Forget Touring, the Money is in Ads, Bitch!

Anybody remember that cute little song by the weird-looking lead singer of Nickleback and another guy with a striped goatee call “Hero” for the Spiderman soundtrack a few year back? Well that other guy has a band of his own, Saliva. Saliva has done ok for themselves with a couple of gold albums, but nowhere near buddy band Nickleback.

So what is Saliva to do to have the cash to throw around when they go for a night around town with their buds who have a much bigger record contract? The answer is simple, write songs that marketing minions will droll over. And that’s what they did.

You’ve probably heard the song “Ladies and Gentlemen” by Saliva. It was the WrestleMania 23 theme song, featured in the newest PlayStation 3 ad campaign, promos for the new American Gladiators, ESPN Radio, NFL Network, and just about every sports arena in the past year.

If you listen to the song by itself, it’s quite forgettable and somewhat stupid sounding. It can be broken down into two parts:

Rock on, Josey

• Lead singer Josey Scott (yes, that’s his real name) sounding like a one of those guys they had outside freakshows talking them up
• Heavy guitar riffs overlaid with Josey Scott yelling “Let me hear it Ladies and Gentlemen.”

Oh, and it goes like that for over 3 minutes, perfect for a 30 second ad, not so much for the radio.

It makes me want to go and make an album made up of songs designed solely for ads. I’ll call it “Songs for Commericals.”