I saw during the Oscars a car commercial with “Sunny Side of the Street” in it. The most surprising part was that it actually had some of Shane McGowan’s singing. I never got the impression that his singing was for mass consumption.
I can’t think of anything to do with this thread, but I thought I should bring it to everyone’s attention because it was so weird.
Hey… so do the Violent Femmes… apparently. Unless I missed a previous Violent Femmes song on a commercial. Oh well…everyone else is doing it- might as as well.
Yeah, that freaked me out. I had to rewind the TiVo to see what it was a commercial for.
I guess the Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, Clash, Cure, Femmes, and The The have all had songs in ads. It’s still weird every time one of the songs from my high school years appears in one. Especially since most of them weren’t huge hits at the time.
I heard the commercial today and I actually liked it.
I read an article about the propagation of obscure indie songs in commercials. We really do have a double standard about bands. We like the music, but we don’t like it when the bands start to make serious money. There’s something noble about starving and playing in small clubs, and repulsive about having nice cars and houses and playing arenas.
A lot of bands heralded for their independence (like The Clash) were criticized for signing with major labels thirty years ago, supporting other bands and playing stadiums, and the like. Some bands were even slagged off for having videos… can you imagine a major artist emerging today without any video?
The reality seems to be that the commercial might be the music video of the 2000s. It’s a good way to get people buzzing about an artist, and requires a little legwork if the band is obscure. Nissan and Volkswagen have done a rather artful job of using music in their ads and I think it’s great - that’s how I discovered Radio 4 and Span.
I do think it’s kind of crap to hear “This Is The Day” accompanying an M&Ms commercial. Then again, I don’t know if Matt is a M&Ms fan, or if the dosh from the deal is helping him to put his kids through school, or whatever. I think I tend to like the artist as a musician but also want them to experience financial reward for their efforts. In this day of peer-to-peer sharing and so on, it’s good to see an avenue for artists where they’re not going to get the shaft. They get money from the ad company and there’s no worry about someone downloading their tracks and ripping them off. But I certainly like the idea that some kid might go on the 'net and find out who Matt Johnson is and buy Infected, or Dusk. So I think I’m generally okay with it. If Smashmouth or Nickleback start muscling in, I might have to shoot out my speakers on the telly.
Two horrible examples of doing this poorly: Timberlake’s “I’m loving it” which is the worst slogan that McDonald’s has ever had. I don’t even want to frequent their burger shack until they come up with a new one. AT&T’s use of Oasis’ “All Around The World” has more or less ruined that song, and maybe even Liam Gallagher’s voice for me, forever. I guess they can buy gold plated toilet seats with that royalty check, seeing as it’s on every f***ing ten minutes.
If anyone starts putting Shawn Colvin, Kirsty MacColl, or Graham Coxon music in their ads, I’m buying whatever the hell they’re selling though.
yeah actually I can, where the hell are you supposed to see these videos? lots of artists never back a song with a video since A they cost alot of cash to make and B they get no airplay
still freaks me out hearing some of the stuff I do in adds though.
The Magnetic Fields music is now in a cat food ad.
The most surprising thing to me about the Cadillac commercial is that GM thinks The Pogues music will sell SUVs.
A few years ago Virgin Mobile was using “Please Do Not Go” in one of they’re ads.
Wasn’t Cadillac using Led Zeppelin not long ago?
That took me completely aback. But supposedly the advertising companies would not do this sort of thing if it did not work.
As a Boomer, my life’s sound track is now selling products on television, and I still do not feel compelled to go out and buy that stuff–to me it’s actually a right turn-off.
Guess I’m old-fashioned.
heh. Maybe that’s it.
The Pogues came out a bit later, more like the 80’s. Maybe Madison Avenue is trying to reach a younger generation?
I never, ever thought I’d hear Shane MacGowan’s voice on TV, selling products, but I guess it does indeed get the music heard.
Apparently, the Violent Femmes song “Blister in the Sun” is being used for Wendy’s. (To expound on Smokinjbc’s post). The last thing I want to associate fastfood with is masturbation. Yuck.
I guess that would tie in with the Pogues “lust for vomit” though.
Sidenote: If it weren’t for VW, I might not have “found” Nick Drake.
This is in the States, right?
Shane McGowan has already done a commercial this side of the pond singing ‘She Moved Through the Fair’ to advertise Irish beer. Murphy’s stout, iirc.