Parks And Recreation Band Mouse Rat Has Actually Made The Billboard Charts
In case you didn't hear, the most famous band from "Parks and Recreation" locale Pawnee, Indiana has officially released an album. Mouse Rat, led by the charmingly absent-minded Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), debuted "The Awesome Album" on August 27, and it landed in quite an impressive spot on the Billboard charts. The Hollywood Reporter says the album from Universal Television/Dualtone Records debuted at No. 2 in the Comedy Albums chart, No. 11 on the Heatseekers Albums chart, and No. 17 on the Top Album Sales charts in the week ending September 2. As Andy might say if he heard this news first-hand, "That is the coolest sentence I have ever heard anybody talk."
Mouse Rat is the Greatest Band Ever
Mouse Rat isn't the first fictional band to hit the Billboard charts. When the "Saturday Night Live" characters The Blues Brothers starred in their own feature film, the soundtrack found two top 40 hits on the charts with covers of Sam and Dave's "Soul Man" and The Chips' "Rubber Biscuit." Plus, let's not forget The Wonders (formerly The Oneders) landed on the Billboard charts with that catchy title song "That Thing You Do!" Unfortunately, they were just one-hit Wonders.
As for the cast of "Parks and Recreation," a few of the cast members already previously waves on the Billboard charts, thanks to their work in other movies. Chris Pratt and Nick Offerman (who appears on the album as Duke Silver) both made it on digital sales charts thanks to "Everything's Not Awesome" from "The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part," a riff on "Everything is Awesome" from "The LEGO Movie." In fact, "Parks and Recreation" co-star Ben Schwartz was also included in the sequel's song, though he doesn't appear on the Mouse Rat album in any capacity.
Aziz Ansari also landed himself on the Billboard charts with three of his comedy albums. And Billy Eichner, who joined the "Parks and Recreation" cast for the final two seasons had three songs make it to Billboard charts thanks to his role as Timon on "The Lion King" soundtrack.
If this is your first time hearing about "The Awesome Album" being released by Mouse Rat, you can still pre-order the vinyl release right here, along with some other cool gear inspired by the band. Otherwise, it's available to buy and stream digitally right now. Here's the full tracklist:
- 5,000 Candles in the Wind (Bye, Bye Lil Sebastian)
- The Pit
- Sex Hair
- Catch Your Dream (feat. Duke Silver)
- Two Birds Holding Hands
- Ann Song
- The Way You Look Tonight
- Menace Ball
- Remember
- I Get A Kick Out Of You
- Lovely Tonight
- I've Got You Under My Skin
- I Only Have Eyes For You
- Pickled Ginger (performed by Land Ho!)
- Cold Water (performed by Scott Tanner feat. Duke Silver)