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Most bizarre music/commerical pairings? |
Johnny Dollar
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 01, 2003
Posts: 2920
From: Baltimore, Maryland, PNG
|  Posted: 2005-02-22 06:58 am Permalink
my suggestions for future sell-outs:
Love/Hate to re-record their 90's metal anthem "Black Out in the Red Room" to "Sack Out in a Red Roof;"
Depeche Mode to re-record "Personal Jesus" as "Personal Pan Pizza;"
Nine Inch Nails to re-record "Closer " to say "I want to pet you like an animal" for IAMS
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martiki
Official Mixologist
Joined: Mar 29, 2002
Posts: 3056
From: http://www.smugglerscovesf.com
| Posted: 2005-02-22 12:45 pm Permalink
I was alarmed as hell and deeply depressed by two commercial/pop song pairings recently:
When HP used "Pictures of You" by The Cure to sell cameras and printers. At least the title makes some sense, but c'mon Mad Bob, are you really that hurting?
But far more devastating was "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths being used to sell Nissans. Ugh. Yes, I did go home and cried and wanted to die. How could they?
Here's a great recent column about this very topic from Mark Morford of SF Gate.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/12/10/notes121004.DTL
(Please note Mark is a heavy duty leftist, so there is some slight political content to this column.)
[ This Message was edited by: martiki on 2005-02-22 12:46 ]
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aquarj
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Apr 02, 2002
Posts: 1040
From: SF bay area, CA
| Posted: 2005-02-22 1:10 pm Permalink
What is so disturbing about hearing music you like in a commercial for a mainstream product? Is it the use of lyrics out of context, giving them a different meaning? Or would it even be irritating for something instrumental, because of the whole corporate-marketing-is-bad thing?
Note, sometimes it's hard to convey the right tone in text - I'm trying to ask in earnest just for discussion cause I'm interested what anyone might say.
Personally, I thought it was pretty fun to hear the 5.6.7.8.s in the Vonage commercial recently. Just figured - good for them, they're making some dough off their song. And cool that the advertiser knows about them. Not sure how it helped the company themselves, because I still have no idea what they do, but anyway it made me happy, not disgusted.
-Randy
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martiki
Official Mixologist
Joined: Mar 29, 2002
Posts: 3056
From: http://www.smugglerscovesf.com
| Posted: 2005-02-22 2:00 pm Permalink
For me at least, I have fond memories associated with some of these songs, and in a way, the commercial taints it. Selfish, I know. When I hear Pictures Of You, I want to remember seeing The Cure play it in 1989 at a great concert. I don't want to think about printers. My rational brain can tell the difference between the two events, of course, but now there's a memory of a concert, and the memory of a commercial. I didn't want that in there. I'm sure a lot of Stones fans don't want to think about Windows 95 when they hear Start Me Up.
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Tiki-bot
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2002
Posts: 1345 | Posted: 2005-02-22 2:20 pm Permalink
I agree with Martiki: It's the memory of the song's original context ( a great concert, someone you dated, etc.). Some new songs that all the kiddies love I heven't even heard and don't care if they are used to hawk wares.
I forgot all about that X Budweiser commercial. It was actually kinda cool though, cuz it was X doing the "This Bud's for You" theme and not one of their own songs. Very odd when you consider that X was never really all that big. We ran into John Doe at a pub before a show once and he definitely wasn't drinking Bud, but some other, darker beer.
Let's just all pray they never use JC's "Ring of Fire" for a hemmoroid commercial, which they have already tried to do multiple times.
Oh, and I meant to add: That Dylan/VS commercial was the all-time weirdest/creepiest pairing. I guess it's about that joke quote he made years ago, but how many VS shoppers would remember that? It seems advertisers are becoming so myopic that they have lost sight of the absurdidty of their own ideas.
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[ This Message was edited by: Tiki-bot on 2005-02-22 14:24 ]
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kingslod
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Joined: Mar 26, 2002
Posts: 173
From: Portland, OR
| Posted: 2005-02-22 3:31 pm Permalink
OUCH!!! I think that I've heard that, but I blocked it! At least it was a cover song that they mutilated...
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On 2005-02-22 02:04, stuff-o-rama wrote:
I heard John Doe of X on Jonesy's show on 103.1 tell a story how Jaguar wanted one of their songs for a car commercial but went with "London Calling" by the Clash instead. he joked he said he'd only do it for 6 figures. He and Steve Jones were debating whether it was OK to approve songs for commercials or not. They both being band members who've never actually made big bucks from their music didn't have a big problem with it but John Doe said he would've felt like he'd sold his soul. Exene said that Windex wanted to use "Blue Spark" for a TV commercial and she declined it as it was just too ridiculous. However X did do a Budweiser radio spot back in the day for free beer and a few bucks. Billy Zoom has it on his web site: http://www.xtheband.com/xbud.mp3 |
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stuff-o-rama
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 20, 2003
Posts: 751
From: Central Coast of California
| Posted: 2005-02-22 4:17 pm Permalink
Steve Jones and John Doe were discussing why advertisers feel the need to use such songs instead of composing their own, they both agreed it was for the companies to gain "cool points" to give them street cred. John Doe said he didn't think that Led Zeppelin fans would run out and buy a Cadillac but younger generations will automatically think of Cadillacs every time they hear "Rock n'Roll" which is smart branding. It makes the band cool and the product cool. He said if a band wants to make a buck or two and remind people of their songs and sell a few more records, what difference does it make? I understand that reasoning. The bands end up selling more records than the advertisers actual products.
