breaking into the mainstream. Ever since fans have heard about the story, they wonder if the song might be one of the home recordings released on Montage of Heck in 2015. When asked on Twitter if he knew what happened to the song West replied, "I don't think the song exists. As far as I know it had yet to be written and remained a proposal." Controversy and censorship The program's staff did not want to create an "educational" series, a stance that bothered Nickelodeon, leading to the series being criticized by parent groups. Some segments of the show were altered to exclude references to religion, politics, alcohol,