Comments on: You can have your funky world.

By: ashley

ashley — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 15:29:08 +0000

I don’t mind bands like “Asleep at the Wheel” finally getting a steady cash flow. What pisses me off is that I now permanently associate Led Zeppelin with those skanky angular new Cadillacs. Bleccchhh.

Last night, I was taken aback when I heard Lene Lovich’s “New Toy” in a Target commercial. Punk lives!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 08:24:53 +0000

It’s distressing to hear the sounds of my formative years as commercial backgrounds. Even worse is discovering who is the latest to have sold out: recently I heard Asleep At The Wheel doing “Route 66″ on an Isuzu commercial. (Brother Ray, say it ain’t so!)

I thought it was perhaps unintentionally funny that a band with such a name was used for flogging automobiles.

By: Nance

Nance — Wed, 12 Nov 2003 20:53:05 +0000

On the other hand, Alex, car commercials are the new MTV. I’ve heard more interesting new music in Mitsubishi commercials than I ever heard on the radio or other outlets.

By: Mindy

Mindy — Wed, 12 Nov 2003 20:33:11 +0000

“Sunspot Baby” and “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” are the only Bob Seagram songs that I like to hear more than once a year. That’s Bob “Seagram” because he sounds like he throws back a hefty shot of whiskey just before stepping up to the mike. Hurts my throat to listen to him much.

The Chevy truck commercials always remind me of Click and Clack of NPR’s Car Talk. One of them sang “Like a heap” when the ads first aired.

By: danno

danno — Wed, 12 Nov 2003 20:17:00 +0000

Good for Bob! Not wanting to tour and stay home with the kids. At his age he doesn’t have much time left to do grueling tours, but then again kids are only kids once.

By: ashley

ashley — Wed, 12 Nov 2003 19:45:26 +0000

…and if you haven’t heard “Main Street” in a while, and you want to, just head to your local strip club. I guarantee you won’t have to wait an hour.

Sometimes, they’ll do the “twofer”, and follow it up with “Turn the Page”.

By: alex

alex — Wed, 12 Nov 2003 19:43:25 +0000

“Like a lead balloon” is how GM’s use of pop music oldies goes over with me. Maybe they’re trying to remind people what their products were like in the ’70s, back before styling and quality slipped to an all-time low in the ’80s, forever destroying GM’s good will with of a lot of consumers.

MTV took a fair amount of the fun out of music. When I grew up it held memories of times and places and allowed us our own visual fantasies. Not that Bob Seger boinking in a ‘60 Chevy was ever one of mine. But today a song is more likely to conjure the frenetic video footage that it’s marketed with. And cherished oldies are becoming forever burnished with contemporary commercial imagery.

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 12 Nov 2003 16:32:27 +0000

I think “Against the Wind” must, by law, be used in any film where the protagonist is riding a motorcycle and/or musing about his/her fight with the establishment. Really, I think it’s in the books somewhere, but I could be wrong.

By: deb

deb — Wed, 12 Nov 2003 16:11:04 +0000

to get back to your opening line…I’M so old that i remember “tie a yellow ribbon” wasn’t about a soldier coming home, but about a guy getting out of the joint. there was an interview with telma hopkins, late of tony orlando and dawn, in a recent TV guide. the interviewer asked which came first, the song or the yellow ribbons. when telma explained that the song came first — and that the ribbons were for an ex-con — the interviewer’s response was: “shut up!”

excuse me while i down a shot of ensure.

By: Nance

Nance — Wed, 12 Nov 2003 14:19:14 +0000

What a demographic snapshot! I just went to the iTunes music store in search of the original non-live single of “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.” No dice. “Did you mean Bob Siegel?” the search engine asked. Uh, NO.

Bob Siegel: The Jewish singer-songwriter poet-laureate.

Bob Greene wrote a fairly lame-ass column for the NYT after the Cubs lost, but otherwise he’s been out of sight. I’m sure he’s planning something. Time will tell.