Don't want no cash
Don't need no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.
Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you.
Ain't singin' for Miller
Don't sing for Bud
I won't sing for politicians
Ain't singin' for Spuds
This note's for you.
Don't need no cash
Don't want no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.
Don't need no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.
Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you.
Ain't singin' for Miller
Don't sing for Bud
I won't sing for politicians
Ain't singin' for Spuds
This note's for you.
Don't need no cash
Don't want no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.
Neil Young - This Note's For You
So by now everyone's heard that damned John Mellencamp song and seen the fucking commercial at least once. And if you watch football, you probaly see it at least ten times per game. If you haven't seen it or for some reason want to torture yourself, here it is again:
I have several problems with this commercial.
1) The Complete Selling Out of John Mellencamp
I like Mellencamp, I really do. Has a lot of really good, hard-hitting socially conscious songs. In the 80s, him and Springsteen wrote songs for the common man and helped to keep rock and roll alive in a landscape that was increasingly being taken over the hedonism of disco and the stage theatrics of hair metal. You gotta give the man some respect for that. He jsut made some real good songs. But now he's selling his soul to a corporaton to make a few bucks? That's bullshit and a slap in the face of every one of his fans. Have some integrity man. I'm sure you can't possibly need money that badly. And sure, many artists have had their music used in commercials, (The Who in all those Nissan commercials, AC/DC for Black and Decker, U2 doing IPOD, and The Clash in Jaguar commercials) but Mellencamp is the first big time rocker I can think of that is directly marketing a new release with a nationally televised commercial created solely to be played over a song of that new album. The man who used to speak up for farmers and the little man is now using the very corporations that stifle the common man, for whom he purportedly speaks, to sell his wares. What a sham. No, he's not the first artist to sell-out, (anyone remember what Metallica or No Doubt used to sound like?) nor will he be the last, but it's the way the ad is done that irks me. Which brings us to point number two...
2) The Perversive Nature of the Commercial
The entire point of the Chevy commercial is, bluntly put, to tell you that if you're a real American you will buy a Chevy product. This is done by playing Mellencamp's ode-to-America against various images of our country. This is where I am insulted. A picture is shown of Martin Luther King, Jr. Seriously, what does a civil rights leader have to do with selling a car? King's surviving relatives should be angry that his image is being used by Chevy of all people. Another scene in the commercial shows the flooded destruction caused by hurricane Katrina. Using the images of a natural disaster that killed thousands and affected thousands more is a despicable act. Hopefully this advertising campaign fails miseraby. Chevy intends to feed on the base patriotism of Americans to sell cars. Maybe if they concentrated more on making better vehicles and less on not-so-subtle manipulation, Chevy sales would go up. In the meantime, I'm gonna go drive my Corolla while I blast some good old British rock and roll. Maybe some Zeppelin. Oh wait, that just wouldn't feel right if I wasn't in a Cadillac...
So by now everyone's heard that damned John Mellencamp song and seen the fucking commercial at least once. And if you watch football, you probaly see it at least ten times per game. If you haven't seen it or for some reason want to torture yourself, here it is again:
I have several problems with this commercial.
1) The Complete Selling Out of John Mellencamp
I like Mellencamp, I really do. Has a lot of really good, hard-hitting socially conscious songs. In the 80s, him and Springsteen wrote songs for the common man and helped to keep rock and roll alive in a landscape that was increasingly being taken over the hedonism of disco and the stage theatrics of hair metal. You gotta give the man some respect for that. He jsut made some real good songs. But now he's selling his soul to a corporaton to make a few bucks? That's bullshit and a slap in the face of every one of his fans. Have some integrity man. I'm sure you can't possibly need money that badly. And sure, many artists have had their music used in commercials, (The Who in all those Nissan commercials, AC/DC for Black and Decker, U2 doing IPOD, and The Clash in Jaguar commercials) but Mellencamp is the first big time rocker I can think of that is directly marketing a new release with a nationally televised commercial created solely to be played over a song of that new album. The man who used to speak up for farmers and the little man is now using the very corporations that stifle the common man, for whom he purportedly speaks, to sell his wares. What a sham. No, he's not the first artist to sell-out, (anyone remember what Metallica or No Doubt used to sound like?) nor will he be the last, but it's the way the ad is done that irks me. Which brings us to point number two...
2) The Perversive Nature of the Commercial
The entire point of the Chevy commercial is, bluntly put, to tell you that if you're a real American you will buy a Chevy product. This is done by playing Mellencamp's ode-to-America against various images of our country. This is where I am insulted. A picture is shown of Martin Luther King, Jr. Seriously, what does a civil rights leader have to do with selling a car? King's surviving relatives should be angry that his image is being used by Chevy of all people. Another scene in the commercial shows the flooded destruction caused by hurricane Katrina. Using the images of a natural disaster that killed thousands and affected thousands more is a despicable act. Hopefully this advertising campaign fails miseraby. Chevy intends to feed on the base patriotism of Americans to sell cars. Maybe if they concentrated more on making better vehicles and less on not-so-subtle manipulation, Chevy sales would go up. In the meantime, I'm gonna go drive my Corolla while I blast some good old British rock and roll. Maybe some Zeppelin. Oh wait, that just wouldn't feel right if I wasn't in a Cadillac...
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