I think the Prozac should use "Psychotherapy" by the Ramones. Or Robert Mitchum's "Thunder Road" for Gas-X 
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vintagegirl
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Joined: Jun 12, 2002
Posts: 537
From: Los Angeles
| Posted: 2005-02-22 5:53 pm Permalink
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On 2005-02-22 12:45, martiki wrote:
But far more devastating was "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths being used to sell Nissans. Ugh. Yes, I did go home and cried and wanted to die. How could they?
[ This Message was edited by: martiki on 2005-02-22 12:46 ]
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That was a pretty harsh moment, I must admit. Kinda like still thinking you're 16 when you suddenly hear the music, then look up to see the car commercial and think, "Hey, cool, corporate America is finally acknowledging the youth of America!" Then you suddenly realize you don't exactly fit the definition of "youth" anymore.
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purple jade
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Joined: Feb 19, 2003
Posts: 1450
From: New Orleans
| Posted: 2005-02-23 10:22 am Permalink
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On 2005-02-22 13:10, aquarj wrote:
What is so disturbing about hearing music you like in a commercial for a mainstream product? Is it the use of lyrics out of context, giving them a different meaning? Or would it even be irritating for something instrumental, because of the whole corporate-marketing-is-bad thing?
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Using the lyrics of a popular song improperly out of context I think defeats the whole purpose. If the people listening can sing the rest of the verse and it doesn't quite convey a complimentary message, your product becomes comic relief. For instance if someone were to use "Turning Japanese" to sell film. the message I would get is "This film is for wankers".
I've gotten over the idea of idols of my youth "selling out", although hearing Stiff Little Fingers "Gotta Get Away" for a Playstation game jarred me (until I found out that Jake Burns was scoring video games). I am reminded of Lazlo Hollyfeld..."I've come to realize that I have certain materialistic needs". Integrity don't always pay the monkey.
But here's a question...why use "Sweet Home Alabama" for Kentucky Fried Chicken?
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Trader Woody
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Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2301
From: Tiki Manor, Forest of Bowland,UK
| Posted: 2005-02-23 10:36 am Permalink
"Here's the deal, folks. You do a commercial - you're off the artistic roll call, forever. End of story. Okay? You're another whore at the captialist gang bang and if you do a commercial, there's a price on your head. Everything you say is suspect and every word that comes out of your mouth is now like a turd falling into my drink."
Bill Hicks
Trader Woody
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purple jade
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 19, 2003
Posts: 1450
From: New Orleans
| Posted: 2005-02-23 10:39 am Permalink
BILL HICKS!
Woody, I love you.
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Tiki-bot
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2002
Posts: 1345 | Posted: 2005-02-23 11:09 am Permalink
Too bad Bill Hicks didn't live long enough to sell out. It would've happened eventually.
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Trader Woody
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Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2301
From: Tiki Manor, Forest of Bowland,UK
| Posted: 2005-02-23 12:42 pm Permalink
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On 2005-02-23 11:09, Tiki-bot wrote:
Too bad Bill Hicks didn't live long enough to sell out. It would've happened eventually.
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No doubt he'd be selling 'orange drink'. (Winks at PJ).
Well, I think you're dead wrong. No way to prove it of course, but just listen to the stuff he was putting out in his final couple of years. If anything, his humour & politics became more razor sharp and cutting. If you ever listened to him for more than a few seconds you'd realise that he was someone who would never sell out.
Live by your own self-serving principles Tiki-Bot, but don't try to foist them upon someone who can no longer answer back.
Trader Woody
[ This Message was edited by: Trader Woody on 2005-02-23 12:53 ]
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martiki
Official Mixologist
Joined: Mar 29, 2002
Posts: 3056
From: http://www.smugglerscovesf.com
| Posted: 2005-02-23 1:27 pm Permalink
It's a shame that Hicks is nearly forgotten here. The UK has done a great job of keeping the flame alive.
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Tiki-bot
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2002
Posts: 1345 | Posted: 2005-02-23 1:54 pm Permalink
There's also no way to tell how someone like him would handle their career for the rest of their (presumably longer) life, had he lived longer. Some comedian/social commentators have never sold out, but they, too, all died young (Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman). The odds are against it, however. MTV or Comedy Central or whoever would've given them their own show, and they would do it as a "statement about using the system against the system" or some such justification, but everyone who knew and admired their work would (perhaps secretly) know they had actually sold out. No disrespect intended (and I like Hicks' work), but it's easy to look good when you're a martyr.
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