Monday, June 06, 2005

Ad-Pop - There’s a great discussion on Slate on what is the worst ad song ever. The conclusion: Iggy Pop’s paean to drug use “Lust for Life” used by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Have they ever listened to the lyrics?

Follow-up - After thinking about it, the worst song-commercial combination I could think of was Queen's "We Are the Champions" for one of those erectile-dysfunction pills. So inappropriate, even creepy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Back in the 80s the national coffee association in the US was using a David Bowie song, with Bowie singing it, about "hang on to your dreams" as a way to get Gen Xers to drink coffee. That was just weird. In the clueless category goes the 1984 Reagan and Mondale campaigns. Both campaigns had sought permission to use Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" as their theme song.

Anonymous said...

Cyndi Lauper loaned "True Colors" to Kodak. She tearfully admitted in concert that the song was an ode to her friend who died of AIDS.

So, this means that a song with deep, personal meaning to her is worth around $100k on the open market.

Anonymous said...

Not as well-remembered, but "Oh Buick!" is my pick for the all-time champ.

First, it was a pointless, off-meter ass-plunging of Buddy Holly and the Crickets' "Oh Boy!" But even better, "Oh Boy!"s copyright owner, Paul McCartney, had squealed loud and long when Nike used "Revolution" without his say-so.

Or as the ACTUAL writer of "Revolution" wrote, "instant karma's gonna get you."

Anonymous said...

Lately, the folks on DirecTV pushing the NFL season pass stuff have been using the "I've got a golden ticket" song from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Makes me think of Oompa-Loompas whenever the commercial comes on.