sex pistols now selling high end cars, it's over. we are fucked beyond all recognition.

[whereisjustice]

I guess now that any chance of social justice and equality is completely impossible in American society, music that previously threatened authority is hip.

Sort of how it's hip to say you like MLK, but in the very next breath complain about rude protestors in Ferguson, MO while demanding anyone from Africa spend 21 days under house arrest in a tent.

[Archae]

1. Errr...what?

I have no idea what you are referring to.

As to "selling out," I lost it when a credit card used "Tuesday Afternoon" by the Moody Blues.

And Iggy Pop was used to sell a cruise line.

[whereisjustice]

5. Here you go

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sex+pistols+high+end+car#

Neither Moody Blues nor Iggy Pop lashed out at the core of our conservative establishment like the sex pistols.

Using sex pistols to sell $50,000 cars is like putting a leash around dissent and marching it around for your rich friends to make fun of.

[davekriss]

52. I agree

It's pretty horrible.

[zonkers]

61. you outraged purists are hysterical.

[bemildred]

75. Hey, they are re-branding. nt

[Retrograde]

13. For me it was using the Pogues in a car commercial

can't remember which car it was, though.

The Iggy Pop one was surreal.

[Recursion]

16. "If I should fall from grace with God" for the Isuzu Trooper

I have had a number of times where I listen to whatever song is being used to sell whatever product and suddenly realize, "they know that song is about heroin, right?"

My favorite, though, was "Blister in the Sun" being used to promote HP laptops. And, let's be honest, a song about masturbation is probably the most accurate promotion for laptops there is...

[Retrograde]

45. That's a new one on me

I was thinking of using Sunny Side of the Street for the now forgotten car

[Recursion]

54. Oh, I missed that one. If I should fall from grace with God was like 3 or 4 years ago (nt)

[Jamastiene]

57. Yes, Blister in the Sun is perfect for laptops.

[sgtbenobo]

33. I'll hang up my spurs if this song ever gets pimped.

Carry on.

[Initech]

2. Bill Hicks must be rolling over in his grave.

Just planting seeds.

[whereisjustice]

15. great clip, thanks

[NightWatcher]

18. Sucking Satan's pecker....

I was just listening to his Shock and Awful cd today.

[lame54]

91. Kill yourself - ha ha ha - i'm not kidding

[MannyGoldstein]

3. The Sex Pistols were a fabricated group.

Put together by the bosses to sell records.

Now if the remaining members of The Clash sold high-end stuff...

[Eleanors38]

6. More like pre-fabricated.

[bullwinkle428]

8. You mean like a "boy band"? I am so naive.

[Recursion]

12. Roughly. It was literally started by a clothing store to promote their retro look

Last edited Tue Nov 4, 2014, 12:03 AM - Edit history (1)

Don Letts of the Acme Attractions clothing store (who moonlighted as a music producer with McLaren, their eventual manager) saw there was potential in the NYC punk scene (New York Dolls, VU, etc.) so he signed the best looking member of each of four garage bands who kept coming to him looking to get signed. They set up a "Teddy Boy" (Edwardian retro -- amazing that was a thing) look and then quickly switched to a James Dean/Brando 50's look. None of them were particularly good at their instruments so he had session musicians "back them up" (*cough cough*) in the studio recordings.

[mr blur]

84. Sorry, but that's complete nonsense. (nt)

[Recursion]

85. Um.. no

Last edited Tue Nov 4, 2014, 03:29 PM - Edit history (1)

I stand by all those statements. Please let me know which ones you disagree with

[whereisjustice]

11. pressure drop was used in nissan car commercial and stay/go used in some

commercials, i found one jeans commercial, but i'm sure there were more.


