Lou Reed: Was The Velvet Underground Founder The First Rockstar To Sell Out (Honda)?
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In today's video we take a look at the time Lou Reed became one of the first rockstars to endorse a commercial product which was a Honda line of scooters.
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These days it’s not uncommon to see rock music appearing in commercials.. It’s almost accepted now with some notable moments including taco bell trying to sell fast food using a Guns N’ Roses song. But when did this all start? Well people can thank Velvet Underground founder and solo artist Lou Reed. in the autobiography Lou Reed: A Life, biographer Anthony DeCurtis claims it all started with Lou Reed who not only licensed his hit song walk on the wild side, but also made an appearance in the commercial to sell honda scooters.
To some it wasn’t a big deal while others saw it as just another way some musicians would sell out. Honda two decades prior had a massive amount of success with their advertising campaign that used the slogan “You Meet the Nicest People.” As the 80’s rolled around the company wanted to take a different approach making people think scooters were a “cool way” to get around large cities.
In the 70’s the idea of using rock n’ roll to sell commercial products to the public was a ridiculous idea. To companies and advertisers rock n’ roll wasn’t mainstream enough, but by the next decade their attitudes had changed and the counterculture that Reed represented was now absorbed by capitalism and the era of Reagan. In some respects it was the Rolling Stones who opened the floodgates to rock n’ roll being used to sell products as in 1981 their tour at the time was sponsored by fragrance company Jovan who paid the band $1million to have their name splashed all over the tour.. Some critics claimed it was the death of rock n’ roll, but it paved the way for Honda to have rockstars sell their products.
Honda’s campaign for their scooters are the time saw them reach out to musicians including Miles Davis, Grace Jones and Devo, but The most notable part of the campaign involved Lou Reed. ,
Lou Reed was a strange choice for Honda given that typically advertisers want to use spokespeople with clean images and Lou Reed wasn’t that as you can see in these short clips.
• Lou Reed clip from The...
During Honda’s 1984 campaign Lou Reed also released his 13th studio record New Sensations which was well received by critics and audiences and it represented his first album in 6 years that charted on the billboard album charts.
According to author Mick Wall’s book Lou Reed: The Life writes:
New Sensations was so listenable that ... it attracted the attention of an advertising agency executive, Jim Riswold, then chief copywriter for the oregon based company[actually Portland] giants Wieden (Wyden) & Kennedy. ... So he approached Lou Reed to help make an ad for Honda scooters.
At the time, Riswold recalled, “advertisers didn’t put people in commercials who had a long history of drug addiction, and of course [Lou Reed] was a man who at one time in his life was married to a man, and that man was a transvestite, so I guess you could say he wasn’t your typical spokesman. But if you looked at who we were trying to sell scooters to, it was natural. Actually, when you look back at that commercial it seems pretty damn tame today.”
What’s funny is that in Mick Wall’s book he points out that Reed’s album New Sensations has the musician singing about a competing vehicle the Kawasaki GPx750 Turbo motorcycle.
Prior to bringing Reed on board Riswold needed Honda’s buy in so he arranged a meeting with the manufacturer where he brought nothing but Lou Reed’s album with him and played “Walk on the wild side” in order to pitc to the idea of having Lou Reed being the celebrity endorsement and the company agreed.
Honda would announce in a press release their partnership with Lou Reed at the time stating the company would “take a walk on the wild side to portray the spirit and adventure of scootering
“Reed is an innovator one of the pione
Using the shots of the gritty streets of new york with squeegee men,
Sources:
faroutmagazine...
dangerousminds...
www.thedailybe...
![[DRIP] ‘Love, Maybe’ PREVIEW](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U7hwHp95m1k/mqdefault.jpg)
Don’t forget that the Rolling Stones wrote a jingle for a Rice Krispies commercial in 1964.
Perhaps their most famous licensing deal was to Microsoft for Windows 95.
@@davidgalinat4257 Start Me Up!!!
@David Galinat in their defence, they had a big gap in-between this Rice Krispies jingle I've never heard of and the Windows Start Me Up deal. So they had a lengthy period of artistic integrity lol
Oof 😣
That was a question/answer on yesterday's Jeopardy !
