Re: Music for Films that sell things

I'd kind of made my peace with artists selling their songs to commercials because 1) it was cool to see Nick Drake get the attention he deserved and that commercial was actually pretty good and 2) although I used to mutter "sellout" when I saw a commercial using someone's song, when I heard Moby's reasoning for why he licensed every song off of PLAY for commercials, I had to agree he had some good points. People may like to envision musicians as artists suffering for their art, but at the same time it's their chosen profession and they have a right to earn a living from it.

More importantly, as Moby said at the time, where else were people like him able to go in order to have their music heard? Radio can't be bothered anymore with people who don't fit a neat demographic, and MTV became less than useless once they decided to just go straight to focusing directly on teen sex and not bother with all that music nonsense and its sometimes veiled messages. If ad agencies wanted to give him the opportunity to get his music heard by a large number of people AND pay him for his trouble, well, why not?

So looking at it that way, if commercials are the only outlet people like Moby, or the Concretes or Spiritualized or whoever have to get their music heard, is it so bad if that's the route they take? Radio long ago let down its end of the agreement, so if artists feel like commercials are the way for them to go, who can blame them?

However, this morning (and this is what got me worked up about this again) I saw a commercial for a truck which used Steve Earle's "The Revolution Starts Now" as its soundtrack. And that is a completely different kettle of fish - when a left leaning artist records a song about the need for a change in the way our society does things, then sells that song to a corporation as a hip anthem to sell a truck, then I have a huge problem with that.

(Of course, Moby is also a leftist who has called for an end to consumer driven culture, so the same problems really exist there, too, but not to such a blatant extent - none of the songs he pimped out were direct criticisms of the very system he had just sold them to for a quick buck - who knows, now that Steve Earle apparently has landed the volcanically hot Allison Moorer he's more conscious of needing money in his pocket).

So I don't know - I'm back to being conflicted on the whole issue again. On the one hand, I can understand and sympathize with the argument that commercials are the new radio and are the best way for artists to get their music exposed to a larger audience. On the other hand, this whole Earle thing and the contradictions between the song's supposed message and his willingness to let it become a jingle to sell trucks bugs me to no end.

And why is it that songs about revolutions seem to be so easilly co-opted by what they seem to be rebelling against? At least the Beatles had the excuse that Michael Jackson was the villain when their revolutionary song was used to sell sneakers. But as far as I know Jacko doesn't own Steve Earle's catalog.

Anyhow, just felt the need to rant. Thanks for that, Stevie E.



Post Edited (07-22-05 23:22)

Not hard to interpret the song as being rightist. Nonetheless, I do believe it is centrist.

My POV (and it's not a brilliant or original one) is, songs about revolution are desirable to advertisers, because their clients often want the hip, edgy cachet that accompanies such songs to be conferred onto their products. With marketing, it really is all about image.

The ad agency probably could've chosen from any number of good songs (including other songs by Steve Earle, or maybe something off one of Moby's other albums), and come up with a pleasing ad. By choosing "The Revolution Starts Now," they hoped to connect a vague notion of being a "revolutionary" with owning one of the client's trucks.

I haven't heard Steve Earle's song, so I can't say whether its principal message is leftist, rightist, centrist, upside-downist or what. But to the ad agency, it probably doesn't even matter. They just need enough of the song to convey the "revolutionary" image. (It's easy to co-opt a song and its message when you only use 30 seconds of it.) In fact, the more vague the song's message, the better.

Hey buddy, what are *you* rebelling against? The government? Corporate oppression? Mediocrity? Traffic on the highway? Vehicles with 4-cylinder engines? Whatever you want to rebel against, we have just the truck for you to drive while you're rebelling. And we *know* you want to drive this bad boy ... because you're nobody's puppet. You're not a tool of "the system." *You're* a revolutionary, and you know it.

Same with the Beatles' "Revolution." The ad agency could've selected from any number of suitable Beatles tunes for the Nike ad. (Except maybe "Old Brown Shoe.") By using "Revolution," the ad agency hoped to connect the notion of being a revolutionary with wearing -- excuse me, *buying* -- Nikes.

Never mind that the song's lyric doesn't incite the listener to be a revolutionary; it warns the listener against casting their lot in with a revolution, without first knowing what the revolution is against, and why. They just used 30 seconds of the song -- not enough to get a message across, but enough to create an image, an impression.

The trick isn't to build a better mousetrap; it's to do a better job at marketing your mousetraps.

the language is relatively apolitical--and admittedly slightly centrist if you allow that the images and sentiments are small townish, if not exactly agrarian populist--but no way is this song right wingish. if a crucial distinction is to be made between the right and left parties it is the notion of stasis (the constitution and bible as near literal; the have nots not getting a taste of tonight's blueberry pie), and clearly earle, a man who knows about good times/bad times is suggesting sweeping changes, a clearer contact with emersonian simplicity, in and of itself a fairly radical stance in this world of SUV's, IPODs, IPO's, IM'ing, and the rest of the alphabet soup of creature comforts that disallows a meditative walk down the streets, a chance to change revolutionarily because of your heart's longing.

the revolution can not be televised and the song shouldn't sell trucks, but earle is fine with it and, so, cool: anyways, he looks like he enjoys desserts every now and then.




