| Three-Chord Jingles |
October
2002 |
Punk Rock Commercials
The hippies always claimed that when a musician started writing jingles or letting his music flog a product, he was a sell-out. The punk of the 1970s was so much more honest and refreshing because the bands agreed that the idea was to take as much money off the dinosaur record companies as possible in a hurry. Cash from Chaos was the way the Sex Pistols put it -- and they took thousands of pounds for NOT playing or recording.
But the nihilism of the movement prevented the boys and girls from really cashing in, until recently. Lately, luxury carmaker Jaguar has been plugging its new line of cars using the old Clash anthem "London Calling." The social class dissonance encapsulated in this 30-second spot is nerve shattering to anyone who lived through the Callaghan and early Thatcher years.
Jarring as well is hearing music that corporate radio forbade in the 1970s and 1980s selling their sponsors' products in the twenty-first century. It's not that we object to the tune being used to sell crap we don't need, can't afford, or don't want. It's more a case of "Where were you wankers in marketing and advertising when we could have used you?" You could have saved music from the aging boomers who couldn't get over the fact that Hendrix was dead, Woodstock was over, and the only Kennedy left was Ted.
Then again, the whole point of rock is to upset the people a bit older than you are. Marilyn Manson has always bothered older people, even when he was known as Alice Cooper. The fact that I like Eminem ruins things for my kids. Then again, he's nowhere near as terrifying as Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra or John Lydon -- is he?