Good or bad thing?

Good for the band's bank balance and exposure (but I wonder how much of each?) but bad for my enjoyment. Call me selfish.

I think it's great for the reasons Dave's just said.

I've always been of the opinion that the more people who hear The Fall, the better.

And it doesn't matter if it's your next door neighbour, some spotty 15-year-old, Frank Skinner, the Pope, or the singer out of The Bloodhound Gang...!!

Well maybe not that last one...

:lol:

That's tuppence, Baldrick :(

depends what sort of publishing deal they have. usually you sign your publishing to a publisher for a fat advance, and that advance is recouped by the publisher against earnings made from the catalogue. or you can retain your publishing yourself, and allow various organistaions such as PPL and PRS to collect it for you for a percentage cut of the earnings.

publishing can be a lucrative cash cow; but it all depends on the desirability of the catalogue.

hope that's cleared that up....... :blink:

If a Fall song is in an advert then that song is too tame and not middlemass-frightening enough.

Being selected for adverts shows the Fall are not uncomfortably sounding as they used to be. Not often you get to hear MES on these occaisons though is it?

Having said this, it makes me smile when it happens. Dunno if it has attracted any new fans. Any anecdotal evidence along the lines of "I heard a song on an advert and thought it was good and I got the LP it's on and it turns out this group have done millions of records and I'm now so obsessed I didn't emerge from my bedroom for 6 months cos I played Your Heart Out over and over again"?

So, all in all, I couldn't give a flying one. Very rarely watch comercial TV anyway -_-

Has there been more than one instance?

I'm not sure "fat advance", "recouped" and "earnings" are Fall terms. :lol:

Yeah, when somebody puts the whole of Slates, slags etc on a prime-time ad I might think they've a relevant product. I bet it'd work, mind. Just hope it's not bloody jeans.

Bugger. :zip:

I think that it is good that The Fall's music has been used a few times on the telly, but not particularly because it introduces more people to the band.

Despite the fact that I am cynical of the television, and despite the fact that I love Mark because he has 'never sold out', I still think that it gives the band more credibility. For example... when I tell others, who do not know of them, that the Fall is my fave band, they just assume that I like some obscure group out of some sense of idiosyncracy. But, I can now say, "Yeah, they keep on using their music on tv and adverts."

It may be a slight exaggeration of course - we still arn't talking M.People here - but at least the other party will not be quite as dismissive of them.

I really still don't know whether I would like the Fall to be popular with the masses though.

I think it's a terrible thing... puts the song in the service of advertising, rather than the other way around.

I think that it's worth remembering that these snippets of music keep appearing because there are Fall fans within the media who are gaining more influence.

2 comments, if I may. Or if I may not, I don't really care - I was just being polite.

Firstly, it depends which company is using the music. If Nestle or Coca Cola or whoever then I would disapprove on ethical grounds. I would hope MES would only associate himself with selected companies.

Secondly, if advertisers want to use your music then they will. It's worth remembering that once it's in the public domain your music can be used, and advertisers do this in two other ways: a) they can get some musos to do a cheap cover of it, which sounds dreadful and brings in less royalties, and B) they can commission someone to write and perform a very similar, but just about different piece of music (no royalties!). So I suppose if you're the artist you might just decide to put up with it.

I echo Harry's question.

Only the Vauxhall Hide & Seek one that I know of...

Personally, I generally break into a smile and/or start dancing when that starts up. It brightens my day.

Thus, it's good. I want Blindness to soundtrack a Persil ad. Or something.

While I agree more people should listen to the Fall, I'm not sure this a step in the right direction.

"Blindness" was used on an ad for a Mitsubishi (I think) SUV here in the States in 2006, I believe. It was shown nationally for quite a few months, on all the major networks, etc.

One more good thing that came about through Narnack.

Yeah, in the Sates I've only heard them in the Mitsubishi ad- Blindness, which I am almost fell off my porridge stool when I heard it! And yes, it always made me smile although there's a part of you that gets pissed off at it too. I just hope they make some decent money off it. I can't imagine how MES and the band survive. It can't be off sales!

The only other time I heard them commercially is in "Silence of the Lambs" when they use a distorted version of Hip Priest when they have the chase scene in the psycho's house.
Of course, the psycho happens to be listening to a little Fall on his turntable.


I wish there was someone somewhere who wasn't scared of me.

Not since Tom Waits successfully sued for using a sound-alike.