8 ms·

What Killed the Jingle?

57 points by pmcpinto 10y ago

amelius 10y ago
I really hate it when advertisements hijack existing music, especially when it is classical music.
- masklinn 10y ago
  Or post/alt rock, the first time I heard Sigur Rós in an ad was an odd experience, especially as they don't (or didn't at the time) allow such uses: http://sigur-ros.co.uk/media/homage-or-fromage.php http://sigur-ros.co.uk/media/homage-or-fromage.php
- neogodless 10y ago
  I can't figure out if Comcast/Xfinity is "in on the joke" by hijacking "Everything is Awesome!" Be a drone! Be like everyone else! Watch the screens!
- icebraining 10y ago
  Yeah, for a long time I couldn't listen to O Fortuna without thinking of the commercial with the ship. Joke's on them, though: I could never remember the actual product being advertised!
- 6stringmerc 10y ago
  You could imagine my surprise when hearing The Kronos Quartet teme for Requiem For A Dream being used in a trailer for one of the Lord of the Rings franchise pictures. The one that cracks me up still is Carnival cruises using Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" which coincidentally a lot of people associate with the film Trainspotting.
  - CocaKoala 10y ago
    For a while there was a car ad that used a clip from Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights", specifically the portion of the song which references the title. For context, the song itself is about a man trapped in a loveless relationship after swearing to his girlfriend that he would love her to the end of time so that she'd come across in the car, leading to the titular paradise. Now, though, he's "praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive, 'cause if I gotta spend another minute with you I don't think that I can survive".
- soylentcola 10y ago
  Classical makes sense as I imagine there are less rights to deal with (probably just need to pay for the performance but not the song) and orchestral classical music has been used in everything from ads to cartoons for decades. I think the ones I really hate are when they use a more recent "classic" pop tune and essentially wear them out so I never want to hear them again. One example is "Just What I Needed" by The Cars. I used to like that song but after it was used in an ad (perhaps Circuit City?) I can't stand to hear it again.
- ArkyBeagle 10y ago
  In one example, GM has coopted "Eminence Front" by the Who, without checking what the lyrics might mean. If they checked it and used it anyway, then... well, okay then. It feels like they didn't check.
drawkbox 10y ago
Jingles are cheesy but many of them stick with you for a long time. "Best part of waking up, is Folger's in your cup", "Kiss a little longer... hold tight a little longer... longer with Big Red", "I'm a pepper, she's a pepper, he's a pepper wouldn't you like to be a pepper to" and probably hundreds of others. Maybe it was just hearing them so many times when TV and entertainment were more limited and linear, but they definitely worked.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
ekianjo 10y ago
Except in Japan where jingles are still thriving like nothing happened.
- wodenokoto 10y ago
  The article says that jingles have been replaced with pop-songs, and that is also something they very much do in Japan.
  - wingerlang 10y ago
    And/or a mix, here are two full pop songs that are just commercials (intel) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxW22JLUmg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxW22JLUmg and (amoled screens) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRxylJho898 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRxylJho898. Not Japanese though. I wonder if these songs suck when you know the language. For me they sound good and have their place in my playlist.
    - ekianjo 10y ago
      The Amoled lyrics are quite silly actually :)
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    Its a mix in Japan. They also do pop songs ONLY for commercials. Or sometimes they take a pop song and tweak it for the commercial. It's rarely just cut and paste.
- realharo 10y ago
  Probably similar in Korea, or at least as far as I can tell from watching Starcraft GSL broadcasts on Twitch. The chat always went crazy when this catchy ad started playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA7PJsp-erM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA7PJsp-erM Or more recently, this ad became a bit of a meme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfYla7FWZK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfYla7FWZK0 But plenty others also had such little tunes in them.
posterboy 10y ago
> to be a pepper too fixed
- posterboy 10y ago
  What's with the downvotes? Granted, I missed the comma before "too".
  - posterboy 10y ago
    Ah, another downvote.
