Chocolate Rain
Encyclopedia
"Chocolate Rain" is a song
and music video
performed by American Internet personality Tay Zonday
. After being posted on YouTube on April 22, 2007, the song quickly became popular. , the video has over 74,000,000 views. The music video portrays a bespectacled Zonday in a recording studio wearing a white T-shirt and singing into a condenser microphone. Occasional cutbacks to Zonday playing a digital piano
are also shown. A caption appears early in the video - "**I move away from the mic to breathe in" - which has been parodied many times. The song, and its writer/performer, has attracted major media attention.
"Chocolate Rain" is ranked as the hottest viral video
of summer 2007 by CTV
and as the number 2 viral video in the world by utalkmarketing.com. It was the winner in the Music category in the 2007 YouTube Awards
.
characterized Zonday's voice as being "gravelly as Rod Stewart
but alas without the groove", expressing no surprise at Zonday's lack of formal musical training. Other reviews have been more favorable. Garth Montgomery of The Daily Telegraph
praises the song's "hypnotic quality" while criticizing its "cheesy drum loop".
Both the melody and the drum track of the song have also been criticised extensively by the gaming community for being overly derivative of the title music from the SNES game "UN Squadron".
During a brief interview on The Opie and Anthony Show, Zonday referred to the song as "cheesy" and stated that its cryptic lyrics dealt with racism
. This echoes Zonday's comments posted to the video's page on YouTube.
Many attribute the initial spread of the popularity of the song to 4chan
. Tay Zonday said,
's Attack of the Show, Last Call
with Carson Daly
, The Daily Show
with Jon Stewart
, and Maury
. On August 9, 2007, Zonday performed the song on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live
as part of its "Internet Talent Showcase". It has also been performed live on the BBC Radio 1
Chris Moyles Show
. More recently, Zonday appeared on Lily Allen
's show, Lily Allen and Friends
, where he sang in a live performance of Lily's song "Smile
". Zonday performed Chocolate Rain during the autism education benefit Night of Too Many Stars on October 2, 2010. During some 2007 and 2008 performances, LeRoi Moore
, the saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band
, integrated the melody into an outro on the band's song "The Dreaming Tree". Zonday also received a "Web Redemption" on Daniel Tosh
's show, Tosh.0
.
and Green Day
drummer Tré Cool
have spoofed the song on television and YouTube.com. Blamesociety Productions produced its own parody using Chad Vader
. He goes on to make his own lyrics, breathe away from the microphone as in the original, and runs out of lyrics that fit the structure. Notable parodies include a song titled "Vanilla Snow", also a spoof of a McDonald's
commercial, a remixed version on YouTube reminiscent of classic 8-bit
video games such as Mega Man 2
, another 8-bit
remix by Chiptune
artist Epichunt featuring several added lead lines, a remix done by Joey Sun and a mashup
of the song with Radiohead
's "Talk Show Host". A parody on 2008 Republican
Presidential
candidate John McCain
was made, as well as one of Barack Obama
, the Democratic
candidate in the same election. Also, there was a popular remix of the video made by Traphik in Youtube. Alex Albrecht
spoofed the song in a fake commercial for Nestlé
in the podcast Diggnation
.
Zonday himself appeared on the August 3, 2007, episode of VH1
's Best Week Ever
and performed a parody called "Summer Break". In March 2008, Zonday appeared in YouTube Live, where he performed the song. Also, in that same show, Bo Burnham, with his song "Welcome to YouTube", made a comical reference to the song, with the lyrics "Your favourite coat's got a doo-doo stain, I pray to God that's Chocolate Rain." Zonday was featured in the music video for rock band Weezer
's song "Pork and Beans
" and appeared in a YouTube video with Weezer's Brian Bell
to play an acoustic version of "Pork and Beans" on 3 June 2008. Zonday himself appeared as a guest voice on an episode of Robot Chicken
, where this song was spoofed as "Chocolate Grain".
On April 2, 2008, South Park
aired the episode "Canada on Strike" that contained an appearance of Zonday talking about "Chocolate Rain", along with other internet memes. Zonday was killed at the end of this scene when a stare from the Dramatic Chipmunk
caused his head to explode. The title of the hit was humorously manipulated in the phrase "get ready for some chocolate pain" within the episode. The episode brought back the video's popularity and boosted its views by over one million in the days following its airing. On the episode of The Office titled "Business Ethics", Michael Scott
confesses that when he discovered YouTube, he "watched Cookie Monster
sings 'Chocolate Rain' about a thousand times". This prompted the creation of several said videos a few days later. Paul Reubens
debuted a spoof educational film called Journey to Banana Land that beckoned "Chocolate Rain" when the narrator mentions cocoa trees; Zonday's YouTube video is used as Reubens sings along. Tina Fey
's character on 30 Rock
referred to the character of Toofer as "Chocolate Rain" in the 2007 season premiere.
