Punk Is Dead - Pop Sold Out!

Though I have great respect for those songwriters (including Springsteen, Bragg, Morrissey / Marr, and Cocker) who steadfastly refuse to allow their music to be used for the purposes of evil advertising, I have less problem these days with young or struggling bands selling out if in the process they get a nice cheque with which to record their next album, and maybe get their music heard by a slew of new fans too. So when I hear Chairlift or Feist on the iPod ads, I think 'good on them' - they're not selling out, they're just doing their bit to get noticed and get paid in an increasingly difficult business.

I have less time for established, millionaire songwriters like Bob Dylan - who's apparently just allowed 'Blowin' In The Wind' be licensed for an ad about the Co-Op - because really, Bob, do you actually need that money? Still, it could be worse - it could be Tesco or Walmart. At least Dylan is choosy.

Because then I see something like this... and I shudder at the grubby, out-of-town motel room where musicians and admen go to shag each other senseless.



If youtube won't allow you to watch that where you are - consider yourself blessed. It's Iggy Pop - the man, not the musician - selling car insurance. Has it really come to this, Iggy?

I saw Iggy Pop live about ten years ago, and he was hugely entertaining - a complete showman. Fighting with the security guards, jumping off the stage, tearing off his clothes like Bruce Banner after hitting his thumb with a hammer... It was all an act, but it was great fun to watch. I don't believe he's the spirit of punk or anything like that... but I did think he had more self respect than to sell his soul to the oleaginous devils of the insurance industry.

At least British punks have more self respect. You'd never catch Johnny Rotten selling car insurance (then again, who'd ever buy car insurance from Lydon?). No, King Yob of the Pistols sticks to selling butter.



And don't get me started on Norwich Union - sinking millions of pounds of their customers' money into a completely gratuitous namechange campaign in the worst financial marketplace since the Second World War... and roping in the likes of Alice Cooper, Elle Macpherson, Ringo Starr, and Bruce Willis in the process... because I'm certain they all needed the money too. I'm not even going to link to that advert, because frankly - it's obscene.

Oh, and Ringo... yes, I think Beatlemania would still have happened if you'd still been called Richard Starkey. I don't think your bloody name had anything to do with it, mate.