Late Night Music Club with Violent Femmes
You don't want to know the number of intra-band disputes I've gotten involved in, usually as a court witness. Some of these have been given a great deal of publicity, like the disputes between Morrissey and the Smiths' bass player and drummer who felt their contribution to The Smiths was equal to Morrissey's. (A witless judge agreed, due at least in part to her dislike of Morrissey's sometimes prickly personality.) Even worse was how the musicians in the Dead Kennedys' were able to convince another witless judge to deprive Jello Biafra of the fruits of all his work-- a real tragedy. The cases I've been involved with which were eventually settled aren't allowed to be discussed publicly, like when O'Reilly and Fox paid $6.5 million dollars to Andrea Macris for their criminal behavior towards her.
As you may have heard, Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie is suing singer Gordon Gano for various abuses, from allegedly being derprived by Gano of credits due him to being supplied with allegedly fishy accounting records, something very common in the music business, I might add. But the charge that most caught my eye was that Ritchie was furious over Gano's grant of permission to Wendy's to use "Blister in the Sun" for a commercial. How do you feel about bands' songs being used in commercials? Here they performing their biggest song live in London in 1984:
And here's the Wendy's commercial:
Hurt me please.
Flash and the Pan: First and Last -
http://technohippie.com/geeklog/public_html/mediagallery/media.php?s=200...
To date the most disgusting use of a band's song for commercial gain (at least for me) is Rock the Casbah in that Cingular commercial where the two guys take guesses at what the chorus says. Har har. Ironic that they would use a song about censorship, considering all that Pearl Jam stuff that's going on right now. Almost as ironic as hearing Holiday in Cambodia played as an intro to a far-right radio show.
Oh, capitalism, you know no bounds.
Hurt me please I wanna be first!
Ok, 2nd. and last. Oh well.
can't there be a standardized proportional manner of accrecditation? of course andy rourke and mike joyce deserved some of the smiths' royalty money, but not an equal proportion as morrissey and marr. same goes in most of these cases, with the dead kennedys their 'music' barely even matters at all, its the lyrics, the ideas that are the product, there's just some shitty noise going on along with them. those guys still deserve some dough, for sure, but not in the same amount. yada yada. i know its hard to quantify an artistic contribution, especially when there are mulitple people involved, but shouldn't there just be standard allocation arrangements as part of a contract? 35/35/15/15% would work in some situations, arguably for the smiths. that would still give money and credit in a fair amount, wouldn't it?
The one that really drove me up a wall was Wrangler Jeans co-opting "Fortunate Son", I'd guess about 6-7 years ago?
A scathing Vietnam-era takedown of privilege and deceit .. to sell denim ???
I understand Fogerty didn't have control over the publishing but the decision was disgusting.
I suppose it can be done tastefully but it's such a fine line, isn't it? Especially with archetypal songs that feel like they're part of our DNA.
The Fabulous Dixie Chicks -
the national anthem: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vU5AYcAhvyo
Travelin’ Soldier: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nLBgmbXBOb8
Sin Wagon: http://youtube.com/watch?v=mOLKb3TPd_8
Ready To Run (possibly my favorite DC tune): http://youtube.com/watch?v=3a9mx1IVZzU
Cowboy Take Me A WAY (possibly my favorite DC tune): http://youtube.com/watch?v=hntXAO_Rq7c
Great tune but this video is far better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFwgd8J8Ts0
Oh yeah... and the worst use of a song in a commercial is Iggy's Lust for Life selling ocean cruises.
Game over, thanks for playing!
Pop music and advertisements are the same thing today.
John Lennon won a stupid song-lawsuit a few years before he was foully murdered ("aa..ah, untimely death").
During his trial, a green lawyer cross examined the great Dr. W. O'Boogie, and asked if it wasn't true that he had cut his hair in order to make a good impression in the courtroom. "Rubbish", said John. "I get it cut every few years". Even the Judge laughed at that one.
Damn. I love Gano. I know nothing of him personally, but was a big VF fan and really liked his forays into Gospel music. But Blister in the Sun for Wendy's? That's just wrong. Sigh.
They got rid of the broccoli + cheese potatoes :(.
Normally, I really hate it when rock/punk songs are used in commercials.. since, it usually goes against the whole point of the song.. Nike and the Beatles 'Revolution' being an infamous example. Pop songs are pop songs, so it dosn't really matter to me.
For me, here is one exception to the rule. There's one commercial that uses a folk rock song, that is a lyrical short film that stays true to the mood and intent of the song, instead of just another 'ad spot.' This VW commercial that used Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon:'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOW9fLT9eY
Agree, Blister in the Sun for Wendy's ?? ...i dont blame Ritchie.
But if you should consider Pavement LNMC one day. Tonight is a Pavement and Jack n coke...i dont wanna hear about wingnuts and jesus crazies.... just a Father to a Sister of a Thought
It's a tricky question, for sure. I believe John Densmore and Robbie Kreiger had or have a similar dispute with Ray Manzarek over the latter's wish to license some of the Doors catalogue?
In any case, it's damned difficult for many bands to earn a living these days without allowing other outlets/usage for their music. Artists tend to get their hands dirty once they join the fray in the "Music Business" and we're used to hearing songs by bands with giant street cred like The Clash, the Stooges used in TV commercials.
