Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Tag: Music in advertising

"Wine and Grine"
Zeroto180

“W[h]ine and Grine”: Rocksteady with Pre-Fame Jeremy Sisto

<Spotify LINK to Prince Buster Mix> Thanks to Dave Katz‘s feature article about Prince Buster in the June 2008 issue of Mojo for leading me to this 1998 Levi’s ad that stars a young Jeremy Sisto before the HBO series, Six Feet Under, made him a breakout star: * Video clip

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"You Deserve a Break Today"
Zeroto180

Jimmy Radcliffe Deserves a Break Today

Revisiting those iconic images of the world’s peoples joined together on a hillside singing as one — while sipping a Coke — brought to mind The Hillside Singers, whose non-denominational plea for unity, “We’re Together,” I had always assumed was the inspirational basis for what would later get turned into

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60s/70s rock +/- pop
Zeroto180

Music Goes Better with Coca-Cola

A number of notable names in pop music have recorded jingles for Coca-Cola, and — incredible as it might seem — a few of them came out surprisingly well. Sydney, Australia’s Easybeats pull off the nice hat trick of writing an unabashed ode to a soft drink that is –

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Advertising +/- marketing in popular music
Zeroto180

Muddy Waters: He’s a Pepper, Too

From reading Robert Gordon‘s excellent biography of Muddy Waters – Can’t Be Satisfied –  I learned that the former McKinley Morganfield once made a little pocket change recording a radio spot for Dr. Pepper: Is it really true – as the YouTube video clip contributor asserts – that Randy Newman

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"TV Commercials"
Zeroto180

“TV Commercials”: ‘Mad Men’ Cautionary Tale

Don Bowman, in February 1961, presciently grasped the enormity of Madison Avenue and advertising’s outsized influence on American attitudes and marketplace behavior in his first single, “T.V. Commercials“: “T.V. Commercials” served as the B-side of “Coward at the Alamo” and, judging by its catalog number, appears to be among the last

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"Houston Hash"
Zeroto180

Nashville Chowdown: Rice’s Great Image Makeover

I cannot imagine why anyone would let this album go, but someone obviously did, and five dollars later, we became family: The album’s subtitle is a bit of a hoot: “Country & Western supper music and Singing Rice-ipes“ (as in recipes for rice). Would you be surprised to learn that

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"Mr. Sun Mr. Moon"
Zeroto180

Q: Who’s the Swingin’est Dolly?

Answer:  Swingy. I picked up a flexi-disc at the local thrift store, just like the ones kids used to cut out of the back of cereal boxes back when “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies was burning up the charts (click here for a discography of “cereal box records” by those

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