God save the queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
Potential H-bomb

God save the queen
She ain't no human being
There is no future
In England's dreaming

Don't be told what you want
Don't be told what you need
There's no future, no future,
No future for you

God save the queen
We mean it man
We love our queen
God saves

God save the queen
'Cause tourists are money
And our figurehead
Is not what she seems

Oh God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh Lord God have mercy
All crimes are paid

When there's no future
How can there be sin
We're the flowers in the dustbin
We're the poison in your human machine
We're the future, your future

God save the queen
We mean it man
We love our queen
God saves

God save the queen
We mean it man
And there is no future
In England's dreaming

No future, no future,
No future for you
No future, no future,
No future for me


No future, no future,
No future for you
No future, no future
For you

This lyrical and dystopian nugget brought to you by Acura Luxury Sedans.

Maybe Pussy Riot can sell Lexus?

[MannyGoldstein]

20. I hope there's a good explanation.

'cos it's a little depressing.

[Recursion]

22. By my count about 25% of songs in commercials were originally about heroin

But, you know, they have that one line or whatever (something about "freedom" or "flying" or "let me go" or whatever).

(Don't get me started on the first line of "Fortunate Son" appearing in every Chevy truck commercial...)

[MannyGoldstein]

26. It's sad when artistic statement becomes a commodity. nt

[Recursion]

27. OTOH I've made music for local commercials and it's nice to get paid

It's also really weird to hear yourself on a local TV station at 2am.

But music for commercials is one of the ways musicians make a living, and I don't think it's fair to say they shouldn't do that.

[MannyGoldstein]

42. When it's being written for the purpose of being a commercial...

I was about to say it's different, but I guess it's kinda not. Most great music was probably written to sell - whether it's albums or other stuff.

On the other hand, I'd expect that sometimes an artist is trying to say something, and adds the "makes it sell" stuff as a means to make the message pleasing - like a writer uses her bag of tricks to get the reader through the book.

So confusing. I need a beer.

Would it be too forward of me to ask what commercials you've written for? If you'd prefer to keep it private, I understand.

[Recursion]

53. Some Mississippi mulch company. Ackers? Ackerman? Something like that. This was 20 years ago

And he gave me $100 cash, which to an 18 year old in 1994 was more money than I had ever seen at one time before (yeah, should have held out for residuals...) We did 4 takes of a song I was working on and they used parts as the background when the homeowner, now happily using the advertised product rather than the inferior mulch he had been dealing with before, is watching his flowers grow at an absurd speed. (It was an old-timey/hillbilly song, kind of up-tempo, to give you an idea of the feel -- imagine Grand Ole Opry music with comically fast-growing flowers.)

Much later a couple of electronic tracks I mixed and sold to an A&R for an ad agency got used for IIRC Sunbeam bread, some vacuum cleaner or vacuum cleaner attachment I don't remember, and the Coast Guard Reserve, of all things (still no residuals, but they did let me know when stuff got used). But those weren't even "songs" really; those were just ambiant tracks specifically made to sell for ads or muzac. And just after that I worked at a video production company and occasionally did some jingles that wound up who know's where -- but composing on salary is much, much different from a business perspective, since that music belongs to the company at the moment I write it.

On the other hand, I'd expect that sometimes an artist is trying to say something, and adds the "makes it sell" stuff as a means to make the message pleasing - like a writer uses her bag of tricks to get the reader through the book.

Well, as an artist you want to make "important" works, but paying the bills ends up taking up a lot of your time (obviously when you're in superstar land that's a different thing, though they find a way to burn through money pretty quickly -- see the comments about heroin upthread...) I got so sick of it I migrated to managing servers, though I still compose and play in my spare time (waiting for that big break). The vast majority of working musicians at any given time are kind of just anonymously doing so to get paid (writing jingles, playing covers in bars, busking, etc.) and I don't think people should look down on that.

I compare it to my current job as a sysadmin: yes, I'd like to develop the next Linux kernel or Apache webserver, but the fact is that somebody needs to rotate the backup tapes, and since someone's willing to pay me to do that, I'll take it...

It's kind of a dilemma for any creator, though, isn't it: is your duty to make "what's in your heart" or "what people like"? Fortunately there's usually some common ground between the two (and the two shape each other), but I think an artist (especially a "working" artist) does have some responsibility to listen to what people want. But then you wind up with Thomas Kincaid...