In the The First two episodes of Season 2 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
(Return of Harmony Part 1 and 2) it briefly starts raining chocolate. This is largely thought of as a tribute to the song and a sort of bizarre nod to the sizable MLP fandom over in 4chan.
Comedy.com made a video in November 2008 spoofing not only the song, but its status as a viral video. The video looked at how different directors, such as Quentin Tarantino
, would have approached the making of the "Chocolate Rain" video.
licensed the song to and recorded spoof lyrics for Comedy Central
as a promo clip for their show Last Laugh with Lewis Black
. On November 28, 2007, Zonday released a spoof/sequel to the song titled "Cherry Chocolate Rain". The music video is professionally shot and makes many allusions to the original song. The song makes fun of itself with its over-the-top visuals and mentions how Zonday was "paid a hefty, hefty fee" to do the video, as well as featuring professional rapper Mista Johnson, who repeats, "He moves his mouth away from the mic so he can breathe." The video and song were created as part of a promotional campaign for Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper.
by-nc-nd
license. Although this license is not completely free, it has been suggested that the relative openness of the license has helped to encourage the song's spread. Creative Commons has praised Zonday specifically for this very reason. Zonday has expressed his own thoughts on the licensing situation on his Myspace
blog, stating, "I want non-profit radio and small mom/pop cafes to be able to play my music for free. But I also want giant corporations who can afford to give me a dime or two to pay fair royalties."
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
and music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
performed by American Internet personality Tay Zonday
Tay Zonday
Adam Nyerere Bahner , better known by the pseudonym Tay Zonday, is an American musician, YouTube personality and voice actor. He is well known by listeners for his deep baritone voice whilst singing. He garnered mainstream exposure when his song "Chocolate Rain", and accompanying video on YouTube,...
. After being posted on YouTube on April 22, 2007, the song quickly became popular. , the video has over 74,000,000 views. The music video portrays a bespectacled Zonday in a recording studio wearing a white T-shirt and singing into a condenser microphone. Occasional cutbacks to Zonday playing a digital piano
Digital piano
A digital piano is a modern electronic musical instrument, different from the electronic keyboard, designed to serve primarily as an alternative to a traditional piano, both in the way it feels to play and in the sound produced. It is meant to provide an accurate simulation of a real piano. Some...
are also shown. A caption appears early in the video - "**I move away from the mic to breathe in" - which has been parodied many times. The song, and its writer/performer, has attracted major media attention.
"Chocolate Rain" is ranked as the hottest viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
of summer 2007 by CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
and as the number 2 viral video in the world by utalkmarketing.com. It was the winner in the Music category in the 2007 YouTube Awards
YouTube Awards
The YouTube Awards are awards given out as formalizedic or comedy genres, as voted by the YouTube community. The awards were organized in 2007 to "call out some of the most popular videos and let the users choose which ones deserve some additional recognition"...
.
Critical response
The song is known for the deep voice of its singer and his mannerisms while singing. David Lowe of The SunThe Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
characterized Zonday's voice as being "gravelly as Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
but alas without the groove", expressing no surprise at Zonday's lack of formal musical training. Other reviews have been more favorable. Garth Montgomery of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
praises the song's "hypnotic quality" while criticizing its "cheesy drum loop".
Both the melody and the drum track of the song have also been criticised extensively by the gaming community for being overly derivative of the title music from the SNES game "UN Squadron".
During a brief interview on The Opie and Anthony Show, Zonday referred to the song as "cheesy" and stated that its cryptic lyrics dealt with racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. This echoes Zonday's comments posted to the video's page on YouTube.
Many attribute the initial spread of the popularity of the song to 4chan
4chan
4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards were originally used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime...
. Tay Zonday said,
Performances
Clips of the video have been played or referenced on TV and radio shows, including G4TVG4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
's Attack of the Show, Last Call
Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly is an American late night talk show that is broadcast on NBC. The show is hosted by Carson Daly, the half-hour show featuring celebrity interviews, documentary-style coverage of a topic, and musical performances. Last Call airs weeknights at 1:35 a.m. Eastern / 12:35 a.m....
with Carson Daly
Carson Daly
Carson Jones Daly is an American television host. He is the host of NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, a late-night talk show that began airing on January 7, 2002. Before his role as host of that program, Daly was a VJ on MTV's TRL, and a DJ for the Southern California based radio station KROQ-FM...
