“Born to Run” was at one point was being at least proposed as the state song of New Jersey. “It’s a death trap/ it’s a suicide rap” – what an endorsement!
I’m pretty sure they made it the state song. And hey, if the shoe fits…
Didn’t the Reagan campaign use Born in the USA one year?
… or the “dead man come” part… funny, that.
Another car commercial used Joe Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright” clipping it before it reached “I’m not feeling too good myself.” The song is basically about how much it sucks to be broken up from your loved one.
I’ve never understood what the “Feelin’ Alright” refrain is referencing in that song.
Is it sarcasm aimed at the one who did the dumping?
Reagan’s campaign contacted Springsteen to use it and Springsteen turned the campaign down flat. Refused to authorize it.
Along the lines of warped political usage, Pap Bush used during his re-nomination convention “The Best of Times is Now” from La Cage aux Folles. Hearing that song coming from the same sound system that had so recently transmitted Pat Buchanan’s “culture war” speech was pretty much the definition of surreal.
I remember that one, and I recall thinking, “who the f**k hired these guys?” (ie, the PR firm).
I heard an interview with John Mellencamp who said the RNC had contacted him earlier, asking to use “Pink Houses” for a convention. (I assume they contacted his agency, who relayed the message, but this is how he told it.) He said it was fine with him, but they might want to listen to the verses. They did, and got back in touch to say they’d changed their minds.
And let us not forget the DNC playing “Mambo #5” at a post-Lewinski convention! I know, they dropped the Lou Bega lyrics, but who could hear that song without thinking “A little bit of Monica in my life”? :smack:
Actually, this is not correct.
Reagan used Springsteen’s song on the '84 campaign trail, where he didn’t need to license its usage (unlike, say, TV ads, where the song didn’t play). Bruce was vocal in his protests, but the Reagan campaign didn’t care and continued to use it where ever Reagan went.
This was my senior prom theme. The song is actually titled Good Riddance (Time of your life) but they conveniently left out the first part of the title and just used the parenthetical.
Another 2000 grad here. I don’t recall any Green Day being played, but they did play Vitamin C’s Graduation Song; which may well be the longest string of lies I’ve ever heard set to music.
I mentioned this in a similar thread, but Target managed to twist Devo’s Beautiful World 180 degrees. For those of you who aren’t die-hard Devo fans (and I’m sure there’s a few here on the board), the bit Target used goes like this:
It’s a beautiful world we live in
A sweet romantic place
Beautiful people everywhere
The way they show they care
Makes me want to say
It’s a beautiful world
It’s a beautiful world
It’s a beautiful world
End commercial. The song goes on:
For you!
For you!
For you!
It’s not for me!
Maybe they didn’t play it at the convention but they definity used it in campaign commericaials. Was a big snafu for them, back in the day! 
God I’m getting old . . . :wally
Mambo #5 is much much older than the Lou Bega version and the original has no lyrics. It’s just a nice up-tempo mambo number.
NYC’s Channel7eyewitnessnews’s weatherman is Sam Champion. Yesterday I actually saw a commercial for him: He is the Champion, He is the Champion.
So much for my lunch.
I know. Every time I mention this, someone has to mention that the Lou Bega lyrics aren’t original to the tune. Why is that?
The fact that the old version (perhaps originally by Perez Prado in the 1950s) did not contain the Monica lyric is irrelevant. At the time of the convention, the Lou Bega version was enormously popular. Many (probably most) people hearing the tune in that context would be reminded of the lyrics that they’d heard with that version. Which is why it was definitely a :smack: moment.
It may not be the kind of patriotism the advertiser is going for, but I’ve always found Fortunate Son to be a very patriotic song. What’s more American than protected speech?
Actually there are many of us who haven’t heard the Lou Bega version enough to know what the lyrics are because we avoided that abomination like the plague. Hence it is entirely possible the person who selected the song to be used may not have heard the lyrics either.
The Hummer commercial featuring “Happy Jack” by The Who is especially annoying.
(Now Roger, remind me again what distinguishes “your g-g-generation” from the one that went before…?)
The person who chose the song knew there was a pop version of it on the airwaves, or else s/he wouldn’t have chosen it. If s/he didn’t take the time to even listen to that version, s/he is incompetent in his/her position and should have been fired.
No, there’s absolutely no excuse for using that song in that convention, even without lyrics.
By the same argument Pop that Cootchie, by Two Live Crew, is patriotic. That idea makes me happy.
But I agree, so allow me to restate. By using a subset of lyrics they change it from a protest song to a vacuous bit of rah rah glurge.
I’d forgotten all about the appropriation of Beautiful World. But since it was Devo I game them the benefit of the doubt. perhaps they believed that everyone who knew the song would append the “Not me”. Making it some sort of subversive anti-advertisement.