Laws and Sausages
Here’s a question for you Kucinich fans out there. What do you think about his back-room deal to get his supporters to go for John Edwards in the Iowa Caucuses? Does it somehow undermine his anti-war views that he’d work with an obviously hawkish candidate like Edwards instead of someone more dovish like Dean? Personally, I don’t think it’s a big sellout or anything, but it’s definitely an icky look behind the scenes (ie. the title of this post).
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he was on kpfk with lila garret live on monday afternoon and was very up-front about this. he said this practice of presidential candidates “pairing up” for these caucuses is fairly common.
the reason he paired up with edwards? probably because they are actually friends from what i understand. i think edwards wife when asked if her husband wasnt running who she would support said she’d support kucinich. i dont have the actual quote but it was something like that.
am i happy that he buddied up with someone who voted for the war? no, but it could be worse. he could be a famous liberal endorsing a former head of school of the americas?
frankly, i’m much more bummed about a flaming lips song in a mitzubishi commercial, a modest mouse song in a nissan commercial, and a mojave3 song in a HUMMER commercial.
Comment by josh — January 23, 2004 @ 3:14 pm
It wouldn’t be so bad if it were a commercial for Vaseline, tangerines, or magazines.
Seriously though, I’ve really mellowed out about the whole “sellout” thing in the last few years. If they get paid really well for doing nothing, then I say, more power to them. As long as it’s not an evil product, I usually don’t have a problem with my favorite bands using their music in commercials. (I’d be disappointed with the Mojave3 song in the Hummer ad, but I’m not really a fan.)
Recently there was a series of commercials for the department store Kohl’s that featured new music by one of my favorite bands, Apples in Stereo. Rather than get turned off because they “sold out” I really looked forward to the commercials, since they had music that wasn’t on any of the albums. (You can hear my favorite one by clicking here)
Comment by greg — January 23, 2004 @ 3:34 pm
well, if the ais songs werent on any album, mabey they did those songs for the commercial, which is of course different than lisencing a song that already means a lot to a lot of people.
ive chilled on the sellout thing, too, but its still disappointing. i dont consider the band a sellout, but, to paraphrase tom waits, once a song is lisenced to a commercial it renders it pretty much usless.
and that sucked cuz i really dug that song.
anyway, the reason im not so high and mighty anymore is that if im sure if i knew exactly how many of my favorite bands would “sell out” if they were given the chance, and i did use it as a qualifier for my fan support, i’d pretty much be left with a handful of cds.
Comment by josh — January 23, 2004 @ 3:43 pm
i’m with josh… i’m not one to scream “sellout!” and denounce a band altogether, but i do hate that the songs become so over-saturated (even moreso that when MTV plays them) when in a commercial. i’m most disapointed with the modest mouse song- i love that song. i keep justifying it that at least it’s a mini-van and not an SUV, and that there new major label put them up to it. but i fear that the commercial will ruin the song forever.
anyway, back on subject, i’m not worried about Kucinich pairing with Edwards, because i kinda like Edwards, too. out of all the frontrunners, Edwards seems to be the most genuine personality, even if i don’t agree with all of his positions. but if i can forgive Kucinich for his catholic-opinion on abortion, then i can try to forgive Edwards for his support of the war last year.
Comment by tom — January 23, 2004 @ 4:30 pm
i was just checking out apples in stereo and they are on the same label that released the jason falkner 4-trak album. i’ll have to check them out, them being sellouts aside, of course.
Comment by josh — January 25, 2004 @ 8:48 am
i was talking with one of my friends from high school last night and he reminded me how i hated ritual de lo habitual and thought janes addiction were such sellouts… now i cant remember why i hated that album. especially compared to the garbage that comes out under the name janes addiction moniker now.
and, not to pick on myself too much, but in h.s. one of my friends from boston introduced me senior year to the mighty mighty bosstones. back east we didnt have the dance hall crashers or any of that other stuff, and the only madness song anyone knew was our house, so ska was a very innovative idea to me. i didnt know it waqs on its 50th wave or whatever. and mmbt, with punk and reggae, well, i thought this was as cool and new and original as music got. i had this low-production high horse i went on and on about. when i went to college, i went to see them at the legendary trocadero and this girl i met told me they had don a converse commercial. my world shattered. no way, i thought. two weeks later the kid accross the hall from me told me they signed with columbia and would be releasing an ep cheesily titled ska-core the devil and more.
i guess the point is, sometimes for no good reason, i let my high horse get in the way of liking music, but as illustrated by both cases, once a band shows cracks of selling out, it is almost inevitable the music will, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, begin to really suck.
and, as george bush would say, “you can’t claim the high horse and take the low road.”
Comment by josh — January 26, 2004 @ 8:33 am