« * "raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice...." | Main | * an Obama addendum.... »

* "starin' thru the windshield, seein' the other side...."

I think I just figured out a way to sum up how I feel about the use of songs in TV commercials, which is a subject I've touched upon a few times in this space. This little epiphany came to me when dropping a line to my longtime friend Pete Droge after hearing his recent song "Going Whichever Way The Wind Blows" in an automobile ad a couple times this week.

It's a nice fit: The ad shows folks camping out at night in the desert, Droge's song sounding a bit like the soundtrack to the starry sky floating above them. I sent Pete a quick note saying I'd seen it, then thought maybe I should've also mentioned half-jokingly that I couldn't even remember what car it was for, but that it didn't really matter because I just consider the spot to be an ad for the song, rather than the other way around.

And that's it, in a nutshell. If, as an artist, you can justify the footage accompanying your ad as making a reasonable connection with the song's spirit, then it works for everyone involved.

Thus my positive reaction to Droge's song in the car ad. And to Hem's songs in recent Liberty Mutual commercials, which feature sequential shots of people lending a helping hand to each other on the street, one act of kindness following another. And it's why the car ad that used Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" a few years ago remains the best marriage of song and commercial ever -- because that spot captured Drake's vibe so well, it practically could have been an actual video for the song.

By contrast, it's why John Mellencamp's "This Is Our Country" for trucks is a failure -- because nothing about the song connects with behemoth pickups tramping around the landscape. And it's why the Weepies' "Stars" fails as a spot for a cable movie channel, because the song has absolutely nothing to do with movie stars.

Ultimately, it matters very little what the product is; any company that can afford to produce major TV commercials is almost certain to be a gigantic entity that has both positive and negative aspects to its corporate philosophy. Forget the product, though, and flip it around -- if the visual element works as an ad for the song, then it's not just good pocketbook, it's also respectable art.

adios,
peter

** A quick update to this entry: I noticed I'd embedded videos on the three entries that followed this one, so it seems fitting to also post the video I refer to above. Here it is, if you're interested:

Posted by peter on January 24, 2008 8:49 AM | Permalink