    - posterboy 10y ago
      It's like you get a kick out of that downarrow? Because if you are trying to communicate something, it's not getting across.
      - dang 10y ago
        Please don't do this here. In HN threads the main thing to optimize for is signal/noise ratio, because that is what serves the site goal of intellectual curiosity. This is why the site guidelines ask you not to go on about getting downvoted: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Downvotes are irritating, of course, but it's an irritant we all have to deal with.
      - pconner 10y ago
        People who complain about downvotes get downvoted, especially if they make a whole new comment (or more, wow) just to complain.
- dang 10y ago
  We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12388563 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12388563 and marked it off-topic.
Houshalter 10y ago
Interesting. But no mention of any studies or tests whether jingles are actually effective. Perhaps advertisers discovered they just don't work at selling products.
- InclinedPlane 10y ago
  Bingo. I have tons of jingles stuck in my head for products I have never bought nor world consider buying. There are a few things that advertising is good for. One is spreading familiarity with a brand, but that has limits, especially with already well known brands. The other is psychological priming. You can actually hijack people's brains and change their enjoyment of a product through advertising by creating associations. This is similar to the way we have "comfort foods" that we associate with, say, being at home, etc. Advertising can prime your experience of a product and enhance your enjoyment of it, and also make it more memorable. Then you start layering your own experiences on top of that kernel and you build up something like a pearl of personal associations around that product. This is the true power of advertising, and it's huge. Jingles, I suspect, don't always play into that aspect or create much priming.
  - kkarakk 10y ago
    >Jingles, I suspect, don't always play into that aspect or create much priming. you say that as you instantly recall each and every product associated with the jingles you remember. you may not think it's influencing you but when you goto the supermarket late at night,tired after a hard day at work and get the message - oh be sure to get some [food item]. do you go with the brand name you remember(your eyes hunt down the specific look and name of the product even) or the generic thing just a few steps over that costs a little less?
endswapper 10y ago
The proclamation that jingles are dead isn't true and the best ones will never die. This is evidenced by the fact we still reference Folgers, Dr. Pepper, etc. I appreciate the comments about Japan and Korea as I wouldn't be aware of those otherwise. Like most things advertising evolved and since mass appeal is the objective it makes sense that pop songs, which are simple and catchy would fill the role that jingles once played. Pop songs, however, are relatively expensive, and even more so if you have an effective commercial that you want to run a lot. Without doing any additional searching I can name 2 great, current jingles running here is Los Angeles. Powell Electric's, "...we'll fix it in a flash..." and Empire Carpet, "...call Empire Today..." So now I think they fill the purpose of lower budget commercials, but they are still a live and they are still a great tool for the right job.
- 6stringmerc 10y ago
  Curious about that Powell Electric jingle because there's another firm out here Texas way by the name Milestone Electric that uses the same slogan. Curious if it's a franchise model. Something akin to how Clear Channel has a robot playlist Bob FM, Jack FM, Steve FM, etc in different large markets.
  - endswapper 10y ago
    I'm not sure, and I am not familiar with the TX company, but if you want to take a look for yourself, this is a link to the Powell I am referring to: http://www.powell-electric.com/ http://www.powell-electric.com/ I hope that was an answer, in a flash... Now, just because I am curious, mostly because it is catchy, if you do confirm an affiliation either way please let us know. Thanks.
    - soylentcola 10y ago
      Just did a quick Google search and saw where someone posed the same question on Milestone's Facebook page. According to their rep, they are not the same company but they are "friends". Probably not affiliated but mostly just aware of each other and not in direct competition due to regions.
CosmicShadow 10y ago
What about in podcasts?
- Springtime 10y ago
