VolksWilco
"When you get into a Volkswagen, it gets into you." Welcome to Wilco's first commercial licensing deal, in which nearly half of Sky Blue Sky's tracklist will soundtrack a series of commercials aimed to convince you that driving a VW is a penetratingly good time. P4K reports there will be six spots in total, with the first set to Tweedy's non-Sky cut "The Thanks I Get." Plot fallacy, though: The tow truck dude loves this Volkswagon so much that he doesn't take it? He'd have a lot more time to jam to Sky Blue Sky and smile in the driver's seat down at the impound lot, no? Such is the tow-zone forgiving effect of the benevolent Volksvibes, we guess.
Still, better than the "You Are My Face" spot...
We know less about ads than we do about cars, but VW better be using "Impossible Germany," and it better be awesome. Maybe like a Volkswilco performing some insane feat demonstrating both value and enjoyment, while ladies diss a lecherous Honda in a bar ("unlikely, Japan")? Pitch us the "Impossible Germany" spot. Best entry wins a Volkswagon.
UPDATE: Apparently these VW spots have resulted in a raging war over at Via Chicago, and Jeff Tweedy's brother-in-law weighs in on the controversy:
Granted, I can’t claim total objectivity here, but I have never met anyone who is less cynical about his art or less of a sellout than Jeff Tweedy. While I can imagine myself selling out in a heartbeat (I’d change the name of my blog to “McJew Eat Yet?” and put Golden Arches on my banner if it meant I could actually earn money from this damn thing), Jeff is completely committed to his music and will not bend to the whims of his corporate sponsors. Anyone who saw the excellent Sam Jones documentary about Wilco, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” knows how far Jeff is willing to go to protect his vision. They were dropped by their label because of Jeff’s refusal to write something “more commercial.” Of course, it worked out great in the end with a subsidiary of the same corporation entering into a bidding war months later for the same CD that the parent company had dropped.Read more at Jew Eat Yet?. (Thanks, Ryan)But despite his refusal to compromise his art, why wouldn’t Jeff want his music to reach the widest possible audience? He has appeared many times on Conan, Letterman, and Leno, has allowed his songs to be heard on some very interesting movie soundtracks, and now has permitted Volkswagen to use a few existing songs. They were not written for the commercials and the lyrics were not adulterated in any way. In the current one, a portion of “The Thanks I Get” is simply playing on the radio of the car that appears in the commercial. It's obviously meant to evoke a certain tone. There’s no mention of Jeff or Wilco but what’s wrong if a new audience hears that song, likes it, and tries to find out where they can hear more?
Posted at 2:09 PM in Commercial Appeal, Video
Tags: Wilco
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VW Transformer, Bumble Bee, eating a Dotson.
Also,"Is That the Thanks I Get" isn't on Sky Blue Sky.
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Datsun rather.
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Actually I heard the instrumental of "Jesus Etc" in a tv commercial for a Spanish cell phone company. Weirdest thing ever.
Is this really Wilco fading somewhat gracefully into middle age? Lots of accessible, 70's rock comparisons, by both fans of the album and its detractors. I haven't heard it yet. Now this commercial licensing deal with Volkswagen. Well, I guess if you are going to take a pro-file sharing stance you have to make money somehow. I just wish that they would go back to playing more than 2 songs off of Summerteeth and at least a couple of tracks from Being There live.
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I'm still baffled as to why SBS ended up as bad as it did. Almost every single track they left off of the album, including The Thanks I Get (which isn't even that good of a song), Let's Fight, and One True Vine, is better than most of what made the final cut. Shake It Off is quite possibly the WORST song I have ever heard by any band; musically, lyrically, and structurally it's horrible.
Am I the only one with the feeling that after 10+ years in the bigs Tweedy & Co. are finally trying to reach for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? They have every right to, and to be honest I don't care, but from the moment I heard SBS it seemed like they were purposely dumbing everything down for the crowd who'd normally ask "Why is she a jar?" I think with SBS Tony Margherita finally got the album he wanted that can "break" Wilco into the mainstream.
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I loved Sky Blue Sky from the opening note, and continue to find new things to love about it.
I have no problem with Wilco using television spots to get their music heard, and to get paid on top of it. I think its brilliant.
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Sky Blue Sky is the shit. I've been listening to it like its my job.
And I think "Shake It Off" is pretty great. I don't love the verses, but I think the chorus makes up for them.
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"Shake It Off is quite possibly the WORST song I have ever heard by any band; musically, lyrically, and structurally it's horrible."
The chances that you actually have enough musical education to describe why it's musically and structurally "horrible" are probably near zero. But one thing I do know, whether you're a prodigy graduate of Juliard or someone whose musical knowledge extends about as far as 2nd grade recorder lessons, you don't know what the shit you're talking about in the quote above.
This album's great, and it's going to be even more ridiculous live.
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I've been listening to Tweedy since Uncle Tupelo days, and I am very much an alt. country/ roots rock guy, despite that, I think Sky Blue Sky may be the best album Wilco has made. The guitar work is just incredible. Impossible Germany may be the best track Wilco has ever done.
