Re: Band’s music in commercials

I saw a commercial recently for life insurance that had OMD’s “If you leave” as the background music. Anyone else notice these things?

Two notable instances for me were Buzzcocks’ What Do I Get? used to sell Toyotas and The Soft Boys’ I Wanna Destroy You used to hawk a Subway sandwich. It’s a fine line between money in the pocket and crass commercialism. I just wish it wasn’t with the songs I hold dear...

I'm sure Robyn Hitchcock and the surviving Soft Boys needed the money from the Subway ad, and that's fine (I hope they got a large payday), but using a song with lyrics like "A pox on the media and everything you read/They tell you your opinions and they're very good indeed" to tell sandwiches made with plastic bread is bizarre. What's next, "Old Pervert" in a Cialis ad?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2020 02:54PM by steevee.

Yes, use of more and more obscure examples of “my” music in commercials is always eyebrow-raising. But I can’t begrudge anyone for finally making some money from their compositions. (Hopefully that’s the case, and not just going into the pockets of evil fat cats!)

The only thing that really annoys me is every food chain that puts melted cheese on something using “I melt with you”.... enough already!!!

Glad I haven't seen/heard commercials for almost 30 years! The OMD thing is depressing.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

In the mid-Eighties, I watched an anti-smoking commercial--probably an Ad Council spot--on late-night television. The musical accompaniment was Brian Eno's ominous-sounding "Alternative 3" from his great Music for Films album. I never saw this commercial again.

Alternative 3, incidentally, was a 1977 Anglia Television mockumentary that alarmed numerous UK viewers. It was originally supposed to air on All Fool's Day of that year, but wasn't broadcast until June 20.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2020 10:15AM by Middle C.

Recently, there was a Covid lockdown Miracle-Gro TV ad that features a new-ish and more reserved Madness recording of "Our House" from 2013.

I don't begrudge anybody making money. The notion of "sell out" doesn't register with me when it comes with songs in commercials or movies or whatever. Besides, sometimes the use of the song (or just the band in general like the recent one with Ratt) are creative and kinda fun.

Several years ago, John Mellencamp licensed a song from his then-new album to one of the car companies' latest ad campaign. He'd never done it before. He said he did it because, for folks his age, commercials were the new radio. Since radio wasn't going to play his records, that was the best way to get the word out for him about new music.

I don't know how many people hear "Lust For Life" in a commercial and seek out the music they're hearing, but I don't let the use of a song in a commercial bother me. It's money in the musicians' pockets they might not be getting otherwise, and I don't have trouble separating use in an ad campaign with the song itself. I feel like the song loses its meaning because it's in the background of an insurance commercial any more than I think a book suddenly sucks because it was made into a lousy movie.

But that's just me. I know people who genuinely feel like their love of a song has been irrevocably stained if said song is used in an ad - especially if that song is a punk rock song, which supposedly stands for non-conformity.

I was noticing this recently. There's a commercial for paper towels airing now here in Canada that uses the same visuals in English and French, but different background music. The English version uses "Humans" by Rag and Bone Man, which was a significant hit a couple of years ago, I believe. The French one uses "Passer à l'ouest" by Dumas, a little-known song by an alternative artist - but also a much better song.

I hope Dumas is making some money from this, as life for someone doing alt-rock in French is precarious in the best of times, so it must be really tough nowadays.

A thought occurred to me... I can’t think of any instance where a band (or solo artist) wrote a specific jingle for a product. I mean, bands write catchy singles and hooks, so it seems like something they COULD do.

I don’t mean re-recording one of their existing songs with new product-related lyrics.... I mean writing a new, short song to be used as a jingle for some product.

Sure, I understand the fear of losing credibility... but to keep the band going financially, I can see doing it.

Has it ever happened and I’m drawing a blank?

The Who’s Sell Out immediately springs to mind - it’s practically brimming with jingles and product placement songs...

There's David Bowie's gorgeous instrumental, "Crystal Japan," which accompanied his Japanese commercial for Crystal Jun Rock in the spring of 1980, and which was also released as a single in that country. The ad was filmed while Bowie was taking a break from the recording of his Scary Monsters album. Supposedly the piece was intended as the record's final track, but I've never been entirely convinced of that. My guess is that it, even if it wasn't recorded for the commercial, it was composed for possible movie or television use, a la Eno's Music for Films. "Crystal Japan" is my all-time favorite Bowie instrumental.

Gary Numan, in his Tubeway Army days, sang "Don't Be a Dummy" for a Lee Cooper Jeans commercial. To the best of my knowledge, however, he didn't actually write the piece.

... ah, but ‘sell out’ is not what I’m talking about. Those are their songs for their album ...I mean literally writing a song for a radio or tv commercial for a product.

Sigue sigue Sputnik is kinda what I mean, but their spots weren’t aired on tv as commercials; they only appeared on their own album.

So, for those who don't like that a musician allows his/her song to appear in a tv commercial...is it OK for a musician to appear in a commercial to hock a product if their music isn't used?

There used to be original music for commercials by rock bands, esp. in the ‘60s. You might have heard the Coca Cola jingles album that came out a few years ago, and all the Great Shakes commercials. Lotsa nutty stuff was recorded - one of my faves is Iron Butterfly’s acid-rock ad for Ban Roll-On! Don’t really know how much input the bands had, but there def seem to be some orig material.

Mr Fab, you are indeed correct.....Thanks for the suggestion! A little hunting found this 1964 stones ad for rice crispies:

Stones rice crispies

Wonder if they wrote this (as I hope) or were told exactly what to sing and play by ad execs (more likely)

I bought the CD of 1960s commercial rock jingles for Coca-Cola done by pop musicians when I was visiting Montréal a few years ago... it's called "Things Go Better With Coke" and has some big names — Box Tops, Roy Orbison, Moody Blues, Petula Clark, Supremes, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terill, etc. But of course they were singing existing jingles, not writing new material.