[MannyGoldstein]

68. I hear you.

I make part of my living from writing, but not from the stuff I'd love to write (which would be the nonsense I spray across DU).

Sigh.

Low risk, low reward.

[Jamastiene]

59. Don't you know?

Musicians are supposed to play for free and feed ourselves on our ideals alone....magically. I think people don't realize musicians have rent to pay and families to support and yes, to eat actual food and not fight the roaches in whatever dive we are playing for the cobwebs and potato chip pieces for dinner.

I get what you mean. Bills don't get paid by ideals and wishes. I've never understood the "they are selling out" mentality.

Also, a lot of the artists from back then signed their rights to decide these types of things away when they "got signed" and did not know it until later. Blondie is one group that had that problem. Lots of groups back then and earlier had that problem. Many bands had one hit and ended up owing the record company for ages. Most people don't realize that. You can make a record company millions of dollars and still owe them for the advance, that went to pay producers, promotions, etc. You can break even on the second #1 hit you have. Until then, you owe the record company whatever they say you owe them. Period.

I'm glad the digital age and self publishing is available now. I'm glad bands can handle themselves and play locally and at least break even. Maybe do some work for a video game maker or something and get some much needed bill paying worked on at least. I'd rather give music away than make some fat cat millions and owe them money.

[AngryAmish]

96. Lust For Life for a cruise line.

[whereisjustice]

23. lol, yep, but who knows who owns those songs at this point...

[Recursion]

30. McLaren's heirs still own the copyright

He and Johnny Rotten had an incredibly messy court battle that stretched on for years over that.

[MannyGoldstein]

47. Johnny Rotten shoulda got Afrika Bambaataa to kick

McLaren's scrawny ass.

God, I love that song. Perfect for this night.

[Recursion]

24. Honda used "Inside Still Beats" by Ellem, a song about being medicated for severe depression

You may remember; a bunch of horns and a woman singing "I'm one, two, three times all into you, inside my heart it still beats"

They stopped at six, and didn't continue to "I'm fourteen, I'm fifteen, pumped full of desipramine"

[MannyGoldstein]

38. Yikes. nt

[Recursion]

14. Not records; clothes. (Yes, really)

McLaren worked at a clothing store and wanted to promote the 1910's and 1950's retro clothes they were selling, so he assembled the band.

[BeyondGeography]

35. That sums it up perfectly

If he were still alive, Malcolm McLaren would find the OP lol funny.

[lame54]

92. the clash are also a producer built band...

and Joe Strummer was a hippy

[Eleanors38]

4. If ex-football stars can sell cars, so can punk rockers.

[99th_Monkey]

7. Now that "any chance of social justice and equality is completely impossible..."?

Really?

Is this brand of hopelessness now in vogue on DU?

Who know?

[Recursion]

9. You realize the Sex Pistols were the Monkees of punk, right? Made to sell clothes.

They were assembled from a few garage bands by a record label to sell to credulous teenagers who were interested in this new Punk thing but scared of buying New York Dolls or the Velvet Underground (or even the Ramones). They were "discovered" (read, assembled of the best-looking members of four garage bands) by a record producer who also happened to manage a clothing store, whose clothes the band made popular.

[KittyWampus]

89. Monkees of punk

So perfect, so funny, so true.

[Recursion]

107. "The Monkees of Punk" would be an amazing band name (nt)

[adirondacker]

10. this notes for you...

[Mojorabbit]

74. My all time favorite musician and he has held the line. nt

[adirondacker]

80. Same here.

Fell in love in H.S. during the release of Rust Never Sleeps, revisited all of his older stuff from the CSNY era and prior during the service, and courted a true love to Harvest Moon. Saw him live at The Gorge in college and was perhaps the best concert I've attended with seats 9 rows back and center. He invokes many fond memories.

[NightWatcher]

17. And Black Flag's Henry Rollins is the voice of Infinity autos

Cool guy Mr Punk sells fancy rides too.

I'm sure they all have some justification.

