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Re: Who Are Gateway? (a response)



Hey Kids, hope you're all right:

   In regards to the responses to my saddened, angry, bitter, whatever, rant
on the Gateway ad...

   For those of you who voiced the idea that you'd just as soon listen to
the Who in a commercial than some other music: okay, that's a fair response.
And one good thing it does for me is that it reminds me i should shut off my
fucking tv and turn on the song on the stereo so i can hear the whole thing.
Anything that encourages me to watch less television can't be all bad. (Wow,
there's an unintentional argument in favor of the existence of "Touched by
an Angel"!)

However:

>Is it such a bad thing if The Who's music falls on ears that wouldn't
>otherwise have heard it?  I think not.
>
>- -MB
    Have you EVER heard a song in an advertisement for the first time and
thought, wow, that's cool music, i wish i knew what it was, i'd buy the
album. You may have... i haven't. Even when i am reminded of a song i
haven't heard in years because of an ad, usually i am sick of hearing it by
the time television runs the song into the ground. As far as new listeners
being turned on by Gateway ads with "Who Are You" in them... if that
actually happens, great. But personally i kinda doubt it, and tend to think
it will make more people loathe the song than like it. But i could be wrong.

   After writing this, i received a call from another music-geek pal, Rick,
and we discussed the above paragraph. He laughed and said the first time he
heard "Funk #49" by the James Gang was a beer commercial, and had a hell of
a time tracking it down, but bought it when he finally did. So i guess i'm
wrong on that score, MB. Chalk one up for you. He also made an argument in
favor of people liking a song more after tv beats it into the ground, as he
thinks the majority of people will like anything that is played enough. He
says this is the basis and lifeblood of Pop radio. He's probably right. i
have been told (in this group, no less) that i'm too cynical... if the above
is true, than maybe i'm not cynical enough.

     Pete gave rights to his songs to charity? That just proves once again
what an unbelieveably cool guy the almighty Pete is. But even if he is
keeping royalty checks for this kind of thing: the royalties aren't what you
would expect, by all accounts. And they aren't negotiable. By that i mean
Microsoft using a huge selling song in a zillion ads pays the same rate as a
mom and pop corner shop using a forgotten oldie in an ad. And artists rarely
have a say as to wether or not their song can be used. i'm told that in most
standard record company contracts (okay maybe not Michael Jackson's) all
artist's control over use of songs in advertisements is lost. i think it'd
be cool to hear more artists come out and say, "you know that company that
uses our song in its ads? Well, personally, in our opinions their products
are crap." But you don't hear that very often. My guess is, alot of them
like the exposure, are afraid of pissing off the powers that be that made
them commercially (no pun intended) successful, and/or are greedy bastards
who like the addition to their cash flow. i don't know. Fuck commercial rock.

                  So anyway, thanks for letting me vent my opinion, thanks
for responding, i enjoy these discussions.   

                            peace&anarchy, jeffree

I'll leave you with a great comedy bit you all should hear some time. It's
paraphrased, not exact. 

  "George Michael does Diet Coke commercials. Even Madonna hawked real Coke,
you big puss! Rock stars doing Diet Coke commercials, what kind of
Reagan-wet-dream are we living in? What REAL rock star would do an ad like
that? Imagine... It's Keith Moon for Snickers:"Sometimes i'll be in the
middle of a drum solo and i haven't eaten for like, three fuckin' weeks. I
eat a Snickers!" Or maybe, it's John Bonham for Certs: "Threw up blood in me
sleep last night. And I've got a date with two thirteen year old twins! I
slurp a Certs!" THAT'S a rock star. George Michael is a demon set loose on
this earth to lower the standards. End of fuckin' story."
   -------- Bill Hicks, comedian, 1960-1992 from his album "Dangerous"