[Moshe]

http://pitchfork.com/news/40927-jim-...ks-walmart-ad/

[shabbray2.0]

this is kind of disturbing.
thanks moshe

[greenlight]

ehrmm, I hope they pay him good at least. he deserve it. great track.

[mil_pl]

Saw this yesterday, weirdo.

[Derek]

SEEEEELLLL oUTTTTTTT


BURNNNNNN HIMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!

 

"I'm telling you people, the earth revolves around the SUN."

[Derek]

Walmart is evil I tells ya, EVILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

 

[Derek]

 

DAS IST NOT EIN BOOBIE!!!

[StevOK]

I heard this on tv the other day. I was very surprised and excited. I don't know why people get so upset when cool songs get used in commercials. Wilco got those VW commercials, Grandaddy's "AM 180" was in another car commercial, Os Mutantes was in a McDonald's commercial. I discovered one of my favorite artists (Plone) via a Reese's commercial.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

actually this quite pisses me off! The other day I heard the original Howlin Wolf version of Smokestack Lightnin' on a fucking damned Viagra commercial! What the fuck!

The nerve of these greedy corporations, exploiting a bunch of dudes going through a midlife crises by playing good music from their youth to remind them of a more active sexual time in their lives and guilt them into buying a product they don't need. Hey, newsflash erectile dysfunctional sufferers, stop thinking about work already and let it happen!

I blame Led Zeppelin, who started this trend with that Cadillac commercial years ago, before that TV ads had to use imitation music for commercials, and real artistic music had its integrity in tact. This shit embarrasses me as a musician.

I would be offended if someone wanted to use my art to further crass commercialism! I can understand as a musician creating pointless licks and riffs for commercials, just for the paycheck, but to take an artists serious song, a real artistic creation, and debase it into such boring commercialism, well shit isn't this why we had a pop-art/post-modernist movement in the first place?

Lord Have His Mercy,
I like Jim, I miss his personal contributions to SY, but this shit is ridiculous, and truly I feel sorry for him now

[ann ashtray]

This would have annoyed me a bit a few years ago.

Lydon sells butter
Pistols sell cologne
Iggy sells insurance + cruises
Ramones have sold all sorts of shit ranging from pasta sauce to levi's
Stones
Zeppelin


Nothing is sacred anymore.

(+ @ suchfriends....I noticed that Howlin' Wolf track, too).

[RanaldoNecro]

The track doesn't have any signature points which is good. It actually reminds me of the Blackberry Ads.

I know this topic is done to death but I actually think people should be aware. Why we expect someone to be above ourselves is beyond me but yet when it happens its shit.

Originally Posted by ann ashtray

This would have annoyed me a bit a few years ago.

Lydon sells butter
Pistols sell cologne
Iggy sells insurance + cruises
Ramones have sold all sorts of shit ranging from pasta sauce to levi's
Stones
Zeppelin


Nothing is sacred anymore.

(+ @ suchfriends....I noticed that Howlin' Wolf track, too).

[atsonicpark]

I work at Wal-Mart. It's just a job. I don't shop there. I do find it strange that no Jim O'Rourke albums are even sold there, though. Either way - -they pay really well, great benefits, I always can take time off, and I don't have a lot of responsibility. The whole controversy of Wal-Mart always amuses me; while I'm not personally a fan of their store so much, I think they definitely do as much good for the economy as they do bad for it.

Regardless... Great song, I'd rather hear good music on ads if I'm going to watch them, and I'm glad since O'Rourke probably made a lot of money (anyone remember that car ad a few years ago with that Fall song on it?).