I was walkin’ down the street
In the town where I was born
I was movin’ to a beat
That I’d never felt before
So I opened up my eyes
And I took a look around
I saw it written ‘cross the sky
The revolution starts now
Yeah, the revolution starts now

The revolution starts now
When you rise above your fear
And tear the walls around you down
The revolution starts here
Where you work and where you play
Where you lay your money down
What you do and what you say
The revolution starts now
Yeah the revolution starts now

Yeah the revolution starts now
In your own backyard
In your own hometown
So what you doin’ standin’ around?
Just follow your heart
The revolution starts now

Last night I had a dream
That the world had turned around
And all our hopes had come to be
And the people gathered ‘round
They all brought what they could bring
And nobody went without
And I learned a song to sing
The revolution starts now



Post Edited (07-23-05 07:01)

Not really on topic at this point but just wanted to chime in that if I remember it correctly I think I hated the "Pink Moon" commercial. Wasn't that the one where the kids are driving to the party, they get there, see people drunk/stumbling around and decide to leave the party so they can drive around and contemplate their deep thoughts while a 30 year old song (albeit a great one) is playing? Makes you wonder why were they going to a party in the first place. Did they get there and say "oh yeah, we don't drink, what were WE thinking?". Maybe, I'm remembering it wrong but it seemed a real pandering cynical thing to me. Appeal to baby boomers by telling them - "Hey. look not all kids are wild and out of control, some just want to listen to a record from the good old days and drive around - so buy this car and your kid can borrow it ......but not to go to a party."



Post Edited (07-22-05 19:09)

[www.sfgate.com]

My favorite is still when an ad campaign (and there are several ) uses Iggy's Lust for Life. You hear the drum beat, the guitar, then the first line and you wait for the rest but it's quickly edited out. Am I not the only one that cracks up when they use this song?

Here comes Johnny Yen again
With liquor and drugs and the flesh machine
He’s gonna do another strip tease.
Hey man, where’d ya get that lotion?
I’ve been hurting since I bought the gimmick.

This is, after all, a song about heroin, jonesin, prostitution, and syringes (gimmicks).



Post Edited (07-26-05 14:51)

thanks for the opening - here's a footnote you might appreciate. I read an interview with the guy at the Seattle or Portland ad agency that used Lust for Life in some campaign (it wasn't the cruise boat one) and he was under 30 and said he looked in one of the trouser press record guides for some ideas about music that might work and that's what led him to use the song.

i always wondered about that since most of my friends think it is some guy in his 40s making the decision on this because they've used Iggy, Buzzcocks, Devo, Smiths and the Detroit Cobras (who sound retro) like some mix tape this guy did in college.
Just a side note, but since I've been watching kid shows with my 2 and 4 year old I've noticed who does the music on these shows:
Evan Lurie (Lounge Lizards): "Oswald"
Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO): "Rugrats"
They Might Be Giants: "Higglytown Heroes"
In between the shows they have videos by Dan Zanes (Del Fuegos).
So I was wondering if we'll hear Yo Lo Tango on a truck commercial or a kiddie show soundtrack?

In a similarly childish (albeit more edgy) vein, Mark Mulcahy did the music for the the late-lamented kids' show Pete & Pete. And those Dan Zanes kiddie albums are pretty darn good. I allow my tots to listen to that and the Wiggles. . .

Which reminds me: Tim Finn performs a cracking version of Split Enz' "Six Months on a Leaky Boat" on one of those Wiggles videos. It's actually a great version. I'm not being ironic here.

I had to laugh when I read that list -- Iggy, Buzzcocks, Devo, Smiths and the Detroit Cobras.

Unless the ownership of their song(s) is in some other entity's hands (such as, Michael Jackson and the Beatles catalog), the artist does have a say in whether to license their song. And, except for the first and last artists on that list, those are all guys in their 40s!

Hey, does anyone know of any commercial that's used Oingo Boingo's music? I just thought of that, since Danny Elfman has become one of the most prolific composers of movie scores around (not to mention one of the most recognizable).

No surprise that They Might Be Giants ended up doing music for kids' TV shows. Many of my friends who are parents have told me that their kids grew up listening to TMBG. To me, their music has *always* sounded like theme music for future children's television programs.

Delvin, a commercial used Dead Man's Party in our area in the early 90's on late night TV endlessly. It was like Rocky's Auto or something of that ilk. Probably used illegally.

Power props to Iggy. We are the ultimate stooges.

I’m worth a million in prizes with my torture film
I Drive a GTO, wear a uniform, all on a government loan.
Yeah, I’m through with sleeping on the sidewalk
No more beating my brains with liquor and drugs
I’m just a modern guy, of course, I’ve had it in my ear before...