  No Agenda is a good example. The show utilizes jingles, songs, and soundbites for entertainment reasons rather than commercial. Too many to list (or find), but a few examples below. In The Morning Breakfast jingle: https://clyp.it/1jlijg2g https://clyp.it/1jlijg2g See Something, Say Something: https://clyp.it/hcjt1i2g https://clyp.it/hcjt1i2g Uber Spies acapella: https://clyp.it/wgpj4jjh https://clyp.it/wgpj4jjh Don't Look Over Here (Nothing To See Here): https://clyp.it/on2d3pf3 https://clyp.it/on2d3pf3 Monsanto: https://clyp.it/ayuf1scs https://clyp.it/ayuf1scs
wyldfire 10y ago
Jingles sure are less popular these days. The SNCF "jingle" comes to mind as one I've heard recently, though [1]. It's very distinctive, just like advertising jingles. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA5MwhuHWLo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA5MwhuHWLo
agentgt 10y ago
I think one of the obvious reasons to buy an existing pop song today instead of using a jingle is that is contextual proven. Updating a jingle is probably a far greater risk. I think some recent artist have been accused of purposely writing songs to sell. There is an urban myth that X Ambassador wrote "Renegade" just for Jeep (reality is they were working on the song anyway) [1]. The myth though is not far from the truth. I wonder how many other artist are thinking hmm this song could work great for a commercial. I have wondered if Rachel Platten was thinking that when she wrote fight song... that song is so emotional syrupy... it was made to be sold for advertising (I thought for sure though it would be used in the olympics but lost that bet to my wife). [1]: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-jeep-found-perfect-song-launch-its-renegade-campaign-164125 http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-jeep-fou...
- WorldMaker 10y ago
  There's definitely a sense that some artists are intentionally writing for the "drop pile" (songs easily and cheaply licensed) of Ad Execs and Marketing. Several electronic artists, Celldweller being the big one off the top of my head, have been somewhat intentionally building instrumental works just for the off chance that Hollywood wants something "epic ready" for a film trailer. (He has an entire "series" of albums geared towards this called Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head. Several of them will probably have heard before in film trailers.) Even one of my cousins' bands engaged with this in a meta-joking way by titling one of their recent albums "Music for Car Commercials".
  - tarsinge 10y ago
    Vaporwave[1] is an entire music genre around ironically sampling business background music and ads specific music [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporwave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporwave Edit : the label Business Casual is a good start http://music.businesscasual.biz/#_=_ http://music.businesscasual.biz/#_=_
sheraz 10y ago
Best. Jingle. Ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS18jHMmhAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS18jHMmhAI
adanto6840 10y ago
First thing that comes to my mind is the Nationwide jingle, and lately, hearing Peyton Manning hum it. Anyone know how long the Nationwide jingle has been around? There are definitely still a lot of jingles that I instantly recognize or can think of (like other posters mentioned here, Folgers is definitely another one).
- mikestew 10y ago
  Anyone know how long the Nationwide jingle has been around? Decades, as I recall it from when I was a child, and I've got more days behind me than ahead of me. I'm surprised to hear that they're still using it.
strictnein 10y ago
> "who has been nicknamed “The King of the Jingle” and whose greatest hits include the long-running “Nationwide Is On Your Side”" I really have no idea where she learned it, since really no media she consumes contains ads, but I've heard my 4 year old daughter sing "Nationwide is on your side" on multiple occasions. It's both cute and kind of terrifying.
- macd 10y ago
  Probably from the olympics. It seemed like Nationwide was every other commercial during the breaks.
  - strictnein 10y ago
    Ahh, yes, she was watching a decent amount of that.
eplanit 10y ago
Barry Manilow was successful in the pop music world, and also wrote several well-known jingles[1][2]. Many/most didn't know he wrote them until long after they had been established. [1] https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=barry+manilow+jingles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=bar... [2] http://barrynethomepage.com/commercialjingles.html http://barrynethomepage.com/commercialjingles.html
initram 10y ago
There's a great episode of Crap From The Past[0] about pop songs that started out as commercial jingles[1]. The most surprising one to me was the Carpenter's hit "We've only Just Begun". [0] http://www.crapfromthepast.com/ http://www.crapfromthepast.com/ [1] https://archive.org/details/cftp-2015-11-20 https://archive.org/details/cftp-2015-11-20

