Don’t worry, R.E.M. didn’t sell out
April 1, 2008 – 4:24 pmWhen Windows95 came out (yes kids, way back in 1995), there was a minor kerfuffle that Stipe and Company turned down Bill Gates and the Microsoft Marketing Machine who wanted to use “It’s the End of the Word As We Know It” for their commercials. Of course, The Rolling Stones, who never saw a penny they didn’t like, swooped and in readily provided “Start Me Up” for the folks in Redmond. Even though it mattered nothing at all to me monetarily, I felt strangely proud that the music I loved wasn’t going to be degraded by Microsoft and their crappy operating system.
Anyway, fast forward to 2008, R.E.M. is struggling to stay a relevant band, the advance reviews on Accelerate are lukewarm, and to my horror, I hear “I am I am superman/ and I can do anything…” on a Toyota Sequoia commercial. It’s one of those awful commercials that show people having a blast doing something no one ever does except in commercials (and you too can have this much fun if you buy a huge Sequoia!) and I just figure another idealistic notion from my youth has gone down the crapper. I curse Michael Stipe and move on to cursing whatever college basketball game was on.
Well, it turns out that R.E.M. didn’t write the song, they only made it popular. So, while they are most associated with the song, it actually belongs to some band called the Clique. Never heard of them? Yeah, that’s probably why you shouldn’t be angry about them selling to Toyota. They probably desperately need the money. So fear not, fellow R.E.M. fans, they still have their integrity intact, if not their songwriting skills.
6 Responses to “Don’t worry, R.E.M. didn’t sell out”
I dont’ know if I’d hold it against them even if they did bless this. There really are very few avenues for anyone to get their music heard now. You have to be creative. I don’t mind the Wilco/VW marriage either.
The Of Montreal/Outback? It would be OK if the song wasn’t so butchered!
By stevemc on Apr 2, 2008
Guitar Hero is an avenue for your music to be heard. Film soundtracks are another way. Hell, even snippets before commercials during the NCAA tourney will work.
Allowing your music to be used in a commercial is for no other reason than to get paid.
I don’t begrudge Jeff Tweedy for the VW commercials either.
By Vin D on Apr 2, 2008
Having said that, I happen to by in NYC today and just saw this commercial: http://youtube.com/watch?v=s_oF6xnvnGQ
If you’re in that commercial or wrote the “song”, it’s best to just kill yourself now.
By Vin D on Apr 2, 2008
so wait - you don’t begrudge Tweedy but you would REM?
By stevemc on Apr 3, 2008
No not really. It was just that there was such a big to do about REM not selling out to microsoft 13 years ago that selling out to Toyota would’ve been a little sad. Although REM has sold tons of records so they probably don’t need the extra cash.
I guess the amount of selling out is inversely proportional to the amount of money you’ve already made on the record. Every time I hear a Stone tune with a commercial, I scoff. Do the Stones really need more money?
By Vin D on Apr 3, 2008
I guess so if they keep touring at the age of 65!
By stevemc on Apr 3, 2008