commercials ruining songs for you

The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
edited April 2008 in Strut Central
ok, believe it or not I have been on the lookout for a mint ass copy of the common ass 45 The Capitols "Cool Jerk"...every copy I have ever found in the field have been beat, since Im sure it was the party record of the day...I know I could have got a minty one on ebay, but I refuse to buy some things off of ebay, like really common records. Anyway I finally found a mint/possibly unplayed copy for the price of a dollar(my maximun I was willing to pay for this record) Since I dont listen to oldies radio that much, I dont hear the "cool jerk" that often..but its a song I love...I drop the needle getting ready for 2 minutes of enjoyment...BUT ALL I COULD Frickin' HEAR WAS THAT GODDAMN COOL WHIP COMMERCIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dang!
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  • djsheepdjsheep 3,620 Posts
    for UK heads....

    Ernie K Doe - Here Come The Girls....

    oh rotation like a mutherfucker on the boots commercial....

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Maybe ten years ago, I think it was Pepsi Cola that had the ad that showed an angry woman driving up to a bar that her husband/boyfriend was at, tossing suitcases with his various belongings out in the street while he just watched, helplessly.

    The song was the Band's "The Weight," and I sure as hell wished they'd have used something else.

  • drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts
    Has anybody else seen that corny ass new Gap ad that splices Marlena Shaw's California Soul?


  • pknypkny 549 Posts
    The #1 offender is the car company (I think it's Nissan) who used the Clash's version of "Pressure Drop" in one of their commercials. That shit's been on microwave rotation the last year or so, and completely ruined their version for me.

  • troublemantroubleman 1,928 Posts
    I feel the collective pain. There has been too many occasions where corporate branding completly destroyed certain songs...even to this day.
    These days when I hear cool songs in commercials, I mute the TV.

  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    The whole Who catalogue is ruined by commercials and TV shows.

  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    Doesn't always ruin it for me, but I'll either get bummed or enraged (if I'm feeling especially senstive that day).

    Mentioned it last week - Iggy's Lust for Life for a resort get-away.

    Rare Earth's Celebrate for soup.

    Screamin Jay's I Put a Spell for...shit, I don't really know cause I always switched the channels right away. Fast food or gum or something.

    CCR's Fortunate Son for jeans.

    Nick Drake's Pink Moon for cars.

    Bowie's Heroes for computers.

    Bill Withers' Lovely Day for crap preppy clothes.

    Never really a fan so don't care one way or another, but damn, Le Tigre sold that song to everyone - I'm hearing it in make-up ads now.

  • Options
    The Gap fucked up Lovely Day for me.

  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    every time I'd see that stupid McDonalds song with the "did somebody saaaay McDonalds" jingle it totally ruins one of my favorite songs

    "have you driven a Fooooord lately"

  • rootlesscosmorootlesscosmo 12,848 Posts
    I resent the way in which Lenny Kravitz's soulful heartfelt melodies have been crassly exploited by countless advertisers for material gain. for shame.

  • The-gafflerThe-gaffler 2,190 Posts
    i live my life like every day's a Sprite commercial

  • pknypkny 549 Posts
    i live my life like every day's a Sprite commercial


  • verb606verb606 2,518 Posts
    Jean Knight's Mr. Big Stuff just means Oreos to most people out there nowadays.


    Yeah, I agree. As a young youth that was my first real exposure to that song. That was just my age and bad timing.


    Not so much a commercial ruining a song, but rather a commercial gratuitously bringing a shitty song into my house, is any of the 18 ads that used that goddamn "feel the rain on your skin" song. That was a perfectly forgettable, mediocre song until it was in every ad targeted toward women and I had to hear the shit every commercial break. If that shit comes on and no one mutes the TV, I get very angry.

    sorry. rant over.

  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    that goddamn "feel the rain on your skin" song. That was a perfectly forgettable, mediocre song until it was in every ad targeted toward women

    That is an actual song?
    I guess the flip is there's a lot of real songs used that folks think are jingles/written for the ad.

  • Tuff_GongTuff_Gong 627 Posts
    that goddamn "feel the rain on your skin" song. That was a perfectly forgettable, mediocre song until it was in every ad targeted toward women

    That is an actual song?
    I guess the flip is there's a lot of real songs used that folks think are jingles/written for the ad.

    Not only is it an actual song, but it was a successful song before it started turning up on all kinds of commercials. The song is "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. It hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2005, most notably. It also hit really high on a variety of other Billboard charts that really aren't as well-know such as Hot Digital Songs, Pop 100, Pop 100 Airplay, Top 40 Mainstream, Adult Contemporary, etc, etc.

    I was never a fan of the song but I certainly heard it various places like satellite radio, terrestrial radio when I occasionally flipped around, things like that. I didn't know who the song was by for a long time but I was quite familiar with the song itself. It never seemed much more than ordinary to me which is why it's perfect for commercials, because its milquetoast qualities will make it appeal to a wide swath of potential buyers.

