Worst abuse of a song

[panamajack]

Okay, what is the worst example you've heard of a song that has been modified or misappropriated just to fit some context? The kind of thing that makes you cringe and say, "I can't believe they're using that for that!!" And forever after for you the song is ruined because the memory of what was done to it is so strong.

My nomination : The song "War" (Edwin Star) was used in a shoe commercial (I forget by whom) and was edited so that it was no longer anti-war. IIRC, the commercial had scenes of competitveness in sports with the music going on :
"WAR! Hunh!. (nothing) ... Good Gawd, y'all! Say It Again! WAR!". Only if the Army had done it could it have been worse.

Runner-up : In the movie Philadelphia, the song Heaven(Talking Heads) is being played at the wake/party/whatever it was and the lyrics are changed from :
"Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens" to:
"Heaven is a place where nothing ever hurts you".
That may not be verbatim, but I didn't much like the movie and I won't see it again just to check. According to a member of the group, the song was about the dream of a rock star to get away from so much stuff happening all the time.

So what other instances have y'all noticed? (Doesn't have to be changed lyrics per se, these just happen to be)


panama jack

_______________
War! Hunh! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!

[Crusoe]

The Bob Dylan song about Mercedes-Benz being used in an advert about, well, Mercedes-Benz just shows how far the marketing executives responsible for that campaign missed the point.

[Omniscient]

Not the context that the OP wants, but it fits the topic line exactly.

Madonna's American Pie

Now thats abusing a great song.

[Ayesha]

Not the context that the OP wants, but it fits the topic line exactly.

Madonna's American Pie


I have to agree with Omni on that one.

Along with Shatner's murder of Freebird !

[flodnak]

Anyone else besides me remember when the Republicans (sometime during the Reagan Administration) were using the chorus from Springsteen's "Born In The USA" as campaign theme music?

Somebody apparently didn't listen to the rest of the lyrics...

[RealityChuck]

Along with Shatner's murder of Freebird !

You can't murder what's already dead.

A local radio station once did a promotion with "I don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats. Or they planned to -- the weekend before it was supposed to happen, they must have listened to the lyrics, and the promotion was called off.

[JimmyNipples]

Start me up...... Rolling Stones

Bill Gates and windows.....evil

[Joe_Cool]

My votes go to:
"Revolution" in the Nike commercial...How can you take an anti-establishment, anti-everything song like Revolution and use it to promote one of the largest money-grubbing corporations in the world?????

...and any song from the Who, misappropriated for a Gateway commercial. Ugh. that is pretty cheesy.

[Crusoe]

Bob Dylan? Where the hell did I get Bob Dylan from? I meant Janis Joplin, obviously.

[cmkeller]

More along the lines of the Madonna/American Pie thing, I'd have to say its awfulness was eclipsed by Nikki French's remake of "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

[struuter]

Okay...I've got one pet peeve and it seems like I'm the only one it bothers. The new ad campaign for the thin tv from Phillips/Magnavox with the Beatles classic, anyone seen the commercials? Anyway, the spot always end with the lyrics

I've got to admit it's getting better
It's getting better all the time...

Anybody else out there finish the song like I do?

...It's getting better all the time
It can't get much worse

Everyone says I'm goofy (which is true, but beside the point)...anybody else hear that last line when they see those commercials?
*Add my vote to the list against Madonna's slaughter of a perfectly good song.
Oh, can I add one more? Puff Daddy's remake(?) of "Every Breath You Take.' Nice sentiment, but not what Sting had in mind when he wrote it.
struuter

[Biggirl]

The fairly new Smash Mouth song that's in a car commercial. Then The Morning Comes is a song about being let down, but you wouldn't know it from the commercial

[Koxinga]

Last time I was in the US I heard a TV commercial using Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" to sell shoes or some goddamned thing. That's just plain wrong. "We dance like hypnotized chickens."

On the other hand, I would love to hear some misguided corporate ad wonks use Lou Reed's "Kicks" to sell a car or something.

[PTVroman]

Reagan not only wanted to use Springsteen's "Born in the USA", he also wanted to use Meloncamp's "Pink Houses". One song about Americans shitting on veterans; one song about Americans shitting on the poor. Yeah, that's Reagan's America.

