The Saturday Morning Car-Tune News Report 07.18.09: Music That's Got Nothing Better To Do Than Get On TV So It Can Advertise Brews

Posted by Lucas Wesley on 07.18.2009

Billy Corgan defending Smashing Pumpkins name use, Lil' Wayne gets sued, The Pixies update, your weekly Beck news, and more! Plus a look into advertising and commercial use of music! It's all in the Saturday Morning Car-Tune News Report!

Welcome to week 4 of the Saturday Morning Car-Tune News! No prologue this week, let's get right into it.

- Justin Timberlake, modern renaissance man he is, lost the part of The Green Lantern. Unfortunately for his fans, Ryan Reynolds seems to have gotten the part. I'm torn as to whether or not I'm disappointed. On one hand, Timberlake is a talented musician and performer, but on the other hand, I've seen Alpha Dog and I know what this could have lead to. Oh well, what could have been. Also, Timberlake has been nominated for three Emmys, one for acting on SNL, the others for a song on SNL and the other for a song from the ESPY Awards.



- Lil' Wayne is being sued by a Bahaman company, because he was too intoxicated to perform at a recent concert. What happened to the days of The Replacements when this was considered a good thing? And he wants to be a rocker.

- Listen up people who suffer tinnitus: there's a new Mission Of Burma album on the horizon! The Sound The Speed The Light, out October 6, will be the band's fourth, fifth if you include the debut EP. If the pre-release single, from the Matador web site, titled "1, 2, 3, Partyy!" is any indication, this is going to be weird (Mission of Burma telling you to party? What happened to reaching for revolvers?), but in an awesome way.

- Speaking of 80s alternative, you American Pixies fans can rest easy. A few weeks ago I mentioned the band touring Europe to celebrate Doolittle's 20th, but people paying attention will note that ignores the Americas. Well, no more of that! Though dates are unannounced, frontman Black Francis has named Oakland, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Boston, D.C., New York and "maybe Montreal" as future tour stops. He also has hinted at the possibility of a similar tour for Bossanova next year.

- Your weekly Beck news: after Odelay and One Foot In The Grave, there's no plans for any further deluxe reissues, but there is talk of a b-sides album, probably an expanded American version of Stray Blues. Not exactly a whole new aspect of his web site, but Beck news is fast becoming a staple of this report. Beck also reports to continuing work on an album he's been working on since 2007, repeating The Information pattern of starting an album, getting distracted with another album, then finishing the first album. That's newsworthy, right? Oh, there's the web site news: he's starting a series called Videoteque, wherein he'll be posting acoustic versions on his own work, starting with last year's Modern Guilt. Also new to the site this week is Part 2 of the Tom Waits conversation, another DJ set and his electronic cover of "Run Run Run." Beck.com, where music goes to live.



- Billy Corgan is out and about, again defending his continued use of The Smashing Pumpkins name. Says Billy, the songs sound like band songs and not solo songs, so why not go with the band name? Says his opponents, you've changed the name when the members changed before, do it again. Or something. Says I, who cares? Billy wrote 98% of the bands songs, and performed about 75% of the bands songs solo, so it doesn't matter. It's not like other artists haven't kept band names despite essentially being one-person bands (The The, Nine Inch Nails, The Fall, etc). In related news, guitarist Eric Erlandson is giving Courtney Love some trouble with her decision to recreate Hole without him. I have no words, but it did help me decide on what picture to use. Also, Melissa Auf Der Mar has become the second famous musician to get swine flu. Get well soon.

- In anticipation for the new album, Haih (September 8), Os Mutantes have released a new song: Teclar. The track isn't quite as wacky as I've come to expect from the group. It manages a uniqueness in their catalog due to its Indian influences alongside their usual Brazilian tropicalia, but it lacks the psychedelic sounds that made them so original. Regardless, it is a pretty good track for a band's second new song in 35 years, so it deserves some credit.

