Kidney Now!
This first video demonstrates the extent the writers will go to to create an almost believable song. It was designed to spoof real life songs written for charities, such as 'Band Aid' or 'We are the World'. I think the mix between pure goofyness and taking it seriously is dead on and the singers really pull it off. It features in the last scene of the season 3 finale and artists that can be heard include: Sheryl Crow, Mary J Blige, Elvis Costello, Cyndi Lauper, Clay Aiken, Adam Levine, The Beastie Boys, Moby, Michael McDonald and of course Jane Krakowski makes her presence known as the character of Jenna riffs heavily near the end of the song. On a personal note my favourite line would have to be: 'This country has 600 million kidneys and we only really need half, that leaves about 300 million kidneys, do the math'. Watch the video in full below.
Werewolf Bar Mitzvah:
This song was actually only featured in the show for roughly 8 seconds but it has become a fan favourite for 30 Rock viewers. Tracy himself describes it as a 'novelty party song' in the season 2 episode 'Jack Gets in the Game'. The line 'boys becoming men, men becoming wolves' is inspired and in terms of visuals, the video is described as 'a “Thriller” like montage of badly made-up werewolves sporting lame disco moves while celebrating a coming-of-age ceremony'. The video below features the song in its entirety, and deserves a listen just for Tracy's knowledge of 'jewish words' alone.
This was actually the first taster of the musical abilities of the show. It features heavily in the first season, but does still appear as a backing track in recent episodes, more often than not as a dance remix. In the storyline it reached No. 4 in Belgium and surprisingly No. 1 in Israel. It's described as a 'dance - pop hybrid' and Jenna gets to perform it with Ghostface Killah at the end of 'The Girly Show' in a season 1 episode. Watch the video below, but beware it tends to get stuck in your head for a long time after.
Tennis Night:
Muffin Top is not the only musical number Jenna has in the show. In fact she features heavily in a selection of different arrangements, probably because, despite the character being a nut job, she does actually have a very good voice. This particular song was Jenna's attempt at 'going country' under the guidance of Jack, and actually spoofs the real life 'Football Night' promotional video done by Faith Hill. I think the real punch-line is the eastern european players names and this line in particular: 'put down your meth and slip on your whites'. Apparently there was an actual 'tennis night' broadcast sometime in 2009, but it bombed and was never scheduled again. I think with an introduction like this it would've been a hit.
Mystic Pizza: The Musical
Another fantastic musical moment from 30 Rock was when Jenna landed the lead role in a broadway adaptation of the Julia Robert's 1988 film; Mystic Pizza. Apparently Jenna was required to eat 32 slices of pizza on stage every week, and therefore this led to her gaining an enormous amount of weight in season 2. This actually led to her most successful period in her career, garnering the popular catchphrase 'Me Want Food!' and of course becoming the face of the 'Enorme', the number one perfume for plus sized women. Below is the lead song from the smash hit musical.
Of course there are many other Jenna musical moments that I can't find videos of unfortunately, but this doesn't mean they are not as funny. For example there was Jenna's quest to 'become' Janis Joplin which led to cover versions of her songs including: 'Break another little chunk of my lung now mister' and of course there was her duet with Jimi Hendrixson at Woodstocks. Other musical moments include renditions of: The Greatest Love of All, Don't Cry Out Loud, Chocolate Rain, her ode to America and of course her dead on Michael McDonald impression found here.
There are plenty of other musical moments featuring the rest of the cast, most notably: a 'Midnight Train to Georgia' parody called 'Quarter to Midnight Train to Georgia', Tracy's christmas song 'A Jordan Christmas' and obviously a selection of Liz moments found below:
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