Studio version of "the thanks I get" in commercial.

[notary]

Well, I have always taken pride in the fact that my absolute favorite artists didn't sell their songs to commercials--or stand by silently if someone else did. I've watched that list of artists get smaller and smaller over the years, to the point where it is pretty much Springsteen, Waits and Neil Young at this point.

 

A few days ago a friend called to tell me she had heard Wilco in a VW ad. My immediate response was that it couldn't have been, because they don't do that sort of thing. I won't say I was angry or felt betrayed or any of that nonsense when I too saw the ad. Ultimately, they are Jeff's songs and he can do what he wants with them.

 

I guess I was just disappointed. Not in Wilco in particular, so much as I was in the idea of that list getting still smaller. I know, it's probably easier to turn that offer down if you are Springsteen, Waits or Neil Young. But I'm really glad they're holding out.

 

At the high school in which I teach there aren't many kids who take music all that seriously. For most of them, it's just something to have on in the background while you're doing something that should come second to the music you're listening to. Every year there are a handful of kids, though, who get it, and I've always enjoyed listening to their stuff while passing on recommendations of my own to them. Wilco is always one of the first things I insist they listen to.

 

Okay, so that last part is getting a bit off track. I'll just end by saying I don't like the idea of Wilco, or any band that matters to me, being background music. The world has too many background music bands as it is.

 

End of ramble.

[guitman]

I don't own a TV anymore...so that kinda helps me get over this commercial business.

 

Seriously -- it's one of the best things I ever did. I just wish I could have blown it up like John Prine recommended.

[dixiecupdrinker]

Well, I have always taken pride in the fact that my absolute favorite artists didn't sell their songs to commercials--or stand by silently if someone else did. I've watched that list of artists get smaller and smaller over the years, to the point where it is pretty much Springsteen, Waits and Neil Young at this point.

 

I have a beer coozie/cozy/kozy from a Neil tour from many moons ago that says, "Sponsored By Nobody".

 

I think you're probably safe that Neil won't "sell out".

 

dcd

[squarewave]

VW has always had cool ads with fairly hip music...

 

Da, da, da....

 

Also, the fucking WHO are all over network TV with the god damned CSI. (meet the new boss... same as the... whatever, go sell something.)

 

Some dick sold the Kinks "Tired of Waiting" into a grocery store ad where they promised to open a new register of there were more than 4 people in one line...

That was probably a decade ago, but you know how I remember the content of the ad??

I was flipping out that the Kinks music was behind it.

 

"Revolution" sold Nike shoes.... for Christ's sake. (worst endorsement ever, thanks Michael Jackson)

 

The previously mentioned Iggy selling cruise tickets.

 

Willie Nelson sold Taco Bell... but Bill Hicks gave him a pass because the IRS was up his ass (if anyone else remembers that bit).

 

Soul Asylum donated the rights to "Runaway Train" to that boy's town thing where runaways can get help.

 

What really pisses me off about selling out... It's not that our favorite creative types have figured out a way to make a good living at what they do in the seas of sharks, lawyers, agents, radio monopolies, and record company tricks...

 

It's that the songs get played into the ground, and then I can't stand to listen past the first couple of notes anymore...

[yermom]

It's that the songs get played into the ground, and then I can't stand to listen past the first couple of notes anymore...

 

I'm sort of concerned about that happening with the Wilco Vdub ads. The songs will never be run into the ground for me, of course, but I worry that with the commercial being played 5 times during a two hour block of tv (this happened during the mythbusters shark shows), people who haven't had the chance to love the songs will start to hate them. It could possibly scare off new Wilco fans. If it was only on the tube every now and then , people might go, "Hey! That sounds cool! What band is this?" or if it's on all of the time, "I hate this soooong!" *click.

In the end, the commercial use of the songs doesn't bother me, as a fan, at all. I'm happy that the fellas can make a living by doing what they enjoy.

[NationalDust]

I'm sort of concerned about that happening with the Wilco Vdub ads. The songs will never be run into the ground for me, of course, but I worry that with the commercial being played 5 times during a two hour block of tv (this happened during the mythbusters shark shows), people who haven't had the chance to love the songs will start to hate them. It could possibly scare off new Wilco fans. If it was only on the tube every now and then , people might go, "Hey! That sounds cool! What band is this?" or if it's on all of the time, "I hate this soooong!" *click.

In the end, the commercial use of the songs doesn't bother me, as a fan, at all. I'm happy that the fellas can make a living by doing what they enjoy.

 

I know what you mean. Fountains of Wayne is one of my favorite bands, and Stacey's Mom is a really cute, funny novelty song. I thought it was great when they put it into a commercial, but it's the kind of thing where the novelty wears out quickly and I heard that song EVERYWHERE! Not only did it ruin the song for me, but it also ran off potential new fans.

[caliber66]

Soul Asylum donated the rights to "Runaway Train" to that boy's town thing where runaways can get help.

Selling your song to a nonprofit that helps runaway kids is hardly selling out. Besides, that song was WAY overplayed within a week of it coming out.

[froggie]

I don't own a TV anymore...so that kinda helps me get over this commercial business.

 

Seriously -- it's one of the best things I ever did. I just wish I could have blown it up like John Prine recommended.

 

 

or "do like elvis did and shoot the damn thing down"

[Painted8]

Was this VW ad the reason why "The Thanks I Get" was left off of SBS? I'd be ticked if they intentionally left off a great song like that because of the commercial.

 

I'm completely shocked by this, frankly. I figured that selling his songs would be one of the last things Tweedy would do. I kinda give a pass to new bands that are trying to get known by this method (Black Keys), but for more established artists like Tweedy, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

But on the other hand, it's always nice to hear Wilco under about any conditions

[sureshot]

Was this VW ad the reason why "The Thanks I Get" was left off of SBS? I'd be ticked if they intentionally left off a great song like that because of the commercial.

 

personally, im glad the song was left out. i was never a fan of it.

 

i dont get the selling out shit. they're on a label owned by a massive conglomerate. its not as if they're on a truly independent label like touch and go, or going the DIY route. if you're going to cry "sellout", then i hope you were saying the same the day they signed to warner.

[squarewave]

Selling your song to a nonprofit that helps runaway kids is hardly selling out. Besides, that song was WAY overplayed within a week of it coming out.

You may notice that I said "donated"... besides, I was hardly calling SA sellouts, just pointing out that the move got their song WAY overplayed.

 

Yes, with "alternative" at the peak of it's popularity, SA were all over radio and MTV at the time, but it seemed like the runaway ads were every few minutes.

 

IMO, Sheryl Crow is the epitome of a sellout... Although I may be in the market soon, I have no idea what models or promotions Subaru may be offering this year.

Every time the ad comes on, I have to change the station.

[CommerceComet]

Was this VW ad the reason why "The Thanks I Get" was left off of SBS? I'd be ticked if they intentionally left off a great song like that because of the commercial.

 

I doubt it. Aren't there supposed to be four other Wilco songs in the ad series?

[soups]

I like the song and I like it that I get to hear it when I'm watching the TV

[rselz]

For the record, the only reason that I am a Wilco fan is because of a VW ad. Some of you may remember an old spot that showed a road trip from cold weather to the beach accompanied by Son Volt's "Chanty". I saw the ad and thought, "wow, that's a pretty tune," and searched for the title and artist in the interweb. So I found the info and did some research on Son Volt and read about Uncle Tupelo and Farrar and Tweedy and went out and bought Being There and Wide Swing Tremolo. Now I'm a serious fan. I go to shows when they're around, buy all their records, download live shows, push them on my friends, etc etc. I suppose that I could have come across Wilco in a more organic way, and I definitely agree with some of the more cynical views presented in this topic, but I'll always be thankful for that one commercial, if for no other reason than it got me interested in Wilco.

 

Incidentally, I have to take some issue with the idea that music in film/TV is in any way divorced from this conversation. More and more, movies and TV shows show their hipness by having soundtracks laced with hip music. It wasn't just a coincidence that Jim from the Office was playing "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" at his party a couple seasons ago. It signified his character's cred. And that's diagetic sound (sound that's part of the narrative--compare to non-diagetic sound, like in Cameron Crowe and Zack Braff movies). Cameron Crowe doesn't use Radiohead because it's perfect for Vanilla Sky, he uses it because it signifies him as "with-it". K-Billy's supersounds in Reservoir Dogs (which was an admittedly cool conflation of diagetic and non-diagetic sound...) was nothing but Tarantino showing off his deep reverence for 70s pop music--but make no mistake, those choices were about branding himself as cool. No different than VW or Apple or whomever branding themselves by choosing Son Volt or Bob Dylan for their spots.

[intodeep]

Ain't singin' for pepsi

Ain't singin' for coke

I don't sing for nobody

Makes me look like a joke

This note's for you.

 

Neil had it right.

 

I hope the guys make a lot of cash out of this deal.

[Bhickman]

Neil Young had it right for Neil Young. There are no absolutes in this world.

[caliber66]

Neil Young had it right for Neil Young.

[broseph4]

this may be old news, so don't flame me if it is (i'm new around here)

 

but in regards to the studio version of The Thanks I Get, its available through the bonus material on the SBS cd now... i just popped mine in for the first time tonight and i'm under the impression they update and change the features, so maybe it wasnt there earlier?

 

anyway, if this is helpful then take it, if it's not... forget i even mentioned it

[Chendizzle]

Why did the other thread have to be locked? I didn't read most of it and don't care how long it goes on, but the excuse that "The subject seems to have been pretty well talked out at this point" is lacking. The mods get to decide when people can stop discussing something?

[bjorn_skurj]

There comes a point where all the arguments have been made several times over and, so this board does not degenerate into a trollpocalypse like so much of the Internet, a thread is closed. If people still want to fight about it, they can do it on IM or with nunchucks or pistols at 10 paces.

[Col. Hapablap]

Why did the other thread have to be locked? I didn't read most of it and don't care how long it goes on, but the excuse that "The subject seems to have been pretty well talked out at this point" is lacking. The mods get to decide when people can stop discussing something?

 

 

I'm not a mod here, so this is just my opinion, but i think that Kidsmoke did the right thing here by locking that thread. I'm actually surprised at the restraint that was shown in this situation. Many of the posts on that locked thread today were not about the original discussion, an indication that it had been "talked out." My experiences with other not so well moderated boards as this one have been that when a topic starts to run out of gas, it can lead to a lot of back-and-forth volleying, which then lead to the thread getting really out of hand. People start making personal insults, and really, who wants that? I certainly don't. In fact, that very trend which i am referring to came dangerously close to happening in that other thread. I'm glad we have such a well moderated board here. Some band boards which i won't mention here are just horrible when it comes to respectful discourse between it's members, b/c the mods there either don't crack down hard enough, or not at all. People are very respectful here, and I think there is a good reason for that.

 

Thanks to all the mods. You do a great job here!

[Wilco LP #7]

why should increased exposure for an otherwise underheard song from an underappreciated band be a bad thing?

[froggie]

> Why did the other thread have to be locked? I didn't read most of it

 

you can still read it... just not reply

[ShuckOwens]

To quote George Harrison:

"It's been done."

And better...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqyeW19-y6g...ser&search=

[caliber66]

Why did the other thread have to be locked? I didn't read most of it and don't care how long it goes on, but the excuse that "The subject seems to have been pretty well talked out at this point" is lacking. The mods get to decide when people can stop discussing something?

There was no more discussion of the topic, as we had moved on to talking about how many nuts somebody has. The thread was a huge, lumbering beast that had run its course.

 

 

why should increased exposure for an otherwise underheard song from an underappreciated band be a bad thing?

People made all kinds of pertinent arguments in the other thread. You can still read it if you wish.