Spare a thought for our brothers and sisters in developing nations. Many are uneducated, unhealthy and vulnerable. The multinationals push into new territories, Vietnam, mainland China, Ethiopia and aggressively promote their carbonated water/ offal burgers/ sweatshop-made sport shoes. Western affluence appeals to people who are starving or living in shantytowns.
If every person in China and India could suddenly afford a car, the natural infrasrtucture would have to accomodate several billion more cars. Any why shouldn't those people have the right to aspire to the kind of indulgent resource-gobbling lifestyle that we enjoy?
The problem is that the band becomes a mouthpeice for a marketing department, helps to disseminate propaganda and can no longer be taken seriously.
During WWII, Walt Disney had Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck march against the Nazis. The characters were brutalised by having to voice a counter-fascist message which in a way made them fascists (or at least fundamentalists) themselves. Personified cartoon animals are appealing to children, who are unwittingly indoctrinated into a political agenda. What's Ronald McDonald saying to the kids?
What are Nesian Mystick really supporting if not cultural fascism and insustainable business practice?
//Does it really matter that much if an Iggy Pop concert is sponsored by Pepsi?
It obviously mattered to Iggy if the quote is accurate
//They aren't forcing you to buy their product, it's your choice.
They invade my conscious thoughts, that's enough to resent them. They are also perpetuating a system that obligates them to produce mountains of landfill and distribute it to the four corners of the globe.
Even though I've been more of a lurker until this weekend, I enjoy the intelligence, humour and wit on display, discussing common interests that people care about. On an anti-war march poster in Auckland someone wrote (for John Howard): 'Skippy the Bush kangaroo'. Fuck it was funny.
you should be able to litigate against insidious pollution of our mental environment
Janet Roddick and Jon Toogood looked uncannily alike at one stage.
Yeah. But they are unique in that they the only have to espouse the song/soundtrack. 'Sun City' is a commercial for the record company and for Artists Against Apartheid. Jeff Buckley's Grace could more properly be described as a snippet of art than a commercial. A relative has directed clips for Zed, Breathe, Shihad, Bic Runga, Stellar and HLAH to varying degrees of success and he was employed by the record companies, but his main concern was doing right by the song. The song is already recorded so the video can only amend or distract from the quality of the composition.
Sure, the artist ultimately decides the application of their work and it might be perfectly in tune with their own sense of propriety that they support a particular campaign. The use of music in a campaign does change the resonance of the music itself though. Try listening to that Beach Boys song without thinking of the 'wouldn't it be nice' chocolate ad imagery. Try listening to Dave Dobbyn's Loyal without thinking of yaucht losers in silver fern TV shirts. Some music is irrepairably ruined forever.
There's another possible discussion to be had about inadvertant irony, like when Microsoft used the Rolling Stones 'Start Me Up' for the Windows '95 launch ("makes a grown man cry") or the bank ads using The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony' (It's a bittersweet symphony this life, you're a slave to the money then you die"). Can't think of NZ examples.
True. I'd feel betrayed if Neil Young did an American Express commercial after having done 'This Note's for Free' because the song inherently states a belief that it would hipocracy to do so. Whereas for Guns n' Roses it's less of a jump. Shihad would have looked silly doing a McDonalds ad having written 'The Happy Meal' because thematically that song is about upsetting the status quo and kicking your TV in.
My main grump is the whole culture of advertising makes coercion and falsehood normal, resulting in suspicion and cynicism, and supports industries that largely disseminate the worst aspects of American culture, deplete natural resources and perpetuate a financial system that enslaves the third world while the privilleged are kept dull and obese.
I suppose it's a personal and primarily emotional reaction, but selling a song to become a soundtrack to a Coca Cola commercial just makes me feel a bit sick. I like(d) the Nesian Mystik song as a casual listener but the association brings negative connotations. Just like Pepsi 'owning' the pepsi chart show or something, it makes the music subserviant to the marketing campaign. Some artists have the conviction to refuse inappropriate endorsements on principle and I respect that.
BTW musical instrument and supplies endorsements are fine.
That's all true - I think one of the Finns said (bad papaphrase) 'if you're not an anarchist in your twenties, you've got no spirit and if you're not a capitalist in your thirties, you've got no sense'
I maintain that the songs I like best aren't designed to have me buy something.
This is a carryover from the Telecom ad thread. Some think this age old debate matters and I'm one of them. It's all about integrity.
Artists who plug Coke or Pepsi betray their art as vacuous at heart and perpetuate the fantasy world the corporation promotes; y'know, it's sunny, hot girls frollick in swim suits, everyone is young and affluent and drinks Coke and loves McDonalds. The reality is uglier - child obesity and malnutrition. Relevant bands who get a platform promote Amnesty International or Greenpeace, something wothwhile.
Truebliss secured Pepsi sponsorship, mimicking the Spice Girls who were little more than walking endorsements. Sure they got rich, but is there musical legacy likely to be remembered?
Iggy Pop played a bill with Jimmy Barnes at Athletic Park in Wellington in 1986 not knowing it was underwritten by Pepsi. During his set, he informed the crowd that 'Pepsi tastes like shit and only faggots drink it.'
We need someone to hold fast to the higher purpose of their art - significant music should be free of the manipulation, coercion and duplicity of advertising companies. 'Suck down corporate sentiment' - My Mind's Sedate.
about corporate sponsorship - I instantly lose all respect for any musician who actively endorses commercial concerns. It's like Shihad singing 'we shall not cop out'! Bill Hicks had a lot to say about this issue - an artist discarding their credibility is irrepairable. Are Foamy Ed still punk if they take 10 grand from the Coca Cola company? No. Do Coca Cola aggressively market non-nutritional carboanted water in developing countries? Yes.
well, Che Fu posted an MP3 file, which can be imported into a pro tools session, but it's probably science fiction
metronomic percussionist of supple finesse wanted to jam and record. Central Auckland. KKFame (09) 307 2252
Pacifier could co-headline a tour with Kiwi Fire - rock n' roll striptease for the ladies..
I'll second that motion. It gets boring rocking out by yourself..
Audioslave: best gig of 2003
Outkast: Peaking right now
A Perfect Circle: Supergroup with subtlety