Bizarre product placement in songs

[Various Artist]

Scritti Politti are my go-to for threads like this, Green managing to pair 'Moto Guzzi, and Gaultier pants' in Boom! There She Was

These managed to remind me, obliquely, of what must surely still be one of the best uses of a brand name in a song – Radiohead deploying 'Gucci' in Paranoid Android as 1.) an adjective and 2.) an insult:

Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Kicking squealing Gucci little piggy

[Southport Zeb]

Lazy Line Painter Jane by Belle & Sebastian has a reference to a guide to thrush treatment produced by Boots.

[Nurse Duckett]

Trojans, some of them used [a brand of condom, I believe] - Prince, Little Red Corvette

[Patrick Thistle]

There's probably already a thread about cars in songs. Bowling for Soup mention a Trans Am in Girl All the Bad Guys Want.

[Jah Womble]

I think that would wind up one of the longest threads in OTF history.

McDonald’s and its wares obviously receive many-a run out in popular music: off the top of the ol’ noodle, the fast-food giant features in songs by Pop Will Eat Itself, Run DMC and The Streets...and doubtless hundreds more.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I think that would wind up one of the longest threads in OTF history.

McDonald’s and its wares obviously receive many-a run out in popular music: off the top of the ol’ noodle, the fast-food giant features in songs by Pop Will Eat Itself, Run DMC and The Streets...and doubtless hundreds more.

Gang of Four, 2nd album

[Jah Womble]

Meanwhile, the aforementioned X-Ray Spex stayed (deliberately) downmarket with their mention of the Wimpey Bar in the excellent Day the World Turned Dayglo.

To be honest, there weren’t many McDonald’s restaurants open in the UK at the time that single was released.

[Gangster Octopus]

It's funny to remember a time when Big Macs were cool.

[Patrick Thistle]

Jah Womble Were they talking about a pub for house builders?

[MsD]

I thought the Wimpy Bar was dead glam when my Dad first took me. Lynchian red velvet curtains in the booths at the back.

[MsD]

I was going to mention The Day ... (solipsistic, moi?) but I don't think it's bizarre to mention all those products, it's all in context.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I think that would wind up one of the longest threads in OTF history.

McDonald’s and its wares obviously receive many-a run out in popular music: off the top of the ol’ noodle, the fast-food giant features in songs by Pop Will Eat Itself, Run DMC and The Streets...and doubtless hundreds more.

Even in 1988 my mate thought the PWEI song said "Big Mac, Fries and Coke" because "to go" did not compute with him. I know it wasn't commonly used in the UK then (and isn't really commonly used now I suppose) but it wasn't like he'd never seen an American film or TV show.

[Satchmo Distel]

This kind of knowledge can cause a depression
So I bide my time with philosophical questions
Not for nothing, but what came first'
The chicken nugget or the Egg McMuffin'

The World Should Revolve Around Me - Little Jackie

[Crystal Staples]

Rumour has it that Cobain had never heard of the deodorant brand until the record was a hit, which seems a tad fanciful. (What he must've thought Kathleen Hanna meant when she scrawled it on his wall must then be anyone's guess.)

According to this, 'Cobain took it as a compliment, thinking Hanna meant to say that he still carried the spirit of teenage rebellion.'

[Jah Womble]

Jah Womble Were they talking about a pub for house builders?

Don't try to pretend that you don’t remember!

(Edit: Ah, okay, I get it now - I misspelt ‘Wimpy’.)

I was going to mention The Day ... (solipsistic, moi?) but I don't think it's bizarre to mention all those products, it's all in context.

Oh, not many of these are genuinely ‘bizarre’ at all - and not many really represent ‘product placement’, come to that. (Certainly not X-Ray Spex, who were always highlighting the crassness of consumerism within their lyrics.)

[Uros Predic]

Mars Bar by the Undertones mentions the above snack , as well as Twix, Bounty and Buttons.

The Undertones also mention Subbuteo in 'My Perfect Cousin'.

He always beat me at Subbuteo
'cause he flicked the kick
And I didn't know

[Satchmo Distel]

Don't try to pretend that you don’t remember!

(Edit: Ah, okay, I get it now - I misspelt ‘Wimpy’.)


Oh, not many of these are genuinely ‘bizarre’ at all - and not many really represent ‘product placement’, come to that. (Certainly not X-Ray Spex, who were always highlighting the crassness of consumerism within their lyrics.)

I think most of the above are a case of trying to find something that rhymed. Blinded By The Light has no many stupid rhymes that it looks like it was written by a 12 year old:

https://genius.com/Manfred-manns-ear...e-light-lyrics

[ursus arctos]

A 12 year old with a rhyming dictionary

The song came about when Columbia president Clive Davis, upon listening to an early version of Greetings from Asbury Park N.J., felt the album lacked a potential single. Springsteen wrote this and "Spirit in the Night" in response.

According to Springsteen, he wrote the song by going through a rhyming dictionary in search of appropriate words. The first line of the song, "Madman drummers, bummers, and Indians in the summers with a teenage diplomat" is autobiographical—"Madman drummers" is a reference to drummer Vini Lopez, known as "Mad Man" (later changed to "Mad Dog"); "Indians in the summer" refers to the name of Springsteen's old Little League team; "teenage diplomat" refers to himself. ^{The remainder of the song tells of many unrelated events, with the refrain of "Blinded by the light, cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night".}

[Cal Alamein]

JFA - Cokes and Snickers

Cokes and Snickers is all I eat
Cokes and Snickers is all I need
Health sucks, health sucks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Qmz2qJvDs

[Sits]

I thought the Wimpy Bar was dead glam when my Dad first took me. Lynchian red velvet curtains in the booths at the back.

And the zenith was the Wimpy Mixed Grill. I felt really grown up having one of those.

[andrew7610]

Billy Bragg's Sexuality mentions a Mitsubishi Zero, but for some reason he chooses to drive it, rather than fly it like everybody else would.

[Jah Womble]

The Kinks' Lola-gate was obviously a high-profile example of the BBC getting its knickers in a twist over surreptitious advertising. A few years on, Kodachrome by Paul Simon became another - to the extent that this (appropriately) gold-selling US hit was pulled from release and hidden away as a b-side to Take Me to the Mardi Gras.

And the zenith was the Wimpy Mixed Grill. I felt really grown up having one of those.

I'm fascinated by how well these places are remembered: the branch we had in Canterbury was fairly, well, 'basic' - certainly nothing like MsD's Lynchian dream - and the food pretty much matched it. I can recall having a mushroom soup starter there that was more water than actual soup: this was followed by a burger that would've served more than adequately as a drinks coaster, both in terms of size and texture.

[Satchmo Distel]

A 12 year old with a rhyming dictionary

[/SUP]

A case of having one of your biggest hits as a songwriter with your worst song, which is another thread.

[Nurse Duckett]

Reebok - Black Grape's Submarine

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Reebok - Black Grape's Submarine

....and same in their Reverend Black Grape