Yo La Tengo already did a Coke commercial.
[www.yolatengo.com]



Post Edited (07-26-05 15:00)

cramps and VI femmes and junior brown help out on sponge bob

i live with a two yr old addict of the show

They Might Be Giants have already done the themes to "Courage the Cowardly Dog" (good one) and "Malcolm in the Middle." So not surprising. And M. Mothersbaugh's soundtrack company Mutato Musica has been doing kid's soundtrack's (mainly Nickleodeon) for years. His old Devo pals often collaborate with him.

Anyway, using music to sell things SUCKS. A song that once had a personal meaning is now associated with a product. I used to love Sly & the Family Stone's "Everyday People" - now when I hear it I'm reminded of that damn truck commercial.

It's free publicity. Old songs, now transformed into jingles, play on the radio like free commercial time for corporations.

Mr. Fab, I swear this isn't meant as a dig toward you (or as an apologia for advertisers), but ...

If the personal meaning that a song holds for an individual can be genuinely ruined by that song's association with a commercial product, then (1) either that "personal meaning" can't have been worth an awful lot, or (2) perhaps that individual just watches too much television.

Hearing Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" in Cadillac commercials didn't damage my own associations with the song, which go back a long way. It didn't make me hate Led Zeppelin OR General Motors. It didn't make me any more interested in considering a Cadillac for my next automotive purchase than I would have been otherwise (my personal associations with Cadillac going back at least as far as the ones I have with LZ). Same with The Who. Hearing music from *Tommy* used as part of an ad for allergy medicine didn't exactly make my day, but it didn't make me hate Pete Townshend (whom I assume had a prominent say in the use of the music), nor did it ruin *Tommy* for me. (Nor has it diminished my respect for Ira to find out that an advertiser got the idea to use Iggy's "Lust for Life" in an ad from snooping around in the *Trouser Press Record Guide*. Townshend and LZ didn't write their songs to be jingles, and Ira didn't set forth to edit a catalog of potential jingles.)

Personally, when I watch TV, I pay close attention to the commercials. This isn't because I'm particularly interested in what's out there to sell, but because, quite often, I see tremendous imagination and creativity in TV commercials. Often, too, I see crap. But frankly, I'd say the ratio of good/bad/mediocre in the production of TV advertisements -- taken strictly in terms of creativity and imagination -- is more favorable than the ratio taken for actual SHOWS on television, and has been for quite some time (especially on network television).

Having said that, you are right: Old songs can be insidiously transformed into jingles for those products ... assuming the listener had little or no sense of personal association with the song in the first place. But that doesn't have to be the hardcore rule either, necessarily.

When I first heard The Caesars' "Jerk It Out" on the iPod commercial, I thought it was a catchy song. I liked it enough to seek it out. Sure, I can still remember the commercial, and I do associate it mentally with the song. But that's okay, because I liked the animation too. And I've come to associate other things with that song too, based on other times and places I've listened to it. Or sometimes, I just appreciate it as a cool, catchy song.

Pity that nothing else on The Caesars' CD measures up to "Jerk It Out." But hey, I found the CD for $5, so it was worth a shot.
___________________________________________________________

Why is it called "your 2¢ worth" when you're volunteering an opinion, whereas one would offer a "penny for your thoughts" when they *want* your opinion? Why do unsolicited thoughts have twice the market value of solicited ones? Shouldn't it be the other way around?



Post Edited (07-26-05 19:45)

Lust For Life is a great song and I find it very funny that Iggy's junkie babbling is being used to convince families to run up their credit cards on plastic cruises. I wonder if they can check the Trainspotting VHS out from the ships library?

I have a daydream that shows Iggy looking back on the junkie rats nest squalor that he was no doubt living in when he came up with that tune and laughing his way to the bank every time that commecial comes on.

Saw "Galang" by MIA used as the soundtrack for a car commercial yesterday. When a song by the daughter of a member of a third world freedom fighter/ terrorist (depending on your viewpoint) group is being used to make a Honda look cool, it's clearer than ever that everything and everyone is for sale.

Leonard Cohen was right - "Everybody knows that the war is over/Everybody knows the good guys lost."

What pisses me off is that car commercials NEVER show other cars on the road when they solicit their product. No traffic whatsoever! "Look (knee- jerk peer pressured / keep up with the Jones' Americans) how you can just cruise through either a city of ten million people or rip apart an undisturbed thousand year old desert eco system." Automobile ads frequently feature water, sunshine, blue skies, pristine forestry and space shots of mother earth to remind you that "yes, it's a big pretty world but when we in Washington decide to drill in Alaska (soon).. it's so your car will have a place to park ." I dont give a holy Goddamn heck what song is playing behind the cars smoked glass and mirrors.



Post Edited (10-05-05 21:02)

For several years now, United Airlines has used "Rhapsody in Blue" in its TV commercials. Some of those spots are beautifully presented. I haven't heard anyone, however, express any indignation or anger over those ads. I haven't heard anybody (of any age, any generation) say, "How could they do that to Gershwin?" Why the difference, do you suppose?