[Rock-n-Rolga]

Here's another (slightly obscure) example of people falling for the chorus and failing to listen to the verses: The *ahem* triumphant performance of Neil Young's "Keep On Rockin' In The Free World" by the likes of Bon Jovi and Skid Row at the 1989 Moscow Music Peace festival. That song is about as far as you can get from calling the U.S. a like, totally awesome place where you're y'know, free to RAWK, d00d! Would have been nice to see good ol' Neil appear on stage and bitch slap a little understanding into each smug hair farmer up there...then exile the poodle heads from the stage and be joined by Crazy Horse for REAL show! Och, me and my daft rocknroll fantasies... :)

As for horrid covers, look no farther than Metallicrap's recent mutilations of Thin Lizzy and Lynyrd Skynyrd classics. IMO, ANYONE who attempts to mess with Lizzy is committing sacrilege and should be exiled, instrumentless, to Vladivostok via the the slowest, coldest train the Trans-Siberian has. Preferably seated next to a drummer. Eh heh.

[jayron 32]

There's the new "Tigger Movie" coming out where Disney uses the "do-doo-doo-doo" portion of 3EB's "Semi-Charmed Life" to promote the film. I'm not sure which part of the song Disney wants kids to relate to, whether it's the crystal meth trips or the meaningless frat-party sex, or what. I mean, LISTEN to the lyrics before using a cut of the song. FTR, it is one of my favorite songs, but it is also entire inappripriate for promoting a kids movie, even if the choral bridge is kinda catchy.

[Stephe96]

OK, I will reserve comment about Mellencamp's idiotic "Pink Houses" song (he snarls something about vacationing "down in the Gulf of Mexico!" as if THAT were the were the worst thing in the universe), but I will (sort of) defend Reagan's use of Springsteen's "Born In The USA".

Yes, the lyrics are about a Vietnam vet's trials and tribulations upon returning to this country after the war, but.....the song ROCKS! Who listens to lyrics anyway? Despite Springsteen's sentiment, I actually DO start to feel patriotic as hell when that song is blasting. So sue me. Heck, even our own national anthem contains lyrics that aren't exactly "America The Beautiful."

[Lord Derfel]

In Canada, the Bank of Montreal (IIRC) used Dylan's The times they are a'changin' in an ad to advertise their web banking. Talk about an inappropriate song!

[Whammo]

As long as were hijacking the OP

Sheril Crow's remake of Guns and Roses "sweet child" almost makes me cry.

[Suo Na]

Regarding the OP:
Parachute Club's protest song "Rise Up" was (briefly) used to sell "rising crust" frozen pizza.

Regarding the hijack:
Janet Jackson's abuse of the chorus of "Big Yellow Taxi", and calling the thing "Got 'Til It's Gone".

[tracer]

I always groan and roll my eyes whenever a commercial for a luxury car (or some other High Society status symbol) plays the Spring concerto from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, or the Pachabel Canon, or Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Those three pieces were not originally written to be snobbish!

[Argeable]

["Tigger Movie" ..."Semi-Charmed Life" [/B][/QUOTE]
Just what I was thinking...it just doesn't work.
As Jenkins (3eyeBe lead singer) says: 'I don't get you guys. This is one hell of a depressing song, but you think it's all great and happy, like the gullible audience you are, well, that's why we love you.'

[PaperBlob]

OP: The Wind Cries Mary (or whatever that Hendrix song is called) as Muzak.

Hijack: William Shatner's renditions of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds and Mr. Bojangles. Just unbelievably bad!

[Kat]

Remember those Dean's Milk-whatevers...Chugs? I can't believe they mangled Roger Miller's Chug-a-lug like that. Geez, it's a fun song about underage kids drinking moonshine! And they just distorted it to sell milk. And those whatever-they-were called tasted horrible, too.

[TVeblen]

Just adding more nonsensical clutter:

* Regan (The Vile) was clueless about the intent of Born in the USA. This was the same elected veggie that depende on Nancy to defend the Beach Boys.

* Clinton (The Putz) was no less clueless on Don't stop thinkin' 'bout tomorrow[/i}, especially since it's a musical reference to divorce. The irony stuns.

* Madonna and [i]American Pie; she took a perfect, quirky, minor little rock anthem and warped it into a big, boring MADONNA thing. Is no one else tired of this media whore?

Minor digression: a splendid and little-known use of rock in cinema is Hit The Road, Jack in The Dream Team. Good cast, witty writing, and the 4 asylum inmates boogeying down the highway to the "the song" is just fine.