On the other hand, a handful of artists, Tom Waits very notably, seem to manage to avoid going this route.
I wouldn't necessarily knock a band for cutting a deal per se, but I would hope that some thought went into what product you're associating yourself with.
Does Gano have control of the publishing on the track Burger King wants to use, or is Ritchie's consent also required? Maybe Brian Ritchie is simply not down with Burger King. It's fair I think for an artist to say "hey, I don't wanna be linked up with Walmart/McDonald's/etc".
Anyway, the Violent Femmes were a fun band, and both the guys in question here are very talented. I remember seeing 'em at a house party in Davis back in the early 80's. They just set up in the living room and did their thing.
"There's a little black spot on the *SON* today
It's the same old thing as yesterday" - Police
my all time favorite worst was a cereal commercial 'quaker crunchy oatmeal?' that ripped off melanie's song "look what they've done to my song"---morphed into "look what they've done to my oatmeal".
were they fucking trying to be ironic and offensive?
correction: Wendy's, not Burger King...
I don't eat at fast food joints, and wouldn't know if either one is more socially responsible.
lewisnclark @ 17:
Songs are written to promote albums. Radio stations play the music to promote their stations. Advertisers choose stations with music they want to associate their product with. It's a small step to actually put a song in a commercial.
Unless an artist is giving music away for free, the purpose of the music is to make money one way or another. Once you dive into the sea of capitalism, integrity has little meaning.
One of the oddest ever (mis)uses of a song was the choice of "Rise Up", a gay and feminist anthem from the early 80's as the soundtrack for McCain "rising crust" frozen pizza more than a decade later.
While a stepfordian mom put her pizza in the oven, and her kiddies looking on, in the background was the revolutionary call:
Mr Record Player #7
whenever i think of the song "fortunate son" i think about how well it describes the george bush jrs. running around back then.
senators' sons and the sons of members of the state house in texas.
My sequence of Camel's Drafted from their Nude album -
http://www.thesequencers.us/drafted.html
Remember the band was called the Dead Kennedys...not the "Jello Biafra Band"..Great as he is,the band gave him the sound.
I think if the music is used as a soundtrack to evoke a period or state of mind, then it isn't much different than being in a film (although I always thought Iggy Pop was a bit odd for a cruise line).
Where artists really get into trouble is when advertisers pun on their lyrics (see my Rise Up post above). It tends to permanently link the product to the song in the listener's mind...or mine, at least. I always felt that Heinz ketchup ruined Carly Simon's "Anticipation" for all time.
Uh, my browser isn't playing the sequence automatically as designed. So if you're having the same problems I am with "the machine", here's a direct link to the sequence. Listen to this as you read from the page I pointed you to above -
http://www.thesequencers.us/sequences/drafted.mid
what happened to my post
Guess it doesn't bother me.
Usually, the songs have a separate identity before the commercials and after the commercials.
Though I do recall one young woman once hearing Rhapsody in Blue and telling me it was the "United Airlines song."
Getaway..getaway...getaway....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTTKcrbQog8 The Waterboys...This is the Sea...............I hope this one works
I think it's wrong to sell a song to an interest that is in direct conflict to what the song is about. Other than that, stuff like this doesn't bother me. Obviously everyone involved should get whatever is due to them, but these guys work hard, and way too many creative geniuses have suffered for some ideal sense of artistic integrity. The art is what it is, and people who toil at their craft deserve to occassionally pay the dividends of that hard work. Hard working musicians deserve to be paid just as much as hard working people of any other field do. By all means, cash in.
Oh well....it's not coming up.....I was trying to pull up The Waterboys...This is the Sea......nice tune.
Jiffypop @ 25:
Yah, but Jello was instrumental in the band's images, promotion, and legacy. Jello IS the reason they're not some forgotten, or forever underground relic of the west coast punk scene. The whole lawsuit stemmed from the band members wanting to use Holiday in Cambodia in a Nike Commercial (I might be a little wrong on this) and making the claim that Jello was mismanaging the back catalog and not doing enough to promote it. You can not make up a sellout of these proportions.
mudshark @ 30:
Mudshark, it came up. Thanks for posting this!! It's one of my favorite songs, period. I was also lucky to see the Waterboys live in '83 when it was this line up, including Karl Wallinger (who started World Party), on keyboards. They were f'ing amazing live.
Camel: Earthrise (from their Mirage album) -
http://technohippie.com/geeklog/public_html/mediagallery/media.php?s=200...
There's good examples of music in commercials such as this one here that is making the rounds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq9Hlw3ZDQ0
It can be offensive when advertisers simply picks songs because they have a cultural cred that has absolutely no association with their product. But, the results can be quite striking when the advertisement uses the song to create something sublime and wonderful like the the Pink Moon commercial linked earlier. Not that it matters, I don't own a TV or see any advertisements so this would be irrelevant without Youtube.
Here's Ken Nordine talking about the colour Olive. Apparently he did some radio spots for a paint company...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3tT-Q9LAyk
Classic stuff. The FIRST so-called alternative band I ever listened to my freshman year in high school (along with the Dead Milkmen) on bootleg circa 1986, before you could just find new music on the internet. I never went back to commercial rock. They just blew me away back then and they still hold up today. Personally, I do prefer 'Kiss Off' to this song, though.
On one of those VH1 countdown shows I saw an 80s band say it was hard for them to sell their song to a burger joing because some of them were vegans.
