Holy Teri, mother of Todd, is there anyone in the advertising community whose motherfucking job it is to actually watch all the other fucking ads being put out there and say, “Hey, you know, 9,472 other people are using Train’s ‘Hey, Soul Sister’ in their ads, maybe we should pick something, you know, different.”
I’m so fucking sick of this goddamn song.
As I mentioned in Cafe Society, I had managed to get through life without hearing this song until this past Saturday. Boy, what a piece of dreck.
The advertising and entertainment industries are like a big game of Mad Libs: producers take what was previously successful and popular, change names, places and dates, and release the “new” product.
Proposal for a new Chevrolet commercial, from _________ _________, Senior Advertising Executive, Chevrolet Corp.:
A (cute/hot) _________ is walking on a sidewalk in crowded downtown _________ while Train’s “Sweet Soul Sister” plays non-diegetically. A (cute/hot) ___________ drives up next to (him/her) in the new Chevy Cappuccino and winks, getting (his/her) attention. They drive away, girl flinging her __________ out of the window in a carefree manner. Deep focus sees the car disappear into the horizon. Cut to black-screen with logo.
Proposal for a new Ford commercial, from _________ _________, Senior Advertising Executive, Ford Corp.:
A (cute/hot) _________ is walking on a sidewalk in crowded downtown _________ while Train’s “Sweet Soul Sister” plays non-diegetically. A (cute/hot) ___________ drives up next to (him/her) in the new Ford Fracas and winks, getting (his/her) attention. They drive away, girl flinging her __________ out of the window in a carefree manner. Deep focus sees the car disappear into the horizon. Cut to blackscreen with logo.
No, Shit… it was a moderately enjoyable upbeat folksy Pop song. But they had a strike against them usurping and replacing the only Sweet Soul Sister that matters in Pop Music Culture and my mind. Then I saw Train on Fox News being interviewed and the illusion was shattered. They’re fucking soulless bloodsuckers that sold out. Now you hear them in the most banal situations… but hey, if they want 5heir music to mean cars, and coffeeshops, and TV commercials, and that sap, who am I to say?
A rule of thumb that has served me well over the years. If the word 'soul" is in the title or the description, it’s probably not going to be worth listening to. This song was no exception.
Hey, fuck you. I take that as a not so cleverly veiled devaluation and frettering of the brocade of The Cult’s Original Soulsister. That song simply Rockz, Astbury’s got more soul in his left Ball, than that Mick Monahan has in his right.
I have been meaning to come in and start this very rant.
I don’t have words for how much I hate this fucking song and everyone remotely involved with it, as well as everything that it has been used in a commercial for, which at this point includes everything available for purchase in the populated universe.
Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, so sister
I like that song.
I hated Soul Sister with a violent passion ever since the very first time I heard it. “My untrimmed chest?” And the guitar riff and rhythm, painfully and obviously aping Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson. Now that I hear it in nine billion commercials, I despise it even more.
If It’s Love, on the other hand - it also has horrible lyrics and an uninteresting melody, but I give Train major props for throwing in a reference to Sir Henry Lee. I highly doubt many listeners caught it, though.
I think the popularity of this song just goes to show that the ukelele is grossly underused in today’s popular music. Obviously, we are starved for ukelele music and will just take what we can get.
Soul Man
Soul Power (x at least 2)
Soul to Soul
Body and Soul
Birdhouse in Your Soul
Who Stole the Soul
Soulville
The Soul of a Man
Soul Station
Soultrane
You Don’t Love Me/ Soul Serenade
Jimmy Soul
De La Soul
Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul
… and I’m not even trying hard.
I actually didn’t mind the song the first time I heard it. It was pretty catchy and I wasn’t looking for high art.
And then ever single fucking commercial had to have that song playing in the background. Drives me batty, it does.
“The Remedy” blows dead purulent goats too.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the song; I’m gonna try to keep it that way.
isnt that actually lady marmelade?
I think you got whooshed.
You forgot a certain Beatles album.
How many different companies actually use this song in their commercials? Seems like an odd choice of songs if it’s actually more than one company.