So there I was, watching baseball when a commercial for Wendy’s “New! Flaming Hot Caliente Super Burning Chicken Sandwich of DOOOOOOOOM!” comes on. Guess what the soundtrack was. Go on, guess.
Nope. It was “Blister In The Sun” by The Violent Femmes. They didn’t use any of the lyrics, of course, it was just the repeating guitar and drum (duh-duh, duh-duh) bit. But still, your chicken sandwich should taste great when you’re staining the sheets and your girlfriend is at the end and starting to cry. Um, what the fuck?
So today’s “fuck you, scumbag marketing person who is roughly my age and feels the need to disembowl the meaning from the songs of our shared youth” award goes to whoever the fuck decided to use this song in a fast food commercial.
For the record, I never really like the Femmes all that much, so this is less personal than other events. But it’s still galling.
(Curtis)Stan | 05-Apr-07 at 11:55 pm | Permalink
You know, I always thought “Blister in the Sun” was one of the biggest crappy-song-makes-good heists ever foisted on the American music-listening public. So it seems only fair that the song is now being used to market crappy food.
yongi | 06-Apr-07 at 11:06 am | Permalink
Oh, it’s certainly not the best song ever. But it doesn’t deserve to be boat-anchored to fast food. I mean, good or bad, the song is tied to a lot of people’s memories. It’s certainly not the same as “Revolution” being used for Nike, I’ll admit. But still.
flygrrl | 10-Apr-07 at 7:30 am | Permalink
Shouldn’t you save some of your ire for the musicians who allow their songs to be used this way? Licensing for commercial use is voluntary, although copyright law in this country is complex enough that sometimes one use opens up the floodgates for other uses the musician doesn’t have to approve (like if you let one person re-record a song you own, anyone else can then do a cover without explicit permission). I’m not 100% clear on the intricacies of commercial licensing, but somewhere in there is a washed-up (or not) musician looking to cash in a little.
yongi | 10-Apr-07 at 11:18 am | Permalink
You do have a point, flygrrl, but:
(a) In some cases the artists don’t own the rights to their songs anymore, so they’re not the ones whoring out the song. See: Beatles, Revolution, Nike. A look at The Harry Fox Agency’s public search can sometimes unearth who owns the rights at this point. If they fail, Clearance.com seems to be a good bet.
(b) Even if the artist is doing the whoring – which Clearance.com suggests may be the case with Blister – I’m a hypocrite who will always blame the marketing wonks before I ever think about harshing on the artists. Say it with me, now: “Artists are pure beings of eternal light who would never sell their divinely inspired works for filthy lucre.”
Sarcasm aside, I really do think that the majority of the blame lies with the more soul-less members of my generation who are seeking out these songs. Even if Gordon Gano freely threw his legs up in the air for a chicken sandwich I don’t think he was out on the corner begging for the chance. Someone had to walk up to him and make the offer. And I’ve got a dollar that says the someone in question was a white, mid-30s former “punk” with 2.3 kids, an SUV, a dog and a McMasion in the suburbs. The only call I won’t make is the gender of the weasel in question. With the Femmes it really could go either way.