Browsing Tag

AC/DC

(Legal) Career Killers: Violent Femmes and Wendy’s.

Advertisers love using popular music in commercials in order to generate a positive reaction or forge strong bonds with potential consumers.

When done well, a song can become an effective spokesperson for a product. Think Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock” and Chevrolet. Or The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” and Microsoft Windows 95. Or for a sad, but equally effective example, Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” and the ASPCA.

In some cases, a good ad campaign can re-invigorate an artist’s career and re-ignite interest in their music. For instance Volkswagen’s 1999 ad featuring “Mr. Roboto” served as a springboard for Styx’s comeback. Meanwhile, Sting’s decision to license “Desert Rose” for Jaguar gave him one of his biggest late-career hits and buoyed his 1999 album, Brand New Day. A few years later, an innovative HP commercial exposed a new generation to “Picture Book,” a fairly obscure Kinks album track and B-side that has, since, become of their best-known songs.

Sometimes, it can even give artists much-needed exposure. For instance, Moby’s 1999 album, Play, had largely been ignored until it was aggressively licensed for commercials, TV and film. The move allowed Play to become a multi-platinum hit and served as a template for subsequent artists like The Black Keys, Vampire Weekend and Imagine Dragons to follow.

Of course, it can also lead to accusations of selling out. Some artists, like Neil Young, Tom Petty and The Beastie Boys (until recently) have adamantly refused to license out their music, while others, like The Beatles, got upset when their songs were used in ads without their blessing.

When it came to the Violent Femmes, it was a 2007 Wendy’s ad that led to a bitter lawsuit between band members and a subsequent breakup.

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Career Killers: “Switch” by INXS

Plenty of bands choose to soldier on after the death of an iconic, seemingly-irreplaceable lead singer.

Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen went with established singers, touring and recording with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company fame before moving onto “American Idol” alum Adam Lambert. AC/DC took the opposite approach, hiring then-unknown Brian Johnson to replace Bon Scott. The Eagles did a bit of both, replacing Glenn Frey with country superstar Vince Gill, as well as Frey’s son, novice musician Deacon. Bands such as Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Sublime, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and even the Grateful Dead have carried on in some form, with mixed results.

Other bands chose not to try and replace the irreplaceable. Nirvana broke up after Kurt Cobain died by suicide – as did Mother Love Bone following Andy Wood’s fatal heroin overdose (although two members of the band ended up forming Pearl Jam). Joy Division never replaced Ian Curtis, instead guitarist Bernard Sumner moved into the frontman’s role and the band became New Order, one of the most acclaimed and popular synth bands of the 80s.

Then there are some bands that give it a go with new singers, only to flop badly, ruin their legacy and confirm to everyone that they should have just let their band die with their late vocalist.

INXS was one such band.

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Career Killers: “The Spaghetti Incident?” and “Sympathy for the Devil” by Guns N’ Roses

When Guns N’ Roses announced they were releasing an album of (mostly) punk covers in 1993 to tide fans over until the next original album came out, it made perfect sense.

The Gunners had always been a great covers band (for my money, their rendition of “Live and Let Die” was better than Sir Paul’s and their live version of “Whole Lotta Rosie” kicks all kinds of ass) and this project promised to see them return to the kind of stripped-down, straightforward rock sound that had made them famous. Given their unsteady work ethic, any record from Axl and the boys was a good thing. Meanwhile, they were so popular and big at the time that they could have farted out an album of Osmond Family covers and it would have gone multiplatinum.

Surely, whatever they did wouldn’t compromise their careers and lead to a spectacular self-implosion – of which the band still hasn’t fully recovered from, right?

Well…

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Album Review: “White Light” by The Corrs

White Light, the first studio album from The Corrs since 2005, is, to borrow a phrase from The Simpsons, a perfectly cromulent album. The first family of Celtic-infused pop could have used the time off to reinvent themselves and embiggen their repertoire. They could have modernized their sound. They could have experimented with different genres. Heck, they could have let violinist and background singer Sharon sing a few songs (during the last decade, both she and lead singer Andrea launched solo careers, and Sharon outsold her).

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Album Review: “Head Job” by Phil Rudd

As Phil Rudd found out, it may be a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n roll, but it doesn’t take much to get shot down in flames. Rudd’s position as drummer for AC/DC has been on ice (Black Ice. Okay, I’ll stop.) ever since he was arrested last November for attempting to hire a hitman and possession of drugs (Chris Slade, who played drums on 1990’s The Razor’s Edge is replacing Rudd for the current tour). The murder-procurement charge was dismissed, and Rudd pleaded guilty on Tuesday to threatening to kill a former employee.

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