"But we got $100,000 so that helped." Sellouts.
I have an attitude similar to Henry Rollins. Good for them, they're finally making money (that is, if the band all agrees and the royalties are done correctly). If you have to sit through the commercial, what would you rather hear, a good familiar tune, or some schlocky crap? Personally, I don't have to worry about commercials, I took my TV off line in 1997.
There are so many to rate with "Cheers and Jeers." Off the top of my head - Cheers: Those using Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" and the cruise line(?) using Buster Poindexter's "Hot, Hot, Hot" Jeers: That godawful "Viva Viagra" to "Viva La Vegas."
I know Jim Morrison freaked over Buick wanting to do "Come on Buick light my fire" but despite his desire for artistic integrity, I think times have changed somewhat. A band's tune making it into the mainstream can be its own bit of counter-culture rebellion. Every time I hear the French version (Ca Plam por moi?) of "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" in the current commercial, the English lyrics running through my mind is in the chorus "She gives me head." :-)
I think Tool says it best:
All you read and
Wear or see and
Hear on tv
Is a product
Begging for your
Fatass dirty
Dollar
So...shut up and buy, buy, buy
Buy my new record
Send more money
F*ck you, buddy.
teknikAL @ 39:
Music is a hard, dirty business. I know from my friend's dad, Mike Mayer, who worked for Atlantic/Capricorn, and my experience.
Here's some Camel video I haven't seen before, more from their Mirage album -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xh7yVU68HHY
It appears to be the original lineup, from the MoonMadness era.
Neither into commercials or fast food or paying lead-singers more than other members of the band. Why people think that one persons work has more monetary value than another is a concept I'll never understand -- unless looked at through the lense of capitalist greed.
America is Waiting -- Byrne & Eno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1-Q8ly8iKE&mode=related&search=
Peace!
Yes. Lust for Life was used tragically in that cruise commercial. It was my favorite song until they endlessly played that commercial to death.
I think the authors of songs should very carefully choose when where and how many times their songs are used. I think they have an obligation to remember that these songs have deep resonance to the listeners. The many fans that embraced the song, took it to their hearts when it was important and needed to comfort them in those moments of despair or glory. They are anthems to very personal moments in time.The reaon these songs are wanted by corporations so much. I have to think that has to be worth something. Ahh fuck it maybe I should just chuck the TV and never have to worry about it again.
AndrewK @ 36:
Here's Ken Nordine talking about the colour Olive. Apparently he did some radio spots for a paint company...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3tT-Q9LAyk
Ken Nordine, is a Poet who started out about the time of the 'Beats.' He was also the 'voice' of Levi's Commercials for many years.
I've got a lot of respect for him. He's basically his own 'arts patron.' He uses his earnings from Voice Overs, to fund his spoken word projects.
Here's another one of his poems:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sFCzZ7tQwM
#34 ..Thank you....Thank you very Muuuuucchhhh
blister in the sun is the louie louie of the eighties, and the punkiest acoustic number ever written. it always makes me happy. i did not click the commercial. i don't want to know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IarQsEd0mLg The English Beat..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmbcOpPvQGk This ones for Rudy......The Specials...A message to you Rudy
Camel, Dunkirk (from their 'Nude' Album) -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=crHLA59nFEI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lJIjdajBww&mode=related&search= This ones for the republican party......
Wendy's is nothing like this song, or anything in the bands discography. I don't see the connection.
Bugsy and my cover of Camel's Never Let Go (from their first/self titled album) -
http://www.thesequencers.us/samples/neverletgo.mp3
As a vegetarian, that is somewhat disturbing. I remember being somewhat disappointed when Tommy Lasorda took money for a Wendy's commercial back a few years. However, Lasorda took a lot of the money he made from the commercial and put it into animal rights causes, including his own shelter/adoption program. I hope the Violent Femmes do the same. If I could get a fast food joint to fork over a ton of money to me, I think it'd be poetic justice to take that money and apply it to causes against the marketing message they just paid me for.
Dunno. I dropkicked my tv off the headlands and into the sea well over ten years ago. Advertising itself should be illegal, let alone besmirching masterpieces with their filth. And maybe if being greedy foul pigs were illegal, greedy foul pigs couldn't prevail in court, contracts that didn't give everyone fair treatment and remedy couldn't be written to begin with.
I'm not even going to click on tonight's selection... treachery and treason, there's always an excuse for it, and when I find the reason I still can't get used to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGB3KyyTxP0
Mudshark,
The English Beat and The Specials.. Nice!
One more from me.. some friends told me that Echo and the Bunnymen were incredible live in their early days.. when I saw this vid on youtube.. I got a small idea of what they were talking about..
Never Stop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixyq4EH776U
I gotta get up early for work.. so: GNA!
The worst corruption and cooptation of a song Was Rush Limbaugh using The Pretenders "I lost the City" to open his radio program.
Oh, I'd forgotten about the Rock the Casbah commercial. Yes, that was a truly execrable use of a song that has nothing to do with the product being sold. All I could think was thank God Joe Strummer's dead.
