Credit: Ajeet Mestry / Unsplash.com
I’m going to channel my inner Frank Costanza for a moment and air some grievances. Yes, I know it is not Festivus, but I must vent this issue that has been bothering me for some time.
Let me start by saying I’m unclear what “middle age” is anymore. Somewhere as I grew up, that benchmark seemed to push itself back later and later, and I for one am thankful. And perhaps it is the older I get, but I seem to agree that the phrase “age is just a number” rings truer with time.
I will admit, my taste of music is also a big older than my real age. What can I say? Music was better before I was born. Most of my favorites are gone from this world, forget the radio. I love live music, but when most of your musical idols are dropping like flies, half of the battle is simply to see them before they die.
I am lucky to say I’ve gotten to see many of them. I spent part of last summer traveling to Las Vegas to see Dead & Company (what is left of my absolute favorite band the Grateful Dead mixed with some new blood with amazing talent) at The Sphere. It was, by far, the most amazing and enjoyable concert experience of my life. If you get to go to this venue to see someone you enjoy, I’d highly recommend it.
But alas, it is not the aging musicians, my own demise, or even the costly jaunts to see my favorites that I’m here to gripe about. No, it is the use of these favorite tunes in today’s wild world of marketing.
When songs I love began to play in box stores as I shopped, I tried to ignore it. When I heard “musak” versions of childhood favorites morphed into elevator music and even children’s lullabies, I didn’t let it shake me. But today’s advertising has gone too far.
Now the songs I’ve spent a lifetime loving are everywhere. You’d think that’d be exciting, right? Well, perhaps it would be more “music to my ears” if it was not in the form remains after an ad exec has stuffed it into a television advertisement.
It seems these days, nearly any classics are up for grabs. I’m not sure if it is that musicians are selling out the rights to their work to make a buck or just the creative and morbid ways advertisers transform the songs that makes this new and terrifying trend carry on. Some tunes are barely recognizable in the “new form,” an awful and distorted wreckage that ads now use as their melody, a blank slate to hawk their wares.
I am not remotely exaggerating when I say, in the past week alone, I have heard tunes I previously enjoyed being used in commercials for everything from toilet paper to prescription drugs, new movies, cars, and from banks to box stores. It is really starting to get on my nerves.
Here are some ads that have particularly made me aggravated of late:
For one, I am prone to “stuck tune syndrome.” It’s a thing, I swear. And I hate the word “earworm.” It makes my skin crawl… yuck. This means, however, that once I’ve heard even a bastardized version of a song I like, it is often running through my head for remainder of that day. Worse, so many change the lyrics to fit their brainwashing needs, that the WRONG works can make their way in there, too.
An even bigger problem for me is the distortion. I’d love for my musical memories to remain undisturbed. So much of my life I can tie to a particular song, a moment preserved in my brain’s files, tied to one tune. Songs are also very meaningful for me. I love tunes I can relate to, connect to the passion of, or feel on another level. Music is important to me. I cherish those moments in time, frozen to a song, connected forever. And, quite frankly, these dumb ads are ruining it.
Music can change my mood. Music can make me feel. Music holds meaning. And these ads are taking all of that and destroying the ties that bind. Commercials get on my nerves in so many ways as it is, adding my “era” of music is just making my hate for them grow.
Maybe this is common practice. Maybe, at a certain age, you just must accept that some of your long-time favorites are just going to be used in ways you do not appreciate. Maybe I’m just now realizing how frustrating it is?
I get the practicality of it all. Older songs are cheaper to buy the rights of, saving execs money on making the ad. Probably more importantly, I am of “that age” they are trying to target. The middle-aged moms that make purchasing decisions for a household. Yikes. I’m sure it is purposeful, aiming to strike that bit of nostalgia into my heart.
To be honest, it does the opposite for me. It makes me angry you are using music I hold close to my heart to try to sell a product. I suppose it is because I have such emotional connections to music that it bothers me so. I wish the practice would end.
I’m sure, either way, I can’t personally stop them. I can still stage my one-woman crusade via column. Thanks for letting me jump on the old soap box for a moment to vent my concerns.
We can move on to the Feats of Strength now.
