Every couple of months, a big corporation takes me by surprise by using good indie rock in a TV commercial. Like last year’s McDonald’s commercial with the Shins. And that Gap holiday ad with Badly Drawn Boy. And especially the new spot for Nissan’s Quest Mini-van, which features Modest Mouse’s “Gravity Rides Everything.” Sure beats the Who.
Anyway, my point is, I like that song in the new Target commercial. And I finally tracked it down. It’s called “New Toy” by Lene Lovitch, and it was apparently a modest club hit in 1981. Whatever — I’ve never heard of her. But I like it! Here ya go:
Comment: What’s your favorite use of a song in a TV commercial?
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The one that always sticks out in my mind was some VW commercial, maybe for Passat, that used the They Might Be Giant’s version of the Allman Brother’s song “Jessica”
I was so geeked out when i heard that one a few years ago.
I never heard that. VW has had lots of good commercials.
Light and Day by the Polyphonic Spree in that iPod/VW Beetle commercial was pretty cool.
oh my goodness, i totally remember “new toy.” to keep my head expanding! there, i’ve dated myself.
the one that’s grabbing me lately is Tones on Tail’s ‘Go!’ in the Docker’s ad.
I also love Apples in Stereo in the Roadrunner ad.
If you grew up in England you could have a field day with this one. Where does one begin? Levi’s 501s had this one sewn up in the 80’s — Marvin Gaye, Etta James, Muddy Waters, The Clash…in the 90’s: Leftfield’s Phat Planet for Guinness and Dandy Warhol’s Bohemian Like You for Vodaphone…The best baby boomer song in an ad: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Our House for Halifax mortgages.
Also — and I may be the only person who remembers this — in the 80’s there was a low-fat polyunsaturated margarine spread sold in the UK called “Vitalite”, and its sales went through the roof after they used Desmond Dekker’s classic hit “Israelites” and changed it so that it sounded like “Vitalite”. You had to be there, I suppose.
James, I like how your comment included the words polyunsaturated AND Israelites. Keep up the good work.
Figure I’d chime in. On HBO, they had …Trail of Dead playing Relative Ways on this long commercial promoting the upcoming HBO season. I was diggin’ it.
mary timony with the 6ths in that new american eagle outfitters commercial. it alarms me every time i hear/see it. it’s obvious the ad lamos who picked it never actually listened to the sad, heartbreaky lyrics, just liked the cute upbeat tune. argh.
Yeah, I saw that too. The 6ths in an American Eagle commercial just didn’t fit.
my favorite is Jet’s cover of Iggy Pop’s “lust for life” in the new iPod commercials.
ahaha just kidding. no one likes that Jet song anyway.
are u talking about the “are you gonna be my girl” song?
ted leo’s “biomusicology” in an amc (movie channel) commercial. and nick drake’s “pink moon” in a vw ad.
Nick Drake! Of course.
i’m with james: i nearly wept with joy when i heard ted leo’s “biomusicology” in that AMC promo.
I once saw a brilliant use of Desmond Dekker’s “Israelites” in a Maxell ad, featuring a guy holding up cue cards (a la Dylan) showing what he thought the lyrics were.
The chorus to that song? “Me ears are alight.”
I’ve never been able to sing it the right way since.
i like the nick drake in the vw ad. best commercial ever.
John Lennon getting sold out by Jacko when he let Nike use Instant Karma.
I am really hating the Swiffer Sweeper commercial where they change Devo’s words, “Whip it” to “Swif it”.
Here in Aus they play the Dandy Warhols’ ‘Bohemian Like You’ over the Holden Astra convertible commercial… love it!
ELO- blue sky in the VW commercial
Blue Sky! YES.
Hey… I’ve been looking all over for the New Toy MP3. This page seems to have a link to an MP3, but it’s dead. Can anyone help?
Can anyone tell me where I can get hold of that Maxell advert, where the guy is holding up the cue cards, from? I REALY want it!
If so pleas E-Mail me on thetruthisinhear@hotmail.com.
Luke
Thanks for inviting others’ comments about the New Wave song “New Toy.” That Target ad helped me beat the Christmas blues last season. Lately, Ilya’s “Bellissimo,” featured in Revlon’s Colorstay ads, has been making drool daily. Its haunting instrumentation and smoky vocals make me crave a cafe au lait. But its combination with the ad’s visuals have me questioning my sexual orientation. Could I potentially be a lipstick lesbian?
Did somebody mention an otherwise-unmentionable card game?
Man, Slate did a feature on this weeks ago. In fact, I think the Post article ganked those examples directly from it.
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what about iron and wine covering the postal service in just about every commercial this summer….
alright, maybe it was just two adds, but one of them was for candy.
Hallo! Es hat sich doch gezeigt, dass die 301 Umleitung einer minus-31 Domain nichts bringt weil die Seite auf die umgeleitet wird auch auf Platz 31 landet. Wenn nun jemand seine -31 Domain auf meine Domain umleiten wurde um mich als Konkurrenten zu argern, gabe es fur mich keine Moglichkeit diese Manipulation herauszufinden.
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Ich wurde ratseln was ich falsch gemacht hatte und dabei ist es nur ein Trick der Konkurrenz. Edit: Ich habe die Frage vergessen! Gibt es doch eine Moglichkeit herauszufinden ob jemand seine Domain auf meine umgeleitet hat?
what is the name of the song used in the new swiffer commercial currently on tv 10-8-2008