Bands and Brands: The Michelin man steals Gorillaz song

TV commercials may be the bane of my rainy-day couch plastered existence, but a good theme song can certainly make the medicine go down. A few goodies stand out in the last year or so that leave me wondering: "who sings that song?" and "damn you for successfully engaging me!" For instance: I never would have heard the beautiful melancholy voice of Brandi Carlile if it hadn't been for GM, or that great song by Phoenix if it handn't been in a Cadillac commerical. I hope this will be a growing trend: using advertising as a medium to deliver new artists and songs.

I was appalled to see this new Michelin commerial ripping off a Gorillaz song narrated by Dennis Hopper: "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" --a compelling juxtaposition of spoken word storytelling with a hypnotic ambient melody. Michelin's new 30 second spot shamelessly copies every aspect of it. So just a note to advertisers: keep turning me on to good music and quit the plagiarizing!