Gang of Sellouts

While watching the tube this weekend, I was horrified to see the following commercial:


Hang on a minute.

Ok. I had to give myself a second to breathe and collect myself, let my rage settle just a bit. You know why I'm so furious? The song in that XBOX 360 commercial is Gang of Four's "Natural's Not In It".

The top commenter on the video nails it: "Jon and Andy: I'm going to kick you in the shins really hard for this."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Here are the lyrics (which have been scrubbed from the advert):
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
The body is good business
Sell out, maintain the interest
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Dream of the perfect life
Economic circumstances
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Remember Lot's wife
Renounce all sin and vice
Dream of the bourgeois life
This heaven gives me migraine

Look, I get that times are tough, especially for musicians, but seeing this makes me pretty depressed. I guess even bands with anti-corporate sensibility can be bought. Just show 'em enough zeroes.

In ten years, can we expect Rage Against the Machine to license "Freedom" to an airline that wants to convey the feeling 'freedom' to their potential customers? I sure as hell hope not... but...
What does the billboard say?
Come and play!, come and play!

Hmmm... that might actually work for some sort of video game company...

But getting back to Gang of Four, you could always make the argument that their sellout moment was in 1983 when they put out this piece of shit:


Yep, it's the same band... but I guess the difference is if they used this track in a commercial my heart sure as hell wouldn't be broken.

See also: