22. Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper (Tay Zonday)
21. My Buddy/Kid Sister
20. Mr. Spriggs BBQ
19. Doublemint Gum (Chris Brown)
18. Bagel Bites
17. Betty Crocker ("You Sweet Talker," 1985)
16. McDonald's McNugget Love
15. The Gap ("Talk To The Moose")
14. Big Red
13. Flea Market Montgomery (Sammy Stephens)
12. Chili's (Baby Back Ribs, *NSYNC)
11. Doublemint Gum ("Twins")
10. Baskin-Robbins ("Ice Cream and Cake"-Full song here)
9. Almond Joy/Mounds ("Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut")
8. McDonald's ("Give Me Back That Filet-O-Fish")
7. Pepsi (Britney Spears)
6. IO Cablevision ("Reggaeton Beach")
5. Mentos
4. Subway ("5 Dollar Footlong")
3. Subway ("Cinco Dolares Por Un Sub De Un Pie De Largo")
2. Kit Kat
1. Oscar Mayer
David Cho is the publisher of The Awl. He eats a lot of fast food, usually in front of the television.
Whither http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2_H6pwrB-U
Minus the will.i.am = Bob Dylan side by side, that is a fun commercial
Punky Chips Ahoy! Oi! Oi! Oi!
Yeah, a part of me died when that came out. Of course, that part of me didn't shower much in the first place, so it took a while for its demise to come to light.
Yeah, me too. That and the Mac kid ranting about how Pontiacs are like the Buzzcocks. (Was that the Mac kid?)
I just want a lover like any other, what do I get? Not even an Acura.
'Course, it took Radio 4 approximately six days of fame-ish-ness to place "Dance to the Underground" in a car commercial. So there's always matters of degrees.
They're nice and precise, each one begins and ends. They may win you admirers, but they'll never earn you friends.
Well, you tried it out for once, found it all right for kicks: The new Saturn!
I believe in the worker's revolution, and I believe in the new Ford Expedition. I believe in ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q98WrVhaTg
Holy smokes.
The mind reels.
Up on the hilltop where the vultures perch, that's where I'm gonna build my church. Ain't gonna be no priest, ain't gonna be no boss, just Charles Nelson Reilly nailed to a cross.
Build it and they will come. Or at least, I will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qayjR8Qbyfc
Fuck yes, exactly! Should've made the list!
I was getting REALLY nervous that I wasn't going to see Mentos on here. Like REALLY nervous.
But then I saw it. I'm fine now.
Okay, calm down.
I think I need a Mentos.
Also: the vegetables in that freeze-frame on the Subway commercial need to be a few shades paler - not so fresh and vibrant as that, are they.
Is there no trust? :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISeGiZvPztc
needs more andrew wk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02AfiASP6yw
also i like the way ne-yo turned the big red jingle into 'irreplaceable 2':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzg55C3QaZA
If TV had more ads like that, I might actually reconsider DVR'ing everything.
Big Red jingle > Doublemint jingle
Definitely. I would pay at least cinco dolares for a Big Red song cover album. Thinking Bjork, Andrew Bird, Passion Pit, just to get the ball rolling.
See, in the gum jingle genre I think I most prefer Juicy Fruit.
You're not wrong.
No A1 Limousine?!?!
I thought I was the only one who liked the Talk to the Moose commercials! All children should be dressed that way everyday. Mine will be, if I'm ever allowed to have them that is.
also, the boy band taco bell ad (the fast food/casual dining industry really killed it last year song-wise):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnl27kAK9yM
ok going to stop now.
Yesterday I walked past a tshirt shop around times square that was called NYC MINI MALL and I thought "that's no montgomery flea market that's for sure."
Where is SNOOPY SNOW CONE MACHINE? That is the jingle that is stuck in my head rather than, say, algebra.
Bagel Bites pushed it off the list.
I HAVE a Snoopy Snow Cone Machine.
Someone gave me an Urban Outfitters gift card for Chanukah one year and it was the only god damned thing in that whole fucking store that I would actually put in my house and/or wear.
I had one as a kid too, and the one I have now is not for irony/sentimentality's sake: I use it to make snow cones which are then topped with bourbon, scnhapps, etc.