My mass criticaled when I heard London Calling for some luxery automobile, and unfortunately, I think dear Mr. Strummer was still alive. But you know what? They're not my lyrics, they're not my intellectual property. David Simon was asked about selling out The Wire to BET - it's been chopped to pieces, storylines left in chaos - and he admitted that they needed the filthy lucre, and that was all there was to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAwCYCFsz8A Black Crows....Remedy
It looks like Wendy's wasted their money. It's mixed too high, has no relevance to anything...sticks out...sort of like a blister in the sun. Coppertone should have bought the rights to the song for their ads.
I think the one that pissed me off the most was M$Ms using The The's "This is the Day" for their commercial. My son runs in the room everytime he hears it (he's 5) but it totally strips the irony out of it. At least he understands irony now.
Love the English Beat and Specials and Waterboys, mudshark! You've got some decent taste:-)
That's sad to hear about the VFs. What a great band! I just thought about them as I walked past the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee yesterday. My fave VFs song will always be "Dance, MotherF*cker, Dance."
The song-in-commercial that really blew my mind was the credit card commercial that used Spinal Tap's "Gimme Some Money."
Commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLYk0CgxQbM
Original:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4fCbqjWiek
Rebel, Rebel was also used inappropriately, but I can't remember the commercial or the product. I never do, frikkin asshole worthless advertisement machine. Instead of selling overpriced shoes made by unpaid slave labor to underpaid working stiffs, they could be making a real contribution to the good of us all. Thanks Madison Avenue for the branded celebrities who are so much more newsworthy than dead soldiers and a modern society turned into a mass refugee camp in the name of spreading the American way of Life, inc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-U3Xe5NG2Y yeah ..Echo and the Bunnymen were really good.....heres... The Simple Minds....Waterfront
Since as I understand it that my parents own some Wendy's stock (a very small amount of it, as I understand it), I think I would be lacking in my commenting if I didn't post this really cool song about the wind that blows in Chicago -
Association: Windy -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hU8vOQNvd3c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbv6r_tKnE this will crack you up....Rocketman
I'm okay with a song being used in a commercial when the commercial sells the band. I don't know that I ever would have heard the band Hem if it hadn't been for that insurance commercial that used "Half Acre" that got me to buy their "Rabbit Songs" cd, which I love.
But Sting selling Jag-You-Ars doesn't do so much for me. Nor does Fred Astaire selling vacuum cleaners.
Pretty much, when it comes to selling out, I think the gold standard has to be Bill Watterson. He refused the licensing of the nonpareil "Calvin and Hobbes" against incredible pressure, for very good reasons. Read The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book for his reasons (and because it is an excellent book about the best comic strip ever written...sorry Far Side). Or go here and read this speech he did for the Kenyon College commencement.
As for the Violent Femmes, I urge you to go see a current film that's out right now, in quite limited release. Rocket Science. Good film with excellent--and wonderfully whimsical--use of their music.
"Lincoln's a chick!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbJ4gsLwUVw&mode=related&search= Camel...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFjKFDvyJ80 this one for nicole....hope she's having a nice vacation
Be fair Howie,
No-one claimed that Mike Joyce (Andy Rourke settled out of court for a lot less) made a contribution to the Smiths equal to Morrissey (or Marr). He was sueing for unpaid performance royalties. Morrissey and Marr still pocket all of the publishing royalties because they wrote the songs.
Fair's fair.
Also, it was pretty hypocritical of Moz to use The Severed Alliance as evidence having previously wished a gruesome death on its author.
Don't get me wrong, I love Morrissey but the judge's summation was a fair one. He is devious, truculent and unreliable. Anyone who's ever worked with him will tell you that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnH9NreW95Y&mode=related&search= It's Unbeleivable....EMF
Wow. I'm a huge Femmes fan and was unaware of this...
I know this blog is old but does anyone know the outcome of this case?
I can't believe no one has yet mentioned Pete Townsend and the Who. Their songs are in so many commercials that I, with teary eyes and heavy heart, must speculate that they left the last three letters, "res" off the name of the band.
Let me get this straight...
How do I feel about the commercial rape of some of the best, 'define my generation,' music ever written?
My answer is in the question.
Makes me angry, very, very angry, which I understand is a normal and sane response for a rape victim, and those that care about the rape victim to have.
Know that The Who is dead to me now.
"And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie
You thirty-six year old baldheaded rag, blow me
You don't know me, you're too old, let go
It's over, nobody listen to techno ..."
Thank god for The Beastie Boys and Neil Young:
"This Note's For You"
Don't want no cash
Don't need no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.
Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you.
Ain't singin' for Miller
Don't sing for Bud
I won't sing for politicians
Ain't singin' for Spuds
This note's for you.
Don't need no cash
Don't want no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.
I've got the real thing
I got the real thing, baby
I got the real thing
Yeah, alright.
Any questions?
~Nyc
Wow, lots of interesting posts...
I'm a big fan of the Femmes..
Why has noone mentioned the obvious...
"Blister In the Sun" is about a drug addict with a compulsive masturbation prob...
Yum, luv that special sauce.
Link to Ritchie interview
And onceler, this:
is so laughably asinine. I'm a huge supporter of Jello and how he got screwed over by the band is just wretched. Police Truck, Halloween, Bleed for me???? Come on now, be reasonable man. Jello wouldn't have gone nearly as far as a spoken word artist only.
What does a song about a teenage guy wanking have anything to do with Wendy's in the first place??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcBWlblRDjg James McMurty....We Can't make it here anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6-wG5LLqE The WHO.....Wont get fooled Again!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKUBTX9kKEo&mode=related&search= Baba O Rielly
Makes me angry, very, very angry, which I understand is a normal and sane response for a rape victim, and those that care about the rape victim to have.
