The Arcade Fire

is the Epitome of Indie Rock & Why I am Getting a Shins Logo Tattooed on my Face

Is it just me, or has indie rock become the biggest marketing tool ever? What was once a phrase to describe any music on an independent label. The style of music could vary but to say, “I like indie rock” generally meant I like music outside mainstream record labels. Now indie rock is a term used by mainstream acts like Hanson to describe their own music. I don’t think Hanson had to face the same kind of punishment as Black Flag, Minute Men, or Fugazi had to endure in order to get their music heard without sacrificing their artistic integrity. Indie rock has even become a look: black frame glasses, tight jeans, Converse All-stars, and fake vintage t-shirt from Urban Outfitters. Nothing wrong with that, but it has been interesting to see how pigeonholed indie rock has become.

People always ask me what type of music I like, and anyone who knows me and has seen my record collection knows I like a wide variety of music. It is also hard to describe to someone who has never heard noise or no wave what it sounds like or why anyone would want to listen to it. I often say, “I like indie rock.” This used to just get an “Oh, okay, whatever,” and the conversation would move on. Now it’s, “Oh, so you like the Arcade Fire?” !!!!!!!!! Seriously this happens all the time. What the fuck? The Arcade Fire is the definition of indie rock now? When did this happen? They have a video on MTV2, which is the new MTV. How indie rock is that?

So all I want to say is, take indie rock back.

Actually, no, don’t worry about it. Pretty soon all music will be used in a Gap commercial. Seriously, I really want to hear “Man is the Bastard” when I am buying frozen chicken nuggets at Publix. Then life will be complete. Some John Zorn at Starbucks or Boredoms when I get a Frosty at Wendy’s. Pretty soon everyone will have Converse, and they will become part of our feet so that we are born with protective plastic covering our toes and canvas enveloping our feet. Yes, it will happen. Yes, it will.

—Chris Daresta

Dear Jeff Mangum (of Neutral Milk Hotel),

Where have you been? It’s been seven years since you released In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and we’re desperate for more of your paradoxically life affirming/fatalistic jaunts into the convoluted worlds of love, innocence, and mortality. Considering the works of genius your two full-lengths were, your absence from the music scene has been excruciating. It’s hard to think of a more harrowing album than On Avery Island Complete with droning masterpieces like “Three Peaches” “Naomi,” and “Song Against Sex,” the album is both a carnival and a funeral procession — an album that finds hope even in the direst situations. While most artists would have slacked off and lived off success of that one album, you instead released In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, which surpassed your previous works by leaps and bounds. With a cohesiveness of Sgt. Pepper’s proportions, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is less an album and more a work of art. Songs like “Holland,” 1945” and “Ghost” are carefully crafted puzzles whose lyrics are replete with beautiful absurdities and paradoxical imagery. Displaying a versatility that few songwriters possess, the album switches between dark descriptions and uplifting lyrics, rendering it a bittersweet reflection of life.

In the face of a cold, rational world hurtling towards its doom In the Aeroplane Over the Sea let us know that if we simply find the small joys in everyday life, the little things we discover will be enough help us live on in happiness. By finding love and happiness in the ruins of a desolate world, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is on the level of great works like Candide or Catch-22. I think I speak for everyone when I say we desperately need your music right now. Since the turn of the century, the world has been torn apart by war, hatred, and crimes against humanity, and we need your music to help us find hope in what at times seems to be a hopeless world. Please, come back Jeff. We need you.

Mournfully,

David Marek

What’s Your Favorite Rock and Roll Brand? The Rise of Commercialism in Popular Music Part II

In the last edition of Listen, I posed the question, “Does the rise of commercialism in popular music spell the end of rock and roll as a critical societal institution, or does cooperation with corporations provide musicians an opportunity to expand their uncompromised messages to a broader audience?” In this second section I investigate the integration of brand names and commercial content within the lyrics of popular songs.

“Now enough Adidas possessed by one man is rare

Myself homeboy got fifty pair

Got blue and black cause I like to chill

And yellow and green when it’s time to get ill

Got a pair that I wear when I’m playin’ ball

With the heel inside make me 10 feet tall

My Adidas only bring good news

And they are not used as selling shoes

They’re black and white, white with black stripe

The ones I like to wear when I rock the mic

On the strength of our famous university

We took the beat from the street and put it on TV

My Adidas are seen on the movie screen

Hollywood knows we’re good if you know what I mean

We started in the alley, now we chill in Cali

And I won’t trade my Adidas for no beat-up Bally’s

My Adidas…” (My Adidas – Run DMC, 1986)

