Re: Oil of Olay

From: Jason Witherspoon (arzachel@speakeasy.org)
Date: Tue Mar 20 2001 - 07:07:14 CET

  • Next message: Kennedy, Liam: "RE: Oil of Olay"

    At 9:41 PM -0700 3/19/01, Jason Jasberto Batog wrote:
    >Too bad the music we like is getting formatted to a non-specific background
    >type music that people were made to think it was jingle music made for the
    >commercial. :)
    >
    >jjb

    I don't think it's that non-specific. On a lot of those old italian
    soundtracks they'd list the "mood" along w/the track title & time;
    here's a few from the _Stroboscopica_ comp:

    hypnosis, anxiety
    young, free, activ world (sic)
    fashion, erotism
    tension, chase
    sexy, misterious atmosphere
    juvenile atmosphere

    a lot of trip-hop/downbeat is just tailor-made to recreating a
    certain mood or set of psychological responses/emotional associations.

    To share some, ahem, insider info-- the one summer between freshman &
    sophomore year of college when my dad pressured me to apprentice at
    an ad agency, I was called upon to provide some music for an ad--
    just because one of the managers noticed I listened to lots of
    different music. She asked me to make a tape of music that captured
    "the feel of the open road" (this was for BMW! Haw!) So, naturally
    I gave her some Kraftwerk, & a buncha other stuff I forget; but she
    wound up going for the Kraftwerk-cop "Your Silent Face" by New Order
    (the instrumental portion). Kind of hilarious, but it worked great
    in the commercial. And since it was only airing on South Texas
    radio, I didn't feel too bad about "sullying" the band.

    I somehow doubt the artist got compensated on that one, though--

    Point being, at the ritzier big-city agencies, they probably think a
    lot about what emotional triggers they can co-opt, & instrumental
    music that's got a "hip", "urban" edge is perfect-- none of the
    "controversy" of hip-hop (a let none that can't be edited out, a la
    Mos Def), most of the street cred, plus a handy emotional punch.

    -- 
    

    Jason Witherspoon ICQ #62837760

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