The Pizza Underground was an American

comedy rock Comedy rock is rock music that is comedic in nature. Oftentimes it is mixed with satire or irony.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd Edition. ...

band based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Mainly

parodying A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

songs by

the Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise w ...

with

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

-themed song names and lyrics, the group consisted of

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...

(

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifi ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

and vocals) along with Matt Colbourn (guitar, vocals),

Phoebe Kreutz Phoebe Kreutz is a singer-songwriter, primarily associated with the anti-folk scene of New York City, but also known for her theater and television work. Kreutz has been performing live since the early 2000s, and has released five independent ...

(

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

, vocals), Deenah Vollmer (

pizza box The pizza box or pizza package is a folding packaging box made of cardboard in which hot pizzas are stored for take-out. The "pizza box" also makes home delivery and takeaway substantially easier. The pizza box has to be highly resistant, c ...

, vocals) and Austin Kilham (

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, vocals). Because of the theme, the band gave out boxed pizzas to people who attended their live performances.

History

Deenah Vollmer, the group's "pizza box" percussionist, said the idea for the Pizza Underground began as a joke in 2012. "We soon realized you can replace most any word with slice or cheese," she told ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

''.

Glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

player Phoebe Kreutz stated they believed the Velvet Underground songs were written about pizza, but had to be reworded to accommodate the "standards of their day." On November 11, 2013, the group recorded a live demo at

's apartment. That same month they performed a

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

tribute show at the Sidewalk Cafe in the East Village. In December, a viral video of Culkin eating a cheese pizza was uploaded to

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. He was parodying

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

consuming a

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

Whopper The Whopper is the signature hamburger and an associated product line sold by international fast food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's. Introduced in 1957, the hamburger has undergone several reformulatio ...

Jørgen Leth Jørgen Leth (; born 14 June 1937) is a Danish poet and film director who is considered a leading figure in experimental documentary film making. Most notable are his documentary ''A Sunday in Hell'' (1977) and his surrealistic short film '' Th ...

's documentary '' 66 Scenes from America''. Culkin was promoting the debut of the Pizza Underground. The group released its first music video in January 2014, parodying various Velvet Underground songs such as "All Pizza Parties" ("

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...

"), "Pizza Gal" ("

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") and "Take a Bite of the Wild Slice" (

's " Walk on the Wild Side"). The video featured the group performing on a bed of pizza boxes, surrounded by pizza checkered walls, with members of the group wearing slices of pizza as masks. Also in 2014, the cassette of the demo was released by Bitter Melody Records on yellow, white, and red cassettes. An 18-show North American tour entitled ''Fresh to Your Door'' took place that same year. In May 2014, the band was

booed Booing is an act of publicly showing displeasure for someone or something, such as an entertainer or an athlete, by loudly yelling "Boo!" and sustaining the "oo" sound by holding it out. People may also make hand signs such as the thumbs down sig ...

off the stage at the Rock City venue in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, England, while performing at the

Dot to Dot Festival The Dot to Dot Festival is an annual music festival held at various venues in Nottingham, Bristol and Manchester across a weekend. Unlike weekend music festivals such as the Reading and Leeds Festivals, there is no artist rotation – all artist ...

. A spectator later complained that the parody group were making a "mockery of one of the greatest bands of all time". The band quit playing within 15 minutes, and in response to having pints of beer thrown at the band,

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Macaulay Culkin complained to the crowd, "why are you throwing those? ...I'd rather drink them!" The initial cassette release was followed by ''Live at Chop Suey'', also on Bitter Melody Records, recorded at the Chop SueyParticulars of Chop Suey, Seattle
. Retrieved February 15, 2016. in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. In January 2018, Culkin revealed during an interview on the ''

WTF with Marc Maron ''WTF with Marc Maron'' is a weekly podcast and radio show hosted by stand-up comedian Marc Maron. The show was launched in September 2009. The show is produced by Maron's former Air America co-worker Brendan McDonald. Background The show's ti ...

'' podcast that the Pizza Underground had broken up.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pizza Underground Comedy rock musical groups American comedy musical groups Rock music groups from New York (state) Musical groups established in 2013 2013 establishments in New York City Musical groups from New York City American parodists Parody musicians Pizza Pizza in New York City The Velvet Underground Musical groups disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in New York (state)