Last night I was watching TV and a commercial for Hechts department store came on and to my horror the song used for the ad was ‘Always Something There To Remind Me‘ by Naked Eyes. :O They had changed the lyrics of the hook to ‘Always something there to excite me,’ but there was no mistaking the original song.
This isn’t the first time that a company has bastardized a popular song to peddle their products. I remember back in 1987 when Nike used a single version of “Revolution” as part of a $7 million campaign to sell Nike shoes. I remember thinking at the time that it was no big deal. It was a good song, but it wasn’t part of my cultural history, so I didn’t see the harm in it.
This past year or so has been a bit of a different story. More and more commercials are using old “hits” from the 80’s – unbeknownst to me, I seem to have some emotional attachment to some of these songs and as such, groan when I hear them played. So when “Always Something Their To Remind Me” came on I was horrified that they would take a song I listened to a LOT in high school and rip it out of my chest and throw it up on the TV screen to lure women to the mall. The stench of it all just made me cringe. I couldn’t even look at the television. %)
Music has this uncanny ability to bring you back in time to a special moment, or period when a song defined a small piece of your life. Naked Eyes was a band I really liked back when I was coming of age. I danced to their music at the high school dances when we all just showed up without dates because none of us could drive. And I remember playing their album over and over and I dreamed of becoming a rock star when I grew up. 🙂 It was an innocent time, at least compared to now, and hearing that song just brought it all back. Unfortunately, the Hechts commercial bastardized it and as a result soiled a cherished memory if only for a brief second.
Of course there’s nothing I can do about it and like I said earlier, it’s been done before and will no doubt continue. Our culture likes to recycle itself from time to time. That’s why there’s the New Beetle, Ultra Low-Rise Boot-Cut Jeans and the TV show American Dreams. Some people probably feel it’s nothing more than healthy recycling. Others find it to be a regurgitation – it can never be as good as the original. 😉
One man’s trash…
I’d betcha dollars to dougnuts that Naked Eyes sold the rights to their song after being approached. It’s either that or do a revival tour of small town county fairs! 😉
Oh, I’m sure you’re correct, but that’s just throwin’ salt in the wound buddy! 😛
Reason #34 not to set foot in the mall.
What I really hate about this exploitation is the “free ride” they get when I hear the original song and associate it with the bastard company. Same with classical music used for commercial purposes. That music and other intellectual property becomes public domain does not excuse this practice and copyright law shoud be altered to outlaw this practice. When those companies have funds available to “blow” on advertising compain make them spend some more to get an original music written. This would also create more employment opportunities.:-|