, The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
with Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
, and Maury
Maury (TV series)
Maury is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich.When the series first aired in 1991, the show was called The Maury Povich Show and was produced by MoPo Productions in association with Paramount Domestic Television...
. On August 9, 2007, Zonday performed the song on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast on ABC.The nightly hour-long show made its debut on January 26, 2003, following Super Bowl XXXVII. Jimmy Kimmel Live! is produced by Jackhole Productions in association with ABC Studios...
as part of its "Internet Talent Showcase". It has also been performed live on the BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
Chris Moyles Show
The Chris Moyles Show
The Chris Moyles Show is the current BBC Radio 1 breakfast show in the UK, and has been since Chris Moyles became the station's breakfast show presenter on 5 January 2004. From 2004 to 2007, the show was broadcast 6:55–10:00 am each weekday, but since 15 October 2007 it has started from...
. More recently, Zonday appeared on Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
's show, Lily Allen and Friends
Lily Allen and Friends
Lily Allen and Friends is a British TV talk show presented by Lily Allen. The programme is produced by Princess Productions for BBC Three. It was first shown on 12 February 2008. The audience consists entirely of Lily's online friends, who sign up via the programme's website...
, where he sang in a live performance of Lily's song "Smile
Smile (Lily Allen song)
"Smile" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. It was written by Allen, Iyiola Babalola and Darren Lewis in 2004, while sampling The Soul Brothers' "Free Soul". The song was released as the lead mainstream single of the album in March 2006...
". Zonday performed Chocolate Rain during the autism education benefit Night of Too Many Stars on October 2, 2010. During some 2007 and 2008 performances, LeRoi Moore
Leroi Moore
LeRoi Holloway Moore was an American saxophonist best known as a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band. Moore often arranged music for the songs written by frontman Dave Matthews...
, the saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
, integrated the melody into an outro on the band's song "The Dreaming Tree". Zonday also received a "Web Redemption" on Daniel Tosh
Daniel Tosh
Daniel Dwight Tosh is an American stand-up comedian and host of the Comedy Central television show, Tosh.0.-Personal life:...
's show, Tosh.0
Tosh.0
Tosh.0 is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides sarcastic commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture.-History:...
.
Spoofs and tributes
"Chocolate Rain" is the subject of numerous parodies, tributes, remixes and covers on the Internet. Major musical artists such as singer John MayerJohn Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
and Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
drummer Tré Cool
Tre Cool
Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool, is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the group's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990...
have spoofed the song on television and YouTube.com. Blamesociety Productions produced its own parody using Chad Vader
Chad Vader
Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager is an American comedy web series created by Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan, who are also credited as actors, directors, editors and writers of the program. The show's central character is Chad Vader, the day-shift manager at the fictional supermarket Empire Market, who...
. He goes on to make his own lyrics, breathe away from the microphone as in the original, and runs out of lyrics that fit the structure. Notable parodies include a song titled "Vanilla Snow", also a spoof of a McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
commercial, a remixed version on YouTube reminiscent of classic 8-bit
8-bit
The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
video games such as Mega Man 2
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 2, known in Japan as , is a platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the second installment in the original Mega Man series. The game was released in Japan in 1988, and in North America and PAL regions the following years. Mega Man 2...
, another 8-bit
8-bit
The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
remix by Chiptune
Chiptune
A chiptune, also known as chip music, is synthesized electronic music often produced with the sound chips of vintage computers and video game consoles, as well as with other methods such as emulation. In the early 1980s, personal computers became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously...
artist Epichunt featuring several added lead lines, a remix done by Joey Sun and a mashup
Mashup (music)
A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
of the song with Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
's "Talk Show Host". A parody on 2008 Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Presidential
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
candidate John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
was made, as well as one of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
candidate in the same election. Also, there was a popular remix of the video made by Traphik in Youtube. Alex Albrecht
Alex Albrecht
Alexander Jennings Albrecht is an American television personality, actor and podcaster who resides in Brentwood a suburb of Los Angeles, California...
spoofed the song in a fake commercial for Nestlé
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
in the podcast Diggnation
Diggnation
Diggnation is Revision3's flagship video podcast produced weekly. It is hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, who had previously hosted TechTV's The Screen Savers together. Its main purpose is to discuss some of the top stories from Digg, the social news and bookmarking website developed by Rose...
.
