Do the Pogues drive subarus? (Music in ads = selling out?)

[DzM]

But Metropolis, with a car snaking around the city? Why hasn't somebody thought of that? Quick, lets form an ad agency & make a million with that one! I've been watching Mad Men, I know what to do...

Sleep with your assistant? And your secretary? And your illustrator? And your business consultant? And your kid's teacher? Or were you thinking more of the scotch, the rye, the vodka, the gin, and the cigarettes? Or all of them?

Whatever. If that's how you're going to run your firm, can I work there?

[Aine]

That question has to make you laugh.

[Low D]

But Metropolis, with a car snaking around the city? Why hasn't somebody thought of that? Quick, lets form an ad agency & make a million with that one! I've been watching Mad Men, I know what to do...

Sleep with your assistant? And your secretary? And your illustrator? And your business consultant? And your kid's teacher? Or were you thinking more of the scotch, the rye, the vodka, the gin, and the cigarettes? Or all of them?

Whatever. If that's how you're going to run your firm, can I work there?

I've always laughed when a secretary returns from "the storage room" with bottles of Canadian Club & cartons of smokes. That looks *nothing* like office storage rooms i'm familiar with (and those are law offices, but even lawyers, notorious lushes that they are, apparently have nothing on the ad men).

[Robustlife]

I just saw the Subaru commercial while watching The Middle. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the Pogues coming out of my TV. The song can be lent well to commercials in a thousand different ways, but a mom carting her kid's hockey team around? I know bands don't usually have control over that sort of thing, I'm just saying whoever Subaru hired to make the ad could've done a better job of pairing music and footage.

"What kind of music do we have?"
"Well, there's this really fast paced number with a banjo, accordion and-"
"Perfect! We'll put it to a mom carpooling her kid's hockey team."

No. NO Look at the lyrics, my friend..."Let me go boys, and later ...It's coming up three boys". The mom is carting 3 boys around. The song is about dying and funerals, but the lyrics about three boys are kind of matching what she carts around in her car. (coming up three is really a reference to a body drowning..but what the hey).

[phro37]

I've always laughed when a secretary returns from "the storage room" with bottles of Canadian Club & cartons of smokes. That looks *nothing* like office storage rooms i'm familiar with (and those are law offices, but even lawyers, notorious lushes that they are, apparently have nothing on the ad men).

i was a sailor. that looks EXACTLY like office storage rooms i'm familiar with!

[Zuzana]

When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors

As of this date, none of their songs has been used in a car commercial...

[philipchevron]

When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors

As of this date, none of their songs has been used in a car commercial...

Actually, I think you may be mistaken about that..................I'll get back to you.

[Clash Cadillac]

When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors

As of this date, none of their songs has been used in a car commercial...

Actually, I think you may be mistaken about that..................I'll get back to you.

Buick wanted to use "Light My Fire" but I don't think it ever happened.

[philipchevron]

When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors

As of this date, none of their songs has been used in a car commercial...

Actually, I think you may be mistaken about that..................I'll get back to you.

"So, in the spirit of the Bob Dylan line, "Money doesn't talk, it swears," we have been manipulated, begged, extorted and bribed to make a pact with the devil. While I was writing this article, Toyota Holland went over the line and did it for us. They took the opening melodic lines of "Light My Fire" to sell their cars. We've called up attorneys in the Netherlands to chase them down, but in the meantime, folks in Amsterdam think we sold out. Jim loved Amsterdam."

John Densemore

Densemore also notes that "Riders on the Storm" was used in a commercial in Europe only but I can't figure out from his narrative whether it was for Rolls Royce or the tyres RR used.

[Zuzana]

Buick wanted to use "Light My Fire" but I don't think it ever happened.