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    I guess I cant be mad at that old HP ad that uses the Kinks "Picture Book"..its actually a really cool commercial and the song is perfect in that ad...

  • rootlesscosmorootlesscosmo 12,848 Posts
    yeah the rain-n-my-skin song used to get heavy rotation in my gym long before the women's advertising onslaught. I think it, er, appealed to a certain segment of the SF-gym-going public.

  • SnagglepusSnagglepus 1,756 Posts
    Jean Knight's Mr. Big Stuff just means Oreos to most people out there nowadays.

    My first thought as well. I do wish I could hear that song without reference to this horrible commercial:


  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    yeah the rain-n-my-skin song used to get heavy rotation in my gym long before the women's advertising onslaught.

    remember back around '92 when etta james' "trust in me" was used for a tampon commercial?

  • rootlesscosmorootlesscosmo 12,848 Posts
    yeah the rain-n-my-skin song used to get heavy rotation in my gym long before the women's advertising onslaught.

    remember back around '92 when etta james' "trust in me" was used for a tampon commercial?

    nah but I remember Aretha's You Make Me Feel (Like A Natural Woman) for a bra commercial or something in the 80's.

    sorta ruins that song for me actually because when the commercial aired I was *really* into it (teenage kid-related) and really that's all I can think of now when I hear the song.

  • bobbydeebobbydee 849 Posts
    The whole Who catalogue is ruined by commercials and TV shows.



    "sounds to me like a simple case of... WHO dunnit" (cue YEAAAAARRRGGGGG screm)

  • Here's my question: who here would take a job selecting music for commercials? i think it'd be ill job. i do hear the arguments about corporate branding corrupting the music tho.

  • E.V.A. in a commercial for I.B.S. medicine or treatment or something.

    It's just a loop though, and the song is still not ruined for me.

    The Dap-Kings "Pick It Up and Lay It In The Cut" in a Kraft Mayo commercial. Nothing could ruin that song for me though.

  • MjukisMjukis 1,675 Posts


    Ernie K Doe - Here Come The Girls....


    This is used in a Sex and the City trailer here in Sweden. H&M got a commercial using Minnies "Les fleur" too. It pissed me off, but it's still the greatest song ever. Hopefully a few indierockist swedes will hear it and open their minds a little bit.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Here's my question: who here would take a job selecting music for commercials? i think it'd be ill job. i do hear the arguments about corporate branding corrupting the music tho.

    it would only bother me if the commercial itself was tacky

    besides, some of the examples in this thread are rerecorded versions

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    When the 80's Boom was in full stride there was a Tampax commercial that used Dazz Band -Let It Whip, which made me cringe. And a couple of youngins i knew though it was clever/cool. I used to party to that shit.


  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts

    Nick Drake's Pink Moon for cars.

    It's worth noting that Pink Moon sold the same number of records the first week the VW ad aaired that it had previously sold in it's entire existence. I think it was at 8,000 copies in total sales from it's original release up until the commercial aired. It then sold 8,000 copies that same week.

    I read an article about it awhile back. It does make me wonder how 8,000 copies were in existence at the time of the ad, if there had only been 8000 sold prior. Maybe they anticipated sales from the ad. Maybe that article was wrong. Either way, I think it did a lot for his career, even if he wasn't around for it.

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    Muller are absolutely killing my love of Nina Simone's I Got Life, going from using the original track to muzak style interpretations, seems to be playing everytime I turn on the tv.

  • m_dejeanm_dejean Quadratisch. Praktisch. Gut. 2,946 Posts
    H&M got a commercial using Minnies "Les fleur" too.

    Yes, I noticed that. And Telia used "It's A New Day" by The Skullsnaps for one of their recent commercials.

    These things don't bother me, though. I usually avoid TV and radio stations with commercial breaks.

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    that goddamn "feel the rain on your skin" song. That was a perfectly forgettable, mediocre song until it was in every ad targeted toward women

    That is an actual song?
    I guess the flip is there's a lot of real songs used that folks think are jingles/written for the ad.

    Not only is it an actual song, but it was a successful song before it started turning up on all kinds of commercials. The song is "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. It hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2005, most notably. It also hit really high on a variety of other Billboard charts that really aren't as well-know such as Hot Digital Songs, Pop 100, Pop 100 Airplay, Top 40 Mainstream, Adult Contemporary, etc, etc.

    I was never a fan of the song but I certainly heard it various places like satellite radio, terrestrial radio when I occasionally flipped around, things like that. I didn't know who the song was by for a long time but I was quite familiar with the song itself. It never seemed much more than ordinary to me which is why it's perfect for commercials, because its milquetoast qualities will make it appeal to a wide swath of potential buyers.

    I can't believe how big that song's been in the US. When you see black girls singing it in their "American Idol" auditions, you know it's hittin'. It's in a bunch of ads over here, too, and was a big pop hit. It's a perfect fit for ad agencies that are looking for something which ticks the box marked "inspirational and appealing to independently-minded women in the 18-35 demographic".
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