I think putting out Metal Machine Music absolves him of any accusations of selling out
Oh my God thank you I was looking for somebody to say this before I commented if you think lose a sellout you've never heard metal Machine music
@@deexypher7373 none of his music can be described as selling out..... especially his early stuff, which was amazing...... if you call Lou's Art Rock music selling out, then how do you call Nickelback, Madonna, Bon Jovi etc...... these people are delusional..... plus, selling out by "borrowing" music to some brand isn't the same as selling out musically
I completely agree, nothing about Lou was 'sell out'.
💯
He endorsed a scooter.
Lou was never married to a transvestite. He was married to a woman named sylvia as well as Laurie anderson. You are thinking of his relationship with rachel
I had Lou as a guest at a restaurant I worked in in NYC. He was with his wife and another young woman. I tried to play it cool and just served his table like any other and quickly saw that he was irritable and surly. Some people there were disappointed in his treatment of the staff but I respected him in a way. He wasn't putting on a face for anyone. A Velvet Underground song actually came on by coincidence as it was on the playlist and he got so irritated lol!
Lou was a regular at the NYC restaurant I worked at and it was pretty hilarious how he would treat the people he was with but also just plain shitty. He was an oddly sad old man.
@@heavyjohnrobbie Haha! True, as it seems but I had heard of his attitude long before so I was curious to see if it was true. What's funny is that the place I worked at was a new, super trendy farm-to-table place where we gave these intricate dish descriptions and when I went into mine he turned to no one in particular and made some comment like, "Ugh! Here we go." His wife was ultra nice so it kinda made up for it. I was at the POS when the Velvets song came on and I looked over at his table and he was sitting there alone with the biggest scowl on his face. I think he thought that someone put the song on because he was there but it wasn't like that. The place I worked at is called ABC Kitchen
@ he's lou reed
@@DontreadPimpBoy Yep, 'nuff said.
Lou was probably still bitter about how back in his youth they locked him up in an asylum because of his bisexuality. Who knows what they did to him in that place. Not saying bisexuality is wrong and not defending his bad attitude, but at one point you could get your life totally derailed for it, and I can try to understand how he may have had bitterness and resentment in his heart. He was also heavy into drug and alcohol abuse, and those people are usually a nightmare to deal with. I would know, my dad was an addict and he was a rude douche for many years to me and my family.
When you release something like Metal Machine Music on a major record label in the 70s, you can't really ever sell out. Regardless, everyone needs money. Why do people act like it's immoral to get paid thousands of dollars to give a company permission to use something from your past? Easiest money he's probably ever made.
He released Metal Machine Music because he wanted to screw RCA. He said that after the success of "Transformer" and "Candy Can't Dance," RCA decided that a Lou Reed record meant big money and they couldn't trust big money to the likes of a Lou Reed, so the suits were constantly in his face. He wanted them off his back so he put out the worst record he could make so it would bomb and they would leave him alone because he would no longer be a money-maker for them.
Excuse me, "Sally Can't Dance." It 's late and it was a long time ago.
Why shouldn't a man get paid?
The Doors used “Light My Fire” in a commercial in 1970 without the frontman‘s heads up
I believe it was used in a commercial for the Ford Motor Company.
Morrison got his "revenge" on another Kreiger composition, "Touch Me". He added, quite gratuitously, the line "Stronger than dirt" at the end. It was from the jingle for Ajax Detergent. The company sued and won.
Steve Keebler The lizard king, yeah haha. I was just saying “The frontman” for those who were unaware of who he was. Don’t worry, I’m a huge Doors fan. Jim Morrison is my biggest inspiration as a person. I bought his replica necklace from the Young Lion photo shoot
That must've really killed Morrison. . .
yeah, I'm proud of that pun. Pun Dangerously.
Without his consent....
This is the guy who made White Light/White Heat, Berlin, Street Hassle, Metal Machine Music, and The Raven. He never sold out.
Yes
@@Johnny-lr5jt Lou Reed said a lot of things.
He endorsed a lame ass scooter, after decades of pushing anti capitalism, then said "it's the opposite of selling out". How? How is it the opposite of selling out?
@@willlastnameguy8329 Ok so MAYBE he sold out that one time... but he's Lou Reed
He also made The Original Wrapper. Don't know why
No,selling a company the right to use your song for an ad when you're broke and hungry isn't selling out;charging your so-called
fans 250 to 300 dollars for nosebleed seats when you're already sitting on millions (Cough!
RATM! Cough!)and supposedly
opposed to corporate greed;
unfortunately,is.
