The Walkmen sell out?

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The stupefyingly overrated Walkmen have allowed their song, "We've Been Had" to be used in the new commercial for the Saturn Ion (a car).

Your thoughts? Do you care?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:45 (twenty-three years ago)

When I saw Jonathan*Fire*Eater* they were plugging beer. Shit beer.

Plus ca change.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Maybe they can pay Jeff Karsin back for the mics they stole from him when they were Jonathan*Nod*Offer.

― hstencil, Monday, 13 January 2003 21:46 (twenty-three years ago)

It's probably one of their best songs, but I still find this band to be a weak shadow of Jonathan Fire*Eater (the singer is definitely no match for the earlier counterpart).

Since Jonathan Fire*Eater were sorta sell-outs, can the Walkmen actually sell out? Wouldn't that be like Big Audio Dynamite selling out?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:47 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think they're stupefyingly overrated at all -- they didn't really show up on that many year-end polls. Anyway, "We've Been Had" is one of my favorites from last year, and I'm actually going out of my way to avoid TV now because I don't want to associate that song with a commercial, nor do I want to hear it so often that I get sick of it.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:48 (twenty-three years ago)

So, is it Jonathan Fire* Eater, not Jonathan*Fire*Eater*?

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:50 (twenty-three years ago)

It's probably one of their best songs, but I still find this band to be a weak shadow of Jonathan Fire*Eater

Why compare them at all? They're almost completely different (there's some similarity in the drum and organ sounds, but only on a couple of songs).

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually it's J**at**n*F****E*t*r*^TM.

― hstencil, Monday, 13 January 2003 21:54 (twenty-three years ago)

I compare them because what little I enjoy about the Walkmen reminds me of Jonathan Fire*Eater.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 13 January 2003 21:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Seeing as how the stupefyingly brilliant Walkmen are in fact the best band in the world now, this matters not to me. They can do no wrong.

― juice (juice), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Fred Mills to thread!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:11 (twenty-three years ago)

You know, I have total sympathy to any band who sells their song to an advertisement or a movie or something like that. (Unless it is something that they are morally opposed to, such as the army or the beef board.) I used to get upset about it. Now I *know* how *little* the average indie musician actually earns from music, even if they are signed, I have no compunctions whatsoever. Everybody's got a right to pay their rent. Any music fan who has a problem with that should try living in a transit van for 6 months at a time.

Bully for the Walkmen. I don't particularly care for their music, but I'm glad they got something except Freevi's for their trouble.

(note: I'd like them more if they sounded more like JF*E, but they really don't.)

― kate, Monday, 13 January 2003 22:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Everybody's got a right to pay their rent.

Not if they're indingent or something. Indie rockers, don't make any money so those of us with day jobs can take over your swank loft apartments in crummy neighborhoods!

― hstencil, Monday, 13 January 2003 22:24 (twenty-three years ago)

OK, whatever, they went to prep school, so they should have been lawyers, so then they would have even MORE money to buy swanky loft apartments in your neighbourhood...

― kate, Monday, 13 January 2003 22:43 (twenty-three years ago)

we all like money, don't we? hooray for the walkmen!

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:51 (twenty-three years ago)

They sure are playing the ad a lot, but people still get indignant? Good tune, okay commercial.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 04:54 (twenty-three years ago)

CON. I agree, I don't want to associate the song with the ad, much less the car. I love that song.

PRO. Fuck it, I've got TiVo, I don't watch ads anymore.

― Chris Dahlen (Chris Dahlen), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 05:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Usually for me, the Associating-A-Good-Song-With-A-Television-Commerical Syndrome only lasts a week or so. I think the key is to know the song before you see the ad. Maybe I wouldn't like The Shins' "New Slang" so much if the first time I'd heard it was on a McDonald's commerical. On the other hand, I still associate Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" with the Volkswagen ad it appeared in because I hadn't heard it before then.

Also: yeah, Jonathan Fire*Eater had a better singer, but the Walkmen's music is a little better.

― Nick Mirov (nick), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 05:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Trick to not having songs "ruined" by commercials: listen to the record instead of watching TV.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 05:55 (twenty-three years ago)

I mean, if you like the song so much.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 05:55 (twenty-three years ago)

... or watch TV with less commercials. I pretty much leave FLIX on all day long. It's like a flea market for unwanted movies.

― mosurock (mosurock), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 06:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I want to know who ever started the "letting a song be used in a commercial is selling out" mentality. Are/were they as stupid as this mentality implies? Good for the Walkmen, a brilliant band .. who is actually making money. Imagine that!

― insectifly (insectifly), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I was playing on my pc in the other room and I heard this song coming from the living room tv....I thought I was hearing things.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:48 (twenty-three years ago)

television commercials = the new hip radio station.

