Could it be? Is that Ministry’s Al Jourgensen singing “don’t give me that so-so soda/that same old cola” in this 1983 commercial for Shasta? The clip, shown above, isn’t labeled as such, but the commenters — along with the reader who sent this to us — think so. It certainly sounds like that faux Brit accident Uncle Al adopted during the With Sympathy era. And to think, just a few years later he’d be screaming “THIEVES! THIEVES AND LIARS!” over pummeling guitars and dentist drills.
And, as a bonus, below (via Waveformless) we’ve got what is purportedly a 1982 7UP jingle recorded by New Wave synth man Gary Numan. According to the description posted on YouTube, the soft drink maker paid Numan some £10,000 to record three pieces of music with the lyrics they provided — but never used the results since they had believed they were getting something a bit more punk-ish.
UPDATE: Oh, and here’s New Order’s “Blue Monday” re-write for Sunkist.
Hear Gary Numan’s 7UP jingle after the jump…
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Gary Numan cancels Coachella set, postpones San Francisco, Los Angeles concerts
- Video: Ministry’s Al Jourgensen sings ‘It’s Always Christmas Time’ for Paul Raven
- Ministry’s Al Jourgensen records Christmas song in memory of Paul Raven
- Ex-Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen threatens to make ’80s synthpop album
- Revolting Cocks map first headlining tour in 20 years — but without Al Jourgensen
Just an FYI – the Shasta commercial was confirmed by Robert Roberts, who played keyboards in the band between 81-83. He worked on With Sympathy and the subsequent tour, and posts regularly on an unofficial Ministry forum. Here’s his comment:
“I never would have recalled that on my own. But I do now.
The commercial may have hit in 83, but I think the recording was done in 82. Lots of American TV commercials are conceived, written and produced in Chicago. Chicago Recording Company used to do a lot of them and I think that’s how Al got the work.”
If you want a link to the whole thread, let me know..
Also, keep your eyes peeled for new Ministry news. Cleopatra Records has apparently signed them up, and claim a new studio album is on the way, so much for Al’s retirement. If that’s not enough, Bill Leeb of Front Line Assembly posted on his Twitter page about a “possible co-headling tour with a re-uniting band..any guesses?” I mention this because Jourgensen contributed vocals to “Stupidity”, a track on FLA’s new album Improvised Electronic Device.
Cheers,
1002
.lest we forget that pepsi jingle by the one and only marc bolan…
http://marcbolanlive.webs.com/13.%20Pepsi%20Jingle.mp3
7-Up might’ve thought they’d get something in the vein of Numan’s Lee Cooper jeans jingle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZd2arTQCSM
tenohtwo, thanks so much for that excerpt from Robert Roberts. Yes, by all means, please give us a link to the full thread. I tried Googling some of the quotes, but only this page turned up. One thing I’m curious about is whether he mentions the Huffy bikes ad that Al reportedly also scored. One possible candidate for the ad was posted on YouTube by Herbert West (AKA func88) as “HUFFY BIKES TV Commercial (80’s)”.
Need to put ministry back on please. Thank you.