Familiar Music in Superbowl 2017 Product Ads

YouTube playlist for this article,
playlist compilation article

What an exciting start and finish to this year's Superbowl—New England Patriots over Atlanta Falcons, 34 to 28 in overtime! For me, one song emerges for games with a lot of emotional stake: the Eagles' "Gonna Be a Heartache Tonight".

This article is similar to my previous article about songs in product ads "Familiar Music in Product Ads and Product Jingles that Became Hit Songs". This time, I focus on Sunday's 2017 Superbowl advertisements, skipping discussing jingles that might become song hits. In viewing commercials multiple times, I was intrigued by some subtle, unfamiliar musical notes, and, with some songs, was psychologically transported to different eras.

Some songs have been standards forever—"America the Beautiful" (Coca Cola), "Amazing Grace" (upcoming Logan movie). Some songs are as old as 50 years or as recent as within this decade. My journey in hunting up music that ads used was distractingly enjoyable for trips down memory lane (Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild") as well as discovering songs new to me (Sia's "Move Your Body").

The following list of products and their associated music are in the approximate order that the ads aired during the game. Except for "standards" that I mentioned earlier, secondary links go to original-artist versions of known songs.

Coca Cola

• 2014 / 2017 - Coca Cola - America the Beautiful - Super Bowl Ad / Anuncio Comercial
• John Legend Sings America The Beautiful @ NFL Super Bowl XLIX 2015

Ford

• 2017 Ford Go Further | Ford
• Nina Simone - I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free (audio)

Google Home

• Google Home | 2017 Super Bowl Commercial
• John Denver - Take Me Home Country Roads.mp

Michelin Tires

• Michelin - I Need You (Big Game Commercial Extended Cut)
• José González - Stay Alive

LifeWTR

• LIFEWTR Premium Bottled Water - ‘Inspiration Drops’ - Super Bowl Commercial
• John Legend - Love Me Now (Live on the Honda Stage at iHeartRadio Theater LA)

GoDaddy

• The Internet Wants You | GoDaddy Big Game Commercial
• Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up

Logan (movie)

• Logan | "Grace" #SB51 Commercial | 20th Century Fox
• The Best of Scottish Pipes & Drums Reflections 10 Amazing Grace

Bai Antioxidant Infusions

• 2017 Big Game Ad - Starring Justin Timberlake & Christopher Walken
• *NSYNC - Bye Bye Bye

Michelob ULTRA

• Super Bowl Commercial 2017: Our Bar | Michelob ULTRA
• Cheers full theme song (from 200th show)

Lexus LC

• 2017 Lexus LC Commercial: “Man and Machine” – Extended Cut
• Sia - Move Your Body (Official Music Video)

Wendy’s

• Wendy’s 2017 Fresh Beef Commercial “Cold Storage”
• Foreigner - Cold As Ice

National Geographic’s Genius Series

• Watch Einstein Play Lady Gaga On the Violin | ‘Genius’ SB51 Commercial With Geoffrey Rush
• Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

Kia Niro

• 2017 Kia Niro | “Hero’s Journey” Starring Melissa McCarthy
• Holding Out for a Hero Bonnie Tyler Footloose
  Footloose clip
• Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For A Hero

Amazon Echo

• Amazon Alexa Moments: My Girl (Amazon Echo Commercial)
• The Temptations - My Girl (Shindig)

Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster

• Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster Commercial "Easy Driver" – Directed by The Coen Brothers
• Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
  Easy Rider clip
• Steppenwolf - Born to be wild 1969

Nintendo Switch

• Nintendo Switch Super Bowl LI Commercial
• Imagine Dragons - Believer

Grateful for Autofills By Google and IMDB

How's your spelling for unusual names? Do you use autofill features to help spell words or names correctly? My Word Trips article from mid-May 2013 discusses words and meanings that cause me to slow down and do lookups. This time, I have some even more difficult-to-spell (imho) names—some sky objects, a couple of celebrity-star surnames, and additional spellcheck-stopper names. Use Google and IMDB for GREAT spelling helpers.

One starry starry night object that sends me to Google EVERY TIME is Pleiades. Hard to believe three different, consecutive vowels. The "i" before "E" except after "C" rule doesn't work here, and the "A" doesn't help. For readers who don't know anything about Pleiades, it's a great-looking star cluster in the northern hemisphere in the winter. The cluster looks like a smudge if viewing with the naked eye; it looks awesome with binoculars, and spectacular through a telescope.

More sky objects that have recently given me trouble with spelling are anything that starts with "Al", which makes me think of Al Borland from Home Improvement. Anyway, Google to the autofill rescue! Aldebaran and Albireo are both stars that give me problems.

Can anyone easily name the comet that Rosetta orbited around and that Philae landed on? Remember that Philae, unfortunately, wound up in a shady area of the comet? (I did Google search for Rosetta Philae comet. The two proper nouns, fortunately, don't tax my speller power much.) Bingo! One search result yields the eye-boggling comet name—67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. ¡Ay, caramba!

Coming down to earth, Kyle MacLachlan is an actor I've seen in several movies and shows over MANY years. And I actually need to look him up on IMDB before I can remember his surname. For that matter, if he's not in recent roles, I forget if he's Lyle or Kyle. So, I need to find him via Dune or Desperate Housewives. Recently, he's also been on Big Bang Theory and Portlandia.

Now for some guilty-pleasure gossip! I'd read a few weeks ago that Miley Cyrus has been dating Patrick Schwarzenegger (son of Ahnold) and can't spell his surname. C'mon! She should show the guy some respect by learning it, even if they're both dating each other because of famous names for currency.

In sports, I recently encountered the names for the European figure skating women champions—Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Elena Radionova, and Anna Pogorilaya. Take a deep breath before attempting to pronounce or spell!

In younger years of grade school spelling tests, my scores were nearly all 100%. Of course, I think proper nouns tended to be omitted from word lists. I'd have problem with some of these names I provided. What names give you heartburn?