[Recursion]

19. Wow. Being paid for a performance requires "justification"?

Why would you judge him for being paid for his work?

[NightWatcher]

21. Sings about the evils of consumption, then endorses luxury autos

It seems a tad hypocritical to say that consumerism is bad but you should buy a luxury auto, but I'm sure he's found a way to justify it to his fans. To him it's just a payday I'm sure.

I don't care what he does. I was never a fan of his holier than thou straight edge punk music/message.

[KingCharlemagne]

46. John Lennon sang about "imagine no possessions" but died with an estate worth

an estimated $500 million.

Since we're engaging in iconoclasm.

[randome]

25. Music, while extremely valuable to all of us, should not be our security blanket.

Neither should a group or a musician. You don't have to like what sometimes occurs with them but so what? We don't like a lot of things.

Don't hold onto the past.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[whereisjustice]

32. 1960s music lead civil rights movement, anti-war movement, we need that now instead of

the mealy mouthed self-absorbed corporate shit that passes as "indie" or "rock".

Music today, like politics, is designed to never threaten rich and/or powerful people.

[Throd]

34. That music is out there. It just isn't on the radio.

[whereisjustice]

39. you can't put together a crosby, stills nash and young today, cost too high

and it isn't on the radio, because it threatens the elite. Poverty is near record high in US, arts are suffering. Almost impossible to make it as a musician without a trust fund. 1960s and 1970s you could work part time or at min. wage job, or in school and still get by.

There's a reason nation moving songs about social justice don't come from China, Soviet Union, India, etc. But you'll still find no end of shit on the radio in those countries.

The US has taken to oppressing anything that challenges authority.

[Throd]

44. Yesterday's model is irrelevant today.

CSN&Y on your groovy FM station is akin to a Victrola and wax cylinders for the youth of today.

[KingCharlemagne]

48. "Dinosaur Victrola, listenin' to Buck Owen. Doo doo doo, lookin' out my back door." - nt

[whereisjustice]

49. I don't listen to CSNY, and the technology is irrelevant, we have no voice for change

not because of wax cylinders, but because we have been programmed to compliance.

CSNY and the 60s was disruptive and important for civil change. That's exactly why conservatives spent the next 50 years making sure it won't happen again.

[Throd]

56. Apparently you hang out with different people than I do.

Dissent didn't end in 1969.

This was my generation's version...

&list=RDJxPoggqI62s&index=4

It won't end.

[Recursion]

55. First off, the headlining act at Woodstock was Sha Na Na.

Second off, there's amazing music being made today (even in rock), you just have to look for it.

[whereisjustice]

93. wtf? gratuitous snark? I'm calling bullshit.

I experienced friends killed in Vietnam or return broken, listened to the role call of the dead on the radio every fucking day, I know that a media who fights for justice IS effective at energizing change.

I also watched as the city erupted in race riots and police went to war against minorities. Music was 100% instrumental in communicating the suffering and hardship of poverty and discrimination.

What we have to day is the mindset that the rich/powerful must not be made to feel uncomfortable, they must not feel guilt or responsibility. It's why we didn't list the dead every day from Iraq on TV, or film coffins coming back from that idiotic war.

It's why 300,000 can protest in NYC and not get mentioned on the news. It's why Democrats are scolding Ferguson protesters and then tuning into NPR for another glowing report of "Mumford and Sons" after the charming piece on the whacky antics of tea baggers.

Now we have apologists saying that if you comb the internet 24/7 you can find some talented people working out of their goddamn garage because there is no longer a business friendly support system for music that demands social justice.

Will there always be middle men who make money off of music? No shit. But it's more than that now. It's about a carefully controlling the message so as to not disturb the ruling class.

If you can mindlessly crank out meaningless fluff for that affirms the entitlements of the rich, enjoy yourself. No better than the banker who says "we have to make money" after fucking over a pension plan. Some sleep well at night doing that.

But you are in good company with Democrats who believe this is the "new" reality. That we must continue to isolate ourselves from anything that challenges authority or the power base that continues to fuck us over. We must not talk about injustice or principals because it isn't media friendly. And we must chase the money that is increasingly being concentrated into the hands of a powerful minority of seriously evil people.

