Meeting Commercialism Halfway.
Well this weekend we saw yet another one of my favorite bands fall victim to the clutches of music licensing. This time up we have Grandaddy, which I really appreciate everything they do, but never in my life would expect them to appear in a commercial (I have to stop having such expectations). As I was watching some football game (Go Bears!) this weekend, I hear Jason Lytle’s voice, and as usual my ears perk up upon unexpectedly hearing something familiar, especially in the midst of the testosterone fueled programming. I immediately switch my mind into “what the F@#K?!” mode, but then I see that it’s a new commercial for the new Civic Hybrid, and I sort of pull back a little. It kind of makes sense, Grandaddy, which are mostly known for their eco-friendly, anti-cold-impersonal-technology stance, matched with an eco-friendly automobile. I couldn’t catch which song was being co-opted for the campaign; I believe it was something new, so instead I have included my favorite Grandaddy song ever at the bottom.
Just last week I was pissed off with Stevie Malkmus for whoring his song “Phantasies” to sell dryers or something, following that post I was going to take a stance firmly against music licensing, but then we have situations like this Grandaddy one and I will give it a pass. There is by far too much of a gray area to just outright say it shouldn’t be done. Although I really can’t think of another band that matches up with a product as well as Grandaddy with hybrid cars. Anyone else know of any? Also do you think it’s possible for a band to rise above the level of our silly little internet-blogger-music-snobbery-scene without selling their music to some corporation? Modest Mouse did it for a Mazda Commercial, Shins for McDonald’s, The Walkmen for Saturn, M83 for Pontiac almost every marginally successful “indie” band has sold their music to someone, even My Morning Jacket submitted a song to Aspen Low Carb beer. Has the entry level for commercial radio gotten so high, that the only way to see if your music is “commercial radio” commercially viable, is to prove its “Commercial” commercially viable first?