28 August 2008

Levi's commercial features Mark Lanegan


I was a little startled to see this new(ish) Levi's commercial features the inimitable vocal stylings of Mark Lanegan (a track from his album with Isobel Campbell, Ballad of the Broken Seas). Lanegan is an icon of the indie music scene, and Levi's is known for pushing the envelope of television ads but it was still a bit jarring to see/hear the combination.

As a parent, I'm of two minds about edgy commercials. It's easy to appreciate them when they're shown at an appropriate hour but a bit difficult to explain them to your sub-adolescent children when they air in prime-time. Particularly funny about this commercial is the fact that, while the song lyrics mesh well with the video content (two strangers tearing each other's clothes off while admitting they've lied to each other is accompanied by Lanegan's guttural "I won't say that I love you, I won't say I'll be true...") the evocative line that ends the stanza is left out: "there's a crimson bird flying when I go down on you". When a commercial is so explicitly about sex, why not just leave that line in? Perhaps a few people will hear and understand the line but they'll probably be laughing too hard to be offended.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:12 PM

    Any mention of menses is still pretty much taboo in polite society... kind of odd.

    Keep writin', boss.

    cholly b

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