Veb

[Greg Charles]

Look what they did "Look What They Did To My Song, Ma!" by Ray Charles (no relation). Quaker or someone turned it into a jingle, "Look what they did to oatmeal, ma!" Even a Madison Avenue type couldn't miss the irony there. They're just too cynical to care.

[Kyla]

The use of Baba O'Riley in that SUV commercial where a bunch of idiots tear up perfectly nice scenery playing polo. Ugghh.

[PowerpuffKue]

1. Any song on a Gap Commercial ("Dress You Up (In My Love)", "Mellow Yellow", and some West Side Story Songs).

2. Limp Bizkit's "Faith," that used to be such a good song too(The George Micheal version of course). Sigh.

[gobear]

I have to nominate Puff Daddy rapping over Led Zep's "Kashmir" on the Godzilla soundtrack. The horror, the horror.
And using James Brown songs in theatrical trailers to promote mindless, white, suburban, teen movies. What an insult to The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.

[Heloise]

Last time I was in the US I heard a TV commercial using Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" to sell shoes or some goddamned thing. That's just plain wrong. "We dance like hypnotized chickens."

OMG!!! You have no idea the aggravation you have saved me!!! I heard the commercial, fell in love with the song (again???) and couldn't find it! Why? Because I was thinking (remember, this isn't the pit, don't flame me for this) Rolling Stones and looking for the song under Stones, not Iggy. Of course, I was able to find it immediately thereafter and just now enjoyed listening to it, sans commercial. THANK YOU!
Yes, it sucks when they mis-appropriate a song, using it for something completely beyond the original meaning, but for me it can be cool. Mainly because I might hear a song that I used to love but that somehow fell by the wayside and then I hear it, find it online and can get all nostalgic, dance around like an idiot to it again, or just sit at my desk and enjoy the beat. Whatever.

Did that make sense? I do have a tendency to ramble.

[Joe_Cool]

*Add my vote to the list against Madonna's slaughter of a perfectly good song.
Oh, can I add one more? Puff Daddy's remake(?) of "Every Breath You Take.' Nice sentiment, but not what Sting had in mind when he wrote it.

Unfortunately, I believe Sting worked with Punk Daddy on that song. I was really disappointed to hear that. But, Sting has always been into musical experimentation.

My vote for crappiest cover song goes to whoever did the lame Beck-sounding version of "Boyz-n-The-Hood" (yes, the one from Eazy-E) that is currently playing on alternative rock stations. Bleccch.

[Pizzle Boy]

B_Line12: I like the Sheryl Crow remake :o

What about Puff Daddy bastardizing "Every Breath You Take".

Makes me wanna barf.

::WHAP:: take that Puffy!

[Pizzle Boy]

oops. The puff daddy thing was stale :o

[ruadh]

An old punk anthem, "If The Kids Are United", is currently being used in Britain to advertise McDonald's. I really do think this is a sign the world is coming to an end.

Here's a funny one: Guinness are using The Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey", which isn't so funny in itself, except for that the point in which the actor lifts the glass of Guinness to his lips coincides with the lyric "eating up the scum is the hardest thing for me to do ..."

[lee]

Duran Duran's remake of David Bowie's Fame

and the Bye-Bye Mr. Telemarketing guy missappropriation of Bye-Bye Miss American Pie.

[xizor]

Adding to the hijack - Hootie & the Blowfish's remake of Led Zeppelin's "Hey Hey What can I do?". totally ruined the song for me. I don't even like the original anymore.

[casdave]

Demond Dekkars - The Isrealites is now used to advertise Vitalite margerine, isn't this a song about self sacrifice ? Surely some irony there

Remakes I hate

Boyzone - Father and son.
Boyzone - cannot remember the title but the first words are, "No matter what they say". I remember it was originally done by Meat Loaf and the meaning of the song has been taken completely out of context.

Maybe there's room here for a best/worst cover version ever thread ?

[London_Calling]

Don't know if an Australian loon by the name of Rolf Harris ever hit the US but he did a version of 'Stairway to Heaven' with a kind of Reggae beat imposed by way of one of those thin wooden boards that you can get to go 'woop, woop. woop'. The board has considerably more ability than does Rolf’s larynx.

Gravity increases about 50 fold for the 5 minute duration.

[hawthorne]

Rolf Harris doesn't count London Calling. His Stairway version was recorded for the Australian TV programme The Money or the Gun. The host of this was Andrew Denton who really hates Stairway. Every week he had a different band come in and murder the song for sport. The fact that the Brits subsequently bought the thing is down to them.

picmr

[Al Phosgene]

Frank Zappa sang the Bonanza Theme for his stage act.
Funny as hell.