From singers to poets to novelists to playwrights, writers of all forms have referenced branded products in their work since the rise of national brands in the late 19th Century. Brand references in popular songs are a natural reflection of a writer’s culture. Even folk songs like “Stack (Stagger) Lee” and classic standards such as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” reference branded products (in these cases, Stetson and Crackerjacks respectfully). Occasionally entire songs sound like extended advertisements: just listen to Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz1”, Chuck Berry’s “No Money Down”, or David Allen Coe’s, “Jack Daniel’s If You Please.” The chorus of the Coe song: Jack Daniels if you please Knock me to my knees You’re the only friend That has ever been That didn’t do me wrong

Brands are designed to add symbolic value to products. Marketers spend billions of dollars each year attempting to forge associations between their brands and various symbols, images, and even personalities. Brand allusions enable songwriters to succinctly evoke these associations. Consequently, brands provide songwriters with descriptive lyrical tools. Simply by singing “pink Cadillac”, Bruce Springsteen poetically conjures up images of fun, luxury, and excessive American hedonism. Marketers refer to these unpaid brand references as word-of-author advertising, although historically the objective of songwriters has not been to hock products.

The rate of brand references in popular song lyrics has increased over the last fifty years. In an academic study, Psychologist Monroe Friedman found that songs written in the 1950s contained an average of 43 brand references for every 10,000 words. This rate rose to 64 brand references per 10,000 words in the 1970s. Friedman attributes the rise in references to increasing commercial influence on society. Advertisers encourage people to think of products by brand name rather than category: “Don’t say beer, say Bud.” Songwriters learn from their ad-drenched environment to refer to a brand instead of a generic category, since the average person views thousands of promotional messages a day.

In fact, brand allusions in popular songs have become so prevalent, Agenda Inc, a pop culture marketing agency, has begun cataloguing references in top twenty hits. According to their report aptly titled American Brandstand, 40% of last year’s 105 top 20 songs mention at least one brand. Last year’s break down by number of references as follows: cars, 449; fashion, 281; and beverages, 251. Agenda Inc. suggests this increase is largely due to the rise of hip-hop2 for its luxurious and materialistic images. The six brands most frequently cited in 2004 top 20 songs are: Cadillac, Hennessey, Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Gucci and Jaguar, all luxury brands. Musicians alluded to brands ranging from discount hotels Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, and Days Inn to television networks MTV, ESPN and BET. Rapper Jadakiss even uses his song “Why” to ask Mercedes, “Why don’t they make the CL6 with a clutch?” Other entertaining references from last two years include: “But Louis Vuitton bras all over your breasts / Got me wantin’ to put hickeys all over ya chest” (Ludacris – Stand Up) and “Couldn’t afford a car, so she named her daughter A-Lexus” (Kanye West - All Falls Down). Changing cultural values aren’t the only reason modern popular songs tend to sound like advertisements. In many cases, musicians are compensated for plugging brands. McDonald’s recently made an open-ended offer to any musician willing to plug the Big Mac, offering up to $7 for every time such a song is played on the radio. Considering top forty radio stations play the same five songs on repeat, this could provide hit-writing musicians, and especially bling-lusting rappers, adequate incentive to write about Big Macs, Happy Meals, or the entire Value Menu. In the past, marketers were more discrete: rather than publicly offering money, which could possibly damage the artist’s credibility and therefore promotional effectiveness, marketers typically offered musicians free merchandise, endorsement deals, crosspromotional money, or company stock. Occasionally musicians are compensated after the fact. Adidas gave Run DMC a 1.5 million dollar contract after their 1980s hit, “My Adidas.” Alternative compensation methods make it nearly impossible to distinguish a marketer-induced placement from an authentic reference.

The increase in compensated brand references, called brand placements or product placements, is reflected by the rise of marketing agencies, including Agenda Inc. and Mavin Strategies who specialize in plugging brands through popular songs. What’s more, marketers sometimes compliment brand placements in popular songs with additional promotional. Polaroid centered an entire campaign around Outkast’s reference, “Shake it like a Polaroid picture,” in the hit “Hey Ya.” This marketing influence has compromised the originality and quality of song lyrics--some brand references are flagrantly sponsored, as in Petey Pablo’s song “Freek-a-leek,” where he raps, “Now I got to give a shout out to Seagram’s Gin/ ‘cos I’m drinkin’ it and they payin’ for it.” (Mavin Strategies helped place Seagram’s into the lyrics of this as well as four other hip-hop songs in 2004.) In other instances brand references seem arbitrary and detract from a song’s meaning. Madonna’s “American Life” is an example: “I drive a mini-cooper/And I’m feeling super-duper.”