RATM must give their millions away to prove their integrity. I won’t wait. 😉
People need to learn the definition of "selling out."
Selling out does not mean making money. It does not mean licensing music. This is the entertainment BUSINESS. It's about making money.
"Selling out" means you say you'll never do something, then you do it anyway because you were offered a lot of money.
Two examples:
Kiss - they can never "sell out." Kiss has always been very up-front that the band was about two things - having sex with as many women as possible and making as much money as they can. There's no way they can sell out. Even if they took a large sum of money to quit tomorrow, they would still be following their goal of making as much money as possible.
Metallica - the DEFINITION of "selling out." For years, Metallica swore they didn't need MTV and they didn't need radio airplay, all they needed were their fans. Then Bob Rock came in for the Black Album and told them they would make more money if they would lose the heavy thrash sound, make the songs shorter, and make a video. THAT, my friends, is selling out.
KISS was a sellout from day one. Gene in particular is a huge sellout. Anything for money, that's the definition of a sellout.
Metallica I get
nunya to sell out you need to take money in exchange for going against your ideals or values. As awful and Gene and Paul may be you can’t place the sellout tag on them. They never had ideals to begin with besides being rich and famous rock stars.
Metallica hell yes they sold out.
@@elvistheripper i disagree with that. I was a huge kiss fan back in the day and they attempted to be artists at first and even succeeded in scattered instances. Once they had a big success with KISS Alive I and saw some money, things changed quickly. Nobody should be surprised though. The whole makeup thing at the time smacked of gimmick.
What im saying is the music became secondary very quickly. Maybe we have different ideas of a sellout, but in my book KISS is the stereotypical sellout.
@@elvistheripper Metallica didn't sell out until AFTER the Black Album is you ask me. Lots of people site the Black Album as them selling out, but i disagree. That album was something new for them but it was still pure. It's everything that came after that album that constitutes a sellout.
The only true way to “Sell out” is to completely compromise your artistic output for money. We know Lou did the opposite till the day he died.... Good to know Lou was a pioneer of RocknRoll advertisements!
He really did do it all
Pfftt. There is no one true way to sell out. Getting a check for your music to be selling hondas is def selling out. Especially if you're lou reed. He prob enjoyed the houses he bought with the dough. Maybe it was a worthy trade for him. Doesnt mean it isnt selling out.
MsFreshadenu with the Honda ad, Lou completely did the unexpected of himself and of famous musicians in general. He continued to challenge and even antagonize even his most ardent supporters. Again, for good or bad he continued to put himself and his reputation on the chopping block, doing exactly what he wanted to do. The legacy and influence of this practice far outweigh a random nobodies vague ideas of what it means to sell out.
Exactly. No one is going to convince me that the guy who wrote “sex with your parents” at 54 sold out. Take the money and continue to do what you do besides the fact that it continues to be unpopular is not selling out
I don’t understand the appeal of Lou Reed, such bullshit.....
Should anybody be really surprised that Lou Reed """""""Sold Out""""""""" (I hate that term)to advertisers?
After all, his manager in The Velvet Underground most famous work of art is a tin of Campbell's soup.
I mean if Vauxhall think they can sell cars using a song with Mark E Smith yelling over the top of it, then more power to them.
Tractor Fan Truth. And Warhol was trash. Not an artist.
Bad Seed pffffff Warhol was probably the greatest artist of the 20th century, with longer and deeper lasting cultural effects than even Picasso.
@subcomandante marcos touche!!
Warhol was a good artist. If you look at his early works, advertising shoes in the early 50's before "the factory" years, any unbiased eye can tell he had talent. Furthermore, taking something as mundane as a Soup Can, and making it an objet d'art echoes earlier artist like Duchamp and Magritte, without being derivative. Finally, he along with other artists like Lichtenstein changed how people viewed prints. The prints, themselves were seen as an end to themselves, rather than a mere, but true "copy" of the original. He was a horrible person, to be sure, but a good artist
I was wondering when someone was going to bring up good old Andy Warhol's influence on sweet baby Lou. About Racheal, ofcourse they weren't married. At that time it was illegal for same sex partners to marry. Correct me if l am wrong, but maybe Racheal died of Aids. One of the frist victims ofcourse, cuz sweet baby Lou hung like that. Those days were just starting to freak me out about, all those people dying. Damn scary then, kinda like now. So many blessings to everyone. 🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜🧚♀️
This was a fan request from a few weeks back. Here's the Moby video I was referring to th-cam.com/video/BRzVLARv8j4/w-d-xo.html
& Here's the time Lou Reed Collaborated With Metallica
th-cam.com/video/efOV824uoxc/w-d-xo.html
and throw suggestions for future topics below
Video suggestion: The demise of Phil Rudd of AC/DC
Do one on the death of Hillel Slovak in 1988
The original bassist from YNT death
@bucky468 it's an ok album hay Stupid is my favorite Alice cooper song ever. I'm not a big fan of his music but I have schools out on vinyl.
