(Editor’s note:  I know that it is Wednesday.  For all intents and purposes, however, it is the BEST SATURDAY OF THE YEAR.  Thanksgiving Eve is, essentially, the greatest Eve that we have.  Nobody works tomorrow.  Everyone you know is home.  Nobody has to do anything until noon at the earliest on Thursday.  New Year’s Eve always sucks because it bears the burden of all of your expectations.  Christmas Eve always sucks because you can’t really cut loose, considering the familial obligations associated with the day itself.  Of our three major Eves, only Thanksgiving Eve has a perfect combination of accessibility, functionality, people-in-from-out-of-townity, and reasonable expectations.  So.  I declare this Wednesday an honorary Saturday.  Say hi to your friends for me!  Sleep in tomorrow!  Enjoy!)

Given the celebratory tenor of this Honorary Lazy Saturday, you might be a touch shocked by the subject matter: commercialism and/or selling out.  (I don’t have to work today and I don’t have class this week, so you’re getting both barrels of my free time to think.  Yeah!)  This is fertile ground for the Dicks, but I think that I have three songs that work counter to my own feelings about selling out.  We’ll explore three test cases, rating their level of selling out on a scale of one to ten, with one being Artistically Pure (think Dischord Records, but without the mail order) and ten being Irredeemably Commercial (think Lou Bega selling that mambo song to Wal-Mart). (Aside:  I take the most extreme position possible on this issue, at least rhetorically.  Selling anything is selling out.  Step out of the garage and you are, by the sternest definition, the whore of the masses.  I recognize that this position is untenable in the real world.  Did it hurt to see Pearl Jam in a Target ad?  Yes.  Do I still bear a grudge towards The Clash for the Jaguar London Calling Sales Event?  Yes.  Does it still ruffle my feathers that Blitzen Trapper puts tunes in sitcoms?  Yes.  Do I recognize that all of these perceived slights come at the perogative of the artists and do I understand my feelings about music are largely irrelevant to the marketplace?  (grudgingly) Yes.  Can I move on; do I still love Pearl Jam and The Clash and Blitzen Trapper?  Yes.  All that said, I think the tracks below illuminate some nuance heretofore unexplored in the selling out debate.  My fingers are crossed in the hopes that you feel the same.)

Test Case 1:  Mermaid Avenue

The Mermaid Avenue project was (obviously) admirable.  I think.  Would Woody Guthrie have wanted his unrecorded lyrics interpreted by modern artists (admittedly geniuses) and sold for 13.99 a pop by the Warner Group?  No way to know for sure.  If I was one of Guthrie’s descendants, I would have pushed for the release of the lyrics into the ether; filter those puppies through a knowledgable critic and then give the world the gift of songs to interpret.  This is almost an inverted selling-out.  What gives Wilco and Bragg the right to interpret these lost American classics?  And profit from them?  (If I missed the boat and they gave the proceeds to charity or something, please fill me in.)  That said, I love those records.  I resent the elitisim inherent in their production (and guess that Woody might have as well), but I love listening to them.  There is no clear line in the sand to be drawn here on the records relationship to the duelling forces of the market and art.  I’d like to think that they put these things together as a tribute to the canon.  But (I presume) they still cashed the checks.

Ranking on the sell-out scale: incomplete, pending in depth interview with Tweedy or Bragg (Call me fellas!)

“Remember the Mountain Bed” – Jeff Tweedy, Live 2005

Test Case 2: Wendy’s Commercial

I love the “You Know When It’s Real” Wendy’s commercial.  The first time I heard it on the radio, it was stuck in my head for three days.  I just hummed this thing over and over (and over).  It is the catchiest diddy ever recorded by man.  It is solely a piece of commerce.  It’s so much the product of a faceless commercial being that I can’t even find out who sings it.  (I have scoured the internet for the geniuses behind this thing.  If you are reading, please send me a demo.  I will quit my job to produce your debut.)  So. I react violently when things that I love are used to sell things.  How can I love something that only exists to sell something?  Does this mean that selling out is value free?  That commerce can be beautiful?  Has my brain turned to mush?  I have no answers, only more questions.  Stated as pure irony, here’s the problem:  I’m a mildy snobbism vegetarian music blogger in love with a jangly commercial for a burger joint.  I feel all Capulet-ish.

Ranking on the sell-out scale: infinite, but I’ll be damned if that will change my feelings

“Wendy’s Commercial” – Faceless Corporate Band

Test Case 3: Lykke Li

Mrs. Citizen saw New Moon on Friday.  (In defense of my wife: 1. She loved the books.  2. Her co-workers loved the books. 3. She likes movies. 4. She likes spending time with her co-workers. 5. She can kick all of your asses in canasta.)  She came home raving about the Lykke Li song from the soundtrack.  We tracked it down on the Hype Machine (evil, I know) and, it turns out, I love it too.  It also turns out that I love the Grizzly Bear song from the soundtrack.  Again, I have no idea what this means.  Am I softening in my old age?  Shouldn’t I despise these artifacts of corporate greed and rampant mass consumption?  That Lykke Li song is so pretty though.  What the hell do I do with that?  I can at least hang my hat on this:  the sad reading of The Shirelles’ classic (below) makes me happy, but is at least moderately offensive.  Lykke Li has the pipes to pull it off, but the track is not a dirge.  Take Lykke Li’s shilling for a megabuck generating film and pair with with her defiling of a girl group classic and I feel like I have some moral authority back.  Sell-out!  (I can’t talk myself into it.  I love this cover.  And, apparently, I love Lykke Li and all she stands for.)

Ranking on the sell-out scale: 5ish, considering that this should always be a dance song and  that Lykke Li appearance on the soundtrack thingee

“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” – Lykke Li