Why all the haterade for Chad Smith’s assertion that pop songs in commercials are “dangerous,” “idiotic” and “weird”? For all the reasons you guys mentioned in the comments. Fine with me if the Chilis wanna take the Neil Young approach, but they should know plenty of artists license their tunes ’cause they need the money. Hem — the brilliant Brooklyn folk act — just lent their beautiful “Half Acre” to Liberty Mutual. Good for them. That’s how you reach an audience when radio only plays Yung Joc and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and MTV only plays that show where guys inspect girls’ underwear drawers.
Oh, also he’s a hypocrite. (Thanks Rod!)
It’s funny he would forget that. I thought he was the sober one.
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To be fair, they’re not using a song of theirs as far as I can tell…
great find. I really want to like the chili peppers, but it’s just so hard with all the stupid things they say.
That’s the 1991 equivalent of the Jack White Coke ad. It might be unsettling, but it isn’t taking any of their existing songs and attaching a shrill product endorsement to it.
There are a lot of ways to make money.
the amount that this blog wants to defend “indie” artists using their music in commercials is awkward.
this site exists on the ads, and ads come due to the marketability, popularity, and commercial readiness of the music that is talked about here.
you want to make a living. that’s fine. no need to continue to defend it though. i promise we won’t judge you….too much.
Great find. I think maybe Chad and Flea are both getting to the point where they’re feeling their age and so they think that along with age must come maturity and along with maturity, must come some sort of political standpoint or political outcry. Guess what boys, just because you’re a musician doesn’t mean you have to follow in Bono’s footsteps.
http://www.musictimes.com.au
Bill Hicks had some wise words on this topic… “sucking Satan’s cock” I believe was the particular phrase and it’s as true now as it was then.
You are not a sellout if you are getting paid in sleeveless shirts.
Bill Hicks also said that if you a musician and appear in an advert you should be stricken from the artistic roll call. Gotta love him, man.
Steve,
It’s obviously a sore subject in this community with passions running high on both sides.
I agree Scott’s presumed opinion, though I don’t think he actually stated this, that it’s ok for indie bands to license their songs to commercials.
Particularly today, when an artist’s CD (which was a source of income) is traded freely across the Internet and with touring opportunities hard to come by, licensing music is one of the only avenues for labels and artists to make any money.
As for the Bill Hicks comment, I don’t take a comedian’s word to be gospel. He was a funny and insightful guy but he died in ’94, about 10 years before artists began making $0 on releasing records.
Filesharing has changed the revenue structure in music substantially and, just as any other business model needs to be adjusted and evolved, so does the business of Indie Music.
I wonder, for instance, how quickly Lucky Dragons and States Right Records would turn down an opportunity to license a song to an advertiser.
I sometimes wonder why music (and art) fans are more comfortable when their favorite performers go hungry.
Those folks up at the top are right. Smith’s comments seem to be specifically about allowing companies to use pre-existing songs to sell products, and, in this instance, they didn’t do that. It sounds like the Chili Peppers came up with that little funk jam just for the commercial.
Be that as it may, you can still call him a huge hypocrite (with an even shorter memory, in fact). There’s a very recent NASCAR ad that someone linked to in the comments for the original item, the Chili Peppers are in it, and it uses “Dani California.”
Hey Dick, filesharing isn’t the reason that artists aren’t making any money. Were you born last week? Haven’t you read Steve Albini’s “The Problem With Music” rant from years ago?
It’s here: http://www.negativland.com/albini.html
Fuck off.
How many of us turkeys would have ever heard Nick Drake without VW?
Same with Kings Of Leon. I actually searched them out after hearing a VW ad.
As for huge bands like U2, who knows what’s gonna happen with each record? It could have been a bomb. Doing iPod commercials is simply another piece of the giant promotional puzzle. Planting seeds and getting it out there.
I think all the backlash is because the Chili Peppers suck these days and we have no problem piling on.
