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This June, Los Angeles’ second incarnation of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival opens at Royce Hall. Despite not taking place exclusively – or even primarily – on campus, this year’s festival is shaping up to be at least nearly on par with the past year’s, easily UCLA’s best arts event of 2002. What makes this year’s L.A. ATP unique is that for the first time in the history of the festival, which also goes off annually in New York and England, the curator of the event, responsible for selecting and inviting the performers, is not a band or musician. Instead, this year’s curator is Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons” and “Futurama.”

“What?” you say. “A cartoon guy? Messing with my rock ’n’ roll music?” Well, bespectacled indie nerds everywhere, let me be the first to say, fear not! Notwithstanding the automatic trust you should place in every action taken in any context by a creative genius of Groening’s caliber (the man created “The Simpsons” for chrissakes), you should probably also know that he spent years working as a rock critic and has famously hip musical tastes.

The lineup of this year’s festival, while perhaps not commanding as much superstar power as last year’s, is still an impressive assemblage of outstanding musical talent. So we don’t have Wilco or Aphex Twin, but we’re still gonna see Wire, and The Fall, and Neko Case and ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. The latter is today’s most notorious live act, as whispers around Austin suggest – perhaps not blasphemously – that on stage they could even rival Iggy Pop circa ’69 at his self-mutilating best.

But can this possibly come as a surprise? Do you even watch “The Simpsons?” Has any show ever been more noted for hilarious musical sequences and tres hip guest spots?

No!

Walk with me a little, if you will, down the musical memory lane of some of the show’s finest moments.

Remember when Mr. Burns stole the Simpsons’ beloved greyhound puppies?

Remember how much we worried? Of course you do. But think you well: What was the soothing balm assuaging even little Bart’s most dire fears? You know how it goes. “See...my...vest...”

There are more, of course. Apu’s “Who Needs That Quick-E-Mart?” The rousing number that saved, well almost, Springfield’s only burlesque house, “We Put the Spring in Springfield.” And the finest musical number of all: the head-slappingly brilliant number from “Kickin’ It, a musical journey through the Betty Ford Center.” That’s right, “You’re Checking In,” the song whose acerbic lyrics represent some of the very best writing the show has ever had. “No more pills, or alcohol, no more pot or Demerol no more stinkin’ fun at all!” sings the detoxing main character. Ouch.

The guest spots, too, comprise some of the show’s best moments. Edna Krabappel stealing the drumsticks from Joey Kramer of Aerosmith, Spinal Tap’s appearance in Springfield, Apu’s jam session with Paul and Linda McCartney: classics, every one.

The crowning musical achievement of “The Simpsons,” however, was also one of the four best episodes of all time, and ultimately came to be one of the defining moments of ’90s popular culture. I’m speaking of course of Hullapalooza. “The Simpsons’” answer to the alternative generation featured guest spots by Cyprus Hill, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and Peter Frampton. It dissected every thing we love about rock and laid it out on the table, so that we might see its stupidity, its beauty and its power, and love it even more. It provided two lines of dialogue that came to sum up the attitude of an entire generation of angsty teens. “Dude, are you being sarcastic?” “I don’t even know anymore.”

For the last 14 years, “The Simpsons” has consistently been our finest cultural critic. If one man is capable of creating something of that magnitude, then dammit he can pick what bands I watch this June any day.