[kinn]

you should all stop torturing yourself with the misguided narcissism of somehow being able to be "outside" the system or that being a worthwhile endeavour to pursue. post modernist art is the absolute impotence that feeds it in the first place, but even abstaining from this would not "bring it down" or whatever shit. and noone is ever going to want to use your music for an add, and it would mean fucking nothing to refuse this anyway. and you will never be in a position were you can afford to refuse. and noone will write your biography.

your personality is already commodified before it is even installed in you. do you really think you have some sort of original mental property inside yourself that you can hold onto forever with a permanently in place sense of self? there is nothing deep inside humanity that is somehow too "pure" for commercialism. and don't pretend you wanted to saying anything "real" or "important" anyway, you just wanted to get away with a pose and keep all the privileges the "system" offers you.

if anything you could say this stupid attitude is the very thing the system USES to manufacture the false illusions of agency amongst its slaves.

god's not there anymore, and you can only pretend there's someone who needed to hear what you copied from someone else...

...i know its so hard to face up to how trapped you are... and god's not even there anymore... i know... ssshhh... it's ok... paypal me some money... sshhhh... yes... you have a little cry if you feel like it... i'll pm you the details for your donation..

of course the way to true art/purity and the answer to your shitty little life and the one album song pose style and feeling that will make it all finally make sense forever can be discovered by you right here and now! and i do mean THE one. just paypal me £15.99 and i'll send you the link to my new album.

[Derek]

If O'Rourke is making money from it then it's not bothersome. The fact that there's money to be made from these songs so much after the original product was released is great and I'm glad he's getting some financial recognition for his art.

[ann ashtray]

Originally Posted by Derek

If O'Rourke is making money from it then it's not bothersome. The fact that there's money to be made from these songs so much after the original product was released is great and I'm glad he's getting some financial recognition for his art.

Thumbs up!

[faggot mangler]

I just saw this the other day. Funny, I don't have TV and we were watching something from a DVR and forgot to fastforward. Such a small window for me to see a commercial and this was the one! I was like... WAIT!!! Jim O'Rourke????!?! Whoa...

I think it's OK, it was surprising. Japan is expensive. Good for him!

[GeneticKiss]

SuchFriends: There were commericals with artists' songs before the Cadillac commericals with Led Zeppelin's "Rock 'n' Roll". I remember a Nissan commerical with the Smiths' "How Soon is Now?" and before the Blue Man Group became the spokesmen for Intel, Pentium II (wow, I'm old) commericals with Blur's "Song 2" and the Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster". If you want to blame anyone, blame Pete Townsend for letting them use the Who's "Bargain" in a Toyotathon ad (I think).

The nice thing about money is it can be used for pretty much any purpose. Something some of you "art can put food on the table if we try hard enough" types can use to help yourselves feel better is the idea that maybe Jim donated the money he got from this to anti-Walmart groups...

[SonicBebs]

a man's gotta eat

[faggot mangler]

Maybe he finally just wanted something he could show his mom. A commercial would be a lot cooler than a limited edition noise LP.

[atsonicpark]

Plenty of great musicians have scored products that are less-than-desireable to most of their fanbases -- hell, Sonic Youth did that Starbucks thing that deeply offended certain people, apparently -- but I truly think it's the coolest thing in the world that O'Rourke can lend a song to a Wal-Mart ad, win a Grammy for production, and then do that limited edition noise LP afterwards (kinda reminds me of my hero Giuseppe Andrews, who made some of the most fucked up films and music ever, but has been in Independance Day, American History X, etc)... Ultimately, he's doing what he loves in life, and he's making a living at it, and that's kinda the American dream... plus, the idea of "selling out" and all that garbage, that indie elitist mentality, has always been kinda silly... I'd rather a musician I like make a LOT of money and continue putting out albums, than some Vampire Weekend shitfest cliche churning out another friendly pop song... good music should be everywhere. Kudos to whoever at Wal-Mart is a Jim O'Rourke fan and put in the motion to get this ad produced.

...But again, I must reiterate the question I asked earlier, something I do genuinely find strange: does wal-mart even sell O'Rourke albums?! Who knows -- maybe they'll start now?! I do know that I did buy Murray Street there when it came out many years ago; it was like $9 brand new. Plus, they have Yankee Hotel Foxtrot there last I checked... so there's definitely albums with O'Rourke on them in some capacity.