# The goddamn Buzzcocks in an AARP commercial?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 23, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029 "2007-01-23T01:46:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/1 "2007-01-23T01:46:48Z")
You have GOT to be kidding me. I just saw an execrable AARP commercial with “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” by the Buzzcocks as the theme music. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/2 "2007-01-23T01:48:57Z")
Yeah, there was a Toyota (?) SUV commercial with “What Do I Get” a few years back, too. I can’t be mad about it. I hope they’re making bank off it, and finally reaping the rewards of being the perfect pop band they always were. They weren’t exactly Crass or The Exploited in terms of politics, nor of commercial appeal. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/3 "2007-01-23T01:55:09Z")
Think of it this way: crass commercialism aside, it’s a way to keep their music alive/out there. Sure, it’s a way to generate $$$, but it’s also a way to have Buzzcock music in the public conciousness,.Perhaps someone will hear that song and end up becoming a fan. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/4 "2007-01-23T02:36:11Z")
At least the AARP isn’t using “Lust For Life.” ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/5 "2007-01-23T02:50:29Z")
FWIW, if Pete Shelley were American, he could have have joined the AARP two years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/6 "2007-01-23T05:00:24Z")
After all these years, I still can’t get enough of this song. Let’s face it, the revolution is over. The Buzzcocks are now the cultural equivalent of Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World”. Congratulations to all of us on having lived long enough to see it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/7 "2007-01-23T05:15:00Z")
You think that’s bad? I heard The The’s “This Is The Day” on a commercial the other day. And it wasn’t a PSA, or something redeeming. It was for fucking M&Ms! ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/8 "2007-01-23T05:50:52Z")
[QUOTE=Snooooopy] At least the AARP isn’t using “Lust For Life.” [/QUOTE] No, that would be Royal Carribean Cruise Lines. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/9 "2007-01-23T06:10:48Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] No, that would be Royal Carribean Cruise Lines. [/QUOTE] “Somewhere between the liquor and drugs and the torture film, you realize, this is no ordinary vacation.” ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/10 "2007-01-23T06:19:24Z")
[QUOTE=Ogre] You have GOT to be kidding me. I just saw an execrable AARP commercial with “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” by the Buzzcocks as the theme music. WTF? [/QUOTE] I seem to recall a similar uproar about 20 years ago, when David Bowie’s “Changes” was used for a diaper commercial. At some point, you can’t eat adulation, and need your music to provide something else. I may have been dreaming it, but i thought I saw a K-Tel style commercial for a Clash compilation within the last couple of years. Putting them in the same category as Slim Whitman. Last night on DirecTV FreeView, we watched poor old must-be-pushing-50-by-now Robert Smith lead The Cure through a geriatric live retrospective of their hits, wig and makeup plastered onto his pasty, somewhat corpulent self. What a drag it is getting old… ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/11 "2007-01-23T06:54:39Z")
[QUOTE=scotandrsn] I seem to recall a similar uproar about 20 years ago, when David Bowie’s “Changes” was used for a diaper commercial. At some point, you can’t eat adulation, and need your music to provide something else. [/QUOTE] Assuming the “something else” you’re talking about is money, I hardly think Bowie qualified as some struggling cult artist. Same with the Cure (whose “Pictures Of You” was used in an ad for HP printers or something similar) - Smith and Co. can still sell out stadia on their crappy reunion tours. Not so The Buzzcocks - and, though I’m disappointed they’ve allowed their songs to be used in commercials, in some ways I’m more forgiving when smaller artists do it, especially when they’ve been around for 30 years and are still playing clubs. Same reason I don’t begrudge Bob Mould for writing the theme music for _The Daily Show_ (though, in that case, he wasn’t really writing a jingle for a product - it wasn’t like “Celebrated Summer” was being used to advertise Country Time Lemonade). And at least The Clash only gave a couple songs off _Combat Rock_ for use in ads (so far, I should add, at least in the U.S.). But if I heard “Complete Control” or “White Man In Hammersmith Palais” used to hawk KFC or something, I’d be pretty upset. So I sympathize with the OP. It really sucks when a song that meant a lot to you for a long time ends up becoming associated with shampoo in your mind. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/12 "2007-01-23T07:39:26Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] It was for fucking M&Ms! [/QUOTE] Those would be the green ones? ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/13 "2007-01-23T08:14:09Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] You think that’s bad? I heard The The’s “This Is The Day” on a commercial the other day. And it wasn’t a PSA, or something redeeming. It was for fucking M&Ms! [/QUOTE] _Well… you didn’t wake up this morning Because you didn’t go to bed In the 80’s they stopped making M&Ms in red._ ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/14 "2007-01-23T08:36:02Z")
[QUOTE=Snooooopy] At least the AARP isn’t using “Lust For Life.” [/QUOTE] Or “My Generation” by The Who. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/15 "2007-01-23T09:36:06Z")
There’s a thread around here somewhere, in which I point out that at some time in the future some geezers in a nursing home are going to be getting it on to NIN’s _Closer_! :eek: It’s funny when you see a commercial that has a tune in it that you just _know_ the suits in charge didn’t grasp the implications of the music they’ve chosen, or that it in _no way_ has the effect they thought it would. Led Zep in Cadillac commercials comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/16 "2007-01-23T12:15:39Z")
[QUOTE=woodstockbirdybird] And at least The Clash only gave a couple songs off _Combat Rock_ for use in ads (so far, I should add, at least in the U.S.). [/QUOTE] \*\*London Calling \*\* was used (briefly) to pitch Jaguar cars. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/17 "2007-01-23T12:38:00Z")
People it’s just _Buzzcocks_ no “The”. What is AARP? A while back there was a pain-killer ad here that used part of **The Great Gig in the Sky**. Maybe Rick needed a new yacht? ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/18 "2007-01-23T13:28:35Z")
[QUOTE=Small Clanger] What is AARP? [/QUOTE] American Association of Retired Persons. You can be eligible for membership at age 50, and it is probably the biggest single lobbyist group in American politics. And they got great discounts. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/19 "2007-01-23T13:36:12Z")
[QUOTE=Sean Factotum] American Association of Retired Persons. You can be eligible for membership at age 50, and it is probably the biggest single lobbyist group in American politics. And they got great discounts. [/QUOTE] So people who are newly eligible for entry were 19 or 20 when “Spiral Scratch” was released. Crikey! Another one was a car-tyre company (Michelin, maybe?) using the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs”. The ad was suitably odd, with the protagonists dressed in spiky rubber gimp-masks. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029/20 "2007-01-23T13:39:05Z")
[QUOTE=Small Clanger] A while back there was a pain-killer ad here that used part of **The Great Gig in the Sky**. [/QUOTE] :eek: Please tell me you’re joking! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goddamn-buzzcocks-in-an-aarp-commercial/389029.md?page=2)