Ten Favorite Songs in Commercials: Blister in the Sun (#10)

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Here we go with some commercial music! No, not "mainstream" music, per se (it's quite interesting how many of these songs aren't), but songs that have been used in commercials. As I said in my preface discussion earlier today, these are legitimate songs that were recorded and later inserted into a commercial, not a song that was written solely for a commercial (like Dottie West's "Country Sunshine"). Here's the first song on the list. #10: Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes Hey, Wendy's, did you even listen to the words of this song when you decided it'd be a good selection for inviting people in for a Frosty? That goes double for all of the baseball stadiums that play that iconic opening riff between pitches. And HP -- they used that opening riff in a commercial. (Okay, maybe Wendy's thought the line "I'm high as a kite, I just might stop to check you out" is pandering to pot smokers with the munchies. ) As I mentioned in the preface discussion, there's a very clear dividing line over whether or not people think it's kosher for a song to sell pudding (or whatever). In this case, Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie was mortified when he heard "Blister in the Sun" in the Wendy's commercial...and promptly sued Violent Femmes lead singer, guitarist, and, ahem, songwriter Gordon Gano over the use of the song. (The fact that those guys ever got along long enough to even form a band is amazing: Ritchie is as devoted an atheist as Gano is a Christian.) The lawsuit was settled five years later. Maybe the dysfunctional nature of the band is why they make such great music. I'm sure if everything were hunky-dory (yeah, I know, that's Bowie) they'd sound like Barry Manilow and not filled with the angst that made their first album a history-making platinum seller (the "history" is that the album never made the Billboard album charts, yet sold over a million copies). But anyway....the song is great. Wendy's? Not so much. Blister in the Sun Written by Gordon Gano Recorded by the Violent Femmes From Violent Femmes, 1983 Used in Wendy's commercials, 2007 When I'm out walking I strut my stuff: