During my advertising years, we sometimes happened on a track which received a renewed boost of success from one of our commercials. We used Peters and Lee’s Welcome Home on the original Gary Lineker ad for Walkers crisps when he came back from Japan. We also got ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ to number one off the back of a Miller Lite ad.
But it wasn’t a deliberate strategy. We used to sit around and think of tracks that might fit a script then see if the rights could be negotiated. It just sort of happened.
When Running Up That Hill appeared on Stranger Things and subsequently topped the chart, I don’t sense that it just happened. My guess is that there were an entire squad of PR people, marketing teams, data science gurus, publishers, microbloggers and nano-influencers involved.
However it did inspire me to do this episode, so it’s not all bad. The other things that proved a catalyst was Richard D Butterworth, old colleague, pal and playwright. He suggested an episode devoted to musicians who had gone on to score soundtracks. I thought I’d start with the easier option, i.e. this show you hold in your virtual hands, first.
It was good fun to organise though I don’t suppose I’ll ever watch most of the shows themselves. Mexican teen drama, Control Z? Pop me down as a no. Though it does afford us the opportunity to have a listen to the excellent “mutant disco” Mind Your Own Business by Delta 5. Letterkenny looks intriguing though and arguably has the best soundtrack.
Meanwhile there quite a few debutants late in the Sombrero Fallout day here: Band of Horses, Real Estate, Ini Kamoze, The Pack A.D., Lykke Li, The New Pornographers, Japanther. You are most welcome, one and all.
Tracklist:
Everybody’s down, No Age (from Letterkenny)
Pink turns to blue, Husker Du (from Halt and Catch Fire)
Everyone looks like everyone, The Pack A.D. (from Letterkenny)
Mind your own business, Delta 5 (from Control-Z)
World-A-Reggae, Ini Kamoze (from Luke Cage)
No one’s gonna love you, Band of Horses (from Chuck, One Tree Hill, Numb3rs, Zombieland, etc)
Here I dreamt I was an architect, The Decemberists (from How I Met Your Mother)
Funeral, Phoebe Bridgers (from 13 Reasons Why)
Challengers, The New Pornographers (from Atypical)
Shot down, The Sonics (from Sex Education)
Tender people, Japanther (from Letterkenny)
I’m good, I’m gone, Lykke Li (from The Hills, Grey’s Anatomy, You’re The Worst)
Beach comber, Real Estate (from How I Met Your Mother)
Spellbound, Siouxsie and the Banshees (from Stranger Things)