More on the "controversy"

[duzer]

wohoooo post 901

[Let's Not Get Carried Away]

TVT era GBV was certainly way more produced than their earlier stuff, but the only one that really strikes me as any sort of attempt at breaking into the mainstream is Do the Collapse, and even that was a fairly natural progression from Mag Earwhig! And Isolation Drills is easily their most inspired post-Alien Lanes album.

 

I was just commenting on the general production quality of their albums around that time. Like you said, Do the Collapse is the only one that was genuinely a "sellout" album (however, I don't even necessarily dislike it-it's just in somewhat of a different league from their other stuff). And I do agree regarding Isolation Drills.

[MrRain422]

I sort of think Do the Collapse sucks, except for "Teenage FBI" and a few other bits. I think "Hold On Hope" is my least favorite GBV song.

[Let's Not Get Carried Away]

I sort of think Do the Collapse sucks, except for "Teenage FBI" and a few other bits. I think "Hold On Hope" is my least favorite GBV song.

 

It's really all in how you approach it-true, it sucks by their standards, but it actually makes a semi-decent mainstream rock record. Which I think was Pollard's intention at the time-did you check out the Spin interview with him from November?

[MrRain422]

No, I didn't see that.

[Let's Not Get Carried Away]

I've read that Pollard quote before, but never have seen it in context. I always took it to be referring to the jump to TVT from Matador, and not the actual albums that resulted from it.

 

I took it to mean the actual albums, but now that I re-read it, I see your point. Here it is in context.

 

From the Spin interview:

Spin: You became the quintessential indie rocker, but GBV actually put out a couple of slick records on TVT. What was that all about?

Pollard: It was a semi-sellout move. We were doing some festival in Philadelphia, and we had to play the third stage at, like, noon. On the main stage, second to the headliner, was Tenacious D. And I'm going, "F***-this is bull****!" So it was a kind of egotistical decision. It was like "I'm tired of seeing these rock-star types walking around with their f***in' noses in the air, having nothing to do with us!"

Spin: Like who?

Pollard: I can't even...Verve or something? I don't know. Verve Pipe! I'd be like, "What the f*** is this s***?" I shouldn't have been that way, and now I'm content with what and where I am. But at the time major labels wanted us, I thought, "Well, maybe they can make it so we can act like that toward those bands."

[napoleon]

so close to ice cream yet so farrrrrrr.

[tongue-tied]

ok then, let's talk about what if Jeff had given the song to Solomon in time. would Solomon have sold out? do you think he's the least bit bitter about the pile of cash that might have been his?

[bjorn_skurj]

Solomon Grundy want pants too!

[aricandover]

Solomon Grundy want pants too!

 

 

not anymore, he's got a three piece suit.

 

[LouieB]

I have yet to see any of these other than on YouTube. Let's get it going VW, Wilco is waiting on the checks...these commercials seem to be in rather light rotation...

 

LouieB

[aricandover]

I have yet to see any of these other than on YouTube. Let's get it going VW, Wilco is waiting on the checks...these commercials seem to be in rather light rotation...

 

LouieB

 

 

I saw the "the Thanks I get?" one, the other night, about 8 or 9 times. I think I hate that song now.

[Hodie]

.these commercials seem to be in rather light rotation...

 

Not if your watched Rescue Me they're not. Definitely not.

[napoleon]

Not if your watched Rescue Me they're not. Definitely not.

 

yeah but VW was sponsoring rescue me that night. so that's why they showed it during every break.

[SlowBurn68]

I'm pissed that in my "VW Driver" magazine it said nothing about the Wilco commercial in their new adds section.

[stonecipher]

New item in the WILCO store:

 

[LouieB]

I saw the "the Thanks I get?" one, the other night, about 8 or 9 times. I think I hate that song now.

Too bad, that was a good one too...sometimes exposure can be over-exposure.

 

Are these showing more on cable than free TV??

 

 

New item in the WILCO store:

 

I wish I thought that was funny.

 

LouieB

[auctioneer69]

This discussion highlights a difference between the few who are looking to taking offence at anything and the vast majority of fans who wish Wilco the best in light of the generosity the band has shown us over the years. The only time I have been pissed off by the use of songs in commercials is hearing part of "Baba O'Reilly" in a car commercial although my guess is that Pete Townsend was motivated more by his well documented contrariness than by anything else. I hope that Jeff and the other members of the band make a shit load of money.

 

On an unrelated topic, I just got turned on to a great new British band called Maps. If you dig melancholic, melodic, textured electronic stuff with vocals you will like them.

[Kalle]

New item in the WILCO store:

 

 

Genius! I'd buy that!

[stonecipher]

First Wilco, now Styx?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNv6-HlMVuw

 

VW's next band: REO Speedwagon.

[TheMaker]

This discussion highlights a difference between the few who are looking to taking offence at anything and the vast majority of fans who wish Wilco the best in light of the generosity the band has shown us over the years.

 

Oh, and which camp are you in?

 

No, I'm just kidding, obviously. Your bias couldn't be more obvious if it were dangling out of your fly.

 

You know what I'm fucking sick of? The high-and-mighty type of fan who endorses this sort of endeavour unreservedly, and just can't wait to use it as an excuse to elevate himself over people with incredibly valid principles that just happen to differ from his own. Look, pal, don't go thinking you're the "better fan" - whatever the fuck that even means - just because you don't have a problem with a song that used to stand on its own two legs being chopped apart and run across your TV screen in 30-second flashes god knows how many times a day. Because I'll goddamned tell you something: you're not.