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I love Impossible Germany too. But agree the album is very dad-rock on the whole (Impossible Germany is totally Steely Dan - which is awesome).
But this is ignoring the issue at hand. I am really suprised Jeff sold the rights to one of his songs to a car company. It doesn't make me think any less of the band (i've discovered some bands through commercials) but it doesn't really seem consistent with what Jeff has said about music and his art in the past.
Maybe its got something to do with his new outlook in life post rehab. Either way (pun unintentional), it's his choice and I'm sure he is making sweet money off it, which he deserves one way or another.
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Everyone should go and see them play SBS live. It'll blow your mind...
I'm a middle aged VW driver and a huge Wilco fan, so I guess they're targeting the right demographic.
Bands have to make money somehow, so we'll have to get used to our indie-heros selling their songs for advertising, unless everyone stops illegal downloading.
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You shouldn't have a problem with Wilco's commercial appeal, because they deserve it more than stu*id chicks on this world!
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"Bands have to make money somehow, so we'll have to get used to our indie-heros selling their songs for advertising, unless everyone stops illegal downloading."
I've heard its the case that most smaller bands dont make much or any money of albums anyway, but you make a very good point.
And bulut is right, Jeff deserves a far more lucrative income than Christina or Britney.
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It's beyond me why so many people at Via Chicago are trashing this deal and calling Wilco some corporate sell-out. Telling Wilco how to market themselves is like Wilco coming into your home and telling you how to listen to their music.
Get over yourselves -- if you love Wilco because you thought they'd never sell out, you're a tool. Music should be a personal experience and other peoples experiences shouldn't matter to you.
Sidenote: If you think Sky Blue Sky is terrible, I'd challenge you to really listen to it again without all of the negative static floating around in your head, it's a beautiful album.
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I find it hilarious that Cherry Ghost thinks "shake it off" is the worst song he has ever heard. have you ever heard "livin' la vida loca" just as an example of a shittier song?
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dad rock, indeed.
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It's always weird when you hear a band you really like on a commercial. Like I was watching baseball and I heard "Cherub Rock" by the Pumpkins on, and I shat myself right there.
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"The chances that you actually have enough musical education to describe why it's musically and structurally "horrible" are probably near zero. But one thing I do know, whether you're a prodigy graduate of Juliard or someone whose musical knowledge extends about as far as 2nd grade recorder lessons, you don't know what the shit you're talking about in the quote above."
Let's put aside that I've been playing multiple instruments since the fourth grade, and that I play in a band of my own. The problem I have with your comment, your opinion, is that YOU clearly have no idea what the hell YOU'RE talking about. If you think I'm an idiot, by all means, prove my opinion wrong, but don't just spout shit about things YOU clearly don't know about. But I apologize, you're the genius here.
You want to know why Shake It Off is horrible?Tweedy's voice sounds like (and the lyrics are) shit. Pat dicks around in the back of the mix on his keyboard, adding nothing to the song. The tone of the guitars and the notes Nels plays make me want to vomit, and the chops during the chorus are completely unnecessary. Glenn's talent is wasted by being relegated to rim shots for half of the track.
Do my two cents pass your approval?
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Just pull out a measuring tape, guys.
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I heard the opening part of "War on War" in a Microsoft ad a year or two ago ... so while this might be the first "licensing deal," it isn't the first time Wilco has been played in a commercial.
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It would be one thing if they sold one song for a commercial. But sell your whole album? (In addition to a commercial For the AMC channel and his kids doing quaker oats commercials.) After you've spent your whole career being "true to the music?" Aren't they the ones with the lines "Stop buying things" in one of their songs? Isn't this the guy who throws a fit if you talk during his acoustic concerts, because you're supposed to be having some spiritual union? AND, those commercials are about the lamest most obvious attempt to target the "I used to be sort of cool in college but now I'm a materialistic hyprocrite" crowd that they should be ashamed to associated with it just on that account.
The thing about it is, these guys are not musical geniuses, you have to be willing to share a part of your soul in order to bring the meaning out of alot of their songs. Look up the chord structure of say "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, it isn't that much less complicated than most Wilco songs, and what's the big difference between that song and "What light," for example? The difference is the faith we fans had that they were trying to be sincere. And if you feel like they are just trying to fill a market niche and selling you crap with a hippie spin on it, why bother?
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Breaks my heart. I don't have a problem with them making a buck either - that's why I buy every album and pay for every download and buy tickets to every show - but this blows. It like when Bowie sold "Changes" to Pampers!! please stop the madness! Those songs are my songs not some ad guys scheme to sell cars - and that's coming from a marketing guy.
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"If the whole world's singing you songs... just remember, what was yours is everyone's from now on."
If I were Tweedy, I would try to have more respect for the people who respect my songs, if I couldn't respect those songs myself.
I feel betrayed, even raped, as the songs I've so faithfully accepted as a part of myself, such as Kicking Television, immediately become devoid of all meaning in the face of such overt hypocrisy.
If you haven't taken Wilco's songs to heart to the point where they have become part of your own paradigm, part of yourself, then you obviously won't be able to relate to this feeling of estrangement.
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