Pop Shots – 7 Songs For Your Thanksgiving Day Parade

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, with Thanksgiving come up on Thursday I’ve put together a special holiday themed column that celebrates the time honored tradition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

How am I doing this? With a playlist of seven songs that represent everything you’ll find on the parade route!

Of course, since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

My Chemical Romance – Welcome To The Black Parade

 

Emo kids everywhere marched to My Chemical Romance back in the day, although a word of advice to anyone actually attending the Thanksgiving Day parade, or any parade, for that matter – don’t saddle your kid with expectations of hoping they’ll grow up to be the savior of the broken, the beaten, and the damned. That’s a heck of a lot to try to live up to.

Nena – 99 Luftballons

 

What would the Thanksgiving Day parade be without balloons? Lame, that’s what it would be, and we’d never have the episode of Friends where Underdog got away.

In 1983 German pop rock band Nena gave us “99 Luftballons,” which was actually an anti-war song where balloons being shot down ignite a conflict of cataclysmic proportions.

Thankfully, I’m reasonably sure our giant inflatable Underdog will never spark a war.

Joe Budden – Pump It Up

 

If we ever want to see that Underdog balloon up in the air, it’s going to take a night of pumping it up, and who better to pump it up than Joe Budden?

OK, perhaps professionals would be a better choice, but I like to image this song is part of the soundtrack to their long night of inflating the massive balloons that go on to parade above Midtown on Thanksgiving morning.

As a bonus, Joe mentions BET Uncut in the song, and we all know I’m an official historian of that show.

Modest Mouse – Float On

 

In addition to balloons, every Thanksgiving Day parade needs floats, and we need those floats to “Float On” down the parade’s path.

I gotta say, after watching the video for “Float On” for the first time in years, if Modest Mouse could recreate this for an actual float they should be allowed to be in the Thanksgiving Day parade every year.

In the meantime, we’ll all enjoy watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, cast of Sesame Street, and a bunch of random brands advertising themselves, “Float On” down the parade route.

Lipps Inc. – Funkytown

 

Many of those aforementioned floats will include bands, singers, or Broadway musical cast members “performing” a song. Performing has to be in quotes because while their lips may be moving, it’s usually a whole lotta lip syncing.

Honestly, I can’t get mad at that. It’s usually freezing outside for the parade, and there’s no way for an artist to have their best vocals, or protect their voice, in that kind of weather. So in the end, we’ll just see them move their Lipps.

Run-DMC w/ Aerosmith – Walk This Way

 

Everyone involved in a parade should be wearing comfortable shoes, because it’s a whole lot of walking.

Actually, it’s a lot of walking, stopping, and walking again. In other words, they’ll be walking a very specific way, so before anything begins on Thanksgiving morning someone is going to have to round everyone up, and let them know to “Walk This Way.”

It would be even better if they played this song while giving the instructions.

R.E.M. – Stand

 

While the parade participants will be walking, those in attendance will be standing … for a while.

I have no idea how anyone goes to the bathroom during one of these events. Are people secretly peeing into a cup, and if so, how come we never have a TV network accidentally catch someone relieving themselves on camera?

OK, that was a weird tangent, but the fact remains, if you attend the Thanksgiving Day parade you will, in the words of R.E.M. – stand in the place where you live.

That’s all for this edition of Pop Shots, but come back next Monday for more shots on all things pop.