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Music Monday: Commercial Jingles

by Scott Lydon

Happy Music Monday! Today we're selling out. That's right, it's all about the commercials today. Scott's chased down five songs that are forever entwined with the products for which they were shilling. Hey, if it pays the bills, who are we to judge? As long as they keep it entertaining, everybody's happy. And this first video's a perfect example...

Shaggy - Boombastic

 

How do you turn a song into a masterpiece? Claymation! This Levi's ad told a whole action movie worth of story in roughly a minute, all while selling jeans AND reminding people to go buy Shaggy's record. Talk about running the table.

Four more and the usual fun after the jump!

Each week, our Spotify playlist featuring a great selection from last week's Music Monday comments. The theme of the mix this time is The Impending Equinox and it'll put a Spring in your step for sure. But before you fall back, check out our current Music Monday!

Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible

 

There's something so '80s in using a song that contains the words "Don't compromise my principles" in a Pepsi ad, isn't it? Even still, we're not blaming Robert Palmer for taking the cash, because this song wasn't exactly Bach or Beethoven in the first place. So good on you, Riptide. Hope this bought you a heated pool. We would have done the same.

Psychic TV- Roman P

 

The history of Psychic TV is as bizarre as the band's music, so their fans were likely shocked to hear this song playing over a Volkswagen commercial. In fact, so was the band, because Volkswagen forgot to ask permission! And maybe if they had, the band would have informed them how this song is actually about Roman Polanski. Needless to say, the commercial was not considered a success, but the band probably got an awful lot of money out of the settlement.

The Velvet Underground - Venus In Furs

 

Be honest, if someone described this commercial to you and asked to use your song in it, you'd say yes. The Velvets were long broken up when this Dunlop Tires ad appeared, but you can't say the director didn't understand what they were going for. This isn't just a commercial. This is high freakin' art.

Michael Jackson - Bille Jean

 

Why is this noteworthy? Well, for starters, that's Carlton from the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air and this was his big break into global fame. Secondly, Michael Jackson was about to have the biggest album the world had ever seen, and he was still happy to re-record his lyrics to be about Pepsi. They were horrible, of course, but he did it. The story of advertising, right?

Now we're gonna shill for our Turntable.fm room, where you can come and enjoy the regular Music Monday fun. Also, let us just remind you: some images come from the corresponding Wikipedia pages and are here under fair use.