This really bugs me. The latest offender is a commercial in which the song is The Zombies’ “She’s Not There”. I suppose only those who know the song have a negative reaction. BTW, I don’t know what the commercial is for.
Yeah, it bugs me too. That one is also a particularly jarring edit, IIRC. I think I complained out loud about what a bad edit it was when I heard it. However, I also can’t remember what the commercial is advertising, but I’m kind of good at missing that.
Not too long ago, there was a commercial for a phone or phone carrier (the sort with lots of attractive Millennials living exciting urban lives, aided by their phones) that used “Who Needs You” by The Orwells. From the first verse:
Guess which lines didn’t make it into the commercial 
It wasn’t too badly edited (they relied heavily on the guitar rift anyway) but knowing what lines were coming up made me laugh to imagine them in the commercial.
This?
[quote=“Duckster, post:4, topic:777545”]
This?
[/QUOTE]Hmm, it is edited a bit, but there must be a shorter version where there the lyrics are truncated that annoys me more.
I did love when they used Dave Mason’s “Feelin’ Alright?” using just those words in the ad. Considering it’s about a bitter breakup (the next line is “Not feelin’ too good myself”), I can see the change, but why not just pick a happier song instead?
I drive my wife nuts by pausing and re-running commercials with our DVR so I can put them through Soundhound or Shazam when I hear a song I like but don’t recognize. That’s how I added “Who Needs You” by the Orwells (and “I Love You” by Said the Whale, and “Don’t Stop” by Ro Malone, etc.) to my iTunes library.
I find it interesting which pieces get used for what and why. In commercials for The LEGO Movie and some other subsequent ventures, you’ll hear snippets of Flo Rida’s “Good Feeling”… but you only hear the (fantastic) female vocals - never Flo Rida’s rapping.
[quote=“Duckster, post:4, topic:777545”]
This?
[/QUOTE]This is not too bad. Having Kiera Knightly in a hot-rod wooden boat certainly helps.
A local grocery store does a commercial with She’s Not There done in a smooth Jazz, with fruity flutes and stuff. I hated it at first, but, like Athlete’s Foot, it grew on me. 
My absolute favorite in this category is the 2004 Diet Coke commercial featuring Adrien Brody and Lyrics Born’s “Callin’ Out”. When I got around to hearing the full song, and out of how much I loved the sound (damn catchy and funky) of it in the ad, I couldn’t help but LMAO at how freakin’ heavily edited the ad version was. And I mean FREAKIN’ heavily edited…
And now the tune. (Due to the ‘chorus’, a NSFW on this puppy.)**
There is a series of GMC ads that uses the instrumental intro of The Who’s “Eminence Front”. No vocals, but every time I see one of those ads I can’t help but think “It’s a put-on, it’s a put-on.”
All I can think is “The Who Sell Out.” It just took a while…
I’m surprised I’m the first to mention Wrangler Jeans’ ad featuring CCR’s “Fortunate Son” about 15 years ago. They left in the part about how some folks are born made to wave the (American) flag, but they conveniently left out the part where John Fogerty sings “it ain’t me.”
And we mustn’t forget Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life as the soundtrack to your family friendly Carnival (?) cruise.
YES. That, in fact, is what I stopped in here to mention!
They do this with “classical” music all the time. How many people have heard the entire Dies Irae from Verdi’s Requiem?.. Though it’s been butchered in countless commercials.
I hate to admit that I was actually amused by the Apple Gigantic iPhone Ad, using the Pixies song of the same name.
It makes you wonder if the Ad creator did know that the song was about a huge penis when they ended the commercial with the phrase “You’re more powerful than you think”
The car commercial with The Dandy Warhols’ “Bohemian Like You” always bugged me. They kept “you got a great car” but for some reason cut out “yeah what’s wrong with it today.”
Wow, that’s terrible. It sounds like they edited it with a hammer.
Don’t forget Target using “Beautiful World” by Devo, despite said world being “not for them.”