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This past month we’ve brought you hipster tracks mixed with brat pack love (Aquanet for the Hipster Set), and a collection of pop rock radio flashbacks (RadioActive Mix Tape)… all part of our rediscovery of the 1980s - the Decade Of More.

The final installment of our three part Tribute To The Eighties couldn’t wrap on a more appropriate note than with our tribute to the ubiquitous hair bands of the era and the Rock! and Metal! they so passionately spew :

Blind Allegiance - 11 (eleven!!) songs ripe for nostalgic and/or humorous licensing opportunities - is coming at you later this week… with amps blazin’.

While we’re putting the finishing touches on our ode to the outrageous, please enjoy this parade featuring Dokken, Iron Maiden, Wasp, Journey, Dio, Blue Oyster Cult, Judas Priest, Queensryche, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Night Ranger, and Yngwie F’n Malmsteen :

To further blur the line between reality and parody, in true Being-John-Malkovich style, Spinal Tap’s David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls even make an appearance.

And if you just can’t get enough - and let’s face it, the era’s mantra was More Is Better - there’s a documentary. Thankfully, it includes footage of the lead vocal sessions featuring these classic lyrics :

we can be strong
we are fire and stone
and we all want to touch a rainbow

You can thank us later. [dh]

More music from ‘the decade of greed’ is on the way this week… here’s a clip that has brought us much inspiration and joy as we’ve been prepping the latest specimens for upload to our Lab. [dh]

Welcome again to another edition of “Channel Surfing” – the online weblog for all you ad guys and gals out there in interland!

Last month I talked a little bit about where the ad execs are missing the boat with youth advertising. I enjoyed reading all of the emails and positive feedback you sent! (Maybe you could forward those to some agencies for me?)

This month we’re going to tackle something a little more “nsfw” – and that is… (a drum roll here would be really funny, wouldn’t it?) sex in advertising. Now I know what a lot of people have been saying for a long time: “Sex sells.” But does it? For all those light beer and sports car commercial guys out there, let me just tell you one thing – it doesn’t. I’ve enjoyed many a frosty Coors Light in my day and never once did I find myself surrounded by several bikini-clad supermodels. Nope, just me and the two guys who live in apartment 3 from the next complex over standing over the barbeque, still talking about our fantasy football leagues.

Same thing goes for the car. Last summer I bought a cherry 2002 Miata. It’s not that I was having some sort of mid-life crisis or anything like that, but with the divorce being final and a little bit of change in my pocket thanks to my YourLogoHere! severance package, I thought maybe it’s time to trade that old Suzuki Sidekick in for something with a little more pop. I had told myself it was time to reintroduce the world to Dreighton Pickner, Part Deux! LOL! And this car had “pop” in spades. CD player. Wheel covers. 160 horsepower? Whew!

So imagine how it felt to be cruising down the strip in Skokie, IL where all the happenings go down and have a couple of gals pull up next to me and ask me if my daughter knew I was borrowing her BarbieMobile? What did she even mean by that? Well, she certainly wasn’t coming on to me… at least I don’t think she was. Who knows with those gothics women anyway?

Now, faithful readers – don’t think I bought any Coors Light or Miata because I thought it would make women fall at my feet. I’ve done enough ad jockeying in this life and I think I’m smart enough to know better. But when you put out that message… well, you’re just lying to those poor saps out there who are in a weak and vulnerable state. Life can deal you some pretty bad hands and the last thing any guy needs is to begin rebuilding his confidence just to have it torn up and thrown in his face by some chick with a nose ring on the one year anniversary of his wife leaving him to be with some sports agent.

By the by, if you know anyone who’s looking to get into a sweet little pimped auto, let them know there’s a sweet deal on Joliet.craigslist.org for a miata. Priced to sell, these child support payments are stacking up pretty rough on old Dreighton. [dp]

library : music : : _______ : ________

(a) vanilla : ice cream
(b) tupperware : party
(c) missionary : sex
(d) granny : panty

When you hear the words ‘music’ and ‘library,’ chances are you’ve been conditioned to expect and accept the same old same ol’, lame, boring, safe, underwhelming, and milquetoast collection of production tracks - all shipped to you on a gargantuan set of plastic discs.