What, I don’t get no dap for pointing out they did the commercial in the first place? Curse you , Chili Peppers, you ruined my lunch at Qdoba by making me listen to “Californication” and now you deny me proper attribution.
Tony G,
I was talking about Indie artists specifically, not Major Label artists. I think I made that pretty clear.
Oh and Fuck Off.
Jack white wrote a jingle for a coke commercial produced by his friend Gondry. It aired once in Europe where music, in all forms, is enjoyed (if it is good)… they don’t make ridiculous accusations about selling out. The comparison is ridiculous.
And Who the fuck are you indie fans? Where do you get off taking shots at artist for putting their music out? They are no more selling out than you are in your little fucking cubicle job, fetching coffee and formating TPS reports.
jack, point well taken. WE ARE ALL SELLOUTS!
i dislike the word sellout so much. it has completely lost it’s meaning. it’s as if the only bands that are not sellouts are the ones we and our friends are in that nobody has heard of, and are so good perhaps that we should get recognition, and if any do get that then automatically one becomes a sellout. Based, of course, by which label the music is recorded on, etc…
any band that is signed for over 10 years and soon plays arenas and charges 80 a pop to see them is indeed a sellout. thus, they should keeps their mouths shut and count their money. or else, give it to me. because i now work in a cubicle so i can get out of debt and maintain health care benefits because all this shit is driving me crazy.
i think scott’s point was that chad smith said “I’d feel like a jerk if we did that. But they’re all lining up to do it. I think Black Eyed Peas look like a bunch of idiots. It’s dangerous. The U2 song on the iPod [commercial] when it came out was weird and it was longer and it had more parts.”
if chad hadn’t said anything do you think he would be picking on them for making the commercial? probably not. y’all are crazy!
jack, point well taken. WE ARE ALL SELLOUTS!
i dislike the word sellout so much. it has completely lost it’s meaning. it’s as if the only bands that are not sellouts are the ones we and our friends are in that nobody has heard of, and are so good perhaps that we should get recognition, and if any do get that then automatically one becomes a sellout. Based, of course, by which label the music is recorded on, etc…
any band that is signed for over 10 years and soon plays arenas and charges 180 bucks a pop to see them is indeed a sellout. thus, they should keeps their mouths shut and count their money. or else, give it to me. because i now work in a cubicle so i can get out of debt and maintain health care benefits because all this shit is driving me crazy.
nick drake ? VW
just sayin
he’s not my all time fave, but if you hadn’t really even known about him until you turned on the tv and saw that ghey commercial, well…i’m shutting up now
I’m sorry. That ad is a work of genius. Surely not cool at all, but utterly surreal and rewarding. I could watch that all day. And I will.
the Chili Peppers are blabbering idiots? i’m shocked!
here’s another one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyrLUh6ketE
I love the RHCP. That’s what I call alternative music baby. That, Silverchair, uh AUdioslave. Oooh baby.
Is it worse to sell your music to clear channel or to an investment company….
The point is, Chad is a boorish hypocrite. Nothing more than that!
RHCP’s make good music and have a good time doing it. Maybe they LIKE auto racing, and making a commercial for it is a great way for them to participate and contribute without getting behind the wheel of a car zipping around a track at nearly 200 MPH.
Anyone who says they’re selling out for making a commercial, or that they’re hypocrites (at least, that Chad Smith that is, according to this thread) – do you LOVE your job so much that you would do it for less money? Would you ever be satisfied with your paycheck, and not do anything to earn more money?
LIARS!
I’m not a NASCAR fan at all, but the commercial wasn’t completely lame, and the tune is cool, though not one of my favorites from the album. If you don’t like the commercial, if you don’t like RHCP’s music, and if you don’t like them as individuals – TOUGH! Go make some better music and keep it, and your lame opinions, to yourself.
if you do not like the red hot chilli peppers and your a guy you are not a man and you probably cry yourself to sleep every night
the red hot chilli peppers are the greatest band of the 90′s and if you dislike them you probably listen to bette midler and shakira and wear eyeliner and pee sitting down