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Featured era: 2011
Grand Rapids LipDub
“One city, one song, one unbroken shot.”
- Featured era
- 2011
- Peak era
- 2011
- Company
- Rob Bliss
- Category
- Viral Videos
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On Video
Rob Bliss's "Grand Rapids LipDub"
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- sefllc
- Added:
- May 26, 2011
- Length:
- 9:49
What Was It?
The Grand Rapids LipDub is a nearly nine-minute music video in which about 5,000 people in Grand Rapids, Michigan, lip-sync to a live version of Don McLean's "American Pie". It is one continuous shot, filmed mostly from the back of a moving John Deere Gator as it drives through the city's streets.
Director Rob Bliss made it after Newsweek put Grand Rapids on a list of "America's Dying Cities". The cast included the mayor in a white convertible, fire trucks and police cars, cheerleaders, football players, a marching band and a wedding party.
It was filmed on May 22, 2011 and released on YouTube four days later, quickly becoming one of the most-watched videos on the site. Film critic Roger Ebert called it "the greatest music video ever made".
Things You Probably Forgot
- The mayor riding past in a white convertible
- A whole city answering a Newsweek list
- Roger Ebert calling it the greatest music video ever made
- One continuous shot through the streets of Grand Rapids
The Story
- 2011 About 5,000 residents filmed the lip dub in a single shot on May 22.
- 2011 The video was released on YouTube on May 26.
- 2012 Lindsay, Ontario, made its own citywide lip dub with 9,300 participants.
Its Legacy
The video is still on YouTube. It is remembered as a whole city's cheerful answer to being called dying, and as one of the best-known lip dubs ever made.
Memories
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