- Rod The Mod has a new collection coming out, and it's pretty big for fans: four discs of demos and out takes, pretty simply called The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998. What's being pegged as the real selling point is a remake of the fantastic 1969 song "In A Broken Dream." The song was re-recorded in 1992 with David Gilmour, John Paul Jones, Nick Lowe and the world's most underrated drummer, Pete Thomas. No doubt that's one hell of a cast list (and telling for me, since I don't care about Gilmour or Jones, but Lowe and Thomas win me over), but it's just one track out of 63, so I'll leave it up to the fans to find out if it's all worth it. Amazon lists the set for a September 29 release.

- Owl City's song "Fireflies" is the iTunes single of the week. I don't even have an iTunes account, so I don't pay attention to these things, but Owl City is amazing. Go get the song while you still can and fall in love with the pop master.



- Speaking of pop masters releasing new singles: Mika's latest single, "We Are Golden," will be available for download September 6, with physical release the next day. But wait! There's more! Two weeks later, on September 21, Mika's releasing his sophomore album of the same name. The album will feature guest appearances from The Seawind Horns (who previously worked with Michael Jackson), Imogen Heap, Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy, Arcade Fire) and Stuart Price (producer for: Madonna, P Diddy, New Order, Seal, The Killers). I'm excited, though I'm sure I'll get at least a little bit of hate for praising Mika so highly. Whatever, life ain't funky unless it's got real pop.

- According to someone working on the Twilight sequels soundtrack, Thom Yorke and Kings of Leon, amongst apparently many others, are interested in contributing new music. By accident, I saw about ten seconds of the end of Twilight, and during those ten seconds "15 Step" played, so I guess it's possible. But Twilight, Thom? Kind of ruins the whole high art thing.

Star Power

Two things happened this week that relate to this week's Star Power. First, and most important, footage has been released of Michael Jackson's hair catching on fire during that famous Pepsi commercial. Of course, this is the part that gets the big news on all the rags, but the other was even a bit more striking to me. While catching up on last week's episodes of The Tonight Show on Hulu, one of the ads I saw featured the song "Never Let Go" by Tom Waits. Granted, it was an ad for a charity, so I'm hardly going to say that Waits has gone against his morals and strong anti-commercialism stance, but it was still shocking for a few seconds. So this week's star power will be about when artists go commercial, literally.



Commercials as we know them today started with sponsorship. Companies that would fund movies and television programs would get the big ad space, and the big stars of said movies and TV shows would hock cigarettes or gum or whatever the company told them. It made sense, really, and there wasn't that much shame in it, since it was the norm. I don't know when music came into the picture, but that made sense, too. If there's pop songs scoring movies, enhancing some TV shows, then of course it should be scoring commercials as well. Now we can't even imagine a world where truck commercials don't remind us whose country we're in (we're in John Mellencamp's country).

Typically at this point in Star Power I journey through history, talking about the start of the concept, bringing us up to the present day, but commercials aren't as easy to learn about as some of the other things I've talked about. Maybe they aren't quite as historically important, which is a valid argument. But I still wish to write about them a bit, so I'll just go through some commercials I know about. Some might be very big, some might be irrelevant aside from the fact that I like the artist. But it's a journey my mind is taking, and I invite you to come with me.

First I'm going to talk about Tom Waits. I opened this Star Power expressing my shock at hearing him in a commercial. This is shocking because Tom Waits has always been exceptionally vocal in his fight against using his songs in commercials. He was famously quoted to say, "If Michael Jackson wants to work for Pepsi, why doesn't he just get himself a suit and an office in their headquarters and be done with it?" On more than one occasion, Waits has filed lawsuits against corporations that used his songs or likeness in commercials without his authorization. To this regard, he gives the equally classic quote, "Apparently, the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad — ideally, naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor." This isn't strictly true, as he once did a voice-over for Purina dog food in 1981, but his music was not used in the commercial. Around the same period of time, he renegotiated his contract to ensure his music would never appear in commercials.

