From the mailbox comes this note from Stereogum-reader Bobby:
I just saw a commercial on CNN for a the Companies on the NASDAQ. Sandisk, Staples, Sears, etc etc.. the song playing was Everyday feels like sunday. It was the actual song this time, Although i think Nasdaq-themed lyircs would’ve been better.
That’s when we realized: We haven’t discussed songs in commercials in awhile! This week, the most head-scratching pairing on Stereogum’s TiVo is this XBox spot:
It’s perhaps the second weirdest product soundtrack of the year.
What other tunes are popping up in spots on the tube these days?
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m ward’s “here comes the sun again” on a cadillac spot was pretty good
The Dirtbombs song that cropped up on Walmart’s back to school advert was pretty weird.
Maybe a dumb question, but what is the song in the XBox ad? It’s great.
hearing galang by M.I.A. in that (hyundai? honda?) commercial was cool. i imagine she hates cars…
blaze a blaze!
It’s a cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” from the Donnie Darko soundtrack… don’t remember the name of the guy who does the cover.
Gary Jules is his name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4
The Jules cover was Christmas Number One in the UK in 2003, a cultural touchstone which is kinda hard to explain to non-Brits. If I recall, he beat Ozzy and Kelly “singing” Changes and the Darkness.
Yeah we love that song! But it just seems weird for the commercial.
This is kind of old, but Gary Numan’s cars being used to sell Nissan cars, when the song is about how we rely too much on our cars.
Iggy Pop/Teddybears’ “Punkrocker” in a Cadillac commercial…
Of course that version of “Mad World” was originally featured over the end credits of Donnie Darko (for those of you wondering where you’ve heard it before). I think the song and video work oddly well together – in fact I wrote about it here (http://blogsarefordogs.com/?p=250) and am offering up the mp3 as well.
One of those Geico commercials with the angry cavemen used a Royksopp song (one with Erland Oye on vocals..I think it was “Remind Me”)
I saw this commercail the other day, and was really surprised by how much I liked it.
I also think I remember hearing a MSTRKFT(?) song on a commercial the other day.
I know you guys mentioned this a long time ago, but I see this freaking commercial every day now for some reason: the Outback Steakhouse commercial with the Of Montreal tune (“Wraith pinned…”). They altered the lyrics. Very freaky. It’s on heavy rotation down here in Tampa.
Explosions in the Sky have been in Cadillac comercials, and I’ve heard The National in some other car commercial. Morningwood is selling someting too, and it is hillarious to hear them spelling out their band name in the lyrics on the commercial.
Don’t forget the Rhett Miller (or is it the entire Old 97′s?) commercial for Chili’s that’s on TV all the time now. http://music.netscape.com/embed/320/LGGFMRECHCKNGGVZZVJB
Didn’t I hear the Rat by the Walkmen on an NFL commercial?
that new LG commercial for a washing machine or dishwasher or something uses the song that jens lekman samples on “sweet summer’s night on hammer hill”
THE WILLOWZ did a worldwide Renault Car Commercial and Vans Shoe commerical recently
ElWood, The Rat was used by Fox when they were promoting playoff baseball. I had that song and that fucking John Mellencamp truck song in my head all month.
Good lord there’s too many. The Punkrocker and Nth Degree commercials pissed me off the most. Didn’t Cadillac use Spoon’s I Turn My Camera On too? Also Do You Want To is in some sort of shampoo commercial. ARGH!
By far the most surprising to me was several of The National’s songs from “Alligator” being used in Saturn commercials. They use “Mr. October” in one and I can’t help everytime I see it hoping that they’ll let the “I WONT FUCK US OVER!” part roll over some shots of Saturns. That could be their new slogan. “Saturn: We Won’t Fuck You Over”
what the hell is weird about the xbox commercial?
it’s perfect.
Every now and then, “NFL on FOX” will use Kronos Quartet’s ‘Lux Aeterna’ from the Requiem For a Dream soundtrack, and I laugh my ass off every time. “I’m gonna be on television!”
Every now and then, “NFL on FOX” will use Kronos Quartet’s ‘Lux Aeterna’ from the Requiem For a Dream soundtrack, and I laugh my ass off every time. “I’m gonna be on television!”
Every now and then, “NFL on FOX” will use Kronos Quartet’s ‘Lux Aeterna’ from the Requiem For a Dream soundtrack, and I laugh my ass off every time. “I’m gonna be on television!”
