All my favorite 60's songs are now stupid t.v. ads for the establishment

[mopaul]

'the weight' by the band, now an AT&T ad, jefferson airplane's 'volunteers for america' now and ad for some stupid giant corporation..(insurance?)

makes me puke, but i guess grace slick needs to pay the rent too, she hasn't had a hit in years. (a musical hit anyway)

[SheepyMcSheepster]

1. i hate it too

"the weight" was actually used before in a pepsi or coke commercial years ago.

i love the "rock n' roll" cadillac commercials. when i think cadillac, i definetely think Led Zeplin.

[KurtNYC]

9. Out on the road today, I saw a DEADHEAD sticker on a Cadillac

A little voice Inside my head said, "Don't look back. You can never look back."
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go but...
-Don Henley

Sad really. I still remember seeing that frickin' Nike commercial with the Beatles "Revolution" playing under it. Glue sniffing kids in sweatshops in third world countries. Obscene.

[Gruenemann]

15. wait 'til you see a Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac.

[DBoon]

19. The I will know I am really old

sigh...

[SheepyMcSheepster]

37. ooh, that song, i hate that band

the ataris?
write your own damn hits.

[Synnical]

34. Cadillac initially wanted The Doors

<snip>

Led Zeppelin was actually GM's second choice, after we (The Doors) turned down an amount of money that makes me weak in the knees. At the end you see their new SUV roar by, and it says, "Break Through," with the Caddie logo in between. They wanted it to say, "Break on Through"!

JOHN DENSMORE http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021007&s=letter

You can also read a very nice rant by Densmore on the topic - he writes that they (The Doors) were first approached in 1967 and offered $75,000 to use "Light My Fire." Jim Morrison nixed the idea. In 2002 Apple offered them a million and a half dollars - they turned that down, too.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020708&s=densmore

[SheepyMcSheepster]

38. wow, didn't know that, thanks

thanks for the info.

[G_j]

39. Densmore's rant is right on

I've read it before

:toast: to John!

[stevedeshazer]

2. There's nothing more annoying

I loathe those ads.

[gWbush is Mabus]

3. Dylan Victoria's Secret

[joefree1]

4. Check out todays underground scene

60's type music is make a huge come back. There's a ton of stuff out there that will never be heard on a TV commercial.

Turn the TV off first.


Seating now available in the Smoking Section:
Politics, humor, death and the Devil - http://www.eDiablo.com

[mopaul]

6. I know a 17 year old Who freak

the kid's ate up with it, which encourages me somewhat.

[Clark2008]

23. I'm a 35 year old Who freak

They were breaking up when I first got into them in 1982.

[annabanana]

5. the first insult was

Lennon/McCartney "Revolution"
as an ad for Nike...(in the 80's natch)

That was when I got furious about the sale of Apple to Michael Jackson..

now "Pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' 'bout half-past dead"
is for some damn phone.

[starroute]

7. Yeah, that AT&T ad just came by a couple of minutes ago

And my husband and I were getting bummed over it.

It used to be you'd accuse artists of selling out, but now you figure they're just getting screwed over to the point where they have no choice.

I'm starting to think in terms of coming up with ways to use copyleft to booby-trap new art so that it can't be ripped off by the schlockmeisters of 35 years from now without blowing up in their faces.

Got any ideas?

[Betsy Ross]

8. I knew it was over when I heard "It ain't me babe"

played by an orchestra with strings while I was in an elevator. And that was nearly 20 years ago!

[shaolinmonkey]

10. I hate the way Fortunate Son was selectively edited to sound

all pro-American to hawk Wrangler jeans. Idiots. Did John Fogerty lose the copyright on that? Why would he sell it out?

[Clark2008]

25. Actually, the song is pro-American

It's a protest song and I think protesting is VERY American. :)

[shaolinmonkey]

32. Ah, good point. I should've said pro-American(tm)

as in the official brand of patriotism that never questions our great, infallable leaders. Good catch.

[mantis49]

27. John Fogerty probably has no control over it.

The copyrights for CCR songs are held by the record company (I can't remember which one -- Columbia? or Capitol?)

The record company in question sued for infringement of copyright when Fogerty released his "Centerfield" album. They claimed he couldn't use the same musical phrase in "Old Man Down the Road" that he used in "Down on the Corner." To me, that is like sueing Beethoven for using the four famous notes in his Ninth Symphony that he used in his Fifth. Fogerty fought it and won, but was understandably bitter about it.


Edit spelling.

[fasttense]

11. It just makes me feel old.

To think they represented the liberal, progressive movement and now they represent the establishment. Disgusting. Well I guess everyone has to make a living.

[sendero]

12. Sometimes...

... I bristle at the oft-repeated mantra that the boomer generation started with high ideals and then sold out.

But, the criticism holds a great deal of validity. Not all of us, but way too many.

Many of these songs actually meant something to a lot of people, and they did not mean "for sale to the highest bidder".

I'm utterly disgusted with the Who and others in particular who did political songs and now that they are down to only a few million pounds feel the need to cash in again.

Fuck every last one of them.

[asthmaticeog]

13. Can I ask you something?

How come it doesn't seem to bother anyone that all these songs were mainstream commercial hits that made tons of money for corporate record companies to begin with? News flash: Columbia Records et al were the establishment when they were putting those records out. Why is it any different that the song's in an advertisement now? Hell, the artists probably get a better percentage from the ad license than the record company gave them from the album sales to begin with.

[Solomon]

14. You just put your finger on why people like Michael Jackson will never

go bankrupt. He was astute enough to purchase enormous music catalogues like the Beatles and Sly and the Family Stone.