[Recursion]

100. I'm sick of this classic rock BS. Are you really going to tell me Purple Haze is "about" something?

Get off your high horse, turn your radio to a hip hop station, and realize that music didn't stop just because you got too old to go to concerts.

I saw Don McLean a few years ago in Arlington, VA. He was a complete douche. He said, "we all know songwriting stopped in 1978" and someone (whoever he was is my hero) shouted "well, yours did".

[whereisjustice]

111. Holy crap, is that what you think? Deep Purple and Don McLean? You really have no clue

about the era between 1960 and 1970 and how disruptive music was and what a force for positive social change.

From R&B to Gospel, Motown to UK. You can't understand it because you don't have perspective. And even worse, lacking perspective, you aren't curious.

It's like you are saying "MLK, big deal, all he did was march around in circles".

The really sad part is, the your lack of curiosity couple with a void of historical perspective is exactly what the right wing is banking on.

I will tell you that hearing well crafted songs about Kent State shooting or Vietnam war or riots in Philly playing on the radio in regular rotation for millions of people to hear was disruptive, and moved millions of people to change and that is exactly what we need right now.

Of course we won't get that because the ruling elite will not allow themselves to feel uncomfortable.

It's proof that the brainwashing is working when you offer Deep Purple as the seminal band for civil rights era.

[Throd]

112. I never knew Jimi Hendrix played in Deep Purple.

or was that Mott The Purple?

[Recursion]

114. You're thinking of Deep Hoople (nt)

[KittyWampus]

86. Turn on a college radio station. Left side of the tuner. PLENTY of real, local music being made

OR check out the jazz scene OR even the techno-music has its brilliant artists doing avant-garde stuff.

[Recursion]

105. Not to mention hip hop (nt)

[randome]

87. I don't think we DO need music about civil rights, anti-war, etc.

Think about it. With a population of over 300 million, why don't we already have that type of music? We can't all be slackers, can we?

I think what we need today is meaning in our lives. Inspiration. With that comes reflection and therefore...

If you're not on Facebook now (not necessarily speaking to you, whereisjustice) because you think you're too 'fuddy-duddy' to do that kind of thing, think again. To engage the world as it exists today is the challenge, not how it was yesterday. Connections are made through Facebook. Follow the right-wing Twitters and Facebooks and, when possible, post something thought-provoking instead of angry.

It's a different world out there today. Aspire to inspire someone who lives in it.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

[Recursion]

106. Hip hop

Seriously. Every time I hear somebody complain about how today's music doesn't talk about social issues, I am left assuming they have missed the most important genre of this generation.

[randome]

113. I don't care for it much, myself, but I can't help but acknowledge what it means to many.

But a few stand out from the rest, like Eminem's Lose Yourself -it's a brilliant, inspirational song.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[Jeffersons Ghost]

28. Got MLK? + I

Here's your song:
EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE by The Police:
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=Lkry&hsimp=yhs-SF01&p=every%20breath%20you%20take%20by%20the%20police%20youtube&type=YHS_SF_1100&param1=iyzTqxyuayxkXZEXjiqI44smVdkxz-Xl2q-R7WuqPVydBDWOenoTSQwY3vJXo7ZnD5yl8XwawXPQXUfvp1pFoi88T05M-3W0sZPWZ5bh3Q5uiqzoxT8rPQzlZ7MI_r4C[=code+GNO pm;omr shrmys+MDS pm;omr shrmys]

[Recursion]

29. I've been to a wedding where that was the song. Which I find incredibly creepy

I didn't say anything, but really wanted to say, "umm... have you actually listened to that song?"

[Throd]

31. I'm glad I don't feel compelled to adhere to all the bullshit I believed when I was 20.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be employed or own a home.

[whereisjustice]

36. Ironic because it's the shit today that people belive that keeps wages flat since

1970s and home ownership permanently out of reach for majority of over educated and under-employed kids in their 20s today.