Nyc W. Alberts, do yourself and everyone else a favor, and don't ever compare something so trivial to rape again.
They *should* be sued for not knowing how to play their instruments...call me old school.
The saddest sellout to commercials for me is my idol Hendrix (thanks to the estate).
Trying not to throw up here:
Appalling, nicht wahr?
~Nyc
All this aside - and Josh posted this first - Blister in the Sun is about a masturbation problem. This means Wendy's is using a song about someone with a masturbation problem to advertise it's food. I know that this is a serious issue, but, forgive me if I giggle just a bit!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce2Bc3lGG7c The Who....Tommy...overture
Violent fems?
I gotz yer violent fems!
Boss Hog: "I Dig You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crxXY2AegpA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30AVhf-ZLwM Bowie....Lets Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDetQ18fw5Q&mode=related&search= Rebel Rebel...Bowie.........I do beleive that all these songs have been sold out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubeMeOJFjFg Rocketman.....Elton Johns version...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwqhhZnl8G4 The Police.....every breath you take
OK, good, I see that my use of strong language is effective.
It was supposed to be, that's why I wrote it like that.
When one stops to consider just how much sheer damage our trillion dollar Corporate Media Empire perpetrates on the General Public, (See: highest obesity rates in the world, through the selling of toxic fast food, for starters), then you begin to see that what they are doing is a mental mind-f**K on a vast scale that would make Stalin, Goebbels, Hitler and Mao wet their pants and blush.
Hardly trivial.
More like corrupt and evil.
And that they use the music that they do to accomplish their ends gives it a component of feeling like being physically violated, which I have had happen to me, so I know what that feels like, thank you very much.
~Nyc
I was wondering how Wendy's got the license to use Blister in the Sun.
Honestly it didn't bother me that much because I have a strong association with that song and the mischief of my early teens.
I can't stand it when other commercials successfully bind good music to their product so I think of the product when I hear the song. That is irritating.
How about a Wendy's Jr. Bacon cheeseburger with fries and a coke for a total of 1080 calories, and 37g of fat? Mmmm cellulite.
regarding#87....that one hasn't sold out
oopppsss...that was supposed to be #77...And #92 thats a double cheeseburger with super sized fries and a Diet Coke.....gotta watch them calories dontcha know
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVgBGOtS8Y4&mode=related&search= last one.....since the Smiths were mentioned.....The Smiths .....Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others.....ok that's it...and no they haven't sold this one out..... gna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVHp-IKvN04 bonus round..........good nite folks.....
I always thought that Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" was meant to be a satirical slam on a sense of entitlement.
Using "Mercedes Benz", to sell... Mercedes Benz... targeting the same former hippie generation.
At least when you're dead, it's not you specifically that's selling out.
How about Kraft Cheese that is "Crumbalievable"..EMF "Unbeliveable" (I know not great art) or Swifter's "Swift if Good" - Devo's "Whip It"...and once Eno and Bowie liscenced "Heroes" for Microsoft in 1995 if I recall....Just more sellin out!!
First,
Thanks to all for the Who links - too lazy to search for myself. I'm in heaven.
Now to the point of the question.
Upside: I find myself listening to promos (those commercials for TV shows) and noticing music and artists I'd forgotten or overlooked. Sometimes it helps when the alleged to be hip show promos include an old-style MTV ID (usually a component of the rights agreement) in the lower left screen 3rd.
Downside: Still, I am getting upset with the level of "dimwit" being applied to music choices in commercial and TV shows... I got into CSI because of the use of the Who's "Who Are You" and it's use in stingers and bumpers throughout the show. Then came CSI: Miami and "Won't Get Fooled Again." Both choruses made sense for the "detective genre." But Baba O'Reilly!?! for CSI: New York? A song about tough life and tough youths... I love the song, the show is okay, but if that Zucker guy ever does CSI:Des Moines I hope he switches gears and pulls a track from Urban Cowbow or something. Stop bastardizing the best rock band of my wasted youth!
Final thought, a while back (while living in Hawaii I believe) I saw both these short-lived examples of commercial/music linkage... both VERY short lived.
Air Nipon(?) Japan's national airway using the instrumental track and chorus of The Vapors' "Turning Japanese" (don't think they understood the private moment mojo there)
A very forgetable skin cream or suntan lotion using The Divinals' "Touch Myself" (another "oh crap, it's about WHAT!? moment in advertising).
Still both were funnier than that freakin' "Lock the Cashbox" crap commerial - I was so glad I didn't have Cingular service - busting up a TV gets expensive, but new TV's AND replacing cell phones... that's real money.
Using some artists already recorded tunes hurts composers and jingle writers. If the music is directly pulled from the albums, it also hurt the incomes of studio musicians.
I can understand one-hit-wonders grabbing a chance to make more money, but when well established wealthy artists do it, it just makes me lose respect for them.
Nyc W. Alberts @ 90:
In my opinion, the only thing your "strong language" was effective in doing was to paint you as hysterical and overexaggerating, nullifying any point you were trying to make. Besides, so long as the person(s) who own the rights to the song gave their permission for the song's use, it can't be considered rape, can it?
