Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness

The Ramones....'Blitzkrieg Bop' is now the tunes used by AT&T in the MLife commericals.

Punk goes commercial? Oh, Joey

That Modest Mouse song hawking the Toyota minivan.

I was glad to see Bob getting some mainstream work...his two direct to video movies are fab!

I give certain props to Jewel who sold her song “intuition” which is about not selling out, to Gillete for shaving commercials

The Modest Mouse song was for a Nissan minivan, I thought. Also, the first song on Looper's "The Geometrid" album came up in a motorcycle ad. Looper! Unbelievable.

A few years back, Michael Jackson allowed Maxwell House to use the words from 'A Day in the Life' in a series of ads. . . another wicked pissah

I am going to try and head this off before it gets any steam-

many of us know that the Minutemen song "Love Dance" (from the greatest album of all time, Double Nickels on the Dime) was used in a Volvo commercial.

Minutemen fans the world over gasped. When I ran into Watt last year (yeah, I know the guy- our bands toured together), he told me that the ad agency offered him and Hurley money to use the song. d Boon's dad was in the hospital and had a whole shitload of bills. The money from Volvo was all (EVERY bit of it) given to d Boon's dad to pay bills.

So, before you start carping (I can hear you sharpening your knives out there, you wanker) SHUT THE FUCK UP. The Minutemen never made a dime when they were changing the world. If you're not comfortable with them making a little money to pay an old man's hospital bills, I have a piece of advice for you:

Start

your

own

fucking

band.

thanks, patrick. i've always wondered what was done with nick drake's royalties.

Don't worry, Patrick. Nothing developed on this site has ever generated any level of steam (notice the cobwebs developing on the trackback function) other than the rap lyrics tihng.

And I hope d Boon's dad gets better; I must have missed that Volvo commercial. So maybe we can qualify that there are "good sellouts" and "bad sellouts"; however, absent that story, it would still be disappointing for a Minutemen fan.

"They pulled a dump truck full of money up to my house!" *sob* "I'm not made of stone!"

Odenkirk. Another victim to the rise of Globo-Chem.

paperpusher: regarding Nick Drake, let's just say that his sister is now living comfortably thanks in part to Volkswagen.

I was certainly not indicting anyone that has commented here- I was mostly tilting at the theoretical carper that was going to bring that one up. Just wanted to try and shut him down early.

He probably won't get off at the comics shop until after dark, anyway.

I'm amused, not bothered, by the Orlando tourism folks using Cheap Trick's "Surrender" in their latest ads. You'd think the opening stanza would've been enough to make them think twice:

Mother told me, yes she told me, I'd meet girls like you

She also told me stay away, you never know what you'll catch

If that ain't the essence of a wholesome family vacation, I don't know what is.

This dates me a bit, but I still remember being outraged when I think it was Reebok used The Beatles Revolution to hawk shoes. That may have been Michael Jackson who sold that one, as I think he was in possession of the catalog by that point. Bastich. But after that, everything else seemed to me one more shade of the apocalypse added to the mix. Peter Garbiel's Call Me from Us also annoyed me a fair amount, though that's not as classic a song.

Dammit, that's what I get for not hitting preview. Meant to say Gabriel's selling it out for long distance service was annoying.

i particularly enjoyed the use of CCR's 'fortunate son' to pimp trucks for chevy (or was it ford?) in an attempt to keep america rollin' post 9-11. of course, they only played the opening lyrics: "Some folks are born to wave the flag, Ooh, they're red, white and blue."

they have to know that everyone knows how the rest of the song goes, right? I certainly doubt that they were thinking that at that particular point in our history (and mostly since) that simply conjuring the colors red, white, and blue will cause the viewer's eyes to roll back and glaze over with gushing patriotism.

i've got three words for you, chevy, ford, or whoever you are:

it. ain't. me.

Another golden oldie: I seem to recall Mercedes-Benz using that famous Joplin tune where she prays: Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?

I remember being astonished at the time. I'm now astonish-proof

"Fortunate Son" was used in a bluejeans ad.

My contribution is the Cure's "Pictures of Me" in the HP photo-printer ads. You can't possibly tell me Robby needs the money.

Yep, Weird to hear "Surrender" in that Disney context. But then I always smile, because it's great to hear even a snip of that song anywhere.

I hope Rick buys a bitchen new multineck axe with his share of the boot.

Non-music entry: Major League Baseball putting "Spider-Man 2" ads on the bases.

Err, that's "Pictures of You"

I have one that may fall into the category of not really being a sellout, or at least being understandable.

I have been told that the greatest garage number ever recorded: "You're Gonna Miss Me" by the 13th Floor Elevators was used in a tv commercial of some kind (I never saw the commercial).

Now Roky Erickson, who was the leader of that band became seriously mentally ill, and has spent a lot of his life living on small social security checks. So if the money was used to allow him to live with a little dignity, I have no problem with that at all.

Commercials need music, and it pays. That money can go to good musicians who made good music that's fun to listen to, or it can go to bad ones who make bad music that drives you crazy. Besides, it can be really funny at the same time (like with the CCR and Iggy Pop mentioned above... You just know there's some thirtysomething ad man laughing his ass off that Carnival bought into "Lust for Life".) Why get our panties in a bunch?

I just found out that Laura Brannigan was on CHIPs.

"i particularly enjoyed the use of CCR's 'fortunate son' to pimp trucks for chevy (or was it ford?) in an attempt to keep america rollin' post 9-11. of course, they only played the opening lyrics: "Some folks are born to wave the flag, Ooh, they're red, white and blue."

Same here.

"Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail To The Chief",
oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no,

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman come to the door,
Lord, the house look a like a rummage sale, yes,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no millionaire's son.
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no.

Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no military son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate son, no no no,"

Maria McKee's is my absolute favorite version.

I was especially offended when Stewart Funeral Homes used Stevie Wonder's "Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away."

I, too, had my soul crushed when I heard "Pictures of You" in a commercial. I also screamed and cussed when I heard David Bowie's "Heroes" used to shill friggin' flowers!

There's a whole slew of ads which use songs whose lyrics indict the ad's message. "Fortunate Son" is one. "American Woman" is another I remember. My all time favorite is Microsoft's use of "Heroes." If you're telling customers they can be heroes, shouldn't you mention that it's "just for one day"?

The most exasperated I've been with the use of song (it doesn't rise to outrage--maybe not even exasperation) was Saturn's use of a Walkmen song just months after the CD release. It was "We've been had," so maybe that belongs in the first category, too.

The Smith's "How Soon is Now" used for an automobile ad. It also doesn't make too much sense:

There's a club if you'd like to go
you could meet somebody who really loves you
so you go, and you stand on your own
and you leave on your own
and you go home, and you cry
and you want to die

Makes me want to buy a car, for sure.

I think I read someplace that Moby presold all of the material from one of his albums for commercials. At least you know what you are getting into when you listen to Moby.

Does anyone know who does song in HP printer ad? there's part of line that goes something like, "pictures of your mother, taken by your father a long time ago'