57 points by pmcpinto 10y ago

amelius 10y ago

I really hate it when advertisements hijack existing music, especially when it is classical music.

masklinn 10y ago
Or post/alt rock, the first time I heard Sigur Rós in an ad was an odd experience, especially as they don't (or didn't at the time) allow such uses: http://sigur-ros.co.uk/media/homage-or-fromage.php http://sigur-ros.co.uk/media/homage-or-fromage.php
neogodless 10y ago
I can't figure out if Comcast/Xfinity is "in on the joke" by hijacking "Everything is Awesome!" Be a drone! Be like everyone else! Watch the screens!
icebraining 10y ago
Yeah, for a long time I couldn't listen to O Fortuna without thinking of the commercial with the ship. Joke's on them, though: I could never remember the actual product being advertised!
6stringmerc 10y ago
You could imagine my surprise when hearing The Kronos Quartet teme for Requiem For A Dream being used in a trailer for one of the Lord of the Rings franchise pictures. The one that cracks me up still is Carnival cruises using Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" which coincidentally a lot of people associate with the film Trainspotting.
- CocaKoala 10y ago
  For a while there was a car ad that used a clip from Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights", specifically the portion of the song which references the title. For context, the song itself is about a man trapped in a loveless relationship after swearing to his girlfriend that he would love her to the end of time so that she'd come across in the car, leading to the titular paradise. Now, though, he's "praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive, 'cause if I gotta spend another minute with you I don't think that I can survive".
soylentcola 10y ago
Classical makes sense as I imagine there are less rights to deal with (probably just need to pay for the performance but not the song) and orchestral classical music has been used in everything from ads to cartoons for decades. I think the ones I really hate are when they use a more recent "classic" pop tune and essentially wear them out so I never want to hear them again. One example is "Just What I Needed" by The Cars. I used to like that song but after it was used in an ad (perhaps Circuit City?) I can't stand to hear it again.
ArkyBeagle 10y ago
In one example, GM has coopted "Eminence Front" by the Who, without checking what the lyrics might mean. If they checked it and used it anyway, then... well, okay then. It feels like they didn't check.

drawkbox 10y ago

Jingles are cheesy but many of them stick with you for a long time. "Best part of waking up, is Folger's in your cup", "Kiss a little longer... hold tight a little longer... longer with Big Red", "I'm a pepper, she's a pepper, he's a pepper wouldn't you like to be a pepper to" and probably hundreds of others. Maybe it was just hearing them so many times when TV and entertainment were more limited and linear, but they definitely worked.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

ekianjo 10y ago

Except in Japan where jingles are still thriving like nothing happened.

wodenokoto 10y ago
The article says that jingles have been replaced with pop-songs, and that is also something they very much do in Japan.
- wingerlang 10y ago
  And/or a mix, here are two full pop songs that are just commercials (intel) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxW22JLUmg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxW22JLUmg and (amoled screens) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRxylJho898 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRxylJho898. Not Japanese though. I wonder if these songs suck when you know the language. For me they sound good and have their place in my playlist.
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    The Amoled lyrics are quite silly actually :)
- ekianjo 10y ago
  Its a mix in Japan. They also do pop songs ONLY for commercials. Or sometimes they take a pop song and tweak it for the commercial. It's rarely just cut and paste.
realharo 10y ago
Probably similar in Korea, or at least as far as I can tell from watching Starcraft GSL broadcasts on Twitch. The chat always went crazy when this catchy ad started playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA7PJsp-erM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA7PJsp-erM Or more recently, this ad became a bit of a meme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfYla7FWZK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfYla7FWZK0 But plenty others also had such little tunes in them.

posterboy 10y ago

> to be a pepper too fixed

posterboy 10y ago
What's with the downvotes? Granted, I missed the comma before "too".
- posterboy 10y ago
  Ah, another downvote.
  - posterboy 10y ago
    It's like you get a kick out of that downarrow? Because if you are trying to communicate something, it's not getting across.
    - dang 10y ago
      Please don't do this here. In HN threads the main thing to optimize for is signal/noise ratio, because that is what serves the site goal of intellectual curiosity. This is why the site guidelines ask you not to go on about getting downvoted: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Downvotes are irritating, of course, but it's an irritant we all have to deal with.
    - pconner 10y ago
      People who complain about downvotes get downvoted, especially if they make a whole new comment (or more, wow) just to complain.
dang 10y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12388563 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12388563 and marked it off-topic.

