This was going to start as a musical interlude, but like most events, I took a wrong turn. I was walking along the river, listening to music. Sweating like a stuck pig since it’s hot and humid. As only a summer day in Central Texas can be.
The Romantics were singing “what I like about you,” which, if I recall, and I might have this wrong, they successfully sold as a theme song to some brand of beer. Or cars. Or something of that ilk. Poison cycled up next, a nicer version of the same song, not to be confused with the song remains the same….
So a single hit from 25, almost 30 years ago is now an advertising lick. Bands and musicians need to keep making money, somehow, I’m sure, mining and milking the past for recycled material. Does that mean it’s green? Different meaning for green, I think.
It’s all about selling out. Wonder what the price tag is to convert an old hit to an advertising jingle. I’ll figure that there’s a sliding scale – recognized hit to how tacky the product is, or something like that.
The next song that came up was Freeway Jam, a spiraling work that I thought would be an excellent comparison since it was never featured as an ad. No way it could be a commercialized. Point and counterpoint.
Two Meat Tuesday (the book)
(cure for the common horoscope)
Doesn’t work that way. The reason I have that song on the music list is because the radio in El Paso, the political talk show I was last on? The producer used that as part of the host’s bumper.
That use effectively puts an end to my allusion, my comparison that the song couldn’t be used as a commercial item.