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Re: Band’s music in commercials

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Melefresh
Band’s music in commercials
October 14, 2020 04:29PM
I saw a commercial recently for life insurance that had OMD’s “If you leave” as the background music. Anyone else notice these things?
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the 801
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 14, 2020 05:52PM
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...
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steevee
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 09:54AM
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 09:54AM by steevee.
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Bip
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 04:04AM
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!!!
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Post-Punk Monk
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 05:12AM
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®
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Middle C
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 05:14AM
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 05:15AM by Middle C.
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Familyman
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 08:33AM
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.
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zoo
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 08:43AM
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.
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Michael Toland
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 09:56AM
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.
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Philippe
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 01:25PM
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.
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Bip
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 04:08PM
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?
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the 801
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 04:38PM
The Who’s Sell Out immediately springs to mind - it’s practically brimming with jingles and product placement songs...
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Middle C
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 16, 2020 04:31AM
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.
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Bip
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 04:51PM
... 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.
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zoo
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 04:54PM
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?
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MrFab
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 11:05PM
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.
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Bip
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 15, 2020 11:49PM
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)
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zwirnm
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 16, 2020 04:46AM
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.
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Post-Punk Monk
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 16, 2020 04:55AM
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 05:07AM by Post-Punk Monk.
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upper90
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 16, 2020 10:52AM
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
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mathmandan
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 16, 2020 11:42PM
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 winking smiley
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mathmandan
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 16, 2020 11:44PM
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.
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upper90
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 19, 2020 04:32AM
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.
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mathmandan
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 19, 2020 11:21PM
upper90 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> you feel offended
> and proud at the same time.

That is precisely it! Haha...
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Post-Punk Monk
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 20, 2020 03:17AM
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!
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MrFab
Re: Band’s music in commercials
December 12, 2020 07:30PM
“ She Sells Sanctuary--The Cult---Ford Mustang”

Serge n Brigitte’s “Ford Mustang” too obvious?
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maxxevan
Re: Band’s music in commercials
September 25, 2025 04:55PM
heya i've uploaded a bunch of cocteau twins ads to my yt (heaethe). did you ever find the cherry-coloured funk one? im super interested in seeing that for sure!!
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Fleeingbandit
Re: Band’s music in commercials
September 27, 2025 02:29AM
maxxevan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> heya i've uploaded a bunch of cocteau twins ads to
> my yt (heaethe). did you ever find the cherry-colo
> ured funk one? im super interested in seeing that
> for sure!!

Was it the album version or the Mark CliffordSeefeel remix? The latter has a spacey, gauzy sound to it (even more so than the average CT song), which could be utilized in so many ways.
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zwirnm
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 16, 2020 02:35PM
"Tempted" has been in so many television commercials. I remember a Burger King ad?
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PeteinVA
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 17, 2020 08:24AM
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
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IHeartTP
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 17, 2020 04:38AM
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.
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zwirnm
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 19, 2020 12:13PM
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.
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Delvin
Re: Band’s music in commercials
December 14, 2020 06:59AM
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.
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Delvin
Re: Band’s music in commercials
December 16, 2020 09:32AM
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!
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the 801
Re: Band’s music in commercials
December 16, 2020 12:20PM
Oh. My. God.

spinning smiley sticking its tongue out
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Neilantman
Re: Band’s music in commercials
November 12, 2021 11:43AM
Fire , by Lizzy Mercier Descloux , for a Johnnie Walker black scotch whiskey commercial.
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Michael Toland
Re: Band’s music in commercials
November 13, 2021 09:12AM
That’s pretty obscure. The music nerds have taken over the music placement services.
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MrFab
Re: Band’s music in commercials
November 15, 2021 09:16PM
or it’s just a lot cheaper to license some NoWave-era track than, say The Beatles. And makes you look hipper.
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Fleeingbandit
Re: Band’s music in commercials
September 26, 2025 12:47AM
I do know of two artists who wrote jingles for the nearly defunct Fruitopia brand of juice drinks; Kate Bush and Cocteau Twins. It was back in 1994 when the product was launched to much fanfare, both artists created them for the commercials (those jingles featuring Cocteau Twins were broadcast in the UK; for many foreign markets, Bush's jingles were used). Their music was considered ideal for the trippy, kaleidoscopic nature of the commercials which were heavily marketed towards people in the teen-early 20's demographic.

Unfortunately, for fans of CT, the band never expanded the jingles into fully-developed songs; tis a shame, they were textbook examples of their sound. Kate Bush's jingles also had that trippy feel to them, they were endowed with her ethereal vocals.

Kate Bush jingles are here [www.youtube.com]

Cocteau Twins are here and here



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2025 12:49AM by Fleeingbandit.
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maxxevan
Re: Band’s music in commercials
September 26, 2025 09:26AM
yea!! i love the fruitopia commercials! i just recently compiled a collection of all the ones i could find from places like the internet archive, youtube, etc, all in the highest quality available and i've saved 20 different ones. im planning to post them all soon
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maxxevan
Re: Band’s music in commercials
September 26, 2025 09:27AM
also, both of those links lead to videos posted on my youtube channel hahah
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dj45rpm
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 03, 2025 02:18PM
About a year or so ago, I starting seeing the Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning" being used to plug YouTubeTV and their Sunday Football streams. Not sure if this would be considered to be blasphemy or inevitable (considering we're currently living in late-period capitalism, probably both).
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zoo
Re: Band’s music in commercials
October 10, 2025 04:43PM
Just saw a commercial during the Tigers-Mariners for ChatGPT featuring "Someone Somewhere in Summertime" by Simple Minds. That was certainly unexpected.
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