How about Bob Dylan's lackluster performance at Live Aid?
The Troggs licensed "Wild Thing" to Miller Beer back in 1969. Lou Reed is far from the first to do so.
Yes exactly and the Doors licensed Light My Fire to Buick in 1969
@@wesgk1604 Yes, but Jim Morrison quickly put a stop to it. That decision was made without him, and he was appalled by it. And to this day, they never licensed another song for a commercial.
Nobody blames a one hit wonder for milking their one and only single. Its to be expected.
Correct...also, the Stones briefly dabbled with this looooong before the Jovan sponsored 1981 tour--in 1963, they recorded the Rice Krispies jingle, used in the cereals TV spot.
@@anthonyaswe4174 i think that Jovan tour is the one where they supplied Keith Richards with pharmaceutical heroin so he could keep out of trouble and not bring down the tour they put up so much money for.
Magoo said before you can sell out, you have to have something people want to buy. Lou was a motorcycle guy, so it's not as much of a stretch for him to do a Honda ad as it was Grace Jones. Lou switched over to Harley Davidson by the early 1990's. BTW he wasn't married to Rachel.
EDIT: I didnt think about this until after I posted - for the first 7-8 years of his solo career Lou was managed by Mainman AKA Tony Defries (along with Bowie, Iggy Pop and a little later John Cougar). Lou has made it pretty clear that he didn't make shit off his touring or album sales until well into the 80's when he got his publishing rights back. With Lou being broke for so long I guess the first time somebody ran up waving a big check in his face, he grabbed it without being too concerned about what critics thought
Lou Reed was never a sell out he always did things his way , no one could force Lou to do anything.
"Are you happier as a schmuck?" 🤣
Contemporary music is the intersection of art, entertainment, and commerce. How an artist makes money selling his stuff is almost irrelevant. The key thing is that the art component of this equation not be compromised. Selling out is when you pander to an audience and make a product they want instead of being true to ones self and make something that comes from your soul and singular vision. Great artists never sell out. Their work is so good, say, like Picasso or Van Gogh, it could be reproduced as prints, t-shirts, or coffee mugs and the original form would not lose its intrinsic value.
Does Riswald really have his own last name tattooed on his chest? Because that looks meme worthy.
looks Photo shopped
I think we need a good definition of “sellout.” Just making a lot of money from your music doesn’t mean you’ve sold out. A sellout is when someone is going against his own goals and values JUST to make the money.
The Beatles did not use their songs to sell Nike shoes. Michael Jackson used to Beatles songs to sell Nike shoes.
Sony owns the catalog.
That's incorrect. Michael and now Sony own the publishing. They do not have the rights to use Beatles RECORDINGS in commercials. Only covers of songs. Only the 4 Beatles and/or their estates have the right to allow Beatles records to be used in commercials.
Cami Castle Sony and MJ's estate own Northern Songs. Most of Lennon/McCartney's songs are with that publishing company.
Universal and EMI own the rights to Beatles recording catalogue.,
Cami Castle - Not during the time he referred to in the video. Sony didn’t own it until 2016. Michael Jackson used to own The Beatles and he sold the songs to anyone who wanted them.
as long as the music is good, I don't care where it appears..... and as far as I'm concerned, Lou never stopped doing good music
I remember watching that commercial. Being a kid, I didn’t know who Reed was nor recognized the song, but I liked what I heard of it and wondered whether the spokesman at the ad’s end was the same guy who’d made the song (being Reed himself, obviously yes). Would be another several years before I came to grasp Lou Reed’s contribution toward and place in the development of alternative rock. Thanks for the memory!
Back in the 60's bands would always do ads - especially for Coca-Cola. The Bee Gees most famously. David Bowie had advertised whiskey in Japan long before Reed did his deal. More research required.
