"Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)," Reunion (1974)

The hit that inspired the McDonald's menu song

Peak: #8 on the Hot 100
Streams: 2.9 million

Before I get to today’s song, I have to take you back to a fast food promo contest from the 80s.

In 1988, when I was nine years old, McDonald’s created the $1,000,000 Menu Song. It was built around a rhythmic chant that featured every item on the restaurant was currently selling.

The song was put on a cardboard record that got stuffed into millions of newspapers. If your record featured a choir that correctly sang all the lyrics, then you won a million dollars. If they screwed up, then you didn’t win, but you still got to hear about all the food McDonald’s wanted you to buy.

It sounded like this…

I became obsessed with learning this song. As I recall, the record sleeve also had the lyrics printed on it, and I accepted the challenge to learn the entire thing. I had mastered it by the time my grandparents took me on a trip to Florida that year, and when we stopped at a McDonald’s, I went up to the counter and sang the entire song to the cashier.

After I finished my letter-perfect recitation, the employees applauded and gave me a free lunch. I cannot express to you the glory of this moment.

But it didn’t stop there! That fall, my classmate Emory revealed that he could also recite the entire menu song, and our teacher decided this should be the basis of a talent show performance. (The annual talent show at my school was a big deal.) I opened the skit by sauntering up to our homemade McDonald’s counter and singing the menu song (a bit of art imitating life). But just as I was about to get my food, a group of my fellow students came in playing robbers. The stakes were high, y’all! They were criminals!

When the kid playing the restaurant manager asked them what they wanted, the robbers said “We want money!” Then they pulled out instruments and performed “Money (That’s What I Want)” by Barrett Strong. When they finished, I joined the employees to tackle them. Eventually, some kids playing cops came in and pulled them away. Finally, Emory came in as another hungry customer, and when the employees asked him what we wanted, he recited the menu song as the curtain fell. I remember that he had to poke his head out from under the curtain to finish the song.

This was one of many experiences that pushed me toward a theatre career.

Anyway…. what I didn’t realized until today was that the McDonald’s menu song was more than just an insidious plot to turn kids like me into walking advertisements. It was also a musical copy of “Life Is a Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)” by Reunion.

I am sitting her flabbergasted. I never dreamed that my McDonald’s odyssey began with a novelty hit from 1974!

Instead of burgers and fries, the patter verses in Reunion’s song list rock stars, record labels, and other pop music touchstones. It’s ludicrous and impressive, and it gives way to a singalong chorus that anyone can enjoy. That’s the genius of the record, if you ask me. You can bounce around to the rapid-fire parts, knowing there’s a part you can actually sing yourself. This is awfully similar to what happens in R.E.M.’s “It’s The End of the World As We Know It” and Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week,” and I wonder if those bands were inspired by this tune.

And let’s talk about Reunion: They were a pop band fronted by Joey Levine, who isn’t famous but is incredibly successful. In the 60s he was a singer, producer, and songwriter in a mini musical empire that churned out loads of hits. He sang lead on “Yummy Yummy Yummy,” a top 10 hit by Ohio Express, and he co-wrote Crazy Elephant’s song “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin.” Others in his orbit crafted hits for groups like 1910 Fruitgum Co and The Music Explosion. These bands were faceless, and none of them lasted very long. Collectively, however, they helped the bubblegum pop sound thrive for several years.

Thus, it makes perfect sense that when Levine formed Reunion, he released a novelty song like “Like Is a Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me).” His entire career was built on music as a business. He was a craftsman who specialized in catchy tunes, so why not record a silly ditty that identifies the high points of the very business that made him?

From that perspective, I’m guessing he was delighted when McDonald’s lifted “Life is a Rock” for its menu song. Levine was never going to be Yoko Ono, protesting when Nike used a John Lennon song in a commercial. Hell, Levine wrote dozens of ad jingles himself. He has always embraced the idea of music as a product.

I say good for him. I respect him for embracing his path and thriving there. And as my own elementary school saga proves, it’s still possible to make a big impact with a goofy and shamelessly corporate tune.

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