July 4th is full of symbols like flags and fireworks, but what about all the other great American things out there that don't get any love? I'm not talking about the marquee items like baseball and NASCAR, but the things you may not even notice as being particularly American, like grocery stores.
Hear me out - what's more American than a giant grocery store filled with stuff? The first self-service grocery store was a Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. All the best/worst/best again food is made by American companies too. Like Kraft, General Mills, Hostess, and, of course, the Schwan Food Company. The United States of America even invented the shopping cart and the uniquely American practice of leaving those shopping carts in the parking lot to piss off other people. Basically, when it comes to grocery shopping, America has it on lock.
So today to honor the USA on July 4th, we're watching a music video that honors the USA by taking place entirely in a grocery store - 2007's "Everyday America" by Sugarland, directed by Rocky Schenck.
I have a confession - I really like Sugarland videos. Jennifer Nettles is really fun to watch, and Kristian Bush has really nice hats. With all that faith in the abilities of the camera presence of the band, it was still a pretty ballsy move to do a music video that is literally just Sugarland in a grocery store.
I know they probably rented out this grocery store to film this video, but part of me just really wants to believe that they just showed up in a van one day and walked in and asked a manager if he they can shoot a music video there. That's the only way I can mentally justify having an annoying kid with rollerblade shoes in a music video. Have you ever gone to a grocery store and said "oh good, a kid with roller blade shoes"?
Like I mentioned before, this video is just Sugarland in a grocery store riding around on stock carts and doing things like going through checkout. There's literally just shots of fruit on a convery belt. Anyone by Jennifer Nettles and this video is a disaster, but she manages to pull it through, even with rollerblade shoes kid.
Want more proof that grocery stores are born in the USA? Just look at the British grocery store that Radiohead is in in "Fake Plastic Trees" - it's just a bunch of colored jars and they're not even having fun. USA! USA!