We are avoiding the elephant in the room here! While I understand a band needing to get a few dollars in their pocket against incredible odds, and don't begrudge anyone making a living [inasmuch as we are living in a society that has capitalism imposed on all of us by the rulers who take all] the reason for this pressure on bands to be exploited is because of the penurious contracts that the band's labels offered them in the first place! So first of all, the bands are exploited by the people offering them a chance to record. Which is little more than legal loan sharking. Then, the bands are further prodded to whore themselves because they haven't gotten squat from the labels after decades of exploitation. It's an ugly system that perpetuates itself like all systems of control. A band shouldn't have to sell their songs like that. That's not why they wrote them.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2020 10:07AM by Post-Punk Monk.

Here is a list, some ones I must have missed and now will have to find on the internet somewhere this weekend:

I Don't Want To Grow Up--Descendents--Ford
Blitzkrieg Bop--The Ramones--Nissan Pathfinder
She Sells Sanctuary--The Cult---Ford Mustang
Carolyn's Fingers- --Cocteau Twins--Honda
Athol-Brose--Cocteau Twins--Mitsubishi
Cherry-Coloured Funk--Cocteau Twins--Toyota

Sweetness and Light--Lush--Volkswagen Passat
It's Gonna Rain--Violent Femmes--Mercedes
Roman P--Psychic TV--Volkswagen
What Do I Get?--Buzzcocks--Toyota
How Soon Is Now?--Smiths--Nissan
Love Dance--Minutemen--Volvo S40

Go!--Tones On Tail--Dockers
Undertow--Lush--Levi's
I'm Free--Soup Dragons--AT&T Personal Network
Song of the Siren--This Mortal Coil-- Noa Perfume
Real Wild Child--Iggy Pop--FTD
Passenger--Iggy Pop--Guinness
Lust for Life--Iggy Pop--Mitsubishi

Been Caught Stealing--Jane's Addiction--Grand Theft Auto
If I Had a Million Dollars--Barenaked ladies--Powerball
All the Things She Said--Simple Minds--Verizon
Whip It--Devo--Cool Whip
Accidents Will Happen--Elvis Costello-- Depends
Even Better Than the Real Thing--U2--Pepsi
Tempted--Squeeze--Fruit of the Loom

upper90 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is a list, some ones I must have missed and
> now will have to find on the internet somewhere
> this weekend:
>
> Carolyn's Fingers- --Cocteau Twins--Honda
> Athol-Brose--Cocteau Twins--Mitsubishi
> Cherry-Coloured Funk--Cocteau Twins--Toyota
> Song of the Siren--This Mortal Coil-- Noa Perfume

The first time I heard 80s 4AD songs in commercials I thought wow, member of 'my group' are now in positions of decision making at advertising agencies. Made me feel old

Moby famously licensed every single track of his "Play" album for commercials, TV shows, and movies. This was after the initial sales were not what was hoped for. And what happened? Turned out to be a brilliant marketing move. The album later sold boatloads.

Exactly. It is a weird feeling, you feel offended and proud at the same time. Kind of like seeing someone with a band t-shirt on, you wonder if they really like the band and appreciate their greatness. You can either be "that guy" and ask them or just let it go. The good part of it is the bands live on in the memories.

upper90 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> you feel offended
> and proud at the same time.

That is precisely it! Haha...

upper90 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is a list, some ones I must have missed and
> now will have to find on the internet somewhere
> this weekend:
>
> Whip It--Devo--Cool Whip

Ow!!! That hurts! But it's sort of in keeping with DEVO's dedication to synthetics. As a child, I looked at the ingredients list of Cool Whip and resolved to never accept any adult trying to feed me that **** again!

“ She Sells Sanctuary--The Cult---Ford Mustang”

Serge n Brigitte’s “Ford Mustang” too obvious?

"Tempted" has been in so many television commercials. I remember a Burger King ad?

Yes zwirnm, I remember it in a Burger King commercial when I was a kid in the mid '90s. Had to have been one of the first places I ever heard "I Melt with You." Also Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell..." was selling Burger King to for some odd reason

I could have sworn I heard Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You In The End" on a tire commercial. Pretty sure it was Daniel Johnston. On a commercial for tires.

Also, what about The Fall? Think of all the people hearing Mark E. Smith "I was walking down the street..." on a car commercial and not knowing whose voice that was.

I don't know if any actual Daniel Johnston songs were in commercials, but I know that Mary Lou Lord's cover of "Speeding Motorcycle" was used in a Target ad.

The one I've recently seen that bugs me is the Rakutan commercial. This shopping/saving app is using a re-write of "Rocket Man," tying the song to some surreal tableau where someone looking online for bargains suddenly starts singing the song ... and then her dining room table morphs into a piano, which the shopper begins to play as she sings.

It isn't the first song that Elton John has licensed to an advertiser. It isn't the first time he and Bernie Taupin allowed the lyrics to be re-written for the product. (He even appeared in the Sasson commercial, singing the altered lyrics to his own hit song.) And if it's true that Elton loved the Rocketman film (which he reportedly did), then it wouldn't surprise me to know that he liked the imagery in the Rakutan commercial.

So why does this commercial bother me? Perhaps because, if there's one rock star who doesn't need to license his music to advertisers, just to make ends meet, it's Elton John.

Having said all this ... I just saw the commercial that Alaska Airlines built around "The Safety Dance." I laughed and clapped by the end of it. One of the most vapid songs of the Eighties has found its purpose!

Oh. My. God.