I never knew what the song was about,
but somehow a food company wanting to
associate their food with blisters sounds
quite a bit loopy. Special mayo sauce, or
what?
here are 2 artists whose songs will never be used in commericals
jason falkner...the plan (no vid...thats how non comercial his pop is)
http://www.stickam.com/editMediaComment.do?method=load&mId=176245839#
mike patton, with mr bungle (air conditioned nightmare) think of the beach boys on acid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4rqXqpLCZ0
American Corporate Media does not spend a penny with expecting at least a dime, if not a whole dollar's worth of return on their investment.
That's how they do business.
The creators of this website can probably write a book on the subject about the endemic, and systemic, exploitation of musical recording artists by their record companies done via 'signed contracts.'
Buying their music, on the cheap, to use in TV commercials, is just another way that they're being taken advantage of.
Sure they might have given their consent and 'permission', but I have no doubt that for some of them, (other than say the greed-heads of The Who), it was not something that they did lightly, i.e., they needed the money, which means that they were vulnerable to a decent sized paycheck, which may have been the biggest pay days of their lives.
That whole 'you signed a contract, now you have to live up to it' argument is one the military uses in bootcamp on recalcitrant recruits that are having second thoughts. i know this because when I was on Parris Island they forced us to watch a video with that particular message.
Sometimes people agree to things that are not in their best interests, but because they don't feel like they have a lot of other options or choices.
Taking advantage of vulnerable people is the hallmark of a bully and is absolutely predatory, be it on an individual level or done through a large multi-national corporation looking to add to its bottom line through any means necessary.
When you look at the garbage products that's being sold by them, be it over-processed, toxic food, to Stupid, Ugly Vehicles, that blight our roads and destroy our air, or a Herr George Busch and Rudy Ghouliani, and war in Iraq or Iran, sticking up for these mass media thugs, in any way, is almost a sure sign of having an advanced case of Stockholm Syndrome.
Your mileage may vary.
~Nyc
If a band or songwriter wants to license a song to to advertise something, that's fine with me. But it's no longer a song. It's now a jingle and should never be played again. I don't care how great of a song it was. As soon as it's attached to a product, it's toast as music.
I got pissed off when Bowie sold "Heroes" to Reebok.
That song...belonged to all of us, he had no right. Sell fucking "China Girl," leave that one for us.
As a partner in a small indie label (MISRA), I'm all for getting my artists into whatever venue they feel comfortable with, be it Movies, TV, Ads, Games, etc...If they don't want to do it, then fine. But it's probably one of the best ways to get visibility and spur sales nowadays. If it's done right it can do wonders for an artist - witness Volkswagon's surprisingly beautiful use of the under appreciated Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon' - Drake's records sold more after that than his whole career combined and generated interest in his music in a way that NEVER would've happened had there been no ad. Sure he's dead, but still...
Then again, there's Sting sitting in a freakin' Jaguar while one of his insipid snooze fests plays in the background. ugh. btw, Satan himself (106) - China Girl is an Iggy Pop tune...
...ummm, "Won't Get Fooled Again" seems to turn up in the most unlikely places- I think it's used for the title music for "Miami CSI" or somesuch crap, car commericals, etc. and a most interesting transvaluation was Jefferson Airplane's anthemic "Volunteers" being used to promote eTrade online stock trading...really wanted to shower after that one....Funny, I have three teenagers, and one of them got mad at me for having a Violent Femmes album on my iTunes list on the family computer,I'm "too old", but I digress...it seems to me that some contemporary music is released as part of a promotional package for other rpoducts to begin with
When I was a youngster hearing a 'real' rock song on a commercial was shocking - a visceral anguish. Blue Jeans going from jingle to song was ok, but not the other way around. Nowadays it seems a song can still be in the charts and selling burgers without causing any unease at all. I find it sad.
Yeah I agree with the Pink Moon ad.
I was about the same age as the kids were in the commercial when I first heard his immaculate guitar playing.
No-one's mentioned Moby yet.
Every single track on Play was licenced for some kind of ad.
Since I never pay attention to commercials, I can't comment. But thank you for posting the vid of 'Blister in the Sun'. Brings back some great memories of seeing Violent Femmes in concert.
Rolling Stones did a Rice Krispies commercial in 1963: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZBmhEMFdl0
Bill @ 111 I used the Eminem line about Moby from his opus song Without Me that he says in the song just after the 3:00 mark in comment #73.
Maybe I was being a little too subtle with that dig on Moby for people to get it.
:-)
~Nyc
It's their song. They can do with it as they please. It's irrelevant what I'd like. I'd actually like for them to surprise me :) Voila!
Songs from Wilco's brand new album are VW commercials. No, I don't approve but, somehow I think Tweedy doesn't give a rats ass.
ramones- cingular's "go" phones ruined one for me.
and recently, flaiming lips "The W.A.N.D." in that dell commercial. though the commercial is kinda wes anderson-y...still pissed me off. it just fucking doesn't make sense to put it in a DELL commercial. or any.