F*ck that Splinter Cell commercial. Ruined that cover of Tears For Fears for me. Weirdest track I’ve heard recently is the Mitsubishi ad with The Fall’s “Blindness” playing. (That song with tons of heavy bass and at the end you hear Mark E. Smith slurring ‘I was walking down the street.’ I can’t believe an American company used a Fall track.
It’s a Gears of War commerical toolbox ^
Sufjan Stevens’ In the Devil’s Territory was used in a commercial for the Dutch bank SNS REAAL:
http://www.themissingsynch.nl/web/player.swf?file=/_showreel/1147199878blob.flv&size=true&aplay=true&autorew=false&title=
“i turn my camera on” was used for a jaguar commercial. sears of all places used a malkmus tune, “phantasies”. it’s a wierd song, and it makes no sense selling washers or whatever. they even used the vocals. the commercial ended before steve got to “cold as shit” line, sadly.
Everyday Feels Like Sunday was actually used in another commercial, but I forget which.
This past weekend I just the MSTRKRFT remix of Sexy Results in I think a Sears commercial.
Actually, I think both were played in a Sears commercial.
There’s this one song in a Totino’s Mega Pizza Rolls commercial that’s really been driving me crazy because I can’t figure it out. It’s the commercial with the twins, and the song is so familiar, but I just can’t fathom who it’s from.
And this is semi-offtopic, but I was in Express Men the other day and they were playing O Valencia.
I think I heard M. Ward in an ad for CSI
uhhh Outback Steak House uses Of Montreal songs w/e diff words, its quite odd
I like that XBOX ad I lot. The juxtapositioning of the war scenes with the somber song creates a pretty interesting effect.
I forgot what it was for, I think cars, but I remember hearing lovefool in a commercial.
lol, Lovefool was a giant hit in the 90s, that doesn’t count.
There was that Ratatat song Seventeen Years in the Hummer commercial.
Remember when Nike had that summer olympics campaign where they used the song Search and Destroy by Iggy and The Stooges?
I think the MSTRKRFT edition of “Sexy Results” might have been a cell phone commercial.
Regina Spektor’s been selling out lately, but I still love her. “Fidelity” was in an XM commercial, and was also the featured song on Microsoft’s Zune site for a while.
Yeah, “Fidelity” is everywhere… it’s the new “Such Great Heights” for TV promos.
Also, The Elected were in some Orbit gum ads… it was kind of weird.
My problem is that when I hear a song I know really well in a commercial or a TV show, I have trouble connecting the two. I just feel like I’m watching the TV on mute and listening to music at the same time. Does that make sense?
In the past couple of years, songs from The Kinks have appeared in almost a dozen commercials (for better or worse):
I’m Not Like Everybody Else – IBM
You Really Got Me – Tide
You Have A Strange Effect On Me – Motorola Pink Razor
Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy – AcuPoint(?)
Set Me Free – I can’t remember the commercial, but I saw it and it had that Kinks song. Anyone know?
Picture Book – HP
…and the list goes on
As far as Indie rock commercials, I’ve heard Every Day Feels Like Sunday by Of Montreal
Morningwood’s Nth Degree is in the Mercury car commercials played every other second it seems. That song has been in more commercials than any other i think. American Eagle, Mercury Cars, NBC and WB promos. They must have made a killing.
When Dell first started using “Catch My Disease” by Ben Lee, they let the whole chorus ride out (Please, baby please… Open your heart, and catch my disease). It was really random, and I couldn’t believe no marketer thought “Umm, maybe we should cut the commercial off before it gets to that part?” About two weeks after I first saw the spot, they finally shortened it so it doesn’t get to the chorus.
i think i heard the fall in a car commercial yesterday
Go! team in a honda car commercial i just saw yesterday
Architecture in Helsinki’s “Souvenirs” is used in the current Canada Post commercials.
Canada Post; I’d say that classifies as pretty freakin’ weird.
Oh No Oh My’s “Walk In The Park” was in a phone commercial in Canada.
Tapes n tapes in a car commercial as well
Grandaddy’s “Nature Anthem” in an old hybrid commercial
I thought that was quite excellent, imo. An unorthodox pairing, but it works.
I actually thought this commercial was entertaining. If you’ve played the game, it is a very funny combination… I find the commercial refreshing, after those questionable Playstation 3 commercials.
That shotgun is so satisfying.
Regina Spektor’s “Better” is used in some sattelite radio commercial.
“Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” on… I think it was an AARP commercial. I’m pretty sure it was Buzzcocks and not the Ash cover.
What is the name of that song in the new Caddillac commercial? It’s the one where it starts off going back in time showing their older models and ends with todays.
Can anyone tell me the name of the band on saturn’s rethink commercial?
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