‘TV’ archiveCommercial Madness: Marvin Gaye Puts the Pressure on the US Basketball TeamThis commercial for the United States basketball team is incredible. It features Marvin Gaye’s version of the Star Spangled Banner mixed in with video of the US Team getting ready to reclaim gold in Beijing. Frankly, it doesn’t get any better than this. I bow to you almighty Nike. Unfortunately I could not find an MP3 of Gaye’s performance - if someone has it, please share!
Commercial Madness: Chevy Malibu and Oren LavieIn my opinion, this commercial is kind of creepy. But still, I have to hand it to Chevy and other car companies for spending some serious cash on song selection. This whole Commercial Madness series would be pretty boring without them. Enjoy the peaceful stylings of Oren Lavie’s “Her Morning Elegance” in this commercial for Chevy’s Malibu. MP3:Oren Lavie - “Her Morning Elegance”Commercial Madness: Saturn & Noah and the WhaleThis is actually a special request from a friend. BEHOLD: Noah and the Whale’s “5 Years Time” in a Saturn commercial. MP3:Bay Area Concert Calendar Update
Happy August everybody. We’ve updated our Bay Area Concert Calendar for your viewing pleasure. It’s a relatively quiet month (with the glaring exception of the first annual Outside Lands Festival), but there are some highlights:
Have we forgotten anything? Drop us a line and we’ll be happy to add it. MP3s:Dolly Parton - “Jolene”Prince Paul - “Mr. Large” [f. Chubb Rock & Biz Markie] Ryan Adams - “Rescue Blues” Ice Cube - “It Was a Good Day” Lee Scratch Perry - “Pum Pum” P.S. The Stranger Dance headquarters is relocating to the scenic Nopa neighborhood this weekend, so this will likely be the last post of the week. We’ll be back at full steam by Monday. Enjoy the weekend. Commercial Madness: Nike Football “Leave Nothing”I know, I know. But this Nike commercial is badass and it has that Last of the Mohicans song in it. You know, THAT song. MP3:Randy Edelman & Trevor Jones - PromentoryCommercial Madness: Sir Mix-a-Lot Likes Big BackpacksBackpacks from Target, that is. Can it be? Wait for it… Yup it is. An actual remix of “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot for a 2007 Target ad. (And don’t think I forgot about that Two Sheds rumor. Still couldn’t find it.) MP3:Sir Mix-a-Lot - Baby Got BackWeekend News Mash-up
So, it’s Saturday and the top post on Stranger Dance has the word “Wednesday” displayed prominently in the headline. Somebody’s slippin’! (That would be we four.) So look, here’s another post with a time-bound headline, so when you sign on Monday and see this still sitting at the top, you’ll really know what kind of lazy assholes we all are. … Busy. Busy assholes. Anyway, there was a few interesting things that crossed the music wires this week, the biggest of which being the addition of Jimi Hendrix to Guitar Hero. I don’t know much about that game, beside it being Activision’s evil attempt to take over the world … which I’m fine with. Somebody’s gotta take control of this staggering flame-out we live on. My frame of reference for Guitar Hero pretty much consists of a terrific episode of South Park, so I don’t know how the thing works, but I really hope that when one is playing Jimi Hendrix the game is impossibly hard. Like, people-won’t-play-it-because-it’s-so-hard hard, because Jimi Hendrix was, well, really good and you, I (especially I) or Jack White couldn’t play a third of the Hendrix catalogue. Commercial Madness: Look What the Cat Dragged In
As stated in previous posts, I’ve begin to hunt by artist in an effort to prove that no one is safe from the sellout. NO ONE. I will not rest until my task is complete (or until our capitalist economy crushes under its own weight). Anyways, back in the day, Cat Power was featured in not one, but two commercials: a very uplifting Cingular commercial (ahhhh… cellular love) and an extremely powerful diamond ad in which all us men get the point: she won’t love you until you purchase some ice. Interestingly, both songs are covers. The Cingular commercial features “Hanging on the Telephone,” originally by The Nerves and made famous by Blondie (from Parallel Lines). Cat Steven’s “How Can I Tell You” was the focus of DeBeers’ ad. Commercial Madness: Sony Bravia and Jose Gonzalez
So TV commercial, viral video, what’s the difference? Shot in the streets of San Francisco, this is just a simple yet hypnotic Sony Bravia “short” involving thousands of rubber balls bouncing along to Jose Gonzalez’s cover of The Knife’s “Heartbeats.” Coldplay Solidifies Guilty Pleasure Status on Daily Show
Coldplay’s whole Viva La Vida image is completely obnoxious. I mean those weird soldier boy outfits look like they are channeling a Spanish Jimi Hendrix. And what the fuck is up with Chris Martin’s guitar - did you finger paint that yourself or find it at a gypsy flea market? With the number one album in the WORLD right now, these guys are as commercial as you can get. Viva La Vida is as much of an “artistic” statement as it is a marketing campaign. However, even I will admit that I was a fan back in the day. A part of me really wants them to get back to some good-for-what-it-is rock pop of A Rush of Blood to the Head. They haven’t completely done that with Viva La Vida, but dare I say that this performance shows a glimmer of hope? Sure, it starts out with really cheese lyrics accompanied by piano that makes you want to gag, but hey, what’s that at 1:52 minutes into the performance? Is that my foot tapping? Shit, it is. |