Well, we’re doing what we can to change that perception of library music… and in that spirit, here’s Old Man Malcolm (of Codebreaker) wearing one of our shirts from the ‘Get Out The Library. Get Into The Lab.’ series of merch (oh yes, there’s so much more to come).

All you have to do to score one of these super-sweet bits of swag is send our newest Lab associate, Bard, an email (click here).

Some suggestions for your subject line :

“Hello, Bard.”

“Tell me why your music doesn’t suck.”

“How braindead does my client have to be before calling in a) Dr. Phil, or b) Dr. Kevorkian?”

“My birthmark looks like you [pic attached].”

“Are you wearing pants?”

“I’m not wearing pants.”

In fact, why not request some music for the catalog here at Burst Labs? What are you always looking for in your behemoth/gigantor/uber-everything music library that you can never find? Let Bard know… we’ll get busy mixing up something special just for you.

Be sure to include your size in your email! Available while supplies last, of course. [dh]

A big “hello” to all my readers out there in the World Wide Blogo-sphere! Thanks for stopping by for this month’s edition of Channel Surfing – the world-wide-web edition of my weekly newsletter.

As some of you may know, I left “the agency game” a while ago after over a decade of climbing the ranks from junior copywriter to copywriter at Your Logo Here! in Palatine, IL. So it’s fair to say I’ve taken my lumps and have a pretty good eye for what makes or breaks a commercial on the old boob tube these days.

This month I want to talk about youth-targeted advertising. Boy, are you agency guys way off! How do you justify your corner offices and your reserved parking spots coming up with the tired old stuff that you do?

Take Ovaltine for example. You have a product out there that the kids already like – (Who doesn’t love a glass of chocolate milk on a hot day?) so what’s up with this “More Ovaltine, please?” junk? Kids just don’t relate to that kind of thing – asking their mom for stuff and saying “please”? How about cutting against the grain a little, guys? Kids are rebellious, they want to bust loose and play air guitar to some heavy rock with their friends without their parents hanging around.

What about a character from the brand that speaks their language? Ovaltine is chocolate, how about a brown bear that also can ride a skateboard? What about some Hawaiian print shorts and some cool sunglasses for that California surfer look? He could even have a catch phrase – something that uses the kid’s vernacular like “Totally Stoked For Ovaltine!” I don’t know, I’m just ’spit-balling’ as we say in the trade.

It reminds me of a print campaign we did for Splashin’ Safari waterparks here in Palatine. We totally nailed their look with a surfing Polar Bear named “Zack”. The polar bear was a great device for them – on those hot Midwestern Illinois days with the heat index on the climb – kids just took one look at Zack with his trademark shades and said “Cool!”

Or there was the ad for Dunkables Choco-Yogurt Bites where we shot some local kids doing handstand tricks on their skateboards. Our animated brand character Zeke Zebra came on screen in the end of the spot wearing a leather jacket and a baseball hat on backwards and said “Dunkables – Gotta Dunk ‘Em!” It was a few extra bucks to get Alan Thicke to do the voice of Zeke (don’t think we didn’t hear it from the client!) but in the end, it really gave the kids something they could relate to. It’s a shame they didn’t shoot any more spots with Your Logo Here! – we could have really built that brand up to be a winner together.

But listen, it’s not just about the razor scooters and buzz words. You never know with the youth market of today – one minute they’re jamming out to “Rocking Like The Hurricane” and then the next they’re on the school bus with their baggy pants claiming to be big time rap-heads! I try to make the most out of my visits with my eleven year old Donny – he says he’s not really into the stuff the popular kids are - “too busy practicing jazz clarinet”, he tells me. But he overhears things at school and I try to relate as best I can – even with the crazy stuff America’s youth gets into. For example: Did you know that kids are into the punk music again? It’s true! There’s even some bands on the MTV like April Lavigne who are big-time into punking. There’s even a store at the mall where you can get clothes and necklaces and all kinds of rock gear. I’m gonna have to check that out.

Anyways, that’s enough from me – I don’t want to give too much free advice away here. As much as I miss the agency side sometimes I know everything happens for a reason and I’m having fun building up my consultant business here from home. Check back next month, adguys and adgals – maybe I can help teach you a little more insight about the biz! [dp]

When success hits, everybody wants a piece.

