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I’m not about to start tracking every single instance of The Go Go’s selling out. But, since I’ve already mentioned the Priceline.com/”Vacation” incident, I might as well make note of the latest:
Papa John’s has co-opted “We Got the Beat” for a TV commercial jingle about some extra-humongous meat-flavored pizza deal. The reworked lyrics sing out…
Wait for it…
“We Got the Meat”. Yup.
Two reasons I find this distasteful:
1. With this steady stream of sell-outs, it’s getting harder for me to insist — as I’ve done for years now — that The Go Go’s were an extremely underrated band. Lyrically and technically, they put together some great numbers.
2. The substitution of “beat” with “meat” reminds me of some crappy houseband that used to (and perhaps still does) play The Green Iguana in Ybor City. Their signature number was a cover of “We Got the Beat”, but, since they were all guys, it was altered to “We Beat Our Meat”. Predictably, the beer-soaked frat and sorority throngs loved it; I found it got old after, like, one time.
Category: Advert./Mktg., Pop Culture, Florida Livin' | Permalink |
As I understand it the Go-Go’s were pretty punk at first (I think they used to go by the Misfits), but before they ever started recording they had already become poppier.
You’re right, though - just because they went pop doesn’t mean they weren’t good. My personal favorite misunderstood pop/punk would probably be Blondie (and to a lesser extent the Clash, who to many people are probably just that cheesy eighties band that did “Rock the Casbah”).
Comment by Joel — 03/04/2021 @ 02:37:39 AM
Yeah, the first formed as The Misfits in 1978, one year after Glen Danzig’s original band also formed under that name. So they kinda had to find a new name. “We Got The Beat” contains a semblance of their original punk sound, but they went the pop route pretty quickly.
Blondie was forever villified by unreconstructed punkers like The Ramones for going mainstream (and beyond — Blondie actually went disco with “Rapture” and “Heart of Glass”). Predictable — the old guard who wouldn’t/couldn’t go commercial are always going to snipe at the graduates.
And hey — I happen to like “Rock the Casbah”!
Comment by CT — 03/04/2021 @ 11:21:13 AM