"When you get into a Volkswagen, it gets into you." Welcome to Wilco's first commercial licensing deal, in which nearly half of Sky Blue Sky's tracklist will soundtrack a series of commercials aimed to convince you that driving a VW is a penetratingly good time. P4K reports there will be six spots in total, with the first set to Tweedy's non-Sky cut "The Thanks I Get." Plot fallacy, though: The tow truck dude loves this Volkswagon so much that he doesn't take it? He'd have a lot more time to jam to Sky Blue Sky and smile in the driver's seat down at the impound lot, no? Such is the tow-zone forgiving effect of the benevolent Volksvibes, we guess.
[videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]
Still, better than the "You Are My Face" spot...
[videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]
We know less about ads than we do about cars, but VW better be using "Impossible Germany," and it better be awesome. Maybe like a Volkswilco performing some insane feat demonstrating both value and enjoyment, while ladies diss a lecherous Honda in a bar ("unlikely, Japan")? Pitch us the "Impossible Germany" spot. Best entry wins a Volkswagon.
UPDATE: Apparently these VW spots have resulted in a raging war over at Via Chicago, and Jeff Tweedy's brother-in-law weighs in on the controversy:
Granted, I can?t claim total objectivity here, but I have never met anyone who is less cynical about his art or less of a sellout than Jeff Tweedy. While I can imagine myself selling out in a heartbeat (I?d change the name of my blog to ?McJew Eat Yet?? and put Golden Arches on my banner if it meant I could actually earn money from this damn thing), Jeff is completely committed to his music and will not bend to the whims of his corporate sponsors. Anyone who saw the excellent Sam Jones documentary about Wilco, ?I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,? knows how far Jeff is willing to go to protect his vision. They were dropped by their label because of Jeff?s refusal to write something ?more commercial.? Of course, it worked out great in the end with a subsidiary of the same corporation entering into a bidding war months later for the same CD that the parent company had dropped.
But despite his refusal to compromise his art, why wouldn?t Jeff want his music to reach the widest possible audience? He has appeared many times on Conan, Letterman, and Leno, has allowed his songs to be heard on some very interesting movie soundtracks, and now has permitted Volkswagen to use a few existing songs. They were not written for the commercials and the lyrics were not adulterated in any way. In the current one, a portion of ?The Thanks I Get? is simply playing on the radio of the car that appears in the commercial. It's obviously meant to evoke a certain tone. There?s no mention of Jeff or Wilco but what?s wrong if a new audience hears that song, likes it, and tries to find out where they can hear more?
Read more at Jew Eat Yet?. (Thanks, Ryan)