OH- this one RLY pissed me off- The Clash- Rock the Casbah in the commercial where the guy thinks they're singing something about a catbox. UGH.
i don't watch much tv, but the fact that i can list this many tells me there are many more that would befuddle and depress me.
i love all of those songs, and every time one comes on i'll be singing along, feeling happy juice surging through my body at the most unusual times, like when i'm folding laundry (music does sumpin to me), but then i realize where that delightful sound is coming from, and i'd promptly fall ill!
perhaps some ad executives are trying to reconcile what they do with who they are, but it doesn't make sense and it's confusing the masses! lust for life is about heroin addiction- how the feck are you going to reconcile THAT with taking a cruise????
hey, 107- china girl was co-written by iggy pop and david bowie, and both had their own versions of the song.
Actually, I like it. I think it's deliciously subversive to have music counter to the aims of the advertiser.
Get over it. If they own the rights they can sell it for commercial purposes. Too bad if hurts your delicate "I am the only one that truly understands the artist behind the music of this amazing yet underappreciated band and now I have been personally betrayed" misguided little world view.
That said, what a horrible choice of music for the commercial. All the starting and stopping detracts from the visuals and the voice over.
I do like the tune.
And I do agree it's sort of tragic when band members start stabbing each other in the backs, but being in a band is harder than being in the hardest marriage.
Speaking of lawsuits, apparently Peter Hook of New Order is threatening his bandmates with one over the use of the band's name on future projects. No litigation yet, but it may be coming.
As to commercial use of songs, I consider HP's use of The Cure's Pictures of You a few years ago to sell photo printers to be one of the greatest travesties perpetrated on us by the advertising industry. One of the greatest "break up" songs ever selling computer parts. Sad.
lori, i could see if the aims are people who don't get what the music's about, who don't interpret lyrics and have shallow to no comprehension skills, nor the capacity for critical thought- in other words the sheep who watch bill o'reilly but still rock out to punk rock with anarchy stickers on their bmw's.
for example, a childhood friend of mine is like that. he is super-conservative, loves ann coulter, loves hannity- went though a lot of trouble to get his autograph a few years back, watched bill oreilly religiously, and also loves tool, and he attended a rage against the machine show with me about 8 or 9 years ago, with anti-flag opening (they burned a flag, if i'm not mistaken)- how the eff did he not hear the disdain for everything he loved and was about in zack de la rocha's voice??! i was very confused by this person (and a few others- speaking of the rage show, i asked this one chick is she enjoyed the show, and she said, "yeah, but i could have done without the little political statement by that anti-flag band." i guess it has to be spelled out for some people with flames).
hearing anti-capitalist songs advertising the epitome of capitalism, or as i mentioned above, songs about heroin for you family vacation, or anti-poverty songs used in commercials for companies who utilize slave labor to produce their product- most fans are not going to appreciate things like that...
Everybody you ever paid for is a whore. Get over it and move on.
"How do you feel about bands’ songs being used in commercials? "
I f'in HATE IT. Sometimes, and I mean on very few occasions, there's a classy elegant use of a lyric that's fitting for a product. The majority of uses are in such shocking bad taste or mind-numbingly stupid isolation of one line of lyric, it's offensive. I mean that, offensive. Blondie's "One Way or Another", for whatever soap or shopping mall or cell phone, it didn't register what they're selling, but I remember they used that verse because THAT'S ALL YOU F**/KING HEAR!
And Rusty the Anal Cyst ChickenHawk's use of The Pretenders "My City Was Gone" has broiled my ass for years. What a joke. All of them, GD whores. They take the songs of our culture and youth, and sell them for branding merchandise. I understand why some artists do it. And ya know What Bill Hicks Would Say? They lose their license to call themselves artists forever!!
Myrkon @ 115:
This is true--whatever the artist creates out of thin air is his/hers to do with as he/she pleases. Period.
Artiste Integrity don't pay the rent.
"How do you feel about bands’ songs being used in commercials?"
I LOVE IT!
I love that bands make money for Sony, & their sweat shops in Indonesia, & for Time Warner, who are interlaced with Exxon Mobil!
I also love the fact that every radio station sounds exactly the same!
And that Clear Channel can censor what we hear on the morning of 9/11!
And AT & T can censor Pearl Jam!
I love being told what to do, & not have a fucking cohesive thought in my head ever!
Fuck bands like Crass! You needed a degree in civics just to listen to that band! Give me some xerox copy of a copy band that sings about,.... hm,... writes about,... uhm,... what are these bands writing about today? There's a whole lot of nose, but I don't hear them say a damned thing. And thank god for it!
In fact, fuck bands! Just have musicians play ad jingles & let rock & roll die.
It doesn't really matter how I feel.
It's their music, and money is nice to have. THEIR is the key word, though. You shouldn't sell something you partly own without getting the other owner's permission in writing.
If Wendy's wants to associate their food with blisters and being strung out on drugs, that's up to them.
So they were punk once. You can't live in the 80's forever.
Let it slide
Let it slide
They can make it sound so nice,
Everybody's
gotta price...
Ho, ho, ho, ho
It makes me want to hurl when they basically assault the relevance and the joys of the associated MEMORIES of a particular song, by associating with with some cheese-ass corporate monolith. It's just nauseating.
But the music business is producing such manufactured studio shit nowadays, that they now use songs that aren't even a year old in some commercials. Talk about overkill.
On the flipside, you'll never see a DVD release of a series like "WKRP in Cincinnati", because getting the music rights for all the popular songs they played during that show are so completely outrageous, that the end price for the consumer once those costs are passed on, would be astronomical. That's why so many TV show box sets cost an arm and a leg relative to an individual movie. B.S. music rights.