Many musicians don’t need incentive to plug brands in their songs, and frequently musicians use lyrics to promote their own brands. In his 2003 hit “Beautiful,” Snoop Dog raps about his own cleverly titled line of apparel, “Snoop Dog Clothing,” and in his cameo in “Drop it Like it’s Hot,” Pharrell Williams plugs his brand of “Ice Cream” sneakers. For hiphop entrepreneurs like Russell Simmons, Jay-Z, and P-Diddy, songs are merely a tactic for building awareness and brand image, or “street cred,” which they later leverage to sell more profitable products like clothing, perfume, beverages, or even snacks. Hip-hop is a $5 billion industry, only a fifth of which comes from record sales. The majority of “hip-hop” revenue comes from related products consumed under the burgeoning umbrella of hip-hop culture. (For more on hip-hop brands see the Hip-Hop Brand Extensions side-blurb.)

What happened? At its inception, hip-hop stood for more than piles of benjamins and Bentleys. Public Enemy rap-pioneer Chuck D. once referred to hip-hop as “the black CNN.” A hip-hop record could expose a listener to realities that mainstream media didn’t reveal. Truth at least co-existed with bravado. With few exceptions such as Outkast or Eminem, modern mainstream hip-hop has the authenticity and soul of a Pepto-Bismol jingle. Chuck D recently lamented, “Fifteen years ago, rappers rapped for the people, where as today they rap and rep for their companies, because money dictates direction.” Rock-and-roll and hip-hop began as voices of rebellion. By giving a voice to a younger generation, early rock-and-roll helped bridge America’s racial divide and inspired the youth movement of the ‘60s. Similarly, by depicting the realities of black urban culture, the rise of hip-hop increased acceptability of African-American culture and renewed societal consciousness of inner city problems. The music inspired these changes because of its relevance to a large group of society and the unique voice of its message. The ability to affect people at different levels of society is what makes music work. If instead songs merely rehash messages from other media, music loses its impact and becomes either another hackneyed entertainment vehicle or obscure high-art. The biggest problem with the rise of commercialism in rock-and-roll is not that it contradicts initial anti-commercial sentiment, but that these plugs jeopardize the authenticity of the music’s messages. This problem is furthered in that commercial influence in music today is most rampant among the most popular musicians. The increasing commercial influence in hip-hop has paralleled the genre’s rise on the Billboard charts. Additionally, popular musicians in other genres are showing signs of overt commercialism, like Beyonce Knowles’ blatant Pepsi plug during the MTV Music Video Awards. Mainstream musicians have the ability to influence the masses, yet squander this opportunity by echoing marketing-motivated media. Licensing songs to advertisers presents musicians with a trade-off. Having a song in an advertisement will likely increase a band’s fan-base. On the other hand, the advertisement will likely muddle or distort the song’s intended message (See Section 1 of article from issue 13). Songs with sponsored brand-references cannot contain a legitimate independent message. Though a plug appears on one line of a song, sponsors will not pay for the brand placement unless the overall message or image of the music expresses what they want associated with the brand. Music glorifying commercialism and brand proliferation just mimics mainstream media. This music has no unique voice or independent message and, consequently, has no value beyond entertainment. If rock and roll and hip-hop are to remain an impact on society, popular musicians must maintain a voice independent from marketers. In a time of consolidated media and wildfire marketing clutter, society needs a raw, independent voice. I need an independent voice. Rock and roll once provided that voice, but is now in danger of becoming another meaningless corporate slave.

--Caleb Warren

1 most people overlook this song’s satirical use of Mercedes and take the lyrics at face value, even Mercedes who used the song in a TV commercial.

2 to view the American Brandstand report, go to www.agendainc.com

The GagMe Awards Part II

The GagMe awards are intended to honor and ridicule the best, worst, and most prevalent branded bands and banded brands. The last issue presented awards for music and advertising. This issue’s are for brands and bands who have exceeded all rationale and bounds for good taste by integrating brand names into the lyrical content of songs.

Billboard Brand Royalty

1 - Cadillac: mentioned 73 times in top 20 songs in 2004, has references ranging from Lightning Hopkins, Aretha Franklin, and Bruce Springsteen to Outkast.

2 - Hennessy: A favorite of Tupac in the 90’s with 69 top 20 mentions in 2004. “We can kick it and go puff on a bluuunt / Oh you don’t smoke? Grab a pint of Hen’ then we can get druuunk” (Chingy – One Call Away)

3 - Mercedes: mentioned nearly 200 times in top 20 songs in 2003 and 2004, the topic of a classic Janis Joplin tune.

Biggest Brand Lyric-Sluts

1 - L’il Kim referenced 14 different brands in her 2003 hit, “Jump Off.” Skank!

2 - Kanye West referenced 19 brands in his 4 top 20 singles in 2004 (though many meant to satirize, not promote, gross materialism). “I drink Boost and Ensure for dessert/ Somebody ordered Pancakes, I just sip the Sizzurp,” from “Through the Wire.”

3 - Petey Pablo is the lyricist with the most obviouslypaid-for brand allusion for: “Now I gotta give a shout out to Seagram’s gin, ‘cos I’m drinkin’ it and they payin’ for it.”

