Commercial assaults on our ears

[Rob Richardson]

The description for this board says that program directors will read it, so here goes...

Could you please point out to your advertisers that people who habitually listen to classical music generally have fairly sensitive ears? I don't object to Vonage advertising on BR, but why do they have to use a sound bite that gives fingernails on blackboards a good run for their money? And why do they think hard rock in the background will persuade classical music listeners to buy their service?

It would be a huge service to your users if you would establish some standards for your commercials.

Thanks for listening!

Rob

[Nicole Marie]

Rob-

Vonage has made a huge name (and money) by using the 5,6,7,8's on their commercials. The 5,6,7,8's (a girl group from Japan - you may have seen them in the Kill Bill 1 movie) is the music used on all Vonage commercials. Tv, radio etc Vonage has branded their product through that music. That's the goal of any company and congrats to Vonage for doing a great job.

I'm glad they felt Beethoven.com was an audience worthy of their marketing. They felt we were a perfect match for them and I feel honored to be connected with such a huge brand.

[Shapley]

Nicole,

That's a musical group? I thought they were trying to imitate the "handshake" sound of a dial-up connection.

I'm glad they're successful, but I find it annoying as well. Not that I'm complaining, as I love commercialism in its raw form, and I agree that they are a good sponsor for a broadband-broadcast radio station.

V/R
Shapley

[Nicole Marie]

Shap,

The 5,6,7,8's are a great group from Japan. They perform American 50's surf style music. They went through a period of NYC Gritty Go Go music at one point but now stick with the surf tunes. They dress the part too! Since they speak very little English, they sing more "sounds" then words. They have some great music out there. I've attached their official website, but a lot of it is in Japanese so the text will come through as mumbo jumbo but you can see pics and CD's: http://www.fujiiya.com/the5678s/index.html

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Originally posted by Nicole Marie:
...They perform American 50's surf style music...

Gaaah! Nicole, how could you?!?

'50's. Or surf. Pick one. They are mutually exclusive categories. Trust me on this, I was here for both.

Some people's children! What's a mother to do?

[Nicole Marie]

Actualy Selma... (I never know if you are serious or not but if you are being serious right now, well...) you're wrong.

Surf music from the 50's (the majority of it) followed the style of Dick Dale. Heavier guitar gauge strings were used during the 50's that gave a very distinct sound. The Fender was the popular guitar for 50's style surf, which if you play guitar, you know the distinct sound of the Fender Strat and the sound it gave to the style.

In the 60's surf became infused with rock and R&B music. It became it's own sound and was known as Surf and Stomp music. It was very different then the 50's style.

Surf music continued to expand and in the 80's there was a whole group of folks playing what is known as Surf Punk music. And with the 5,6,7,8's back, we are seeing a re-birth of the 50's style.

[Rob Richardson]

Nicole Marie,

Thanks for your reply. I'm not nearly as irritated by the 5, 6, 7, 8s as I am by that "ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh" sound. That's what I was referring to by the "sound bite that gives nails on a blackboard a run for their money". Couldn't you have at least got that out of those spots?

But I agree with you that it's great that a well-known company such as Vonage thinks enough of Beethoven Radio and its listeners to advertise with you.

Rob

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Nope, Nicole, beg to differ. You may have googled it but you're still taking someone else's word for it. I was here.

Dick Dale claims to have "invented" surf music and to have been acclaimed some sort of king in the '50s, but his first singles date from '61.

[Nicole Marie]

Wow Selma...

I googled nothing. I've been a fan of the music or a long time. Surf music and Ska are what I have studied for years. I've been a fan of the genre for a long time and am finishing my masters in music history with an emphasis on pop culture ie surf and ska. Beethoven Radio is fun but I plan on a professorship in music history. So please, you may have been there at the time but the way music is looked back on is it gets put in a catagory. 50's surf is now a catagory forever in music history. Sorry if you don't agree but that's how it's being taught. (CD stores even sell 50's surf cd's.)

Boards are tough places to have a converstation, which is way graemilns where invented. Maybe you could have taught me something today Selma. But when you approach someone the way you have and insult my mother... (no was used so I'm assuming you are) and call me a liar. Well it's too bad. I feel you could have taught me something since you were there. I know what I hear in the music, read in the sheet music, read in my school books and what my teachers teach me. You may know something different? Guess we'll never know.