It did not indeed:
"It all started in 1967, when Buick proffered $75,000 to use "Light My Fire" to hawk its new hot little offering--the Opel. As the story goes (...) Ray, Robby and John (that's me) OK'd it, while Jim was out of town. He came back and went nuts. And it wasn't even his song (Robby primarily having penned "LMF")! In retrospect, his calling up Buick and saying that if they aired the ad, he'd smash an Opel on television with a sledgehammer was fantastic!"
(John Densmore in this article)

"So, in the spirit of the Bob Dylan line, "Money doesn't talk, it swears," we have been manipulated, begged, extorted and bribed to make a pact with the devil. While I was writing this article, Toyota Holland went over the line and did it for us. They took the opening melodic lines of "Light My Fire" to sell their cars. We've called up attorneys in the Netherlands to chase them down, but in the meantime, folks in Amsterdam think we sold out. Jim loved Amsterdam."
John Densemore

Hey! If it was done behind their backs, it does not count.

Densemore also notes that "Riders on the Storm" was used in a commercial in Europe only but I can't figure out from his narrative whether it was for Rolls Royce or the tyres RR used.

Actually for Pirelli:
"Densmore relented once. Back in the 1970s, he agreed to let Riders on the Storm be used to sell Pirelli Tires in a TV spot in England. When he saw it he was sick. "I gave every cent to charity. Jim's ghost was in my ear, and I felt terrible. If I needed proof that it was the wrong thing to do, I got it.""
(from this article)

And if I wanted to split hairs, I’d say that tyre commercial is not a car commercial.

Anyway, looks like now the Doors (or at least some of the remaining members) stick to this philosophy and veto every offer for their songs to be used in commercials:
"... playing Robin Hood is fun, but the "bottom line" is that our songs have a higher purpose, like keeping the integrity of their original meaning for our fans. "Many kids have said to me that 'Light My Fire,' for example, was playing when they first made love, or were fighting in Nam, or got high--pivotal moments in their lives." Robby jumped in. "If we're only one of two or three groups who don't do commercials, that will help the value of our songs in the long run. The publishing will suffer a little, but we should be proud of our stance." Then Robby hit a home run. "When I heard from one fan that our songs saved him from committing suicide, I realized, that's it--we can't sell off these songs.""
(from this nice article too)

Attitude you don’t see every day...

[philipchevron]

Very well, I'll concede that the surviving Doors have stayed purist on this point, though I can't help noticing, from your links and other items I came across myself, that they have gotten themselves into such moral convulsions on the matter over the years that you have to wonder what's really been gained. It has eaten up a huge chunk of their emotional lives which seems out of proportion to the issue. And please...."Riders On The Storm" saved my life? Is that life so insignificant that the use of the song in a commercial would not have saved it? I call that precious, not noble, and certainly not a "home run."

[Zuzana]

That does not change the fact stated in the last seconds of the movie: "The Doors were together for 54 months. They've sold over 80 million albums worldwide. They still sell a million albums a year. As of this date, none of their songs has been used in a car commercial..."

[philipchevron]

That does not change the fact stated in the last seconds of the movie: "The Doors were together for 54 months. They've sold over 80 million albums worldwide. They still sell a million albums a year. As of this date, none of their songs has been used in a car commercial..."

Fair play to them. Maybe if I was selling a million albums a year, I could afford to be choosy about commercials too!

[kmurray105]

I, for one, would be happy to see more Pogues songs in commercials. I really don't see the downside for a Pogues fan; you get to hear the music while on a short break from the show you are watching. why over complicate the issue with nonsense about selling out? If one were to be a purist; then every artist sells out just by selling their work in the first place. The doors need to get over themselves.

[James]

I dunno, I don't care enough about the advert issue one way or the other, but I do feel that it's possible for an artist to sell out, that a work could be debased by commerce. I don't think it's nonsense, I think it's a debate worth having.

The Doors are millionaire baby boomers and Jim Morrison was one of the biggest dicks alive, so I think that their opinions don't count for too much. However, as for the man who had his life saved by hearing Riders on the Storm, I do wonder if he'd feel embarrassed to hear it fifteen times a day, if that uncontrolled repetition would make the song mean less. That would be kind of sad.