Mellencamp blames Petty (for turning him into a whore)

Maybe he saw second billing to a puppet show in his future, trying to sell CDs to a generation that thinks Seinfeld is as much ancient history as The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Or maybe he's going to take a run at (another) trophy wife and needs some extra cash.

 

Not necessarily defending him, but ultimately, these guys perform to be heard. In his 50s, Mellencamp doesn't want to become a tree falling in the forest.

It took some ethical gymnastics, but I guess he's hoping that the commercial leads people to the album and in turn can turn people onto his music and his thoughts. Greater good served, in his mind.

 

Or maybe he's trying to stockpile cash now for those medical bills he knows are coming up being a chain-smoking heart attack survivor.

 

If he wants to turn people on to the music, make it good enough where it will get some high critical praise in advance of the release. Do the late-night TV circuit (Leno, Letterman, O'Brien, Kimmel, and/or SNL, etc.), do the Today Show or GMA and make 2 of the 3 songs you play off the new album. Make the new stuff kill in concert where people will tell their friends how good the new album is. But don't sell out and make your song associated with a product just so more people can hear it.

 

Good points have been made here.

Also, I don't think MEGACORP RADIO is very likely to play any new Petty after his scathing "The Last DJ."

 

You should know it's not that easy.

 

ESJ:

Everything you write is spot-on.

I was a Mellencamp fan until this. And it's not specifically because he did the commercial (and that fucking annoying song) but because he gave into those principles to which he held so steadfast for years. I mean, jeez...isn't the millions he has already made enough to cover the remainder of his life? (answer: too much is never enough)

This promotion is so all about the money. His complaining about having problems getting his records promoted have fallen on deaf ears for the last 10 years, when he crossed over from Mercury to Columbia. He complained then about Mercury's promotion of him. His sales were sagging, he wasn't what the record companies wanted (even as prolific as he has been), and his "die-hard" audience lost the "hard" part of that designation. That has proved true with Columbia, but I did enjoy his first Columbia effort.

Yet for that CD (I've finally stopped saying 'album' when referring to an artist's work), he did do the late-night circuits, got critical praise, and had a few of the songs hit the local CR stations. Modest success, but it just didn't catch on.

His next release didn't really generate much hoopla, and the one before his most recent, "Trouble No More," was roundly praised for his acoustic roots effort, but criticized for a song that ripped Bush. Again, not much success.

If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a noise?

 

Uh, John, Neil Young would like to have a word with you

 

I really don't understand the indignation here. Folks, it's not like artists haven't been doing this for ages already. So John let them use his song and pocketed some coin. Big deal. Am I a fan of the commercials? No. Why begrudge Mellencamp? It's his song -- he didn't make the decision to run the damn thing at every commercial break of every sporting event televised.
Of course it's about the money -- that's one motivating component of anything we all do.

 

The thing is, some artists have done this and had success. U2 letting Vertigo be in that Itunes spot helped sales for their last studio album a lot. Bono took some heat for it, but said they want people to hear the music and if that's what it takes for them to pay attention, he'd do it.

U2 wasn't the only band that's had it work out well. Were any other Caesars songs hits besides "Jerk It Out"? A buddy of mine discovered The The when their song "This Is the Day" was in a freaking Dockers ad, of all things. Unfortunately, when it's linked to the wrong product or just overplayed, it can kill a song as well. Mellencamp just hitched his wagon to the wrong horse - Chevy pounded that thing into the ground worse than the Applebee's guys during last year's NCAA tourney first weekend. It's a shame, because I heard the album preview show he did on Sirius this weekend and it's actually pretty good.

 

All women around the world want a phony rock star who plays guitar

 

And the 5,000,000th consecutive reference sails over slappy's echoey, dusty, empty cranium.