Zonday himself appeared on the August 3, 2007, episode of VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's Best Week Ever
Best Week Ever
Best Week Ever is a weekly television program on the United States cable/satellite network VH1. It started airing in 2004 and was put on hiatus in the summer of 2009...
and performed a parody called "Summer Break". In March 2008, Zonday appeared in YouTube Live, where he performed the song. Also, in that same show, Bo Burnham, with his song "Welcome to YouTube", made a comical reference to the song, with the lyrics "Your favourite coat's got a doo-doo stain, I pray to God that's Chocolate Rain." Zonday was featured in the music video for rock band Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
's song "Pork and Beans
Pork and Beans (song)
"Pork and Beans" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on its 2008 album Weezer. It was released in digital form on April 24, 2008. The track debuted at number 19 on Billboards Modern Rock chart, and spent eleven weeks at number one. Critics generally liked the song,...
" and appeared in a YouTube video with Weezer's Brian Bell
Brian Bell (musician)
Brian Bell is an American guitarist and songwriter. Active since 1989, he is best known as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the American alternative rock band Weezer. Bell joined Weezer in 1993 following the departure of founding member Jason Cropper...
to play an acoustic version of "Pork and Beans" on 3 June 2008. Zonday himself appeared as a guest voice on an episode of Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
, where this song was spoofed as "Chocolate Grain".
On April 2, 2008, South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
aired the episode "Canada on Strike" that contained an appearance of Zonday talking about "Chocolate Rain", along with other internet memes. Zonday was killed at the end of this scene when a stare from the Dramatic Chipmunk
Dramatic Chipmunk
Dramatic Chipmunk, also known by the more accurate title Dramatic Prairie Dog, is a popular Internet comedy viral video. The video is a five-second clip of the "chipmunk" turning its head while the camera zooms in and dramatic music is played.-Origins:The clip became widely known through uploads...
caused his head to explode. The title of the hit was humorously manipulated in the phrase "get ready for some chocolate pain" within the episode. The episode brought back the video's popularity and boosted its views by over one million in the days following its airing. On the episode of The Office titled "Business Ethics", Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
confesses that when he discovered YouTube, he "watched Cookie Monster
Cookie Monster
Cookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" . He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples,...
sings 'Chocolate Rain' about a thousand times". This prompted the creation of several said videos a few days later. Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens is an American actor, writer, film producer, and comedian, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s and started his career as an improvisational comedian and stage actor...
debuted a spoof educational film called Journey to Banana Land that beckoned "Chocolate Rain" when the narrator mentions cocoa trees; Zonday's YouTube video is used as Reubens sings along. Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
's character on 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
referred to the character of Toofer as "Chocolate Rain" in the 2007 season premiere.
In the The First two episodes of Season 2 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series that premiered on October 10, 2010 on the United States cable network The Hub, and is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works. The series is produced by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media Vancouver...
(Return of Harmony Part 1 and 2) it briefly starts raining chocolate. This is largely thought of as a tribute to the song and a sort of bizarre nod to the sizable MLP fandom over in 4chan.
Comedy.com made a video in November 2008 spoofing not only the song, but its status as a viral video. The video looked at how different directors, such as Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, would have approached the making of the "Chocolate Rain" video.
Commercials
In November 2007, Tay ZondayTay Zonday
Adam Nyerere Bahner , better known by the pseudonym Tay Zonday, is an American musician, YouTube personality and voice actor. He is well known by listeners for his deep baritone voice whilst singing. He garnered mainstream exposure when his song "Chocolate Rain", and accompanying video on YouTube,...
licensed the song to and recorded spoof lyrics for Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
as a promo clip for their show Last Laugh with Lewis Black
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena...
. On November 28, 2007, Zonday released a spoof/sequel to the song titled "Cherry Chocolate Rain". The music video is professionally shot and makes many allusions to the original song. The song makes fun of itself with its over-the-top visuals and mentions how Zonday was "paid a hefty, hefty fee" to do the video, as well as featuring professional rapper Mista Johnson, who repeats, "He moves his mouth away from the mic so he can breathe." The video and song were created as part of a promotional campaign for Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper.
License
The song and video are licensed under a Creative CommonsCreative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
by-nc-nd
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
license. Although this license is not completely free, it has been suggested that the relative openness of the license has helped to encourage the song's spread. Creative Commons has praised Zonday specifically for this very reason. Zonday has expressed his own thoughts on the licensing situation on his Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
blog, stating, "I want non-profit radio and small mom/pop cafes to be able to play my music for free. But I also want giant corporations who can afford to give me a dime or two to pay fair royalties."