By Dusty Tires

I’ve spent more time than I’d like to admit this winter of 2025 in front of the television. My excuse is that I’m keeping close company with my 94-year-old mother, since my wife and I have been caring for her for about a year and a half.

In that time, I’ve noticed that many television advertisements use popular music from the late 1960s through the late 1980s to appeal to consumers who are Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980).

Songs that were originally anthems about love, adventure, fun, frolic and heartbreak are now used to sell prescription medications, toilet paper, online services and disposable diapers. Using popular music in advertising is nothing new, but it’s entertaining nonetheless.

By the way, I drew the artwork above when I was about 16; I just recently colorized the ink drawing. The drawing portrayed myself and some of my friends as a famous rock band. As it turned out, all we ever achieved was playing air guitar. It turns out we were better suited to be a journalist, a social worker, a hotel manager, a geologist and other mundane occupations.

Back in those days, the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Gabriel, Rod Stewart and Bruce Springsteen probably never dreamed they would someday earn royalties from their songs as advertising jingles.

In these ads, some music and lyrics remain pretty much intact, and other ads use a snippet of melody with some wording changes. Some ads use instrumental music as background.

Here’s a sampling of some tunes and artists, the years the original songs were hits, and what advertisers are currently using them to sell.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight (1961, The Tokens; 1972, Robert John): retail delivery. An exhausted mom is saved by the doorstep delivery of disposable baby diapers.

She’s Like A Rainbow (1967) – Rolling Stones: fast food chain. This colorful commercial emphasizes the sustainable farm-to-table aspect of the healthy food they serve.

Born To Be Wild (1968) – Steppenwolf: disposable diapers, automotive floor liners. Nothing gets your motor runnin’ like babies and floor mats, right?

All Right Now (1970) – Free: prescription respiratory disease medication. Breathing is much easier now.

Take Me Home, Country Roads (1971) – John Denver: mortgage finance services. “Take me home, pay my loan…”

Dancing in the Moonlight (1973) – King Harvest: prescription vision medication. “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash might have been a better choice, but maybe too obvious.

Ooh La La (1973) – Faces (with Rod Stewart): retirement financial planning. We all wish that we knew then what we know now when we were younger.

Come and Get Your Love (1974) – Redbone: dental services. Most people don’t think of love when they think of going to the dentist – I guess that’s the point.

Magic (1975) – Pilot: prescription weight loss/diabetes medication. The opening lines of this song have been revised from the original “Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic.”

Landslide (1975) – Fleetwood Mac: prescription breast cancer medication. A serious angle here, since a cancer diagnosis can surely feel like a landslide.

Born To Run (1975) – Bruce Springsteen: bath soap. Baby, we were born to have soft, smooth skin.

Love Will Keep Us Together (1976) – The Captain and Tennille: beds and mattresses. A fun, bouncy song to make us think about the need for a new mattress.

Solsbury Hill (1977) – Peter Gabriel: instant coffee, automobiles, humane animal treatment. Who knew that this enigmatic rock classic would be so adaptable?

Mr. Blue Sky (1977) – Electric Light Orchestra, and Up Around the Bend (1970), Creedence Clearwater Revival: Using music to help lure tourists to a sunny western state.

You Get The Best of My Love (1977) – The Emotions: soup. We all know that food — especially soup — is a love language.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic (1981) – The Police: television streaming service. A music video-style ad shows the amazing things an entrepreneur does with the product.

We Built This City (1985) – Starship: toilet paper. “We Quilt This City?” Really? But I can’t get this tune out of my head, so they have succeeded.

I Melt With You (1983) – Modern English: romance movie channel and a famous chocolate brand. Yeah, baby, you know what I’m talking about.

All Night Long (All Night) (1983) – Lionel Richie: mattresses. Clever background music for a mattress ad.

Total Eclipse of the Heart (1983) – Bonnie Tyler: laundry fabric softener. Every now and then I rinse it out.

Holding Out For A Hero (1984) – Bonnie Tyler: television streaming service and sports betting service. “I need a hero” when betting on sports teams and streaming TV shows.

Everywhere (1987) – Fleetwood Mac: online money exchange service. I feel a certain comic actor should never be cast to sing, and he did nothing to change my mind in the series of ads that uses this theme song.

Listen To Your Heart (1988) – Roxette: prescription heart disease medication. Sure wish that little heart wearing the bandage wasn’t so chatty.

If I Could Turn Back Time (1989) – Cher: furniture. To me, a sofa really only gets comfy after using it for about 10 years or so.

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All rights reserved, Dusty Tires (dusty-tires.com), 2025.