Houshalter 10y ago

Interesting. But no mention of any studies or tests whether jingles are actually effective. Perhaps advertisers discovered they just don't work at selling products.

InclinedPlane 10y ago
Bingo. I have tons of jingles stuck in my head for products I have never bought nor world consider buying. There are a few things that advertising is good for. One is spreading familiarity with a brand, but that has limits, especially with already well known brands. The other is psychological priming. You can actually hijack people's brains and change their enjoyment of a product through advertising by creating associations. This is similar to the way we have "comfort foods" that we associate with, say, being at home, etc. Advertising can prime your experience of a product and enhance your enjoyment of it, and also make it more memorable. Then you start layering your own experiences on top of that kernel and you build up something like a pearl of personal associations around that product. This is the true power of advertising, and it's huge. Jingles, I suspect, don't always play into that aspect or create much priming.
- kkarakk 10y ago
  >Jingles, I suspect, don't always play into that aspect or create much priming. you say that as you instantly recall each and every product associated with the jingles you remember. you may not think it's influencing you but when you goto the supermarket late at night,tired after a hard day at work and get the message - oh be sure to get some [food item]. do you go with the brand name you remember(your eyes hunt down the specific look and name of the product even) or the generic thing just a few steps over that costs a little less?

endswapper 10y ago

The proclamation that jingles are dead isn't true and the best ones will never die. This is evidenced by the fact we still reference Folgers, Dr. Pepper, etc. I appreciate the comments about Japan and Korea as I wouldn't be aware of those otherwise. Like most things advertising evolved and since mass appeal is the objective it makes sense that pop songs, which are simple and catchy would fill the role that jingles once played. Pop songs, however, are relatively expensive, and even more so if you have an effective commercial that you want to run a lot. Without doing any additional searching I can name 2 great, current jingles running here is Los Angeles. Powell Electric's, "...we'll fix it in a flash..." and Empire Carpet, "...call Empire Today..." So now I think they fill the purpose of lower budget commercials, but they are still a live and they are still a great tool for the right job.

6stringmerc 10y ago
Curious about that Powell Electric jingle because there's another firm out here Texas way by the name Milestone Electric that uses the same slogan. Curious if it's a franchise model. Something akin to how Clear Channel has a robot playlist Bob FM, Jack FM, Steve FM, etc in different large markets.
- endswapper 10y ago
  I'm not sure, and I am not familiar with the TX company, but if you want to take a look for yourself, this is a link to the Powell I am referring to: http://www.powell-electric.com/ http://www.powell-electric.com/ I hope that was an answer, in a flash... Now, just because I am curious, mostly because it is catchy, if you do confirm an affiliation either way please let us know. Thanks.
  - soylentcola 10y ago
    Just did a quick Google search and saw where someone posed the same question on Milestone's Facebook page. According to their rep, they are not the same company but they are "friends". Probably not affiliated but mostly just aware of each other and not in direct competition due to regions.

CosmicShadow 10y ago

What about in podcasts?