Back when Zach Braff was a semi-unknown actor in a moderately successful sitcom, he had time to write movie scripts and concoct indie-cred soundtracks, making mixtapes for starlets he could never have.

Then came Garden State.

Gone were the lazy days of thumbing through his favorite vinyl and posting blogs about The Shins. Zach’s time was now a valuable and sought-after commodity. A small army of young and nubile personal assistants now nurture his every whim and satisfiy his every need.

Soundtracks are being outsourced.

I got a call from the Braff camp last week. It seems Zach had heard of my work and wanted me to sprinkle a little friggin’ pixie dust on his next project. I played it cool.

“Sure, Zach, no problem. Only one catch, though. BurstLabs.com handles all the licensing.”

Caught between a rock and a proverbial hard place, he relented.

“Matt, you drive a hard bargain, but I have confidence that you can concoct a soundtrack that will make indie darlings of no less than 2 previously underground artists, while at the same time maintaining the mixtape-style looseness that has come to define not only me, but my entire career.”

Official Tracklist Below:

1. The Real Efforts Of Real People- Second Life
2. Owen Sartori- I Knew You’d Come Along
3. New Sense- There Is No Magic
4. Julie Moffitt- Blue & Green
5. Truth in Fiction- Fireflies
6. Plural Z- Shine
7. Nick Pipitone- The Perfect Girl
8. The Farewell Circuit- Hold On
9. John McCarty- Plans We Made
10. Northern Room- Waiting

[ms]

We aspire to be creative, innovative, unique even, in our attempts to please our custom music clients looking for yet another Moby-ish or Coldplay-esque music cue for their commercial or promo.

I mean, it’s not like we get these requests every day.

I’d say once a week.

To which we then privately protest, “C’mon people, it’s 2007!!!”

We like Richard Melville Hall and Christopher Anthony John Martin as much as the next custom music house, but would really, really love to be asked to create something new, fun, exciting, and super sweet. You know, like Amy Winehouse or Albertina Walker.

(Oh, wait… we have been asked for those this month. Thanks guys!)

Aaaaanyway, in hopes of pleasing our favorite customers we hope to find some way of balancing the line between making our clients’ clients happy and fulfilling our musical fantasies of becoming the next…. well, er…. Moby or Coldplay - which you can’t do by imitating their every hit!

But here’s an example of everything we don’t want to be associated with… see if you think this new promo for Euro 2012 is just a bit too close (<-- and that would be a case of MAJOR understatement) to the recent iPod ad featuring the music of The Fratellis.

You be the judge :

Oh, one more thing… the music library world isn’t immune to this syndrome either. I’ll never forget hearing a ridiculous rip of Lou Vega’s Mambo No. 5… cleverly titled….

… wait for it …

“Mambo No. 6″

I wish I were kidding. [dh]

So, you’re looking for a way to connect with the kids, to tell them that there is no pressure to disrobe to soon. The problem is that you’re a 40-year-old advertising executive, and can’t relate the way used to. That’s where we come in. Think of us like your “man on the inside”, cleverly disguising ourselves and surreptitiously floating you tips from the bowels of the teen-friendly indie Oz.

Who could forget the best song from the wholly forgettable artist Jermaine Stewart? Former Shalamar and Culture Club background vocalist turned chaste pop sensation? Anyone?

Let us refresh your memory-

Remember? Well, Jermaine is hot right now.

Not only did Gym Class Heroes interpolate the chorus into their song “Clothes Off”, but the Toronto-based Kids On TV released a cover version on their album Mixing Business With Pleasure.

Listen to Kids On TV’s version of “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off”

The Kids On TV version oozes enough of that perfect cocktail of “cooler-than-thou” and “accessible-and-fun” to really get a high school sophmore to re-evaluate their attitudes towards modern society’s lax sexual mores (though it may leave them with a taste for cherry wine).

If you can’t mine the treasures of the 80s and re-smelt it into 2007 gold, then you’re not trying hard enough. [ms]

Music supervisors have a lot on their plate. Title sequences, montages, climaxes… in a movie without an original score, there’s a lot of space to fill, and a lot of music to choose from.

In the spirit of camaraderie, we thought we would weigh in with our opinion. Here are 12 pieces of music that should be licensed for film, complete with a brief synopsis of the appropriate accompanying storyline.