The Japan route was pretty common pre-Internet. May still be.Go overseas, get well paid for an ad, and come back knowing most of your fans were never going to see it. I believe Sting did that as well.
The Rolling Stones made a Rice Krispies radio spot in the early 60s. It was an original jingle.
TheAwmoody I have a file of the audio in my phone
I could swear I saw a TH-cam of an old advert of the Beatles doing a Winston cigarette ad. I’d have to look for it.
th-cam.com/video/9aHzCFVqCgA/w-d-xo.html
I hate the term 'sell-out'. Artists who create wonderful things fucking deserve to be handsomely rewarded for what they give us.
I owned 3 Honda sprees, loved Lou ! Could buy them with my part time job in high s hook
The who sold advertising spaces on the album the who sell out 1967
They wanted to but those are fake ads on the lp. They were never paid for any of them.
@Richard Bay That's true, but The Who did in fact write jingles for advertising, and so did the Stones.
They shoulda used Odorono
Lou Reed had bills to pay . He wasn’t rich over night . It took him awhile to make a living from his music
He even had to work for his father's company for a while.
If an autobiography on Lou Reed is written by a biographer it's not an autobiography, it's a biography.
Another awesome clip, guys!
Really well documented.
Greetings from Chile.
@@sstaners1234 Thanks amigo! Doing fine i guess, trying to return to enjoy the simple things of life after months of quarantine and getting ready for a new constitution, so big step. Stay cool 🤘🐶🎸
Unlike what many people understand, the money doesn't last forever and eventually they have to support their lifestyle by other means.
Well, I want to make as much money as possible from music. Musicians are being shafted left, right and centre at the moment. Earning a living from music is insanely difficult.
I like rock music. Who cares if it’s on a commercial? The more rock out there the better, especially now!
Lou can do what he wants with his music.
Wasn’t the first Velvet Underground album just a big advertisement for bananas??
Yes. They had a sponsorship deal with Vox and Fyffes.
he made metal machine music
When I think of Lou Reed I think of New York. A city is about the only place I’d consider riding a scooter.
I would have done exactly what Lou Reed did.
Lou made no real money from The Velvet Underground albums.
The famous, or infamous
self titled
Velvet Underground album, yes the Warhol designed one with the Banana didn't sell 'real unit numbers' for years.
So? Just is hypocrisy, my friend. Thats the point of the clip.
Reed always was a product.
@@angellolopezaguayo Well said! Ask Andy Warhol about art being a commodity.
Love that saying about the Velvet Underground’s album; to paraphrase, hardly anybody [initially] bought it, but everyone who did started a band.
The spirit of rock and roll is freedom. Do whatever you want. A statement like "You can't do this or you are a SELL OUT" is pure fascism.
Ummm take it easy. Trump is a fascist. Saying you don’t like something doesn’t make you a fascist.
@@Stonecutter334 No, dummy. Making BS arbitrary RULES intended to be administered with unwavering and draconian resolve is FASCIST. It has zero to do with me not liking something. Oh look! You managed to pull Trump out your ass. I guess he is the only fascist you are aware of. Well, when you get into Jr High School you might learn about some others.
@@Stonecutter334 can i say you're a moron?
Devo and Grace Jones also did Honda Scooter ads around the same time. And in the '60s, The Who did radio jingles for Great Shakes and Levi's Jeans.
Before Lou Reed? KISS did a Honda ad in the early 80s..which was around the time Lou Reed co-wrote songs with KISS. Bowie did ads in Japan in the 70s (and produced "Walk on the Wild Side")...and would go on to do more ads. Journey did a Budweiser radio ad in 1979, Ronnie James Dio also did one in '83. Hall and Oates did a promotion for Pontiac who was sponsoring their tour. Jefferson Airplane did a radio ad for Levi's in the late 60s. The one that might shock people is Kate Bush doing ads in Japan in the late 70s. Elton John did a Sassoon jeans ad in '84 and had corporate sponsored tours, but he's done a lot of commercials since.The Who's (first of many) farewell tours was corporate sponsored, and then they reunited, got another corporate sponsor, and of course we started hearing their songs on ads, TV shows and in movies. Pete Townshend's justified it to other rock stars that he could care less about Johnny and Mary in the backseat playing "Pinball Wizard" or going to Woodstock, and see it as a nostalgia cash grab, but it's THEIR songs to do what they want with them, especially when they're throwing blank checks at you. When you hear about a back catalog being administered for big money - this usually means we're about to hear some of our favorite songs in commercials, TV shows and movies - and with touring on lockdown, they could use that cash. Once Bob Dylan "went corporate" though?
