A new musical journey
April 25, 2008
Last night I saw a TV spot for the new 2009 Dodge Journey. My ears instantly perked up. There was something familiar about it. Something I’d heard before.
It was the music. Specifically, Grandaddy’s “AM-180” from their 1997 album Under the Western Freeway.
I’ve been a Grandaddy fan for about a decade. And this song is one of my favorites. So you can imagine my surprise.
“Isn’t this a mini-van,” I thought? “Aren’t those for parents and yuppies and guys in hip hop groups?”
(To which I answered myself, “You know, the people who liked that song when it came our are probably either: 1. Parents 2. Yuppies 3. Guys in bands, though not necessarily hip hop.)
I then got over it and realized how cool this was. Grandaddy, getting national airplay (albeit uncredited commercial airplay).
What I find amazing is the idea of television advertising – and to a certain extent, teenage-driven television shows – as one of the most effective vehicles for music distribution.
It seems more than ever that the independent rock scene is overflowing with bands that have marginal, niche audiences. There are simply too many to take in at once.
But getting your music in commercials or television shows, whether on purpose or by chance, is proving to be an incredibly viable path to sudden respectability – or, at least, relevance.
After all, look what it did for Feist. (Or, come to think of it, The Fratellis, Yael Naem, or any Apple artist.)
——-
(Added bonus – when searching for the Grandaddy spot, I found another Dodge Journey spot – exact same video, different song, different copy. I wonder which was created first…and if this one was even supposed to be released.)
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