[London_Calling]

picmr - it does count, so!

He sung the thing on the main TV 'pop music' shows, did the whole media circus and built his next album around it. What does he need to do to qualify - sing in tune ?

I don't like 'Stairway' that much, either (ok, the guitar break...) but the way he did it was akin to torture with a dentist drill, piano wire and a rusty bread knife, all slowly and variously applied to one's nether regions.

Not nice.

[TheNerd]

I don't know if this one counts as abusing a song necessarily, but for a while, Motorola's theme song was "You can't always get what you want"

I have trouble imagining the chain of stupidity that let this go on the air.

[Koxinga]

Surprised no one has mentioned Tom Jones's rendition of Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House", sung in duet with that chick from The Cardigans. Am I the only one who's seen this?

Tom looks positively scary in that video.

[Barney111]

Cat Steven's "The Wind" being used in not one, but two, different commercials. One is for Timberland; I can't think of the other one offhand.

[SoSueMe]

That Pepsi girl singing Aretha Frankin stinks.
What a waste. And just because A.F. is in the audience, it's supposed to be okay? No.

[ThisYearsGirl]

Duran Duran's remake of David Bowie's Fame


Duran Duran also covered Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" and Iggy Pop's "Success" (along with a whole bunch of other really good songs on a "tribute album" to bands that inspired them) and killed them.

[Olentzero]

Well, I'm glad this one hasn't been mentioned yet so I can come in with something original for once.

I really, really despise the fact that they used Jimi Hendrix' version of the "Star-Spangled Banner" for a frigging Pop-Tarts commercial.

Of course, I've also discovered that the words to both SSB and the old Soviet national anthem fit wonderfully well to the tune of Irish Washerwoman so I probably shouldn't kvetch too loudly.

[Sam Stone]

How about Cher's remake of "Love Hurts"? The part that cracks me up is the line she changed from, "Love is like a flame, it burns you when it's hot", to "Love is like a Stove, it burns you when it's hot". Excuse me... A STOVE? Who was the genius who decided THAT line needed changing?

Someone needs to go back to metaphor 101.

[Stephe96]

SAM,

I can't stand Cher, but I'll defend that line change. The original is pretty stupid as it stands. When the hell is a flame NOT hot?

[DrFidelius]

Jumping in here to complain about something.

A re-write of Bohemian Rhapsody to sell Mountain Dew.

Seismologists report an estimated rotational speed in excess of 1500 rpm in Freddy Mercury's grave.

And don't get me started on the whoremongers who have been abusing John Lennon's songs for commercials. (I'm now older than he ever got to be. There is no justice in this world.)

[MissMonica7]

My vote for crappiest cover song goes to whoever did the lame Beck-sounding version of "Boyz-n-The-Hood" (yes, the one from Eazy-E) that is currently playing on alternative rock stations. Bleccch.

Ahhhhhhh! I know this one, I just heard it on Sunday for the first time, and I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. I think those guys thought it would be cool/funny/different to cover that song, but they got it all wrong.

I just saw the commercial for a long distance phone company (MCI?) with Michael Jordan and Tweety Bird. Now, Looney Tunes tend to drive me crazy anyway, but when Tweety sings "What's new Pussycat" into the phone to MJ, my ears begin to bleed. Not that I liked that song to begin with, but they way Tweety is saying it is like nails on a chalkboard.

American Pie by Madonna was pretty bad, but I have to say that Sheryl Crow's Sweet Child of Mine is just worse.

I'd like to add the techno-remix-dance beat-version of both "My Heart Will Go On" and that one Shania Twain song "Youre Still the One". I did not particulary enjoy these songs to begin with, so hearing these new versions made me pretty much want to pitch the radio right out the car window.

[nashiitashii]

Sheril Crow's remake of Guns and Roses "sweet child" almost makes me cry.

Yeah, i just hear what she did to it, and i get all upset about how tortured it sounds. That and madonna's remake of american pie.

[argyle87]

Is McDonalds really using Sham 69's classic "If the Kids Are United" to sell hamburgers? Don't they realize that McDonalds has been the target of punk outcry for nearly two decades from bands like Crass, Conflict, Aus-Rotten, and most notably MDC, with the vitriolic "Corporate Deathburger"? A song about the youth joining together in the face of the establishment used to promote a corporate monolith? That's hard to swallow but nonetheless believeable.