― doom-e, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Doom-e nailed it... TV commercials and whoever does the music for sports programs.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 14:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually saw the ad last night. I thought at first they were just gonna loop the keyboard part but then the singer's voice showed up. Personally, I would have just looped the intro, cuz nothing about the ad concept (which was goofy bullshit here-comes-maturity hooh-ha anyhow) had anything to do with the go-go.

It is probably their best song, I'll admit.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:39 (twenty-three years ago)

"It is probably their best song, I'll admit."

...which is really not saying very much.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I quite like this song.

If I'm going to be exposed to ads all the time I'd much rather they used songs I do like than songs I don't. I don't really associate songs with products.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:52 (twenty-three years ago)

It's a good song and they're a good band. they're not overrated at all because I don't ever see them rated anywhere. The only time I ever heard them was when they came through south by southwest. who the fuck kind of loser started this message board discussion? wait...what the fuck am I doing here!?

― Greg, Thursday, 16 January 2003 18:58 (twenty-three years ago)

I want to know who ever started the "letting a song be used in a commercial is selling out" mentality.

Jim Morrison, maybe?

Are/were they as stupid as this mentality implies?

Um...

― die9o (dhadis), Thursday, 16 January 2003 21:07 (twenty-three years ago)

four years pass...

now they have a song in spiderman 3. i'm sort of creped out by hamilton whatshisface going around naming the desk clerk who got him arrested for apparently being a drunk asshole, though.

Pitchfork: I've got to ask about your arrest at South by Southwest. Can you discuss that? Are you even allowed to?

Hamilton Leithauser: Yeah, sure.

Pitchfork: Has anything happened since then? Have you talked to the hotel desk clerk?

Hamilton Leithauser: I went back the next day, I was pretty mad at them. But they didn't give us anything for it. They didn't comp the rooms. They didn't do anything.

Pitchfork: Man, that's pretty ridiculous.

Hamilton Leithauser: They didn't even apologize. Matt [Barrick, drums] went in and explained to the porter, 'you know, the only reason this whole thing happened is because your guy got the room number wrong.' I never blew my top. There was no scene or anything. And then Matt said 'do you understand?' and the guy says 'I do now'. And that was it. Matt was like, 'are you going to do anything?' and the guy's like 'well, no.' All right, great, fuck you.

Pitchfork: Care to remind us of the name of the hotel and the clerk?

Hamilton Leithauser: Oh yeah, I'm more than happy to. It's the Crowne Plaza on I-35 North, just north of downtown Austin. The man's name is Marice. M-A-R-I-C-E.

― rps, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

that is fucking creepy.

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

texas is the reason, etc

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

i guess pfm is so enamored with propping up assholes in four-years-over indie bands that they lose their moral bearings and allow themselves to be used as a soundboard for payback against some hotel worker who was probably just trying to deal with a drunk prick.

― rps, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

That really is creepy. wtf? Why would they comp your room after you were arrested for being a drunk asshole? I don't think that guy has reached the level of stardom needed to be allowed to be that delusional.

I think I am going to see the Walkmen later this month, if they're the ones opening for the Kaiser Chiefs that I'm thinking of.

― musically, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

what i'd like to know is what pitchfork editor thinks that sort of thing passes muster.

― rps, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

wouldn't holding a huge grudge over paying for a single night at a hotel be the OPPOSITE of a sign of stardom? talk about ghetto.

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:04 (nineteen years ago)

broken social scene black eye jpeg plz!

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude ‫茄蕃‪, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

oh fuck you hamilton, that motherfucker answers the phone when i do my daily call around and he's cool.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

^ waht

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude ‫茄蕃‪, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks for spelling out his name Hamilton, now I can go give that duder a high-five you douche.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

I work at a hotel in downtown Austin, Catsup. Part of my afternoon shift requires that I call a number of other hotels to get their numbers, including the Crowne Plaza. I've chatted with Marice at length about dealing with asshole guests, relating horror stories etc, and he's always seemed like the type to do the smart thing.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

xpost that is

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

DA HOOS vouches for marice

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

you guys are like the cia

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude ‫茄蕃‪, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:11 (nineteen years ago)

are these the guys doing a song for song cover of nilsson's pussycats?
i hate them for that.

― chaki, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

their last album was super hyped by pitchfork and they tricked me into buying it. there's two bad guys here.

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

not the nilsson one, that is. the last regular one.

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

ten years pass...

come up on my discovery and damn The Rat is still so fucking good imo . haven't heard it in years

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Friday, 15 December 2017 20:34 (eight years ago)

fuck yeah

― brimstead, Friday, 15 December 2017 20:35 (eight years ago)

best drummer

― brimstead, Friday, 15 December 2017 20:35 (eight years ago)

fucking terrible thread, good god ilm

― brimstead, Friday, 15 December 2017 20:36 (eight years ago)

lol yeah there were a few thread i just picked this one without reading it really

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Friday, 15 December 2017 20:37 (eight years ago)

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