1. Mika : Lollipop

Owen Wilson plays a former college fullback who has fallen on hard times. His pro career didn’t work out the way he had hoped, and he is now destitute, living off of whatever woman will tolerate him. He meets an inner city youth at the park one day, a precocious young girl, and forms a friendship with her. Then something happens where their friendship is tested. And then they realize how important friendship really is. “Lollipop” resounds as they play hopscotch in the waning evening light.

2. Crooked Fingers : New Drink For The Old Drunk

Matt Dillon and Charlize Theron play a couple of recovering alcoholics that meet in an AA meeting. Though the rules of AA strictly forbid intimate relations with fellow AA members, they are soon having said intimate relations… a lot. Then Charlize falls off the wagon and Matt comes clean to his sponsor about their relationship, resulting in his being kicked out of AA. They lose touch. A few years later, they run into one another on the street. Both have been sober while separate, and while there is still a spark, they worry about jeopardizing their sobriety for their feelings. Then they make out. Crooked Fingers serenades their decision.

3. Oh No! Oh My! : Walk In The Park

In this Farrelly Brothers film, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn play paraplegics who join a handicapped water polo team, coached by Alan Arkin. They soon become the most succesful team in the region, and are on the verge of winning the championships, when, in a freak escalator accident, Vince regains the ability to walk. He quits the team, chosing to live a new life, leaving Ben behind. The day of the championship, however, he realizes that the team is more important than his own good fortune, so he breaks both of his legs and rejoins the team, leading them to the championship. Ben and Vince roll off into the sunset to “Walk In The Park”.

4. M83 : Don’t Save Us From The Flames

In this edgy drama Josh Hartnett Plays Thomas Steele, a motocross rider with a mysterious past. He gets caught up in a drug deal gone bad, and is forced to ride for his life, using his contest winnings to pay off a drug lord, played by Steven Dorff. In the final scene, he must pull off a double backflip corkscrew, a trick never before attempted, or his girlfriend will be shot. The audience watches in amazement as he flips through the air, landing with both tires on the ramp. He stands on top of the dirt hill, raising his helmet in the air, as his girlfriend runs out to embrace him. Cut to a closeup of his face, frozen, with a single tear. “Don’t Save Us From The Flames” plays as we fade to black.

5. Aimee Mann : Nobody Does It Better

Paul Thomas Anderson directs this biopic of Roger Moore, played by Thomas Jane, in an uncharacteristically deep and challenging role. Plagued all his life with feeling of inadequacy and guilt, the backlash he withstood after taking over for Sean Connery’s role of James Bond is enough to send him over the edge. In a haze of drugs and sex, his paranoia leads him to hatch a plot to murder Sean Connery. The audience is kept wondering what is real and what has been imagined in Moore’s drug addled sub-conscious. As the film ends, Moore suffers a psychotic breakdown, thinking he has already killed Connery, and is paralyzed with guilt. As he sits in a room wallpapered with Sean Connery magazine clippings, his head in his hands, Aimee Mann’s rendition of the Spy Who Loved Me theme comes on while the scene fades to credits.

6. The Polyphonic Spree : Hold Me Now

Paul Giamatti plays a card cheat and con man who has been blacklisted from every casino in Las Vegas. As his money starts to run out, he sees an abandoned church for sale just outside of the city. He buys the chapel, and begins to hold services, using religion as a cover for stealing the weekly contents of the offering plates. He soon falls for a member of the church, played by Susan Sarandon. As he struggles to keep his ruse and his romance separate, he realizes that the people he is stealing from are poor and trusting God with a portion of their meager earnings. His hardened heart softened, he starts a church outreach program, helping people to fix their homes, pay their bills, and forge friendships that last a lifetime. In a brilliant piece of cross-marketing, the Polyphonic Spree show up, offering their services as the church choir, and sing “Hold Me Now” as the credits roll.

Part 2 to follow. [ms]

UPDATE 070507 : part 2 available here. [dh]

In celebration of Valentine’s Day - and the 25th anniversary of Huey Lewis’ timeless record, Picture This, released in 1982 - we bring you an update on his classic Do You Believe In Love?.

Many, many thanks to Old Man Malcolm and JTodd - two regular contributors at The Burst Collective - for taking Matt’s idea and running with it.

Enjoy! [dh]

mp3 here