In fact, the falling out between Michael and McCartney was over the fact that Michael outbid him for the Beatles music. I remember people saying how stupid he was for buying it, shelling out all that money.

Paul's problem is that he is deathly afraid that Michael will sell the songs for advertising and not keep them sacred. So far, he hasn't rented any of the songs. But the clue to me that he was having financial concerns was when I started to hear Sly Stone songs as advertising. It pissed me off but there you have it. If they ever bust him down as far as they want to, you are going to hear Beatles until you get sick.

[Village Idiot]

26. Hasn't RENTED ANY??? In an alternate universe, perhaps...

Revolution - Nike
When I'm 64 - Allstate
Across the Universe - Canon
Help - Ford
Come Together - Nortel Networks
Getting Better - Phillips
TaxMan - H&R Block

And these are just the ones I can remember!!! I am sure there are more kicking around!!!

[Carni]

16. The H2 Who commercial is the worst

The whole thing also pisses me off.

[catmandu57]

17. The original artists lost the songrights long ago

now they belong to moneychangers who will use a tearstained memory to sell a ticket to hell itself.

[theboss]

22. Pete Townsend still controls the Who catalogue

And he will sell his songs to anyone apparently.

[tabasco]

18. It reminds me how many of my friends and acquaintances ...

have sold out to consumerism and the establishment.

We had a slim chance in the 60's/70's but the power of corporate greed and propaganda wins again. It will take nothing short of culture shock now to make Americans responsible world citizens.

If anything good can be said about Bush, it is that he is hastening the downfall of our wasteful, ignorant society.

[mopaul]

20. mick jagger accepted knighthood, kieth richards told em' to fuck off

same band, different principles.

[Zen Democrat]

36. It was never "offered" to Keith. Easy to say "Fuck off"

[bitchkitty]

43. Ha! Sir Keith Richards -

laughing my ass off at the thought of it.

[deutsey]

21. I'm not into the Superbowl, but I was at a party last night and heard U2's

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" used as part of the promo for the game.

I'm not a purist or anything, and I'm not condemning U2 for letting them do it (though it does speak volumes as to where they are these days as, um, "the conscience of rock-n-roll" :eyes:)...but damn, that had to be one of the worst disconnects between what a song is about and what the promo is using it for.

"Revolution" by the Beatles to hawk running shoes comes to mind, as does "London Calling" to sell Jaguars. Or Reagan trying to use "Born in the USA" in his '84 campaign.

Just another great example of how corporate culture defangs and co-opts everything for its own purposes.

"And it's true we are immune, when fact is fiction and TV reality."

[theboss]

24. Aren't pop songs themselves commerce?

I'm a huge album collector. I've got close to a thousand albums lining my walls. I guess I'm technically a rock "purist."

But I just can't get my panties in a bunch when a pop song is used to sell a product. The songs themselves are products. I think the artists recognize that.

And it's odd to me that commercials anger people, but no one cares that "All Along the Watchtower" and "Fortunate Son" have been used to promote apporximately 200 movies over the last 20 years.

John Lennon didn't live in the Dakota because he was starving. I think Paul McCartney was most upset about "Revolution" in the Nike commercial because Michael Jackson outbid him on the catalogue...after McCartney suggested he go into publishing.

In a weird way, I like the commercials. I've recently gotten back into the Kinks, because their songs are showing up in commercials.

[Freddie Stubbs]

28. Grace Slick sold out a long time ago

Any one remember Starship and that awful song 'We built this city?'

[Acryliccalico]

29. Using this music,

in those comercials, dilutes the meaning of the music.

[SmokingJacket]

30. I HATE that!!

They even did it to Nick Drake, who's dead and can't refuse.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

31. REM wouldn't let Gates use "end of the world" (as we know it)

for release of Windows... so not everyone sells out.

[musette_sf]

33. "Volunteers"

was the song I imagined that the New American Civil War would begin with.

However, the 60s and early 70s were not the time for the New American Civil War, and now that we actually are close upon the time for this to happen.... it's a plug for fuckin' eTrade.

This occurence, in light of recent happenings, seems completely horrific to me. "Volunteers Of America" - let Bu$hCo take your SocSec and put it in the Market... and you can watch your money drain away on the eTrade ticker online.

I DO NOT VOLUNTEER my SocSec funds to Bu$hCo and Wall Street. And if it takes a Revolution to make this right, I and millions more will be there in the streets. And I'll walk over Grace and Paul to keep what's mine.

[Pepperbelly]

35. relax MOPAUL ... ....

hardly any of those folk own the rights to their stuff. It is, as always, the corporate overlords who are exploiting the talent and labor of those composers.

[H2O Man]

40. Your artwork

is SO good! My sides hurt from laughing so hard. I can't wait until my 11-year old gets home to see this one.

Anyhow, there is a good scene in the movie The Doors about just this subject. And I've heard Jimi Hendrix music, and the Beatles .... it's a sin. Next thing you know, Rumsfeld will be wearing a Malcolm X t-shirt.

[G_j]

41. "Ain't singin' for Pepsi, Ain't singin' for Coke"

(always liked this song)

NEIL YOUNG LYRICS

"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.


< www.azlyrics.com >

[deutsey]

42. Chumbawumba is an exception

Didn't they sell that hit song they had (I Get Knocked Down, or something like that) to a car corporation, and then donated the money they made to progressive causes?

[DemBones DemBones]

44. Man, I knew we were getting old when I heard

the Godfather of Soul's classic "I Feel Good" on television as part of a commercial for a laxative.

:eyes:

That's been fifteen, twenty years ago.