Okay, what is the worst example you’ve heard of a song that has been modified or misappropriated just to fit some context? The kind of thing that makes you cringe and say, “I can’t believe they’re using that for that!!” And forever after for you the song is ruined because the memory of what was done to it is so strong.
My nomination : The song “War” (Edwin Star) was used in a shoe commercial (I forget by whom) and was edited so that it was no longer anti-war. IIRC, the commercial had scenes of competitveness in sports with the music going on :
“WAR! Hunh!. (nothing) … Good Gawd, y’all! Say It Again! WAR!”. Only if the Army had done it could it have been worse.
Runner-up : In the movie Philadelphia, the song Heaven(Talking Heads) is being played at the wake/party/whatever it was and the lyrics are changed from :
“Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens” to:
“Heaven is a place where nothing ever hurts you”.
That may not be verbatim, but I didn’t much like the movie and I won’t see it again just to check. According to a member of the group, the song was about the dream of a rock star to get away from so much stuff happening all the time.
So what other instances have y’all noticed? (Doesn’t have to be changed lyrics per se, these just happen to be)
panama jack
War! Hunh! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!
The Bob Dylan song about Mercedes-Benz being used in an advert about, well, Mercedes-Benz just shows how far the marketing executives responsible for that campaign missed the point.
Anyone else besides me remember when the Republicans (sometime during the Reagan Administration) were using the chorus from Springsteen’s “Born In The USA” as campaign theme music?
Somebody apparently didn’t listen to the rest of the lyrics…
A local radio station once did a promotion with “I don’t Like Mondays” by the Boomtown Rats. Or they planned to – the weekend before it was supposed to happen, they must have listened to the lyrics, and the promotion was called off.
My votes go to:
“Revolution” in the Nike commercial…How can you take an anti-establishment, anti-everything song like Revolution and use it to promote one of the largest money-grubbing corporations in the world???
…and any song from the Who, misappropriated for a Gateway commercial. Ugh. that is pretty cheesy.
More along the lines of the Madonna/American Pie thing, I’d have to say its awfulness was eclipsed by Nikki French’s remake of “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
Okay…I’ve got one pet peeve and it seems like I’m the only one it bothers. The new ad campaign for the thin tv from Phillips/Magnavox with the Beatles classic, anyone seen the commercials? Anyway, the spot always end with the lyrics
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better
It’s getting better all the time…
Anybody else out there finish the song like I do?
…It’s getting better all the time
It can’t get much worse
Everyone says I’m goofy (which is true, but beside the point)…anybody else hear that last line when they see those commercials?
*Add my vote to the list against Madonna’s slaughter of a perfectly good song.
Oh, can I add one more? Puff Daddy’s remake(?) of "Every Breath You Take.’ Nice sentiment, but not what Sting had in mind when he wrote it.
struuter
The fairly new Smash Mouth song that’s in a car commercial. Then The Morning Comes is a song about being let down, but you wouldn’t know it from the commercial
Last time I was in the US I heard a TV commercial using Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” to sell shoes or some goddamned thing. That’s just plain wrong. “We dance like hypnotized chickens.”
On the other hand, I would love to hear some misguided corporate ad wonks use Lou Reed’s “Kicks” to sell a car or something.
Reagan not only wanted to use Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”, he also wanted to use Meloncamp’s “Pink Houses”. One song about Americans shitting on veterans; one song about Americans shitting on the poor. Yeah, that’s Reagan’s America.
Here’s another (slightly obscure) example of people falling for the chorus and failing to listen to the verses: The ahem triumphant performance of Neil Young’s “Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World” by the likes of Bon Jovi and Skid Row at the 1989 Moscow Music Peace festival. That song is about as far as you can get from calling the U.S. a like, totally awesome place where you’re y’know, free to RAWK, d00d! Would have been nice to see good ol’ Neil appear on stage and bitch slap a little understanding into each smug hair farmer up there…then exile the poodle heads from the stage and be joined by Crazy Horse for REAL show! Och, me and my daft rocknroll fantasies…
As for horrid covers, look no farther than Metallicrap’s recent mutilations of Thin Lizzy and Lynyrd Skynyrd classics. IMO, ANYONE who attempts to mess with Lizzy is committing sacrilege and should be exiled, instrumentless, to Vladivostok via the the slowest, coldest train the Trans-Siberian has. Preferably seated next to a drummer. Eh heh.
There’s the new “Tigger Movie” coming out where Disney uses the “do-doo-doo-doo” portion of 3EB’s “Semi-Charmed Life” to promote the film. I’m not sure which part of the song Disney wants kids to relate to, whether it’s the crystal meth trips or the meaningless frat-party sex, or what. I mean, LISTEN to the lyrics before using a cut of the song. FTR, it is one of my favorite songs, but it is also entire inappripriate for promoting a kids movie, even if the choral bridge is kinda catchy.
OK, I will reserve comment about Mellencamp’s idiotic “Pink Houses” song (he snarls something about vacationing “down in the Gulf of Mexico!” as if THAT were the were the worst thing in the universe), but I will (sort of) defend Reagan’s use of Springsteen’s “Born In The USA”.
Yes, the lyrics are about a Vietnam vet’s trials and tribulations upon returning to this country after the war, but…the song ROCKS! Who listens to lyrics anyway? Despite Springsteen’s sentiment, I actually DO start to feel patriotic as hell when that song is blasting. So sue me. Heck, even our own national anthem contains lyrics that aren’t exactly “America The Beautiful.”
In Canada, the Bank of Montreal (IIRC) used Dylan’s The times they are a’changin’ in an ad to advertise their web banking. Talk about an inappropriate song!