However, four commercials dared challenge this. The first was Frito-Lay in 1988. The company wished to use "Step Right Up" in an ad (which is a fine example of the mainstream completely missing the meaning of a song, which in this case is that advertising is bullshit), and Waits of course declined. In response, Frito-Lay did the honorable thing and hired a sound-alike to plagiarize the song and perform the new version in their ads. Waits won the lawsuit, gaining a cool $2 million. Five years later, Levi's Jeans used a cover of his song "Heartattack and Vine" performed by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. To the credit of Levi's Jeans, it seem like an Amish Paradise situation, where they had everyone's permission except for Tom, and apologized by means of a full page letter to Tom in Billboard magazine when they realized their mistake.


Tom Waits to advertisers: "Bring it on."

Math tells us there's two more commercial mistakes here, and both were in foreign countries. First, in the year 2000, a Spanish branch of Audi asked for "Innocent When You Dream." Of course, he declined. Of course, they got a sound alike. Waits sued and won. History repeating itself as it does, in 2005, Adam Opel AG asked Waits to sing for some Scandinavian commercials. Thinking four times a charm, the company hired a sound-alike. It wasn't a charm, they got sued, Waits won again. I think the question here is why exactly Tom Waits is so adamant about his work not appearing in commercials. Of course, we have the suit and tie Pepsi comment to look at, but that's kind of a joke answer. Waits, like many alternative artists, has struggled with mainstream acceptance, something that perhaps a commercial could bring him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all artists should "sell-out," and I hate Jay Leno for the Dorito commercials as much as the next guy. All for artistic integrity. But sometimes I guess I just don't see how it cheapens the song. That is, of course, if it fits the commercial. I totally understand not using "Step Right Up," and maybe it does cheapen the dreams in "Innocent When You Dream" to say they're about getting a sweet ride. But I'm not so sure every time I hear a song in a commercial I scream sell out.

Take for example Nick Drake. Of course, he died in 1974, and being born in 1989, even if his music did appear in commercials when he was alive, I wouldn't know. But his song "Pink Moon" did appear in a Volkswagen Cabriolet commercial in 1999. The use of the song lead to the highest sales Nick Drake had ever seen, leaving the Pink Moon album in the top five sellers on Amazon.com. Earlier I said that Tom was one of many artists to struggle with mainstream acceptance, but that's nothing compared to Drake. It's arguable that one of the biggest contributing factors to his suicide was lack of public acceptance. If only he was in a commercial when he was still alive, well, he might still be alive. Sometimes, for a lesser known, or now let's say independent artist, a commercial is the thing that could make you, uh, commercial. Maybe it is a little cheap being known as "those Pringles guys," but maybe better "those Pringles guys" than "those guys who broke up after the first album because they were all in poverty." I'm trying not to side with the corporations here, but from a music business standpoint, sometimes it just makes sense.



Which leads me to the keynote point of this here thought. Moby. Specifically, 1999's album Play. Fun fact before we move on: for a while, Play was my favorite album. It isn't anymore, but I still think it rocks. Anyway, moving on. The album is famous for being the first (and as far as I know, only) in history to have sold the commercial rights to all of its tracks. Throughout 1999 and 2000, up to 2001, Moby's music was absolutely everywhere, scoring absolutely everything, including tons of commercials (and a few films). Here's the thing about it that makes it worthwhile, though: the marketing strategy worked. Moby went from a fringe artist with no real commercial standing to arguably the most successful and well known electronic musician of all time. Play was even the number one album in the UK for a brief period. This move changed Moby from struggling DJ to multimillion-dollar success. And to paraphrase the man himself, he much prefers taking money from corporations than giving it to them. Then again, read interviews with him and he doesn't seem terribly fond of about half of his music, at least on Play. Maybe if he really cared about and loved his art, he wouldn't cheapen it in that way.

Moving on, since Tom brought it up, let's take a look into Michael Jackson's famous partnership with Pepsi. Because Pepsi so kindly sponsored The Jacksons' Victory tour, Michael was indebted two ads for them. One was the famous ad where he set his hair on fire. The second was an ad where he danced with a young Carlton Banks. Both featured a bastardization of "Billie Jean," rewritten with words about "the Pepsi generation." I have no problem with his appearance in the commercials. He could have worn a shirt with a big Pepsi sign at all his concerts. The new version of the song is what I have a problem with. This is what I believe Tom Waits is complaining about and the kind of literal commercialization I have a problem with. It's Michael and he was and still is the King, so we'll give him a reprieve, but this is textbook selling out. When you write a fantastic song, the lyrics are typically a part of that. They don't have to be deep or mindblowing, but it's nice if they aren't a brainwashing jingle about why Pepsi is better than Coke. If every artist where willing to do this, it would be a problem. I hold no ill will towards jingle writers, because that's just their job. But when you're job is to write good, nonpartisan songs, don't rewrite them about the Cola Wars, please. We don't need Coke to sing or smile, so advertisers, please, just chill a while.



