Music has been part of 30 Rock's DNA since the first moment of its pilot. Featuring a score composed by Jeff Richmond, husband to Tina Fey, the show took every possible opportunity to add a musical element to the already surreal and cartoonish world of TGS With Tracy Jordan.
Though the series included memorial covers of classic songs like Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train To Georgia" and "I Will Always Love You," the series also created quite a few original songs to serve the zany situations in which they find themselves. These are the 10 best original songs that 30 Rock had to offer.
"Cleveland"
Featured in the season one episode of the same name, "Cleveland" is sung by Liz and Floyd as they explore the city and Liz ponders whether she could ever move there. After leaving New York, Liz is briefly enamored with Cleveland because of how peaceful it is compared to the Big Apple.
The song takes a neat 1960s-inspired sound, as if it was written as a commercial jingle, and features lyrics describing how wonderfully mundane the city is.
"Make A Pizza"
Between seasons one and two, Jenna stars in Mystic Pizza: The Musical on Broadway. The taste of the show we get to see is the number "Make A Pizza," a rousing song about how life is like a pizza, and you have to use the ingredients you are given.
Basically an extended "when life gives you lemons" metaphor, the act of performing this number and starring in the musical that required eating four slices of pizza per performance for an entire summer and caused Jenna to gain an immense amount of weight at the beginning of season two.
"Mr. Templeton"
This song is sung by Michael Bublé and features in a montage in season three of Jack and Elisa going on a date while she also cares for her senile client, Mr. Templeton. "Mr. Templeton" proves once again how gifted Jeff Richmond is at mimicking genres, with the song actually sounding like something that Bublé might actually record if the lyrics were a little less wacky.
The visuals that accompany the song are also wonderful, featuring Jack and Elisa enjoying different scenes around New York, while also trying not to lose Mr. Templeton.
"Balls"
In season seven, Jenna has a successful single but learns that she has earned very little money from it due to the song being extensively pirated. That song is "Balls."
Something of a novelty party song, the lyrics only include the word "balls" over and over again. The song also received a music video, featuring Jenna posing in a set decorated with a variety of glowing balls, people dancing, and Jenna's eyes eventually glazing over from the repetitive lyrics.
"Farts So Loud/Hearts So Proud"
In season six, Jenna records a song for Jack's movie "Kidnapped By Danger." After Weird Al Yankovic parodies her song, Jenna is incensed and enlists Tracy to help her write a song that is impossible for Weird Al to parody. The resulting song is "Farts So Loud," about different foods that give people gas.
Tracy and Jenna are unexpectedly moved when Weird Al reverse-parodies the song, turning it into a patriotic anthem dedicated to US soldiers serving abroad called "Hearts So Proud."
"Don't Go To Bed With A Frown"
Initially featured in season four's episode "Verna," the song reaches its true form in "The Moms," another episode later that season. Presented as a song that the cast's moms would sing to them when they were children, the moms of 30 Rock sing this at the end of TGS's Mother's Day episode.
The performance is also notable for featuring Broadway legends Patti LuPone and Elaine Stritch, portraying the mothers of Frank and Jack, respectively.
"Kidney Now!"
A "We Are The World"-style fundraiser, Jack organizes this celebrity benefit to find a kidney donor for his father, Milton Greene. The song features a star-studded cast, including Sheryl Crow, Adam Levine, Mary J. Blige, Cyndi Lauper, The Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, and Clay Aiken.
The performance also features a great sight-gag of Jenna repeatedly trying to insert herself into the group, and a very entertaining meta-monologue in the middle of the song. "Kidney Now!" demonstrates how 30 Rock is not only aware of the pop culture of the twentieth century, but fully appreciates it, as well.
"Rural Juror"
In the final moments of the series, Jenna sings "Rural Juror" as her goodbye to both TGS and 30 Rock as a whole. The song is a perfect culmination of Jenna's recurring bits, from her need to constantly be the center of attention, to her early role starring in the incomprehensible film The Rural Juror and her propensity to star in musical adaptations of forgotten movies.
As ridiculous as the song is, it works on an emotional level, wrapping up the series and several characters' storylines.
"Werewolf Bar Mitzvah"
Tracy Jordan's novelty Halloween party song is one of the show's most inspired bits, period. With a thesis statement of "boys becoming men, men becoming wolves," the song has aged well thanks in no small part to its zany surreal nature. However, the song also had a secret weapon: it was written by a young Donald Glover, before he became a household name through Community, Atlanta, and his music career as Childish Gambino.
On the extended version of the song released on a compilation album, he can actually be heard in the background. Even based on what is seen in the show, the song represents the best of 30 Rock's marriage of music and comedy.
"Muffin Top"
Arguably the song that started 30 Rock's history with musical comedy, "Muffin Top" is a Jenna Maroney single that hit number one in Israel and number four in Belgium. "Muffin Top" demonstrates 30 Rock's and Jeff Richmond's command of pop music, in addition to their already admirable comedic chops.
The song is built up throughout the episode, leading the audience to believe it about the body, only to mostly reference actual muffins. The song becomes a recurring joke throughout the series, including Jenna singing the song while being grilled on MSNBC, and playing at a gay bar in season four.