Parry P. Gripp (born September 22, 1967) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the pop punk band Nerf Herder from its formation in 1994. Gripp writes novelty songs for children, and has been featured on Disney television shows.
Early life
Parry P. Gripp was born in Santa Barbara on September 22, 1967. His sister Alice and he are co-owners of the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate where he grew up. The estate was founded by Robert J. Chrisman in 1957, and was purchased in 1967 by his father Paul Gripp, who helped establish it. Paul Gripp ran the estate until his retirement in 1986. In 1994, the band Nerf Herder formed with Gripp as the lead singer and guitarist.
Style and works
Nerf Herder songs
Gripp's band Nerf Herder perform comedic, juvenile, and pop-culture referencing lyrics coming off of the pop-punk movement while pioneering geek rock. Nerf Herder songs use references from various franchises to relate to real-life experiences, like how the song "Ghostbusters III" uses the third installment of the Ghostbusters franchise that was never going to happen as a metaphor for his romantic dreams ever coming true. For instruments, these songs commonly use a typical bass-heavy punk arrangement with integrated synthesizers spread throughout the song. Gripp has collaborated with nerdcore rappers MC Lars and MC Frontalot.
False jingles and other novelty songs
As a songwriter, Gripp creates fake jingles, as in his 2005 solo album For Those About to Shop, We Salute You - a 51-track concept album mimicking various musical styles as product commercials. It does not have one single concept; it goes through many various concept suites, such as trucks, beer, and insomnia. He also maintained a song-of-the-week website in December 2007 and a YouTube channel on August 12, 2006, in which he creates soundtracks to internet memes, as well as music videos for his own novelty songs.
The Wawa and Hallmark connections
Along with his phony jingles, Gripp also has created some true advertising music, such as a series of Beatles-inspired tunes promoting the Wawa Food Markets' summertime Hoagiefests and songs for the Hallmark Cards e-characters Hoops & Yoyo.
Television theme songs
Gripp performs The Super Hero Squad Show, Ben 10: Omniverse, The 7D, and StoryBots Super Songs theme songs.
He joined forces with MC Lars to perform some of the vocals, including the chorus to "Guitar Hero Hero (Beating Guitar Hero Doesn't Make You Slash)", a song commenting on the notion that video games like Guitar Hero take kids away from playing in bands and actually learning their instruments.
On July 9, 2009, Gripp debuted a new song called "The Girl at the Video Game Store" for the 1000th episode of the G4 TV program Attack of the Show! The video features the show's hosts Olivia Munn as the title character and Kevin Pereira on drums.
In October 2016, Gripp performed and wrote the theme song for the Netflix children's show StoryBots Super Songs, a spin-off for Ask the StoryBots. He also started performing and writing songs for both shows.
In April 2013, Gripp recorded the song "Backyard Hodge Podge" for the episode of the same name for the children's television show Phineas and Ferb, and he also appeared in the episode in animated form.
Gripp has written songs for Vivienne Medrano's adult animated webseries Hazbin Hotel and its spinoff Helluva Boss, as well as the song "Monster Fighting Time" for the "Bad Luck Jack" ZooPhobia short.
Children's music
Gripp writes songs for children, with over 232 appearing on his YouTube channel, with over 523 million views. He has released five albums for children; Do You Like Waffles?, Fuzzy Fuzzy Cute Cute, Vol. 1, Mega-Party, Jingle Burgers, and For Kids About to Rock.
Between early 2017 and late 2019, Gripp's "Raining Tacos" became notable due to its popularity within Roblox's player base. It was also used by the city of West Palm Beach to deter homeless people from congregating in some areas, along with the song "Baby Shark". Gripp requested they remove his title from their playlist and made donations to local homeless shelters. "It's Raining Tacos" was featured in an Amazon.com ad which began airing in early May 2017.