Everyone: “Musicians deserve to make a living from their music!!”
(Musician earns money from commercial)
Everyone: FUCKING SELL OUT!!
The Jefferson Airplane were commissioned by Levis jeans to come up with music for an ad in 1967. The Monkees appeared in ads for cereal. Pete Townsend did a PSA for the US Air Force which used "Happy Jack".
Lou never gave a single shit. the great everyman poet of rock nroll.
Do a video on Lou Reed/Metallica LuLu
ICheated OnTheTest I AM THE TABLE!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂
Underrated album
No
Unless specifically written for that purpose, the intended message of a song typically gets distorted when used to market a product. "Walk on the Wild Side" is an obvious example.
Making money isn't selling out.
Changing your path for money is selling out.
Selling out in rock is changing your sound to becoming more pop than rock. Not licensing your music for commercials. That's just making money.
I love Lou and the Velvets, but let’s face it...he did kind of sell out. But Lou did what Lou wanted to do, I’m sure he didn’t give a crap what anyone else thought about it anyway.
your definition of selling out is so broad as to be meaningless.
There are certain people who when you try to co-opt them they end up co-opting you - like When William Burroughs did a Nike commercial - it ended up looking more like a William Burrough clip than a Nike commercial.
2:45 Lou Reed looks like an edgy version of Ben Stiller!
To all of you talking about Lou being a sell-out let me ask you a question have you ever been in a band that was toted as highly influential yet didn't make a damn penny have any of you ever been a drug addict in New York in the 70s if not you can't understand why Lou did this also if you don't know anything about Lou in his solo years he wasn't making a damn thing there either it was managed by main man records who also managed Iggy Bowie John Cougar Mick Ronson Ian Hunter all these different guys from that same scene and all of them have the same story none of them made s***
lou reed is one of those artists that everyone has heard of, but only few actually buy the albums.
Good observation, Deexypher. Please use punctuation. I had to read your post twice.
@j anon I'm a proud owner of Transformer and Berlin plus the Velvet Underground & Nico. Just wished I could've got them when Lou was still alive.
The Who Sell Out was released in 1967
I love in the linear notes in 'Metal Machine Music', where it says
"My week beats your year". That was a proper "fuck you" to the record company.
Speaking as a musician who like many have made fuck all money doing what they love it's easy to understand making cash any way possible. Shouting "sell out" may be a little unfair.Just an opinion though.
Frank Zappa wrote commercial jingles. Ramones didn't want to be a cult band but were aiming for the top of the charts and only accepted it wouldn't happen around 1980. Malcolm Maclaren was a salesman and Punk was commercialized from the get go. And so on and so forth. No artist aimed for poverty and cult obscurity.
I don't buy any aspect of so=called "sellout". In this case, you are a musician and you produce art which is a product. People or companies want to pay you to use your product... well there is nothing wrong or anything bad about that. It's up to the artist to decide what companies they choose to do business with... and for what price. It's a simple transaction. There is no glory in remaining poor. I don't think anybody ever is a sellout. As long as the transaction is amongst adults and agreed its all good.
100 thumbs up and multiply that by 100 - Rock N' Roll True Stories, you are producing really terrific content and I want to give you kudos - several of your most recent videos have impressed me with how much better you are at this then in past years! This is a very thought provoking topic! Why do we impart this 'high art' accolade to our favorite artists? Why do we assume that they have some elevated integrity beyond other commercial products? Lou Reed, way more than most songwriters, connected to his audience in such a profound way that it underlined these questions and it's a very relevant discussion and there's no rulebook on how your generation's figurehead is supposed to behave. I love the interview quotes - 'are you happier as a shmuck?' BRILLIANT! Lou Reed didn't betray anybody, take that money from Honda!
Lou Reed & the Velvets added feedback & distortion to Rock's vocabulary so yeah if Lou did sellout it makes no difference. His contribution to rock is unparalleled & legendary. Lou Reed was always amused to give journalists a hard time so it's no big deal. Lou Reed was punk rock's forefather.
