The first lines of Bohemian are, IIRC, “You’ve got a great car/yeah what’s wrong with it today?” Putting a song about living cheap in an ad for a new car worth tens of thousands just… rankles.
ad execs care about 2 things. One is getting people to buy whatever schlock is being sold. If a Rolling Stones song helps promote Metamucil, then that’s great. Second is whether using a promotional song will make people not buy the product. To wit, IIRC Nike stopping using Beatle’s Revolution because there were enough Beatle’s fans out there that started refusing to buy Nike’s because of the song use to make an economic impact.
How many people out there are going to boycott Nissan for using the music of Heroin?
I remember my priggish disappointment when BB King did a Pepsi or Coke radio ad back in the 1960s. The widespread idealism of the time made many think that the music was more than it really was–a cultural product that, if you were clever, talented, and energetic enough, you could get some money for it. After all, despite the claims of the lyrics, these people were and are just like the rest of us–trying to make a buck. Period.
My wife just mentioned to me an ad featuring Spirit’s “Fresh Garbage.” She can’t remember the product (I’ll keep an eye out for the ad) but it’s hard to imagine any product wanting to be associated with garbage, unless it’s trash bags.
What I think we miss is that many of these songs are and have always been unfamiliar to the wider audience. Outside of the tragically hip like us, who recognizes “Heroin,” much less the Stooges “TV Eye,” used to sell SUVs? These are fresh, new tunes to many, many people and I don’t believe, in these cases at least, that they are being used to pander to Boomers.
Did Willis put him up to that?
Linus Van Pelt, what I love about Chevy’s use of Paradise By the Dashboard Light is how much the singer winds up regretting his decision:
I like Chevy’s, and part of me still misses my late Geo convertible, but I can see some disgruntled Chevy owners agreeing with those lyrics whole-heartedly!
CJ
Personally, I think it’s a travisty that <i>I’m Sticking With You</i> is the best known VU song.
(P.S. for all you US peeps, it was in a car ad is the UK - dunno if it was overseas)
Maybe they’re telling you to forget the car and buy a great big clipper ship.
That’s the one that always get me. They play it at the 4th of July and other similar events. I always get thrown out of the patriotic mood because I’m shaking my head and saying “Doesn’t anyone even listen to the lyrics here?”. I seem to be alone, though, because I’m always surrounded by a bunch of brain dead morons going “BORN IN THE USA! WHOO!KICK ASS, MAN!” Idiots, they’re all total idiots.
See, I get what you’re all saying (well, many of you are saying) about using songs for just the tune, or a snippet of the lyrics (Didn’t Ronald Reagan use the refrain of “Born in the USA” as a campaign song? Or was that “Fortunate Son”?) to make their point. Iggy’s snarling of “Lust for Life” works decently well for Carnival because they want people to think that going on a cruise is a good way to live life to it fullest, or whatever. Ditto “Rock and Roll” for Cadillac. “Perfect Day,” “Bohemian like You,” Beautiful World," and even (save a few bits about giving head and transvestites) “Walk on the Wild Side” are all vague enough that advertising executives can get away with using them.
But this is “Heroin”, for Lou’s sake! The title is the name of a nasty drug, and all the lyrics pretty much directly relate to shooting up. I just want to know who in the world had the revelatory moment where they connected “And thank your god that I’m not aware / And thank god that I just don’t care” to an SUV. The two concepts just seem so far removed from each other that it would seem ludicrous to pair them up.
That said, I’m going out and buying a Pathfinder. “When I’m rushin’ on my run…”
What’s wrong with that? It’s a GREAT song!
Although I noticed that they cut out the lines