Go Out – NOW – And Buy This Record!

In the comments section a couple of weeks ago, mt58 picked up on a note about the use of popular songs in adverts.

I’m not qualified to write about it from the US perspective. But I can give you the lowdown on some of the great, the good…

and the strange, from this side of the pond.

There’s a wealth of candidates. Here are some of the most memorable offerings of pop culture / capitalism synergy.

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👖 Levis

I could write a whole article just about Levis, who perfected and popularised the use of classic songs to make them hits all over again. I’m intrigued to know whether they used the same approach in the US.

This is a list of all the songs that charted off the back of Levis adverts, with a few highlights picked out. There could be others I’ve missed, and there are other songs used such as Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire that featured but didn’t chart.

👖 Sam Cooke: Wonderful World: – UK #2, 1986
👖 Percy Sledge: When a Man Loves A Woman: – UK #2, 1987
👖 Ben E. King: Stand By Me – UK #1, 1987
👖 Eddie Cochran: C’mon Everybody – UK #14, 1988
👖 Muddy Waters: Mannish Boy – UK #51, 1988
👖 Steve Miller Band: The Joker – UK #1, 1990

👖 The Clash: Should I Stay Or Should I Go – UK #1, 1991
👖 Dinah Washington: Mad About The Boy – UK #41, 1992
👖 Screaming Jay Hawkins: Heartattack and Vine – UK #42, 1993

But after it went down well, a band was created to promote an extended single version. Now complete with growling vocals, courtesy of Ray Wilson – who later replaced Phil Collins in Genesis.

Although it reached the top spot no one was much interested in what Stiltskin did next. The follow up got to #34, the album charted at #17 and they disbanded.

👖 Biosphere: Novelty Waves – UK #51, 1995
👖 Freakpower: Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out – UK #3, 1995
👖 Shaggy: Boombastic – UK #1, 1995

While some were disappointed to discover the reality it still sold over a million copies and sits securely within the UK top 100 selling singles of all time. Frontman Jas Mann was brimming with ego about how they were the greatest band in the world but the world decided otherwise.

Subsequent chart trajectory went; 17 – 32 – 46 – didn’t chart. First single off the 2nd album was All The Money’s Gone. A warning lesson to any aspiring egomaniac rockstar.

👖 Smoke City: Underwater Love – UK #4, 1997
👖 The Lilys: A Nanny In Manhattan – UK #16, 1998

For half the ad, it’s replaced by some easy listening. But the power of the Flat Eric puppet made sure that people had already bought it before they realised how annoying Flatbeat was

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🍬 Wrigleys Gum

All Right Now had peaked at #2 in 1970. But thanks to a stick of gum, it reached a new audience and charted at #8 in 1991. I’d never heard of Free before but soon had a copy of their greatest hits. I didn’t buy any gum.

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🍺 Miller Lite

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🍫 Cadbury’s Chocolate

Though, he did alright for himself, too. Closeup on a gorillas face looking primed, looking intense as In The Air Tonight ratchets up the tension. Waiting for the moment, the anticipation of those drums kicking in.

Watching it, you wonder what the hell is going on the first time you see it. And then we pan out to take in the full scene, the dam bursts, the drums take a pounding and its all worth it.

A #2 hit on release in 1981, it benefitted from the download boom to spend another 13 weeks in the top 40 in the wake of the ad, reaching #14.

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📶 Vodafone

… Ignoring the fact that in 2001: there was no way of charging your phone at a festival. So once you got past the first day, you had to switch it off for the majority of the weekend to preserve the battery.

And go back to the 20th century method of arranging in advance to meet at 6pm by that burger van to the side of the main stage where you got dysentery the year before.

On release in 2000 it had stalled at #42 but heavy rotation in the service of Vodafone gave them a career high #5 hit the following year. 

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🏛️ Halifax Building Society

(But they’re owned by their Members.
Which means, their customers.
Bit like a credit union apparently.

That was dull wasn’t it? Now back to the regular programming….)

The 1980s. When technological advancements meant the future was within our grasp. What did it matter that the banks were closed on a Sunday, your milk had gone off, and you had no money? You could pop down to the new fangled ATM and withdraw actual money, without the need for human interaction. It was so easy. Easy like a Sunday morning. Bet they took the rest of the day off work after coming up with that one.

