As a follow up to yesterday's post, I'd like to draw your attention to this jolly individual, the gaudily-dressed wielder of the Disintegrator GloveTM and Dr. Ojo's partner in terror:
He's crumbelievable!
While I do tend to feel a little depressed whenever I discover that a cherished piece of pop music has been repurposed as an advertising jingle, I couldn't help but laugh at the shrill, hyperbolic tone of this 2005 piece lamenting the use of a cheesy pop product to sell a cheesy food product.
Despite sounding like a lobotomized Carter USM track, EMF's "Unbelievable" is a perfectly fine bit of pop fluff, with the requisite levels of blood-pumping danceability expected in a proper "party music" track. I certainly wouldn't classify it as some kind of Gen X anthem, though, or use the commerical version as a vessel onto which to project my anxieties about getting older. This...
Work like this takes songs some of us remember from when we were single, broke and idealistic, ruins the songs, and points out that many of us now live in the suburbs, sold out to corporate America, and buy Swiffers and Kraft Cheese Crumbles....reflects more upon the insecurities and psychology of the writer than it does upon the intrusiveness of advertising in popular culture. (I can't be the only one who appreciates the irony of the Suicide Girls comment quoted at the end of the piece. Self-awareness, wha'?)
In those days when I considered writing as a craft and a potential career, I got involved in a disagreement with one of my peers, a fellow with a habit of counting his chickens before the eggs were laid, over the concepts of artistic integrity and selling out. He trotted out all the usual anecdotes about maintaining purity of vision, blah, blah, blah, and the predatory nature of entertainment biz. While I agreed that I'd never sacrifice a favored child on Mammon's altar, I also made it clear that I'd have no problem accepting a fat check for any and all of my minor pieces, even if I knew they'd be transformed from political satire into shallow RomCom pap in the hands of the purchasers.
The Clash's cover of "Pressure Drop" used to sell sport utility vehicles? Irritating.
Modern English's "I Melt With You" used in a fast food commercial? Nauseating.
The femvox cover of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" used to pimp Big Pharma's latest chemical cocktail designed to fuck with natural hormonal bodily processes? Unconscionable.
EMF's "Unbelievable" reworked as a processed cheese jingle? A definite step up, considering that the song had already been incorporated into the "jock jams" repertoire, not to mention being prominently featured in Coyote Ugly.
While it's only natural to feel disgust and disappointment at the insidious nature of the marketing beast, it's important to remember that one's personal relationship to a song can only be ruined if one allows it to happen. A negative response is still a response, after all.
...and when all else fails, turn to Sir Tom for guidance and comfort.
Tom Jones - Unbelievable (Live) (from the "Burning Down the House" CD single, 1999) - 100% Diceman-free, for the benefit of the asshole-intolerant.
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