Starfucker Dun Soldout: "Holly" In New IBM Commercial

Flip on the television and what do you hear? Well, if you're not using your TiVo to skip past commercial breaks it's very likely you're going to come across IBM's new green ad campaign—featuring a snazzy edit of Starfucker's "Holly." Oh the path that the track has taken: What started out as a seemingly discarded Sexton Blake demo titled "Holly Dun" to landing on Starfucker's self-titled LP and now soundtracking a new IBM ad!

The big concern, then, is if this ad will call the band's integrity into question? I don't believe it should. Personally, I'm all for licensing and don't view what some deem as "selling out" in a negative light. Touring as a sole source of musical income is a bit shaky since there's pretty much no money in album sales anymore, so if ads mean my favorite bands can better afford a meal, then by all means they should take it. Less time spent worrying over finances equals more time for music making! Sounds like a winning situation for the band and my ears.

Of course then there's the case of what product and/or company the song is helping to shill. Band of Horses backed out of a Wal-Mart ad after an adverse reaction from fans decrying the company's bad business practices and exploitation. Locally, the Thermals emphatically turned down a $50k offer to license a song to Hummer due to a distaste for the vehicle and just plain not wanting to ever have its songs in ads, according to frontman Hutch Harris.

Starfucker on the other hand have never had a policy against ads and there's something warm and fuzzy about the fact that this ad is for IBM and Starfucker mastermind Josh Hodges is actually a PC user. You know, as opposed to Microsoft's poor attempt to regain ground on Apple with its "I'm a PC" ad campaign featuring regular people and celebrities proclaiming their alliance to PCs... celebrities such as Pharrell Williams and Eva Longoria who have an unpaid allegiance to Apple off screen. Not only that, but that particular Microsoft campaign was revealed to have been created on Apple hardware by the ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. It reminds me of Britney pushing Pepsi while getting caught by the paparazzi chugging down cokes. But I digress...

My first thought upon initially hearing Starfucker was that its song catalog was destined for commercials. I mean if M.I.A.'s "Galang" can provide the musical accompaniment for a car, than surely an act with the name Starfucker can too. IBM has proven that thought correct.

It's also worth mentioning the first comment on the YouTube page was asking what song is in the background. Further exposure begins. Wait—what round is this anyway? You've got the MTV PDX featurette, an appearance on the frontpage of MySpace a while back and now this. Has the band broken or is this still the beginning? Here's the commercial, and let us know what you think about Starfucker's big break.



Links:
StarfuckerSpace
IBM Commercial on YouTube

IBM tag courtesy of the Internet