I'm going to end this by talking about a philosopher. Okay, maybe he was a stand up comedian, but it bordered on philosophy. The man is Bill Hicks, and I refer to a piece of his from his 1997 release, Rant In E-Minor. The piece is called Artistic Roll Call, and I've been referring to it throughout with my Jay Leno-Dorito references. The idea is simple: make a commercial and you're off the artistic roll call. In the routine, Bill makes two exemption: young actors looking for a break, who probably couldn't get any other work and need the money, and Willie Nelson, who just needed the money. In a way, I realize I've disagreed with Bill throughout here, saying there's often no shame in allowing your art to appear in a commercial. I still believe it, however with a catch. Perhaps what Michael Jackson did with Pepsi was the kind of sin Bill was talking about (but like the legions of fans, I forgive Michael and leave him on the roll call anyway). To change your art in any way, to compromise your art, just for the profit of others, okay, that's selling out. But if it's a tasteful ad, or why not, an irrelevant one, and a bit of your ambient soundscape pops up during it, I really see no harm to your artistic integrity. Hell, certain commercials aspire to be art in the first place, why not just help get there sooner?

You can probably tell by now I'm a little bit conflicted on this whole issue. I understand the idea of selling out and the artistic roll call, and Bill Hicks was usually right about these things (and everything for that matter). But at the same time, I understand financial strain, and think that if you can get paid for doing something you love, or even better, having done something you loved already, what's so bad about that? Maybe it's because I'm not an artist and have a poor concept of "high art," but I'm not sure I understand. But I do know that if I hear, say, a Kraftwerk song in a commercial, my first wouldn't be "Kraftwerk sold out!" It would be indifference, maybe laughter if it didn't fit. Granted, Kraftwerk were never exactly the epitome of the punk ideals of anti-commercialism or anything. But at the same time, I see the New York Dolls on commercials for iPhones and I don't bat an eye.

I just can't decide here. I don't know. I've used up all of my English. New promise for future Star Powers: offer some semblance of a definitive opinion.

Farewell Song

Stark contrast from last week's lame duck, the song for 1961 is one of my all time favorites. Amazingly, it's written by a songwriting team which I believe only worked together on the one song (though both members of the team had great successes elsewhere) and is definitely the only song by the group that anyone (myself included) could ever name. However, the song's auteur is legendarily famous, and recent legal troubles have lead to even more fame. He's already shown up on the Farewell Song once, but this is the one song of his I say everyone should hear. Bobby Vinton had a moderate hit with it, and Glen Campbell, Chet Atkins, Patty Duke, Bryan Ferry, Beth Orton and many others have covered it. My favorite cover of the song is the beautiful rendition by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel. But all that matters is the original beauty.

A little while ago, for an personal project, I did a piece on Phil Spector, ranking his songs. This song came in at number one. With the warning I don't often know how to explain my full love for songs, I did what I could to sum up the beauty of this song in one sentence: I want to slow dance with it. That song is "I Love How You Love Me" by The Paris Sisters.

Now, if you don't mind, my first ever cheap plug. Turns out some kids I know run a music blog. They'd appreciate it if you check out some of their work: Different Wavelengths. They're all goodly folk and have interesting musical minds, so you should check it out.

I finally leave you with a quick bit of yay me braggadocio. Tomorrow I'm seeing Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp on their stadium tour. Should rock. Well, the first two anyway. Maybe I should bring a Johnny Cougar sign...

Well, thanks for joining me and I hope to see you all next week, once again, for the Saturday Morning Car-Tune News!