Do you like American music?
Update: Six months ago I wrote a post where I expressed disappointment that the Violent Femmes song, "Blister in the Sun," was used in a Wendys commercial (and suggested the subversive nature of a song about masturbation being used to sell burgers). Sure, it was snooty and elitist and immature and all that, but hey, I can be elitist now and then. But I wasn't alone. Rolling Stone called it one of the "worst rock sell outs ever." Surprisingly enough, Brian Ritchie, the Femmes' bassist and founder, agreed with everyone's charges of "sellout," saying "my ears perked up. Then my jaw dropped. Then my heart sank" in a lawsuit he recently filed against Gordon Gano, the band's singer and songwriter. Ritchie is hoping for a ruling that gives him half credit for the band's songs and a whole bunch of royalties. Ritchie responded to an article about the controversy by writing,
"For the fans who rightfully are complaining about the Wendy's burger advertisement featuring Blister in the Sun, Gordon Gano is the publisher of the song and Warners is the record company. When they agree to use it there's nothing the rest of the band can do about it, because we don't own the song or the recording. That's showbiz. Therefore when you see dubious or in this case disgusting uses of our music you can thank the greed, insensitivity and poor taste of Gordon Gano, it is his karma that he lost his songwriting ability many years ago, probably due to his own lack of self-respect as his willingness to prostitute our songs demonstrates. Neither Gordon (vegetarian) nor me (gourmet) eat garbage like Wendy's burgers. I can't endorse them because I disagree with corporate food on culinary, political, health, economic and environmental grounds. However I see my life's work trivialized at the hands of my business partner over and over again, although I have raised my objections numerous times. As disgusted as you are I am more so."
That's kinda too bad, Ritchie and Gano had always seemed pretty agreeable. Supposedly the band will continue touring. That oughta be fairly uncomfortable...
"For the fans who rightfully are complaining about the Wendy's burger advertisement featuring Blister in the Sun, Gordon Gano is the publisher of the song and Warners is the record company. When they agree to use it there's nothing the rest of the band can do about it, because we don't own the song or the recording. That's showbiz. Therefore when you see dubious or in this case disgusting uses of our music you can thank the greed, insensitivity and poor taste of Gordon Gano, it is his karma that he lost his songwriting ability many years ago, probably due to his own lack of self-respect as his willingness to prostitute our songs demonstrates. Neither Gordon (vegetarian) nor me (gourmet) eat garbage like Wendy's burgers. I can't endorse them because I disagree with corporate food on culinary, political, health, economic and environmental grounds. However I see my life's work trivialized at the hands of my business partner over and over again, although I have raised my objections numerous times. As disgusted as you are I am more so."
That's kinda too bad, Ritchie and Gano had always seemed pretty agreeable. Supposedly the band will continue touring. That oughta be fairly uncomfortable...