All-Time Corporate Song Whores

The following bands and artists have earned a special place in our Corporate Whore Hall of Fame. We'd like to applaud them for their callous pursuit of the almighty dollar.

1. Aerosmith - Never met a commercial, soundtrack, or awards show they didn't like. They bend over willingly and indiscriminately. Their recent sale of "Dream On" to Buick is the latest in a series of emasculating, reputation-killing catastrophes.

2. The Who - Pete Townshend has made it clear: all the Who's songs are for sale. He's managing his songs' rights with all the integrity of a used car salesman. The more corrupt the sponsor, the greater Pete's temptation. "Happy Jack" to Hummer - not a problem. "I Can See for Miles" - perfect for a car with a global navigation system. After kissing his corporate sponsor du jour, Pete raises his middle finger to his helpless fans. It's not a matter of money for Pete - he truly does take pride in debasing his own legend.

3. David Bowie - Selling song royalties as bonds was a really nifty idea, but here's the glitch: now David is trying to max out the value of those bonds. That means selling his songs to any product or service in need of a credibility fix. And there are a lot of companies in need of David's diminishing credibility.

4. Bob Dylan - He doesn't sell often, but when he does, it's a doozy (e.g. "The Times They Are A Changin'" to Coopers and Lybrand). Of course, some would say that Bob Dylan was never really about anything, that he was always an egomaniacal, self-serving asshole. Bob seems to have a lot of sympathy with that viewpoint. It's true that being a man of integrity would be a burden for him, so he decided to let his songs run free instead, where they are sitting ducks for corporate poachers. At this point, there seem to be millions of fans that care more about Dylan's legacy than he does.

5. Led Zeppelin - Similar to Dylan, they don't sell out often, but when they do, they cut their songs' legs out from under them (e.g. "Rock and Roll" to Cadillac). And they seem to be warming to corporate America's need for new jingles, so they may be climbing this chart soon.

6. Johnny Cash - Whoever is watching over Johnny's estate is selling things he wouldn't have.

7. Michael McDonald (former lead singer of The Doobie Brothers) - As far as I can tell, he recorded an entire album of easy listening gospel with MCI in mind. He's "Takin' it to the Streets" all right - Wall Street.
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To see a compilation of the most grievous song sales, check out my Musical Sellouts: Single Song Division list. To read more about the criteria I use to define a "corporate song whore," see the entries in my corporate whores and musical sellouts blog.
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