Oh man, I had to cut it off somewhere. I was listening to an unlabeled mix CD that I'd made years ago. Sometimes when I make mixes I include a few sound bites, sound effects or commercials. On this particular mix I'd inserted Cream doing a Falstaff commercial. That one always slays me. Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, all three respected musicians, in a band then at the top of their game, doing a commercial for an American beer. And not just any beer. A crappy American beer.
That led to the black hole that is the Sell Out file. There is no shortage of commercials by well known musicians. I kinda get it, but I'd never do it. If it came to that, I'd find another more honest line of work. I'll leave it at that. So here's some oddballs. You'll notice a lot of them come from Motor City Radio Flashbacks (MCRF). There's a bunch more there, both by famous people and company made. What the hell, they'll break up a mix. And some are laughable. The two Levis commercials by Jefferson Airplane almost sound like parodies. But nothing beats Cream crooning "Fal-staffff!"
Listen:
Cream - Falstaff beer mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Rolling Stones - Rice Krispies mp3 at Guterman
Ray Charles - Olympia beer mp3 at MCRF
Frank Sinatra - Michelob beer mp3 at MCRF
Lee Dorsey - Coke mp3 at MCRF
Chuck Berry - Dr Pepper mp3 at MCRF
Otis Redding - Stay In School mp3 at MCRF
The Supremes - Coke mp3 at MCRF
Jefferson Airplane - Levis mp3 at MCRF
Jefferson Airplane - Stretch Levis mp3 at MCRF
Paul Revere and the Raiders - Swingy (Mattel) mp3 at MCRF
Ramones - Miller Steel Reserve mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Video:
Os Mutantes - Shell Oil Company at YouTube
Lou Reed - Honda scooter at YouTube
Iggy Pop - Swiftcover car insurance at YouTube
John Lydon - Country Life Butter at YouTube
Ringo Starr (with three of the Monkees) - Pizza Hut at YouTube
Various artists - i-Tunes at YouTube This is a whopper. In one commercial: Liz Phair, George Clinton, Exene (X), De La Soul, Iggy Pop, Chuck Berry, Lil Kim, Smashmouth, Dwight Yoakum, Amy Mann, Ziggy Marley, Barry White, and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco).
4 comments:
Perhaps the biggest 'sell out' (geddit?) of all was The Who's Vietnam war-era radio ad for the USAF: -
https://ambiancejeune.com/content/1-songs/211-united-states-air-force-psa/air-force-psa.mp3
How the heck did you find that? Now a search is in order to try to figure out what the logic was behind having a Brit do a commercial for US Air Force recruiting! Thanks for pointing it out!
I think I first heard it as a hidden track on the deluxe 'Sell Out'. As to why he did it, well his father was in the R.A.F. so perhaps he was swayed by sentiment.
I knew about the Cream ad for Falstaff. I referred it to the audio librarian at the American Breweriana Association.
Do you know that in the early-1970s, Alice Cooper wrote to Anheuser-Busch stating since they were huge fans of Budweiser, how about sponsoring their next concert tour? That probably would have involved them doing an audio spot.
But Anheuser-Busch was not ready to sponsor rock 'n' rollers yet, so it turned them down.
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