Mmm, bourbon snow cones. And a use for Urban Outfitters. Thanks, HG!
The Snoopy Snow Cone machine does make VERY GOOD, SUCCESSFUL snow cones. Verified, test of time, etc.
No "We've Only Just Begun?" http://tinyurl.com/ylfdoq9
No "Upgrade U?" http://tinyurl.com/68uy3h
You forgot so many rap songs (St. Ides, Sprite, etc.)
Also, "Pass The Courvoisier".
I am posting this for Katie Bakes and all of the other NYC natives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvzUyaTv-6A
("There's that news van again!" isn't really musical)
i see you that and raise you the panoptic spectre of dick lewis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8VCBghLWe8
BrianVan - Full disclosure, I asked Katie Baker for her help in curating this list and she submitted that one.
That fact that you just used "curate" in this post makes me have to hate you just a tiny bit.
Don't take it personally.
@Maura: Oh! And!
http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=UwlvkUMsDgI&feature=related
@Cho: I'm not at all surprised.
BV, I suggested both your first AND second YouTube links ("This is New Yorky, but for people from the tri-state area these two were REALLY important" is how I pitched them to Cho.)
I forgot this one, however, and for that I am deeply ashamed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dOsgyw7yBw&feature=related
HockeyMom - You have to have known I was joking right? I don't even begin to take myself nearly that seriously.
@katiebakes: I prefer this version of the song, but it's so script-heavy in the front here, I know they cut out a lot of lyrics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXk2GIIxeAA
This is why I flinch at the "Mount Airy Casino Resort" ads, which rip off this timeless classic.
Katie - Oh get off it.
@katiebakes and brianvan: But don't forget the Nevele.
@oudemia: ZOMG
My daughter leaves me random messages all the time, consisting of only this (shouted into the phone):
"What if it was YOU, hanging up on that wall?"
Cracks me up, every time.
New Order's remake of "Blue Monday" for Sunkist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tta6bAeN_Tk
wow, the visual representation of the band there...
Is it the "Touched by the Hand of God" video where they dressed up as hair-metallers? Not sure whether that or this came first.
That is cray-cray.
For anyone who lives near DC, two words: Eastern. Motors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCwRrXUHyCA&feature=related
YES! (was gonna post this if no one else did.)
I was in a cab home late one night, and the radio was tuned to some club that was broadcasting out their dance floor music, and I swear, there was a remix of the Eastern Motors song playing.
Depends on what "best" means but THIS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Dgu--CzGw
Also, re: "best":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8XxIATY0yU
Was there an unintentional-comedy preclusion of some sort? Mr. Bucket is distraught.
Needs more Hot Rize.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaAuehrcrzE
I was seriously skeeved out by this as a kid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGjDjKJWwvs
Also: Enya.
Nothing worse in this whole world than white chocolate.
or Enya.
Shut up both of you. Song's awesome. White chocolate's awesome. Nestle is probably the antichrist, but that's neither here nor in Bangladesh.
oh MAN. that commercial will haunt me tonight.
It's weirder than that. That is Faith No More.
Loyal Colgate customer to this day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkUtfx814ik
All due respect to Oscar Mayer, but what could be greater than golf with a gator?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnOyMSEWNTs I posted this last week not knowing we would be discussing awesome commercials this week, so apologies.
I ask of those who, like 4-Tay, were born and raised in the City by the Bay, to remind me who yelled "No credit? Bad credit? No problem. WE FINANCE!" at us every ten minutes. My gut says Paul from the Diamond Center, but I'm not seeing him on YouTube.
But again, for said regional market, there's no question that "Credit Man" would be on this list.
Also, this shit, for Hi-C. It's been stuck in my head for 20 years, and upon finally revisiting it, ya know what? Deservedly so! Great fucking song! It's like minimalist Kim Wilde!
I'm assuming you left out "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" on purpose which makes me question the authority of this entire list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOEU87SBTU
Fuck. If I'm humming that nefarious shit driving home tonight I'm going to be Seriously Pissed Off.
This reportedly caused John Updike to ursinate himself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiLvz1XAV5s
omg I LOVE this.
Overlooked, perhaps because of the visual cuteness, is the NY Lotto Sweet Million theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF6PyIML0hI
Nothing yet invented on this planet makes me happier than that commercial. I want to LIVE in that commercial.
