Cohen at least deserved a "story by" credit. To do research for this episode, Forrester went to one of the Lollapalooza concerts, which he thought would be a fun little perk, but ended up being a horrible experience. Several of the jokes in this episode are based on his experiences: cameras were being seized and thrown in the garbage, there were numerous advertisements, several "sour faced teens", a real freak show (Jim Rose Circus), and at one point a stranger approached Forrester and asked, "how's it going, narc?". During Homer's confrontation with the Hullabalooza crowd, there is a brief shot of Homer with the members of the musical group No Doubt behind him. Gwen Stefani's brother Eric Stefani, who himself had been a member of the band, was working as an animator at The Simpsons at the time and added them in. Casting The writers were aiming to have artists that represented several genres: hip hop (Cypress Hill), alternative rock (Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins), and a classic rock singer. Originally, Bob Dylan was sought for this role, but he was replaced by Peter Frampton. Billy Corgan impressed the production staff by doing strong impersonations of Homer and Marge, though it was decided to not have him use them in the episode. Pearl Jam was asked to appear in the episode but declined. Originally, Courtney Love and Hole were wanted for this episode, but they declined. According to the DVD commentary, an unnamed group had said that if Courtney Love were in the episode, they would not be. An Entertainment Weekly article revealed that the group was Sonic Youth. It was thought that Love would appear in the episode because she had recently done a film with James L. Brooks, but she never responded to the request. Love was wanted specifically for one joke which would be in an exchange between her and Homer: Courtney Love: Hi Homer! I'm a big fan, Courtney Love.Homer: Homer Grateful! However, she did not appear and the joke was reworded for Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins:Billy Corgan: Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins.Homer: Homer Simpson, smiling politely. Cultural references The flashback where Homer meets the guys in the van is based on the film Dazed and Confused. Several of the scenes where Homer is hit with a cannonball are based on famous stock footage of Frank "Cannonball" Richards being hit with a cannonball, as is the