Commercial Watch: The The
I love that this song is used for commercials (it's "This is the Day," by The The). It's in this M&Ms commercial, and it was in a Dockers commercial a while back, and it was played over the credits of "Empire Records." The thing is, though the chorus goes "This is the day/your life will surely change./This is the day/when things fall into place," this is not actually a positive song. The "you" of the song is an unmotivated slacker that does nothing but sit around and wait for life to happen to him. The tone of the chorus is more akin to that part in "Loser" where Beck samples (from a film called "Kill the Moonlight") "I'm a driver. I'm a winner. Things are going to change. I can feel it."
But maybe in the end, this song is an appropriate one to score an ad: "Buy this candy. It'll change your life, loser. Whatever."
The full song (and a defense of "Empire Records"), after the jump.
-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com
To a certain age group (about 24-27), "Empire Records" was one of the most important movies of the 1990s To everyone else, it's complete fluff. But the movie, which follows the dysfunctional teenage clerks at an indie record store which is in danger of becoming acquired by a national chain, captures the spirit of "This is the Day" perfectly. Like all teenagers, these kids feel that they're special, destined for greatness (that they don't really want to work for), and that working (for minimum wage) at an independent music store is the noblest cause of all. Yes, over the course of the movie, the kids band together and actively save the store from the evil chain owners (and foil a shoplifting attempt), but that's just so that they can come back tomorrow and go on with life unchanged. I'd say "This is the Day" fits the theme perfectly.
