Commercial success: stop it.... your killing me!

Commercial success is something that every band, in their heart of hearts, strives for. Mass appeal usually leads to more record sales, which leads to more money at the end of the day. This is a rare thing in the hard rock / metal scene. A million sold is a big deal to in this genre, as opposed to the 11 million, that say, a Lady GaGa can sell. But I am not talking about commercial success in the means of more air play or increase in album sales; I am talking about hearing songs on commercials.

insert cheesy love song here

From what I can remember this all started when "Revolution", by the Beatles was used in a Nike commercial. It caused quite a commotion at the time in regards to royalty rights; leading brands to stay away from such tactics. However there seems to be a resurgence in this marketing program; using popular songs to promote a product. We have all seen the P&G ads for swiffer and their use of popular 80's love songs; they get annoying after a time don't they. I've never had a problem with the use of popular songs in ads, until now. It has gone awry; now I am hearing hard rock and metal songs used; songs that I love. Correction: songs that i once loved. Over and over and over again I hear these songs on TV, and it is making me loathe the fact that I have to hear it again.

Yahoo has successfully killed "Home Sweet Home" (Motley Crue) for me. The Deadliest Catch killed "Dead or Alive" (Bon Jovi), and Cadillac killed "Rock & Roll" (Led Zeppelin) for me. And now before their new album has even dropped ; I have to hear over and over again "The Catalyst" (Linkin Park), promoting the new TLC show Surviving the Cut.

I don't need to be force fed my music. I listen to music over and over again because I love the song; not because I am interested in buying a product. It makes sense for brands to associate popular songs when promoting a product. It gives a sense of comfort that you are familiar with a song associated to the product; hence making you feel comfortable with the brand and it's product. It is, on it's lowest level, a birds of a feather marking plea; the thought: "If brand managers at Cadillac like Led Zeppelin; and I like Led Zeppelin then we must be like minded people". This level of branding often works, but what a cost it comes at to the true fan, like myself.

Somewhere along the line a brand manager came to Motley Crue, and proposed the idea that they should give rights to them for a product. Which makes me wonder; who am I more upset with: Motley Crue or the marketer for approaching them. Bands get money for the royalties used; which goes back to what I first said about commercial success; so I get it. I cant hate them for wanting a tad bit more money in their pocket. As for hating the brand manager / marketer; well that is a little easier. Even if these yahoo's (no pun intended) were fans to begin with, they should have stayed away from it; because they were fans. A true fan will often find themselves not wanting to share their favorite songs with the rest of the world; they want to keep it for their own; a sense of; this song is just for me. It makes us as fans feel closer to our bands. If you don't believe my last statement just ask any die hard Phish fan: would they would feel the same about the band if they reached air wave success? I bet you they would say that it would suck; that their little gem of a band is out in the open for middle aged yuppies to hear and exploit. That is how I feel now when I hear "Home Sweet Home"; exploited!