By Alex Rice
Screengrab via NBC Not pictured: The Li'l Sebastian hologram.
The offbeat workplace sitcom Parks and Recreation has always found humor in the dullness of government work, and it also celebrates the world of music. From '90s hitmakers like Ginuwine and Letters to Cleo to indie-rock heavyweights the Decemberists and Jeff Tweedy to Pawnee's own Mouse Rat and Duke Silver, musical subplots were constantly on the horizon. Just think what the show might've been ifthe RZA been chosen to play Leslie Knope.
That's enough eulogizing, though, especially since there's still two episodes to go. After making it clear that this whole thing is a massive spoiler alert, let's take a look at the ten best onscreen musical moments in Parks and Rec history.
See also: Jeff Tweedy, Ginuwine Sing for Unity on Parks & Rec Season Finale
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| Screengrab via NBC |
10. Andy, Mark and April play Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy" on Rock Band 2 (Season 1, Episode 2 - "Canvassing")
Much like its mockumentary forefather The Office, Parks and Recreation's six-episode first season took on a different tone, chronicling an uncomfortable group of acquaintances-by-circumstance and the boring government jobs they hated. Among a few early goofball moments, however, was when deputy parks director Leslie Knope and her new nurse friend, Ann Perkins, walked in on Ann's boyfriend Andy Dwyer, dearly departed city planner Mark Brendanawicz and Andy's future wife April Ludgate playing Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy" on Rock Band 2 when they were supposed to be working.
At this point Dwyer was sitting on the couch all day with a broken leg, losing iPods and chopsticks in his cast, and headed for a stint of homelessness. Add in the fact that he would have been eighteen when the frat-rock favorite was released in 1999, and there's no better tune for him to sing poorly than this one.
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| Screengrab via NBC |
Parks and Rec has taken plenty of cartoonish liberties with reality in its seven seasons, but somehow, "Pony" hitmaker Ginuwine being the cousin of parks department office manager Donna Meagle seems completely within the realm of possibility.
It's revealed that Donna is related to the '90s star when coworker and lover of R&B Tom Haverford visits her house and sees a platinum Ginuwine record hanging on the wall and a picture of the cousins on the mantle. "The Ginuwine is your cousin?" Haverford exclaims, leading then-girlfriend Ann Perkins to ask who the singer is. He then tells the camera about his "Oh No No" list for dating and how "not loving '90s R&B music" is the No. 3 reason for ending a relationship. The rant is almost enough to forgive the show for pairing him up with Perkins, a rare misstep by the Parks writers.
8. Andy Dwyer Lists His Band's Former Names (Season 1, Episode 6 - "Rock Show")
It's a small miracle that Andy Dwyer's band ever got any traction in the Pawnee music scene, considering how often it changed its moniker.
"The band has had a few different names over the years," Andy tells the camera in the first season's finale, before rattling off a list of punny erstwhile identities including Department of Homeland Obscurity, God Hates Figs, Malice in Chains, 2 Doors Down and Threeskin. Chris Pratt claims he went through around 200 fake band names during filming, half of them improvised. His bandmates were known as Scarecrow Boat at this point, but of course it would become famous in the real world as Mouse Rat.
7. Andy Becomes a Children's Musician (Various)
Getting paid to play Craig Middlebrooks' nephew's birthday party unlocked yet another persona in the life of Andy Dwyer: Johnny Karate. From then on, Karate brought laughter to children with songs about boogers and other important topics, impressed Scott Tanner (Jeff Tweedy) enough to prompt a Land Ho! reunion, and eventually parlayed the character into a TV program called The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show. That show came to an end in last week's episode as Andy and wife April prepare to move to Washington, D.C., so add the musical goodbye, "The Johnny Karate Way," to the list of sweet but painful goodbyes from this final Parks and Rec season.
Parks and Recreation Neutral Milk Hotel Shout from Mango Nebula on Vimeo.
6. Andy Gets Jealous of Jeff Mangum (Season 3, Episode 14 - "Road Trip")When you're busy penning classics like "Sex Hair," "The Pit" and "5,000 Candles in the Wind," there's not much room for studying up on Pitchfork's Top 100 Albums of the 1990s list. Not that Matchbox Twenty and Dave Matthews Band devotee Andy would find much to enjoy.
During a modified version of The Newlywed Game called Know Ya Boo, Andy is asked which rock star April "would bang" if she had the chance. "This is almost too easy -- me," Andy answers. Then, his boo holds up a dry-erase board with Neutral Milk Hotel leader Jeff Mangum's name on it, much to the Mouse Rat frontman's chagrin. "Their music is sad and depressing and weird," Andy says. "And art is supposed to be happy and fun, and everyone knows that."