[foolnrain97]

Ugh. Are we STILL talking about this?

[j4lackey]

Oh, and which camp are you in?

 

No, I'm just kidding, obviously. Your bias couldn't be more obvious if it were dangling out of your fly.

 

You know what I'm fucking sick of? The high-and-mighty type of fan who endorses this sort of endeavour unreservedly, and just can't wait to use it as an excuse to elevate himself over people with incredibly valid principles that just happen to differ from his own. Look, pal, don't go thinking you're the "better fan" - whatever the fuck that even means - just because you don't have a problem with a song that used to stand on its own two legs being chopped apart and run across your TV screen in 30-second flashes god knows how many times a day. Because I'll goddamned tell you something: you're not.

wow.

[cryptique]

I don't know why I'm bothering to re-enter this asinine thread, but here's another article about all this stuff. And just to reiterate my long-held position (because I'm not going back and reading any of this thread): I don't care, and good for Wilco.

 

The new buy-tunes

 

Volkswagen will feature fresh tracks from eclectic band in summer ad campaign

 

June 18, 2007

 

by Jewel Gopwani, Free Press Business Writer

 

Like the song in the new Volkswagen commercial?

 

That's Wilco. If it sounds good to you, keep watching.

 

Volkswagen AG plans to use about half of Wilco's new album, "Sky Blue Sky," in its summer ad campaign.

 

By using Wilco's music in the spots, which will span the German automaker's vehicle lineup, VW builds on its reputation for making off-the-airwaves music a key ingredient to its commercials.

 

"As a band, they have traditionally created music really for their fans. They have a big following. They've got a big Web component to what they do," said Kurt Schneider, VW's general manager of creative content. "We think it's a good fit in terms of how our owners are. You can never really pin them down."

 

Schneider declined to say how much VW is paying Wilco, a group that in seven albums has spanned a range from alt-country to rock 'n' roll, experimental and, most recently, a little mellow. VW, whose ad agency is Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky, expects to use five to seven songs from the Chicago-based band's new album.

 

This is a unique move in advertising, coming from an automaker that has become known for using overlooked music in its ads.

 

With its starry night Cabrio convertible "Pink Moon" ad, Volkswagen introduced Nick Drake to many who were too young to remember the 1970s British singer-songwriter before his death. That spot was one of a handful of VW ads in the late 1990s with eclectic ("Da Da Da") and nostalgic ("Mr. Roboto") tunes that got viewers to sing along.

 

These days, TV ads offer the chance to hear a 30-second snippet of an upcoming hit or an old favorite.

 

You can see music legends like Elvis Costello listen to their favorite classics in a Lexus commercial or hear a Beatles cover in a Target ad.

 

Recently, Cadillac used a song called "Here Comes the Sun" by the smoky-voiced Portland, Ore., native M.Ward to promote the SRX's large sunroof.

 

In an ad for the entire brand, Cadillac used a song called "Punkrocker" by a Swedish band called the Teddybears featuring special guest Iggy Pop, the punk icon with Michigan ties.

 

Going for the new and relatively unknown song is the most effective way to use music in an ad, said Christie Nordhielm, associate professor of marketing at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

 

Popular songs are usually more expensive, and viewers often tie emotions and memories to those songs, which they don't want clouded with a product pitch, said Nordhielm, who directed marketing at a Chicago alternative rock station in the late 1980s.

 

Since the VW campaign could introduce Wilco's music to viewers, there's a benefit for the automaker and the band.

 

When consumers "buy and play the music, it's almost like running the ad again. Every time you hear it you go, 'Oh yeah that's the stuff they played in the VW ad,' " said Christie Brown, a marketing lecturer at U-M.

 

But the decision to sell its music hasn't been an easy one for Wilco. Lots of groups sell their music for TV shows, movies and advertisements, a move that at one time had been viewed as selling out. The band said it spent a lot of time discussing that strategy.

 

The VW campaign, Wilco told its fans, is one way to get its music out to the public and at the same time get around commercial radio.

 

The band said on its site: "And we feel OK about VWs. Several of us even drive them."

[auctioneer69]

Oh, and which camp are you in?

 

No, I'm just kidding, obviously. Your bias couldn't be more obvious if it were dangling out of your fly.

 

You know what I'm fucking sick of? The high-and-mighty type of fan who endorses this sort of endeavour unreservedly, and just can't wait to use it as an excuse to elevate himself over people with incredibly valid principles that just happen to differ from his own. Look, pal, don't go thinking you're the "better fan" - whatever the fuck that even means - just because you don't have a problem with a song that used to stand on its own two legs being chopped apart and run across your TV screen in 30-second flashes god knows how many times a day. Because I'll goddamned tell you something: you're not.

 

 

Firstly, I don't know what a better fan is. But you raise another good point. Stop being so precious about someone's elses music especially Wilco's. Because they certainly aren't precious about it. Did it bother you when they allowed fans like us the chance to listen it to it months or years before it's official release though a downloaded bit torrent? Were you upset that the "Sunken Treasure" DVD included free downloads of it's songs including "The Thanks"? Was it galling to hear an audio stream of "Sky Blue Sky" two months before it's release? Were you incensed you had the chance to listen to about four different webcasts in the last year? Does it bother you that Wilco play smaller venues, at times, when they could clearly make more money by playing bigger ones? Are you annoyed that the current incarnation of Wilco has six amazing musicians on stage which has to come with added cost? Given all that the band do, couldn't you just choose to change the channel if you might happen to be in the room when the commercial comes on, be slightly miffed but magnimous knowing that there are few bands big or small who treat their fans so well?