Best Branded Cocktails

1 - 50 Cent, “Disco Inferno”; “You mix a little Coke with a little Dom Perignon / And a little Hennessey you know we fine to carry on.”

2 - Bruce Springsteen, “Johnny 99”; “He came home too drunk from mixin’ Tanqueray and wine/ Got a gun, shot a night-clerk, now they call him Johnny 99.”

3 - Juvenile, “Slow Motion”; “I like how them Victoria’s Secrets sit in the ass / Lemme pour some more Hp(notiq) and Hennessy in your glass.”

Biggest Brand Buddies

1 - Run DMC, “My Adidas” inspired a fashion trend and won the rappers a $1.5 million dollar endorsement deal.

2 - Bob Seger, “Like A Rock” became the center of Chevy’s campaign in the 1990s and solidified the position of Chevy trucks as rugged, All-American, all-terrain vehicles.

3 - Busta Rhymes, “Pass the Courvoisier.” It’s still uncertain if Busta was prompted to write this song by the liquor brand. In any event, the song became a number one hit and introduced Courvoisier to the hip and ghettofabulous.

Bands and Their Brands: Brand References in Song Lyrics

Just as people infer the personality of a brand from the personality of its consumers, you can often get to know a songwriter by the brands he or she sings about. This mentions a few brands referenced by a variety of popular musicians.

The Beach Boys: Ford Thunderbird in “Fun Fun Fun”; Corvette in “In My Car”; Honda in “Little Honda”

Modest Mouse: Orange Julius in “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine”; Coca-cola in “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”; Dramamine and Listerine in “Dramamine”

George Thorogood: Budweiser and Miller Light in “If You Don’t Start Drinkin’”; Budweiser, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Old Granddad (whiskey), and Johnnie Walker in “I Drink Alone”

Kanye West: Avis and Lexus in “Jesus Walks”; Geico and Toys ‘R’ Us in “Through the Wire”; and Nike Air Jordans, Mercedes, and Jacob the Jeweler in “All Falls Down”

Tom Waits: Shell (gasoline) in “Frank’s Wild Years”; Schwab’s (drug store) in “Invitation to the Blues”; Greyhound (bus) in “The One That Got Away”; Chivas Regal in “Downtown”

50 Cent: Bentley, Hennessey and Mercedes in “Disco Inferno”; Bentley and Mercedes in “21 Questions”; and KMart and Mercedes in “In Da Club”

Bruce Springsteen: Chevrolet in “Thunder Road”; SevenEleven and Chevrolet in “Racing in the Streets”, Cadillac, Honda and Subaru in “Pink Cadillac”

Outkast: Polaroid and Cadillac in “Hey Ya”; Volkswagon, Pontiac Bonneville, and Cadillac (Coup de Ville) in “Aquemini”; and Cadillac in “Two Dope Boys”

Prince: Corvette in “Little Red Corvette”; Disney in “Lady Cab Driver”; Cadillac in “Jack You Off”

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Johnny Walker in “Poison Whiskey”; and Old Granddad in “Whiskey Rock a Roller”

Chuck Berry: Cadillac and Ford in “No Money Down”; TWA (Airlines) in “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”; Cadillac & Ford in “Maybellene”; Chevrolet in “You Never Can Tell”

Jay-Z: Burberry and Timberland in “’03 Bonnie and Clyde”; Maybach, Rolls Royce, and U-haul in “Change Clothes”; and Armadale (vodka), Maybach, and Cristal in “Excuse Me Miss”

Radiohead: Prozac in “Bones”, Gucci in “Paranoid Android”; and Time magazine in “Myxomatosis”

Hip-hop Brand Extensions

Many rappers use music to create hip-hop branded empires. For contemporary mainstream rappers, nothing is too commercial or mundane to be packaged and pawned as hip-hop. Here are a few musicians and their affiliated products…

Jay-Z: Rocawear apparel, Armadale vodka, and S. Carter Collection sneakers with Reebok

P-Diddy: Sean Jean apparel

Eve: Fetish clothing

Eminem: Shady Casual Sportswear

J-Lo: Glow perfume, J-Lo & Sweetface clothing

Nelly: Pimp Juice

Lil’ Jon: Crunk Juice

Pharrell Williams: Ice Cream Sneakers

Snoop Dog: Snoop Dog Clothing

50 Cent: G-Unit clothing

Wu Tang Clan: Wu Wear apparel

Russell Simmons: Phat Pharm clothing

Britney Spears: Curious perfume

Jessica Simpson: Dessert (edible!) make-up

Ruff Riders: Thug Workout apparel & Ruff Ryder dog food Rap Snacks: a new brand of food dawning the visages of hip-hip icons from Warren G to L’il Romeo.