And while we're hijacking, my vote for worst butchering of a rock song goes to Metallica for their drawing and quartering of The Misfits opus "Last Caress". How Glenn Danzig can sleep at night is a mystery to me.

[nashiitashii]

A re-write of Bohemian Rhapsody to sell Mountain Dew.
Seismologists report an estimated rotational speed in excess of 1500 rpm in Freddy Mercury's grave.

Also, the Braids did a remake of the song, leaving out the part that was magled in the Mountain Dew commercial. It was atrocious. Just leave Queen alone. It's good unless they start to fuck with it. That goes for most songs. There are exceptions there somewhere.

[KJ]

I will admit, I haven't heard most of these songs, being only 14 years old, but I have heard "Getting better" and I will admit that a) Using it to sell new technology is not such a bad idea, but b) the way they sing the song, it reeks, and c) play more than the first 2 sentences of the chorus for once!

[xizor]

I think the use of Bobby McFaren's "Don't worry, be happy" in the car rental commercial is terrible (Don't worry, drive happy). If that is the best that ad firm could come up with, they are in the wrong line of work.

[Gazelle]

Madonna's American Pie

Sounds like elevator muzak.

[Rock-n-Rolga]

Bit of a hijack here, but just wanted to mention that the original version of "Love Hurts" had the line "Love is like a stove/burns you when it's hot." When Nazareth covered it they changed it to "...like a flame" (Which I agree is silly and redundant) and I guess Cher wanted to be uh, historically correct or something by keeping the original line. There, didn't that just make your day? Nah, didn't think so either. :)

[rowrrbazzle]

No question: using Beethoven's 9th Symphony for the frickin' STARZ commercial!

And the lyrics are so creative: "Movies, movies, movies, movies,..."

I'd like to lower the idiots who thought of this and approved it inch by inch into a pool filled with hungry piranhas.

[spartacist]

I would have to say "Who Are You" in those Gateway ads. My friend suggested that their new slogan should be "Gateway - Who the fuck are you?".

[capacitor]

You haven't lived until you heard the rendintion of 'Mr. Tambourine Man', by the Really Big Head, T.J. Hooker, Captain Kirk and Transformed Man himself, william Shatner.

[betenoir]

OP and hijack: The Wallflower's cover of "Heroes" (for the movie Godzilla!) which takes out all the poinancy and irony (and point) of the original, and leaves you with the idea it's about Heroes not "heroes". And which therefore get's used in an FTD commercial about heroic flower buying.
For some reason they didn't include the line "And you, you can be mean. And I, I'll drink all the time."

And didn't they also use Iggy's "Raw Power" for Nike a while back?

The Buzzcock's "What do I get" on that car commercial i can't even get mad about, it makes so little sense.

Worst cover: how can we not mention Pat Boone's...well, all of them, which were not only bad, but made for a bad reason. Abusive to the song and the performer.

[Fenris]

No question: using Beethoven's 9th Symphony for the frickin' STARZ commercial!

And the lyrics are so creative: "Movies, movies, movies, movies,..."

I'd like to lower the idiots who thought of this and approved it inch by inch into a pool filled with hungry piranhas.


Agreed, except the bit about the piranhas. What'd the piranhas ever do do deserve having those idiots lowered into their water?

I suggest boiling oil or acid.

Fenris

[Americhronic]

What about the SUV commercial that uses the song "Crazy Train" by Ozzy...I have to say that I'd rather hear this song on a commercial that some annoying tune that the company comes up with though.

[argyle87]

Arrrrgh! I couldn't believe they used "What Do I Get" to sell the Rav4! And yes, Nike did indeed use an Iggy Pop song for a commercial depicting track and field athletes or something. I couldn't remember the song though, but I think it was in fact "Raw Power". At least it wasn't "I Wanna Be Your Dog".

While we're on the punk rock tangent (which I always seem to be on) did you know levi's wanted to use the Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia" for a fucking Dockers commercial? Jello Biafra took the band to court over who owned the song because he was that adamant about keeping the song out of the commercial.

[betenoir]

No way!!! "Holiday in Cambodia"? By what possible stretch of logic? Were they going to change the lyrics?

I thought when I started listening to punk rock I would no longer have to go through the pain of having my favorite song become a jingle. Apparently nothing is safe.

Don't mention "I wanna be your Dog", somebody will decide it would be perfect for Petco.