Break me off a piece of that football cream.
I'll have some Kool Aid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYS7aQY1iZI
over here in the Honeycomb Hideout. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVh7rhVgoas
Ooh, and another Radio 4 snatch-for-your-wallet-which-turns-into-a-grab-for-your-crotch-which-ends-up-being-an-awkward-jab-in-the-snatch delight.
It's not on youtube, but a good old commercial song is "New York loves San Giorgio(oooooo)! Great spaghetti! - for a great. spaghetti. town!"
Ween for Pizza Hut!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s492PMdIaJs
"Where'd the mothafuckin' cheese go at?"
YES
Better coffee millionaires' money can't buy.
I've loved that Filet-o-Fish jingle ever since I found out the vocals inspired by David Byrne. (http://idolator.com/5236602/the-most-useful-thing-about-the-rolling-stone-hot-issue-finding-out-who-wrote-gimme-back-that-filet-o-fish#discus_thread) (Thanks Maura!)
Also since it was frequently sung by PAs around the ob/gyn where I used to work after some of our stinkier patients stopped by. It was a very professional place.
<3 !
(mind) -> BLOWN!
Why you negging on FREE CREDIT REPORT DOT COM indie bros?!
i know right! it's because that guy is canadian...
Reggaeton Beach! Never forget.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd_5Xrb9TtY
Inchworm, you've gotta know
I want you with me everywhere I go
Inchworm, inchworm, I'm telling you true
Inchworm, I love you
Inchworm, I love you
Great song for an El Cerrito, CA pet shop - Wet Pets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMbsZU83ajc
re #16: there is a new version of mcnugget lovin' and now it's a duet and the girl sings - but i can't find it anywhere... maybe it was for black history month only. what i did find however is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TufvtpmtVzg
bet you didn't know mcnugget lovin' is A FULL- MOTHERFUCKING-LENGTH SONG!!! how many commercials have that?!?!?!
What, no
I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOEU87SBTU
Be a Pepper http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DWf-rSHn0
Charlie Perfume 1970's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=009NzwvBqq0
That one chord change on "$5 Footlong" is like the best part of every Donovan song compressed into half a second.
This listicle is a dieter's nightmare.
Not if you do run, do jump, do hop-hop.
Pretty sure Ice Cream & Cake wasn't written specifically for Baskin Robins, and amazingly came out on the apparently one-note Buckwheat Boy's album alongside Peanut Butter Jelly Time.
This is factually correct, but come on, let's just roll with it.
Charlie! by Revlon, featuring Bobby Short. A true classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5juK-UrgJG0
kinda hey, kinda wow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBIF8VXlPhc
No love for Zack the Lego Maniac?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDH3AoOQzE0
Also, would this be the appropriate place to discuss my RAGE at American Express's using a Bach cello suite to pimp out AmExes? It's one of the most beautiful pieces of classical music ever, and they're fucking using it to sell credit cards.
People make you listen to sales pitches, so therefore you want them to make you listen to bad music as well? I don't get it.
There's a water park in my neck of the woods called Water Slide World, and their song rules, but if you didn't grow up in the Albany, NY television market, then you wouldn't know about it. But trust me, it's awesome.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2542882084
Juicy Fruit!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_a4mCRIPRY&feature=related
No love for Enjoli? Or did I miss it somewhere up above?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0_uhUhqrbk
I was touristing in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, and my friend asked the cable car driver if anyone ever asked him to sing the Rice-a-Roni song.
The guy looked at us pointedly and said, "Nobody young." Ouch.
No Rockapella Folgers Coffee jingle? FAIL! FAIL FAIL FAIL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmgdH8oAcG4
One more cup, and it's a hoo-wop shoo-bop for me!
Moo+Oink = Moo and Oink!
throw the list open to foreign commercials and it would balloon QUICKLY (the famous scandinavian pizza hiphop jingle that actually cracked the top 10 of the pop charts springs to mind immediately)
Tootsie Roll commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qayjR8Qbyfc
And "I Wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNddW2xmZp8
It walks downstairs alone or in pairs and makes a slinkety sound, a spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, everyone knows it's Slinky.