@@blackdot3538 john lee hooker had distortion on a record in 1949 called the devils jump
don't forget about Link Wray, with Rumble.
Most musicians who refuse to compromise their so-called 'artistic integrity', wind up obscure, and starving in the gutter. Everyone wants to earn enough money to live on, and should not be criticized for trying to maximize their earnings. Most 'famous' rock musicians have a very short period of 5 to 10 years in which to make their living, before passing their use-by date.
Lou Reed was never a household name. Most people only know him for the hit 'Walk On The Wild Side', and have never heard of The Velvet Underground, or listened to Lou's classic LP's like Berlin, Magic & Loss, New York.
Being popular isn't selling out, it's called making a living.
Lou Reed can do whatever he damn well pleases.Leave the man in peace.
WRONG. Debbie Harry was the first in 1980. She did a designer jeans TV ad for Gloria Vanderbilt/Murjani. She even walks past a Blondie poster as generic jazz music plays. The ad got a lot of flak at the time for being a sellout. Also, throughout the 80s countless '60s Motown hits were used in dozens of (mostly car) commercials.
It's not selling out to sell your music for commercials. It's a win-win-win.
Didn't Buick use the Doors' Light My Fire in one of their commercials in 1968 without the band's permission?
Coming out of the Andy Warhol camp, it's not surprising that Lou would be comfortable blurring the line between his pop art and advertising as pop art is at it's heart art as a commodity.
I tried to get into see The Clash on SNL just before their concert at Shea opening for The Who. There was some scuttle about The Clash selling out. (The Who tour was being sponsored by a beer co, and The Clash had made some comment before the show of their belief that stadium shows were a dying art form.) As a joke, I brought my copy of The Who 'Sell Out' with me in the hopes of getting an autograph. Unfortunately, I didn't make it in, so I didn't get the chance to ask for an autograph.
He didn't sell out, he made a lot of money, but he kept the soul in his music and just took different paths. Just like Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.
Didn’t The Doors sell Light My Fire to Buick n 67 without Jim’s knowledge, then he went crazy after he found out..
light my fire was in commercials long before that 80s honda commercial, which by the way is a great commercial.
Lou Reed wasn't the first. According to "Book Of Rock Lists" copyright 1984 Jefferson Airplane did a commercial for Levi's Jeans. I played it on TH-cam, and there was one of their songs in the background. Yardbirds did a commercial for Great Shakes, and there was "Over Under Sideways Down" in the background.
The who also done radio advertisements for great shakes in 1967
Most of the people crying about “sell outs” are musicians who couldn’t make a dime off their music. I’m not putting down anyone for THAT, I’m one of those wanna be rock stars myself. I’d kill for the ability to make a living off music. I had to decide to get a career outside of music if I wanted to own a house, car, eat everyday. I still play In a rock n roll band and occasionally even make enough money to fill my gas tank.
I don’t put down anyone who actually got to live “the dream” unless they are hypocrites crying about artistic integrity while licensing every note out to anyone with a checkbook.
Everyone in The Doors wanted to license "Light My Fire" for a commercial in 1967 or 68, but Jim Morrison wouldn't have it. Musicians have been "selling out", ie, licensing their music for commercials, pretty much for as long as music and commercials have been around. 1981?! No. It didn't start then.
I don't blame Lou. Probably the biggest payday he ever had between the album and the endorsements. Its easy to talk shit when you've already had massive success, something Lou hadn't had prior.
Carly Simon: "Anticipation" for Heinz Ketchup. Late 70s.
No one has ever sold out like David Johansen did, he elevated selling out to an art form
Not saying DJo didn't "sell out", just wondering how much of a sellout it is if 95% of the world still doesn't know who the New York Dolls were or why they're so important.
@@davidtingley9978 To me, compromising your artistic integrity for money is selling out.
@@TheNeverposts yup.
I'm taking your word for it that he did, I've never listened to anything he's done outside the Dolls except Hot Hot Hot, so I can't say how much he's compromised. Given his obscurity, I'll assume he actually needed the money, and not a new hot tub.
Jefferson Airplane made Levi jeans commercials during the hight of the San Francisco hippie movement...and didn't the Doors allow "Light My Fire" to be used in commercials? This was a decade and a half before Reed made his commercial
Andy would approve
The song wasn't commercially conceived and he got screwed too many times. You think the Ramones and Stooges couldn't have used the advertising cash when they were still alive?
