Nothing Lasts Forever
Not a whole lot happened this week in the celebrity world. Jessica Alba had her baby, Audrina from The Hills has a new man, and everyone and their mother is coming out with a new perfume line, but that's about it. Oh, yeah - Hillary Clinton dropped out of the presidential race, and you shouldn't eat tomatoes anymore. I guess a lot did happen. Still, I'd rather focus on my internal conflict of the week. So if you'd please bear with my e-journal-esque post...
I often feel conflicted over the use of indie rock music in commercials. Use in television shows doesn't bother me as much, even though I realize that all TV is essentially trying to sell me on something or somehow make money off of me. So maybe there isn't a huge difference between commercial use and TV show use, but it just feels so much smarmier. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a really kick-ass song by an up and coming band that I had only been vaguely familiar with. Walter Meego's "Forever," the opening track on their debut album, Voyager, is one of those songs that keeps you stuck on repeat - probably not the smartest choice for the lead track on an album for which I assume they intend people to listen all the way through. Tonight, after weeks of obsessing over my new favorite pop song of summer, which was featured in an episode of Ugly Betty (I have no problem with that), I heard the hook in a Heineken commercial.
My first instinct was to run to the TV, turn it up real loud and sing along, but then it hit me that my new favorite track was being used to sell beer. At least it wasn't Miller Light or PBR! Now, I'm not pretentious enough to give up on a song just because it gains popularity. I've liked other songs that artists have sold to advertisers in the past. This case is slightly different in that the song, in all its poppy splendor, is pretty simplistic and void of deep meaning, making me much quicker to forgive the transaction than say, when Band of Horses sold "The Funeral" to Ford. "Forever," on the other hand, almost seems as if it were specifically written to sell. It's fashioned out of retro-synth beats and heavily affected vocals, contributing to the whole rekindling of the world's love for the 80's that seems to be going on right now. Perfect song to market to beer drinkers in their mid-late 20's. Yet, I still love it, and it's been on repeat while I've written this entire blog post. I expect it will remain a summer fave!
I often feel conflicted over the use of indie rock music in commercials. Use in television shows doesn't bother me as much, even though I realize that all TV is essentially trying to sell me on something or somehow make money off of me. So maybe there isn't a huge difference between commercial use and TV show use, but it just feels so much smarmier. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a really kick-ass song by an up and coming band that I had only been vaguely familiar with. Walter Meego's "Forever," the opening track on their debut album, Voyager, is one of those songs that keeps you stuck on repeat - probably not the smartest choice for the lead track on an album for which I assume they intend people to listen all the way through. Tonight, after weeks of obsessing over my new favorite pop song of summer, which was featured in an episode of Ugly Betty (I have no problem with that), I heard the hook in a Heineken commercial.
My first instinct was to run to the TV, turn it up real loud and sing along, but then it hit me that my new favorite track was being used to sell beer. At least it wasn't Miller Light or PBR! Now, I'm not pretentious enough to give up on a song just because it gains popularity. I've liked other songs that artists have sold to advertisers in the past. This case is slightly different in that the song, in all its poppy splendor, is pretty simplistic and void of deep meaning, making me much quicker to forgive the transaction than say, when Band of Horses sold "The Funeral" to Ford. "Forever," on the other hand, almost seems as if it were specifically written to sell. It's fashioned out of retro-synth beats and heavily affected vocals, contributing to the whole rekindling of the world's love for the 80's that seems to be going on right now. Perfect song to market to beer drinkers in their mid-late 20's. Yet, I still love it, and it's been on repeat while I've written this entire blog post. I expect it will remain a summer fave!
Labels: celebrities, Lady Amy, music, TV
This entry was posted by Lady Amy, on
Monday, June 09, 2008.
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Didn't you interview them on Radio K? Did you ask them about this?
I've largely stopped caring about this kinda stuff as far as ethics are concerned, but I can't help that at the end of the year, the bands/songs that manage to have foregone selling their songs to TV shows or commercials typically end up being the ones higher on my year-end music list. Why? Because that's the music that I get more excited to listen to on my own due to it not being jammed into my face throughout the year via commercials and TV.
Audrina from The Hills is also starring in a straight-to-DVD sequel to Into The Blue originally starring Jessica Alba! What a coincidence!
Man, I was totally mad when I found out "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay was featured in an iTunes commercial. I thought they'd pick something not as majestic and orchestral for their iTunes garbage. Now that I'll be hearing it on my television more frequently than my iPod, I'm going to have to drop it off my Top 50 Songs of 2008 list. Of course, the irony that I won't listen to it on my iPod because I heard it on an iPod commercial makes me want to throw up, capitalism style.
I did interview them for Radio K, but this commercial hadn't come out yet. Coincidentally, they blogged about the Ugly Betty episodes on their myspace page, but not the Heineken commercial. Very interesting.
i want a perfume line.
wait...no i don't.
i'm kinda nervous about that tomato recall...eee!
in the cold November rain...
sorry, had to do it. GnR forevs.
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