[Nicole Marie]

Rob-

The oooh ooh sound is the 5,6,7,8's. That is part of a song of theirs called Bomb the Twist and Vonage wants that specific part of the song in the spot. Since they want it in the spot, no, we could not have taken it out. (In fact that section of the song is what makes Vonage so popular.)

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

wooh! Calm down, kid. "Some people's children! What's a mother to do?" is a general expression of mild dismay. Not a specific insult.

I still hold that academic study of a subject is inherently different than the participatory experience of that same event. Surf was '60s. If academics differ, they need to reevaluate their assumptions. 20-20 hindsight might certainly find some of the early seminal influences on the cultural development in prior periods, but until the development becomes part of the widespread culture it is only a unrealized potential. Thus, musical concepts that develop out of the work of musicians practicing in the garage are not properly part of popular culture until they are played, recorded, and marketed. This did not happen to surf in the '50s.

[Nicole Marie]

You say because it was not marketed and wide spread then it can not be classified? A tree falls in the woods concept. Sorry but I disagree. Music is influenced by culture first. Throughout history society has always shaped music first. The church tells composers what chords they can and can not use. Operas are developed to reflect the going on's in a culture. Shostakovich rebelled against Stalin in his music etc. Society always influences first.

The 50's inspired the music, many styles of music including surf. Just because (according to you) mass marketing did not occur until the end of the 50's to the beginning of the 60's, does not mean it gets classified in another genre. So the majority of society has to hear it for it to count? Then we would never have genres like ska, punk, metal, thrash, bluegrass, the list goes on.

You may object to how history looks back and classify music. But it only severs to better define and explain to others the history, style, in some cases politics of music.

This thread could be attached to the "classical music" threads. Those threads lumped all forms under that one umbrella but there are many different styles underneath. Whether it's gold, silver, platinum or diamond does not matter.

P.S. "wooh! Calm down, kid. "Some people's children! What's a mother to do?" is a general expression of mild dismay. Not a specific insult.
"
Yeah... but you still called me a liar.

<small>[ 07-27-2005, 05:57 PM: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]</small>

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

We are having a difference of opinion. I called you mistaken. As wrong as you told me I am.

Academics frequently misclassify popular culture - I think it's because they spend too much time talking to each other. As a part of the then-current musical culture, there was no '50s surf. Academics who differ are on a different page than we used when we were listening to the music.

[Nicole Marie]

Truce. I'll happily stick with my mistaken academics.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Pax.

Is anyone else having as much entertainment as I'm getting out of the hilarious concept of academic dissent over such a thing as "surf music"? Wow!

When it was the new stuff, the serious musicians' take on the subject was "vile, objectionable, horrible, dreadful, turn it off!" The entire idea of it being a subject for serious study is tickling my funny bone to the max!

This whole thread is a treasure. BTW, I quite like the Vonage "woo hoo, woo hoo hoo" bit, it sounds like some of my Tennessee second/third cousins' last words.

[hal 9000]

You all have it all wrong!

It's not ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

It's woo woo, woo woo woo, which of course played backwards yields Oow Oow Oow, Oow Oow- the sound some listeners make when hearing it.

[BigJon@Work]

Dick Dale's first album was released in '62 according to his offical website.

<small>[ 07-27-2005, 08:28 PM: Message edited by: BigJon@Work ]</small>

[BigJon@Work]

Speaking of a commercial assault to the ears, does anyone remember those horrid Cirque du Soleil ads B.com ran two years ago? The ad had some women screech-babbling in a made-up language. I guess you could call what they were doing a song, but it drove me instantly to the mute button every time. That ad ran almost hourly for 4 or 5 months, IIRC.

Dralion

<small>[ 07-27-2005, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: BigJon@Work ]</small>

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I remember the Cirque du Soleil ads. So do you. Ah, well, ads are supposed to be memorable and I guess those ads were. See, the advertisers were right. They worked

The Cirque du Soleil shows have live sung music that I can't understand. I don't know what language the music and the comedy acts are in, but I don't understand it. They're still fascinating - I love Cirque.

[cheetah]

Hey, sorry I haven't been around. I have to say that, while I understand the local ads, it does get on my nerves when I hear all these commercials for local businesses in Hartford and Connecticut. It makes me want to drive the seven hours to go see these places, so it works, but all the "conviently located..." bugs me just a bit. I don't know the percentages, but I would assume nothing in Hartford is conviently located for the majority of on-line listeners, some of which I know are in Europe and South America. But hey, I understand that the broadcast area is Hartford, so I'm not complaining. I just find it odd.