Easy became Commodores final UK hit, the re-release reaching 15 in 1988, having peaked at #9 eleven years previously.

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🧴 Nivea

I’d actually forgotten this was re-released as a result of its use in an ad. I thought it was connected to the film, though I now realise that came out four years earlier and definitely wasn’t the mainstream box office gold likely to launch Bobby back onto the charts.

Turns out it was for Nivea Skin Cream. Enough time had passed to disconnect it from Lynch-ian weirdness. It might have been completely out of sync with the times, but it gave Bobby a career high #2 hit in 1990.

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👖  Lee Jeans

Wikipedia says JLH was born in 1912 or 1917, whichever, it means at the grand old age of 75, or was it 80, he had a #16 hit. Only 28 years after his one previous chart incursion; Dimples, had got to 23. Whether you abhor artists selling out I reckon John gets a pass, c’mon you can’t begrudge him a top 20 hit in his 70s (or is it 80s?).

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🚗 Dunlop Tyres

File this one under, ‘whoah there, what were they on at the ad agency that day?’ Dunlop tyres are given the full freakscene treatment. I guess tyres are made of rubber, rubber suggests a certain level of kinkiness / deviancy so let’s have a fetish theme and the perfect soundtrack is Venus In Furs. No idea whether it sold any tyres but it looked incredible. And Velvet Underground made the singles chart in the 1990s!

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🥃 Guinness

Guinness had a reputation for iconic advertising long before TV. Slogans such as ‘My Goodness, My Guinness’, ‘Guinness For Strength’ and ‘Guinness Is Good For You’ accompanied on brand, simple but colourful artwork. As the saying goes, those were different times.

There was even one that said ‘Ten To One, Its Guinness Time’. A nation of prospective alcoholics wholeheartedly approved and settled in for an all day drinking session. After all, Guinness is healthy right?

In the 1980s Rutger Haeur starred in a series of often surreal ads uttering gnomic phrases like; ‘Its not easy being a dolphin’.

In the mid 90s, things got more cinematic. Music became an integral element. Songs weren’t just picked because they were classics that everyone remembered. They used old and new tracks that fed into the theme of the advert and were part of the narrative.

Louis’ last top 40 appearance was 1968 when What A Wonderful World topped the chart. But the use of his Bond theme from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service saw this reach #3 in 1994.

…and went one better, peaking at #2. It might have seemed an unlikely hit in the time of peak Britpop. But that’s the power of advertising, right there.

Phat Planet perfectly mirrors the white horses acting as crashing waves. It was never released as a single but it helped the Rhythm and Stealth album to debut at #1.

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🍦Calippo

Then again, I suppose there’s a lot worse things to sell out for. Though, I’ve never been a fan of the Calippo. Maybe Pete Townshend got paid in Calippos to give to the grandkids. I don’t imagine he needed the money. The re-release got to #31 on the back of this Day-Glo monstrosity that was as far from the message of the song as you can get.

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🍟 Heinz Tomato Ketchup

Not sure if the look on mum’s face when she shows up is guilt or adoration.

Complete with closing proverb as if its supposed to have some deeper meaning than just ‘buy our ketchup’.

LBM are a South African acapella vocal choir, they feature on Paul Simon’s Graceland. The songs lyrics are about the coming of Christ but given they’re in Zulu so one watching had any idea there’s no need to worry about appropriating it to hawk ketchup and beans.

Released as a single it got to #33 but the ad had a bigger impact in the albums chart as a Best Of reached #2 and spent 24 weeks in the top 40.

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👖Brutus Jeans

The son of the 3rd Marquess of Zetland had a way with a jingle. The success of the ad led to him recording a full length version and giving him a #3 hit here and #17 in the US.

He had a minor follow up hit but continued working on advertising jingles and moved into films, composing the original score for mid 80s British cult classic Withnail and I.

As for Brutus Jeans, I have no idea what happened to them. Popular in the 70s is all I can find.

Hope you enjoyed this trawl through another area of British popular culture.

Anyone for a US version?

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