Meanwhile, the artists themselves don't get ripped off by online downloading, as much as they do from slimy record contracts. For REAL piracy, look there. When a mega-million selling artist like Toni Braxton, who managed her money wisely and didn't go Rick James apeshit on a coke bender STILL ends up having to declare bankruptcy despite all those album sales, something just ain't right.
Corporations just fuck the artist, and the consumers, and annoy us both.
It ain't been the same since back in the late 70's or early 80's, Windex used "I Can See Clearly Now". And it didn't help that Dylan did that stupid Victoria's Secret commercial.
soothsayer @ 10:
I completely agree with you. Although I always have to laugh that the cruise line is pushing "family friendly" vacations by using a song that is about the fun of heroin addiction.
No doubt it is the corporations who make the money. Which is why I can see how some artists have to allow songs in commercials to make a living. Case in point is the use of Rock the Casbah in the Cingular commercial. While I suppose Joe Strummer would have been opposed to its use, I can understand how Mick Jones and Paul Simonon would have felt bad refusing some much needed cash for Topper Headon who wrote most of the music for the song (and was driving a cab for a living). I think it depends on the current situation of the artists. It's easy to be idealistic when your not living hand to mouth. Alot harder when you have a family to provide for.
Nyc W. Alberts @ 73:
Yesssss. Musicians with integrity where the art comes first.
"HE gives me head...". It's a queer-core anthem originaly penned by Elton Motello. And Plastic Bertrand's french song with the same backing tune is titled "Ça Plane Pour Moi".
As for the original question: Seeing how much music I pirate these days i can't in good conscience complain about musicians making money elsewhere.
Corporate zombification of creative content is rampant, but the only way to stop it is to be more creative.
How about some YouTube videos with some of the rest of the song lyrics?
"I Take One. . ."
A horribly overweight and depressed looking teenager who eats small hamburgers or other food items with the lyrics:
I take one, one, one 'cause you left me
And two, two, two for my family
And three, three, three for my heartache
And four, four, four for headache
And five, five, five for my lonely
And six, six, six for my sorrow
And seven, seven- n-n-n-no tomorrow
And eight, eight- I forget what eight was for
And nine, nine, nine for lost gods
And ten, Ten, TEN, *TEN* is for EVERYTHING
EVERYTHING
EVERYTHING!
Nyc W. Alberts @ 114:
Well, one of the worst moments of my life was realizing that the Butthole Surfers' "who was in my bed?" was used in a car commercial the year after I graduated college (1993-94).
So yeah, this sort of fills me with dread.
Ack, sent too soon.
Continuing. . .
The kid can then get up or look over at his parents or doctor or similar:
You can all just kiss off into the air
Behind my back I can feel that stare
They'll (showcase Wendy's food) hurt me bad (show flab)
But I don't mind
They'll hurt me bad (heart attack?)
They do it all the time
(Wendy's employees sing) Yeah - Yeah. . .
What a name dropper. (Jim Keltner is my neighbor...)
I'm sure as President of Reprise records, you made sure everyone was paid every penny, right?
Give me a break.
Other Wendy's videos
Scene: A lonely guy or girl at the drivethru order mike:
I need someone, a person to talk
Someone who cares, to love
Could it be you?
Could it be you?
...
Let me go on-n-n-n!
Scene: Stoner cruisin neighbor hood
When I'm out walking I strut my stuff
Yeah I'm so strung out
I'm high as a kite, I just might, stop to check you out (stops in front of Wendy's)
Let me go on like I blister in the sun
Let me go on big hands I know you're the one
How 'bout The Times They are A-Changin' being used for an investment firm last year?
Couldn't possibly be worse.
"When you sell your music for use in a commercial, you are off the artistic roll-call for life. You are just another whore at the capitalist gangbang, and everything you do will then be suspect." --Bill Hicks.
I agree with Hicks.
They all want to make money, don't they?
Fsck that is horrible. Definitely didn't make me, a one time Violent Femmes fan, want to eat at Wendy's.
Way back when SNL was funny, they did a mock commercial for a compilation album of rock songs used in commercials. My memory is they called it "Sold-Out Gold". I seem to recall it was just after the Stones sold "Start Me Up" to Microsoft and Nike using the Beatles' "Revolution".
If I find a link, I'll repost.
Court Jester @ 144:
Speaking as an unabashed Mac Snob, I always thought "Start Me Up" was a funny choice to use to advertise Windows, since the chorus is "You'd make a grown man cry..." ;-)
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The end came when Tommy hit the stage.
And isnt The Wall also coming to Broadway?
Broadway is not a Wendy's add, of course, but the idea is related. Pop is eating itself.
Welcome to the Neo-Liberal Post-Modern Jungle.
I'm a Femmes fan from way back, and I dislike a lot of the uses of their songs. Luckily, the songs used in movies and commercials tend to be one or two of their most popular songs -- the ones I am tired of hearing anyway. And all of these are off their first album.
It's still a great pleasure to listen to their other great albums ("The Blind Leading the Naked," "Why do Birds Sing?" and "3" are my favorites.)
I figured that the commercial use of the songs was Gano's decision, but just figured he probably needs the money. Although, if they'd tour more, I'd gladly see them several times a year.
I saw a Cadillac commercial using Led Zepp's "Rock And Roll" and thought immediately, "Sellout!"
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