#33: Mouse Rat returns
#33: Mouse Rat returns
A look at bands from TV & film
A few days ago, the fictional band Mouse Rat, a.k.a. Chris Pratt’s group in Parks and Recreation, released its debut full-length, The Awesome Album. You may ask, “Why would the album come out six and a half years after the finale of the low-rated show that spawned it?” Good question! After all, Chris Pratt seems to be very busy these days starring in movies and lifting weights. I can’t find a definitive answer, which leads me to believe there isn’t one beyond, “Well, why not?” I can get with that, especially if it brings back a little bit of that Parks and Rec magic.
In honor of The Awesome Album, I decided to do an old school, quasi-A.V. Club Inventory to highlight some of the more ridiculously named bands from TV and film. As in Inventory, this list is neither ranked nor hardly definitive.
1. Hey That’s My Bike
Ethan Hawke’s band in the maybe-sorta-fondly-remembered-but-not-really Reality Bites. The 1994 film is a mid-’90s Gen X time capsule, complete with Hawke’s character playing in a grunge-type band with a suitably “no chance of success” name. Even though I only sort of remember this movie—it played a lot on the University of Missouri’s RHEN channel back in 1994—this name pops in my head every time I think of fictional bands.
2. Crucifictorious
Jesse Plemons as Landry was one of the myriad delights of Friday Night Lights—forget about that murder in season two—including his goofy Christian metal band, Crucifictorious. Bad name, terrible music, but great T-shirt. (I ordered it from the NBC Store years ago, but the network didn’t actually put Jesus on it, like Landry’s shirt below. Secular Hollywood at it again! KEEP CHRIST IN CRUCIFICTORIOUS!)
3. Dr. Fünke’s 100% Natural Good-Time Family Band Solution
Arrested Development’s Tobias Fünke had few successes in his life, but his short-lived trio with wife Lindsay and daughter Maeby had a good run performing at medical trade shows for a hot minute. Their songs were all about the drugs sold by their patron, the Natural Life Food Company (a division of ChemGrow, an Allyn-Crane Acquisition, and part of the Squimm Group). In season one’s “Best Man for the Gob,” Tobias attempts to get the band back together for a gig, which as well as everything else for him.
4. Fuck Your Yankee Blue Jeans
“That doesn’t sound metal!”
5. Defiance of Anthropomorphic Sea Mammals
Sketch shows are a bit of a cheat, but I love this Portlandia band of pretentious parents performing incredibly grating noise-rock for kids. “Just keep an open mind,” mumbles Carrie Brownstein before they open for Squiggleman.
6. Dingoes Ate My Baby
Oz and Devon’s band popped up periodically in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, until Oz left Sunnydale and they presumably broke up. The Buffyverse Wiki tells me the music was written and performed by Four Star Mary. (Looks like the German band that goes by Dingoes Ate My Baby wasn’t around while Buffy was in production.) Judging by this band pic from 2015, denim shirts are required, though chambray may be allowed on certain occasions.
7. Flat-Top Tony and the Purple Canoes
I could do an omnibus entry on Mr. Show, but this throwaway joke from the Indomitable Spirit sketch is one of my favorites from the series. Indomitable Spirit’s members have disabilities—two are missing their arms (David Cross and John Ennis), one’s just a head (Jay Johnston, ugh), and one is simply a woman (Sarah Silverman)—and they perform their inspirational music at schools. In the sketch, ex-member Bob Odenkirk—missing one arm—confronts them at a performance. He boasts how he’s an original member, back when the band was called Flat-Top Tony and the Purple Canoes. That tops the other band names in the Mr. Show world, including Wyckyd Sceptre.
Many times, when talking about how long I’ve liked a certain band, I’ve said, “I’ve liked them since they were called Flat-Top Tony and the Purple Canoes!” To the enjoyment of literally no one.
8. Sex Bomb-omb
Scott Pilgrim’s band from Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World perfectly encapsulates what you could lazily—and accurately—call a hipster name. A portmanteau composed of a character from Super Mario Brothers and a late-period Tom Jones hit offers just the right balance of not quite esoteric, but not widely known references. Those in the know feel cool for getting it, and people who need it explained won’t feel completely dumb. It’s win-win, really.
POST-SCRIPTS
Track two on The Awesome Album is “The Pit,” from Parks & Recreation’s little-loved first season. Hot take: There’s a lot of funny in that short first season.
Thanks to Josh Modell and Sean O’Neal for some additional suggestions. The only way this could’ve felt more like an actual Inventory solicit from the old days is if I received 10 replies that began with, “I don’t know if this fits, but…”
You can get a used copy of the A.V. Club Inventory book for as low as $.42!
“I’m Fran, and I’m a woman!”
Apologies this is so very late, but work has been absolutely brutal. As I mentioned in #17, from here on out, expect the free newsletter to arrive during the first half of the month, and the subscribers-only one to arrive by the 31st. Which means this one just barely made it.