[flvegan]

37. Vicious covers Sinatra singing Anka. Sells mid-end Acuras, thanks.

You're right, it's over. This makes us uber fucked. Tipping point reached. Here we are.

[Go Vols]

103. Yep,Its Sid,not the Pistols

[EX500rider]

40. Just heard "Love & Rockets" in a I think it was Nissan commercial..

...yesterday...that was depressing...
It was the guitar intro to "Yin and Yang and the Flower Pot Man" off their album "Express".
Sigh.

[Ykcutnek]

41. I can't wait until someone buys the rights to Morrissey's music...

And uses it to sell delicious double bacon cheeseburgers.

[Recursion]

104. Morrissey is making a Ramones album now

http://www.spin.com/articles/morrissey-ramones-greatest-hits-album-curating-cover/

My head hurts.

[JI7]

43. who cares, Reagan was elected in 1980

why didn't the sex pistols stop that from happening ?

[Recursion]

60. Because they had broken up two years before and Vicious was dead? (nt)

[JI7]

62. so what does it matter what they do now decades later ?

[Recursion]

63. I'm not sure. I certainly wouldn't look at the Pistols as some sort of example of "authenticity"

It's a weird thread...

[KingCharlemagne]

50. Chris Rock scored a couple zingers this past Saturday on SNL, when he said that,

in 5 years, those commies at Red Lobster will be offering shrimp for $9.11 on 9-11. And Toyota will be advertising on MLK Day that its cars are 'free at last, free at last.'

Brilliant comedy. No wonder he got reamed out by the punditocracy for it.

[Recursion]

66. Loved it. "They should call it the 'never going in it tower', cause I'm never going in it" (nt)

[Paulie]

51. It's fine. It's not like it's background music for a reverse mortgage company

[Throd]

58. That would be a job for GWAR.

[PeteSelman]

64. The Sex Pistols were a corporately conceived group made to sell records.

So really, they're just doing what they've always done. The was very little genuine punk there.


Now if Jello starts selling product, that's when it'll all be over.

[Recursion]

65. Worse: clothes. They were invented by two clothing store owners to popularize the "punk" look

Letts and McLaren were willing even to take a loss on record sales to do that.

[PeteSelman]

70. True that.

The whole "image" was sold by them.

But they had to have the music first. It was a package deal.

[LeftyMom]

67. Wait, did anybody ever take the sex pistols seriously?

Kind of a serious question, I'm a generation too young to know and maybe I missed something, but they always struck me as slightly less serious than "punk on the bus" from Star Trek IV, ideologically and musically.

[cemaphonic]

76. They're a bit before my time too, but I would say yes.

If you go back and read liner notes, and books and articles about popular music at the time, they were being heavily mythologized even before the band imploded and Sid Vicious died (which naturally shot the process into overdrive) Jan Wenner's little media empire is still sucking them off to this day.

70s punk rock had a lot of variety to it, but IMO the critical worship of the Sex Pistols and the Clash had a lot to do with 80s punk stagnating into 3-chord, angry, vaguely leftist clones.

[The Midway Rebel]

69. Not that it matters, but that is not the Sex Pistols.

It is only Sid Vicious with an orchestral arrangement singing the wrong lyrics to the Paul Anka song. Sid had left or been fired from the band by that time. That recording was released on "The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle" double LP, which is McClaren's production and hardly a Sex Pistols album.

Here is the original video.

[Recursion]

71. Good catch (nt)

[robbob]

72. According to the Doors biography

Jim was so pissed at the bands decision to sell "light my fire" to Chevrolet ("come on Chevy light my fire" was going to be the slogan), a decision made while he was off somewhere being drunk and high, that he got all messed up and out of control at the Hollywood bowl, resulting in his arrest for exposing himself and subsequent obscenity charges.

Needless to say, Chevy dropped the planned advertising campaign like a hot potatoe and Jim got his way and kept his artistic integrity intact.

