Sell out ... The words no respectable rock 'n' roller ever wants to hear and the bane of forward-thinking ad agencies across the country.
Of course, dance-rock geniuses LCD Soundsystem would never sell out their silver sound. So when T.G.I. Friday's needed a song like "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House," they just ripped it off.
But LCD isn't the only band to have its noise knocked-off for chicken fingers. Here are five other awful commercial cons.
T.G.I. Friday's and LCD Soundsystem
First of all, WTF, T.G.I. Friday's? James Murphy's crew is probably one of the best bands ever. And here you take an LCD song that talks about one of the other best bands ever (i.e. Daft Punk) to sell some seriously less-than-stellar finger food. Bro, dance robots vs. cheap tacos? Stop yourselves.
Nokia and The XX
The depth, craft, and raw emotion that characterizes the XX and their sound is definitely captured by the epic drama of what a stupid party slut should put on her feet before going out. But I think the XX would say black. Anyway, this Nokia commercial hardly makes sense and totally rips off the song "VCR." Gross.
Volkswagen and Beach House
Thanks to Stereogum, we know for sure this song is stolen. Apparently, VW had been hitting up the dream-pop duo for weeks asking to use their song "Take Care." And of course, they refused. But instead of finding another song to license, the car company just hired some musicians to recreate the same lyrical message and musical feel. No wonder their cars suck.
Oikos Yogurt and John Butler Trio
It's bad enough when you rip off a song for a commercial. But when it's a Super Bowl commercial, you know everyone is going to see it ... And hate you. This clip for Greek yogurt is sort of cute and all. But it caused a lot of controversy for sounding just like Australian jam band John Butler Trio's feel-good tune "Zebra." Pretty sure JBT's message is about the importance of probiotics.
Troy University and Grizzly Bear
Earning a degree takes something like four or five years. But losing the respect of music elitists only took Troy University "Two Weeks." They hard-core copied the sound of Grizzly Bear's big hit for their enrollment ad, taking a serious musical memory from our college experience and ruining it in 30 seconds.
Audi and Eminem
Even though Eminem was already licensing his Oscar-winning hit to help Detroit companies move cars, Audi was happy to rip it off for themselves. This is so shamelessly obvious, we don't really have much to say. We watch Mad Men, aren't you guys supposed to be "creative?"
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