Springtime 10y ago
No Agenda is a good example. The show utilizes jingles, songs, and soundbites for entertainment reasons rather than commercial. Too many to list (or find), but a few examples below. In The Morning Breakfast jingle: https://clyp.it/1jlijg2g https://clyp.it/1jlijg2g See Something, Say Something: https://clyp.it/hcjt1i2g https://clyp.it/hcjt1i2g Uber Spies acapella: https://clyp.it/wgpj4jjh https://clyp.it/wgpj4jjh Don't Look Over Here (Nothing To See Here): https://clyp.it/on2d3pf3 https://clyp.it/on2d3pf3 Monsanto: https://clyp.it/ayuf1scs https://clyp.it/ayuf1scs

wyldfire 10y ago

Jingles sure are less popular these days. The SNCF "jingle" comes to mind as one I've heard recently, though [1]. It's very distinctive, just like advertising jingles. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA5MwhuHWLo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA5MwhuHWLo

agentgt 10y ago

I think one of the obvious reasons to buy an existing pop song today instead of using a jingle is that is contextual proven. Updating a jingle is probably a far greater risk. I think some recent artist have been accused of purposely writing songs to sell. There is an urban myth that X Ambassador wrote "Renegade" just for Jeep (reality is they were working on the song anyway) [1]. The myth though is not far from the truth. I wonder how many other artist are thinking hmm this song could work great for a commercial. I have wondered if Rachel Platten was thinking that when she wrote fight song... that song is so emotional syrupy... it was made to be sold for advertising (I thought for sure though it would be used in the olympics but lost that bet to my wife). [1]: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-jeep-found-perfect-song-launch-its-renegade-campaign-164125 http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-jeep-fou...

WorldMaker 10y ago
There's definitely a sense that some artists are intentionally writing for the "drop pile" (songs easily and cheaply licensed) of Ad Execs and Marketing. Several electronic artists, Celldweller being the big one off the top of my head, have been somewhat intentionally building instrumental works just for the off chance that Hollywood wants something "epic ready" for a film trailer. (He has an entire "series" of albums geared towards this called Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head. Several of them will probably have heard before in film trailers.) Even one of my cousins' bands engaged with this in a meta-joking way by titling one of their recent albums "Music for Car Commercials".
- tarsinge 10y ago
  Vaporwave[1] is an entire music genre around ironically sampling business background music and ads specific music [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporwave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporwave Edit : the label Business Casual is a good start http://music.businesscasual.biz/#_=_ http://music.businesscasual.biz/#_=_

sheraz 10y ago

Best. Jingle. Ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS18jHMmhAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS18jHMmhAI

adanto6840 10y ago

First thing that comes to my mind is the Nationwide jingle, and lately, hearing Peyton Manning hum it. Anyone know how long the Nationwide jingle has been around? There are definitely still a lot of jingles that I instantly recognize or can think of (like other posters mentioned here, Folgers is definitely another one).

mikestew 10y ago
Anyone know how long the Nationwide jingle has been around? Decades, as I recall it from when I was a child, and I've got more days behind me than ahead of me. I'm surprised to hear that they're still using it.

strictnein 10y ago

> "who has been nicknamed “The King of the Jingle” and whose greatest hits include the long-running “Nationwide Is On Your Side”" I really have no idea where she learned it, since really no media she consumes contains ads, but I've heard my 4 year old daughter sing "Nationwide is on your side" on multiple occasions. It's both cute and kind of terrifying.

macd 10y ago
Probably from the olympics. It seemed like Nationwide was every other commercial during the breaks.
- strictnein 10y ago
  Ahh, yes, she was watching a decent amount of that.

eplanit 10y ago

Barry Manilow was successful in the pop music world, and also wrote several well-known jingles[1][2]. Many/most didn't know he wrote them until long after they had been established. [1] https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=barry+manilow+jingles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=bar... [2] http://barrynethomepage.com/commercialjingles.html http://barrynethomepage.com/commercialjingles.html

initram 10y ago

There's a great episode of Crap From The Past[0] about pop songs that started out as commercial jingles[1]. The most surprising one to me was the Carpenter's hit "We've only Just Begun". [0] http://www.crapfromthepast.com/ http://www.crapfromthepast.com/ [1] https://archive.org/details/cftp-2015-11-20 https://archive.org/details/cftp-2015-11-20