But that was a different time, when bands were supposed to be fighting the established order. These days a song is no sooner being played on the radio then you see it used as a jingle for some product. Indeed, careers have been launched with an ad campaign. Feist, anyone?

[cemaphonic]

73. As Recursion and others are pointing out Sex Pistols were always about marketing

Complaining about it now is a "water is wet" kind of of complaint. And commerce appropriating counterculture icons for its own ends has been going on for as long as there has been the concept of a counterculture.

A year or two ago, John Lydon did a tv commercial for a brand of butter. It was funny, and it put enough cash together for him to put out some new PIL material. Win for everybody, except for self-righteous punk fans.

Also, in a lot of these cases, the songwriters have sold their copyrights to some media corporation, and aren't the ones making decisions to put them in commercials.

[Recursion]

102. Your avatar has been good about not letting his music into ads

In fact he sued somebody (Chevy IIRC?) for using a bass line that was too much like "Step Right Up".

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

77. Replacement kidneys and livers are expensive.

[aquart]

78. Go to the nearest adult, explain this, then ask to be slapped. Hard.

This is not the time for hysteria, Chicken Little.

[Shankapotomus]

79. Punk music seemed never about social justice, to me

Punks always seemed to be just a competing form of juvenile street tough or mob boss. A resentment of another group's power simply because they didn't have it but still wanted
it.

Ironically, Punk's proclaimed pretentious nemesis, Progressive Rock, seemed more of a mouthpiece for serious social evolution, justice and societal advancement from my perspective.

So I'm not surprised.

[NM_Birder]

81. The sex pistols selling cars is the end of American Society ?

I thought is was when they started playing Ozzy at football games ? Ozzy turned us all into drug loving street freaks back in the 80's, and removed all our chances of becoming successful adults.

[badtoworse]

82. Have a cigar!

[Botany]

83. It was then I knew I'd had enough burned my credit card for fuel

[Orsino]

88. You realize that, by and large, artists don't control the commercial use of their music?

No, the Sex Pistols are not selling cars.

[BubbaFett]

90. The problem is

when ad agencies recycle generational songs, they co-opt the deeper meaning that people have in relationship to the songs of their youth.

Think about the soundtrack of your younger days, the songs you listened to while making love to your first girlfriend or boyfriend, the songs you listened to that had meaning and context within a deeper framework or your memories.

Those intangibilities get glommed onto in the name of commerce.

It just cheapens meaning is all.

[azmom]

94. Your post reminds me of the movie

The music never stopped. It's on Netflix.

[dilby]

95. Sid Vicious did that song, not the Sex Pistols.

He is dead so I don't think he had much say in who uses his music.

[whereisjustice]

97. I know, the association is ironic enough. And the song is representative. As Bill Hicks

said in one of posts above - "Who's in marketing out there? Just fucking kill yourself."

[dilby]

99. It's target is people of my erra.

I grew up listening to Sex Pistols, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Black Flag and so on. I still listen to the music but I am not the broke kid I was in the 80's and could afford that car not that I would buy one. I have not owned a car in 3 years and have no plans on ever dumping money into one again.

For me it's no different than all the Che shirts and posters that companies mass produce and sell for $20 to wealthy college kids.

[snooper2]

98. I know right! Where is the Justice!

If they were any good as a band they could have done a music video...like this!

[Spider Jerusalem]

101. You haven't seen the adverts for Country Life Butter John Lydon did (n/t)

[Zorra]

108. There's a whole lot of Repunklicans out there, who never really believed

in anything more revolutionary than flannel pojamas and fuzzy, cozy slippers.

[dawg]

109. The "pretentious" overblown prog rockers were the true punks.

"Self-indulgent" is just another term for not giving a damn what anyone else thinks.

[LanternWaste]

110. If a commercial group selling a commercial product via the mechanism of commercials...

I find it a wee bit bizarre to judge our enjoyment of an experience predicated wholly on how and who and why others may enjoy it.

But, if a commercial group selling a commercial product via the mechanism of commercials spells our culture's impending doom, then our doom happened in during the days of Tin Pan Alley, and you've got some catching up to do.