Well if you really knew anything about Lou Reed then you know about Andy Warhol and if you know about Andy and 'Pop' art everything makes sense
Lou started out writing jingles and ripping off popular songs for pay. He didn't strike any artistic progress till he fell in with Warhol's factory and met John Cale. From there, he did what he wanted.
The sound on the first two Velvets lp's was mainly Cale's achievement, but never got properly credited for that due to Reed's enormous ego.
LouReed interviews are the greatest.
I think honda wanted LOU REED for two reasons 1)they recognize V U / REED huge impact on music and 2)maybe consider that probably REED said no to the them so the yes answer seal the deal
The Who did numerous ad jingles back in the 60s
You have a slick futuristic looking scooter and your trying to sell it in a gritty commercial? I wonder why it didn't sell. Wasn't Pink Floyd in a commercial (or their music) before The Dark Side of the Moon came out?
Carly Simon’s Anticipation for Heinz Ketchup
I was a HUGE Devo fan at the time and when I saw their commercial I flipped the f’ck out!
Selling out is a stupid concept sort of. Should you have a hit song but be poor as hell? As long as an artist doesn't try and portray an image of anti commercialism or attack others who use commercial avenues to make fistfulls of cash then i say have at it. We are only going to live once and sure we'll you are popular people will treat you like God and you can get what you want, but once your at the bottom of the charts people will treat you like a leper and you will be wishing you "sold out".
@@littlekingtrashmouth9219 This. And even just talking about selling out it's entirely possible to sell out in a way that kinda works out for almost everyone too. Personally I define selling out as changing your sound/music/act for more mainstream appeal when you're not 100% comfortable as an artist with the changes and there's some examples of music where an artist has done that to great effect. (eg. The Black Album)
@@TheDemocrab I disagree that the black album was a sellout. They didn't change to sell, they change because they had taken their technicality as far as, or even further than, what was creatively satisfying for them. They changed out of boredom, not greed.
@@davidtingley9978 That'd be what Load and Reload were: Just them doing what they wanted to do regardless of the mainstream or their fans. It's well established that they specifically tried to reach a more mainstream audience with their change in direction with TBA regardless of what initially led them to be interested in changing directions.
@@davidtingley9978 - no, Black Album was a sellout. It's on record that they changed because Bob Rock told them how much more money they'd make if they shortened the songs, toned down the thrash element, and made a video. The moment Metallica changed for radio and MTV airplay, they sold out because they said they didn't need those mediums to be successful.
@@TheDemocrab - dude, Load was them trying to copy the Seattle alternative bands to become radio-relevant again. They were completely shooting for the new mainstream, and that's why Load earned them the name "Alternica."
didn't The Doors famously sell their songs to be used in commercials, causing a rift between Jim Morrison and the rest of the band??
Rock on
The Yardbirds did an ad for milkshakes in 1967..don't think so
money rules the world and lou knows that point
The Beach Boys - 'Little Honda' 1964.
It might have been a good commercial, but there is still the problem that scooters are lame. Johnny Rotten's "British Butter" commercial would make a good video. He says he did it to finance a PiL tour, but many see ir as hypocrisy.
Licensing your music isnt selling out lol Its how a ton of musicians get paid for their art. Selling out is going against your founding principles for money and fame.
Paul revere and the raiders sold out when they wrote songs for the Pontiac GTO before Lou Reed
I love it when advertising / marketing boobs buy songs / licence songs for commercials and printed ads which have *zero* to do with what's going on ! HAHAHAHAHA !
*Walk* *on* *the* *Wild* *Side* is about the 'Warhol "Superstars"' , primarily about the transvestites ( Candy Darling , Holly Woodlawn , and the Sugar Plum Fairy ) whom hung around Warhol's Factory .
Another oft-misappropriated song is Iggy Pop's *Lust* *For* *Life* ! So many Burroughs references ( Johnny Yen from 'The Ticket That Exploded' ) .
Yeah... nothing quite like Burroughs references for selling Cruise fare !
In the UK no-less-a-man than Johnny Rotten did a couple of spots for Country Time English Butter!
I remember this ad campaign... I thought it was 😎
Made me wanna hear the rest of that song. Was kinda “meh” toward the scooter though. 😁
I think the doors was the first rock band to use there song to sell cars.they used lite my fire.was in the very late 1960s or early 1970s.they were the first rock band