In the last few months we’ve seen Passion Pit sell “Sleepyhead” for a Palm Pixi commercial and Cadillac place “1901″ by Phoenix in ads for the 2010 SRX. My punk-rock hackles got raised. But should they? The music industry is in a terrible state and people have to hustle. Is the indie ethic of not selling products with your music an anachronism? What’s the actual objection, anyway? It’s been such a sacred cow for so long that I’ve long since forgotten why I’m supposed to consider it unacceptable. (I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention UPS’ cold-as-ice use of the Postal Service in its ads.)

If there was a theme to one side of the 00s, it would be indie sensibilities coming to terms with all sorts of cultural miscegenation, from “House of Jealous Lovers” embrace of cocaine and dance music to Ted Leo tenderly covering “Since U Been Gone” to the emerging white-rock-groups-singing-R&B trend. From my perspective, anything that mixes up categories ought to be embraced first and judged on its merits later. In retrospect, one of the most depressing aspects of the 90s was how punk bands looked back to how first-wave UK punk mixed up contemporary white rock and black reggae — but then, instead of mixing contemporary punk with contemporary hip-hop, they just played Two-Tone covers. (Credit due to the Transplants for implicitly correcting this mistake, even though I’d argue Rancid actually has a hip-hop sensibility.) I was in one of those bands, even as I would talk about the new Blanks 77 record and the new Nas back in high school. Something just didn’t click. Until recently, anyway.

So I would expect the Passion Pit/Phoenix commercial trend to accelerate. Hey, it’s transgressive — to a certain subculture, at least — right? Here are some suggestions for the ads of the next several years. Almost all of them concern the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

1. Food Lion takes “Gold Lion” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Are there still Food Lions? I think I remember that being a Florida supermarket chain when I would go visit my grandmother. If so, here’s how you increase your market share: Food Lion gonna tell me what the price is/ our prices are out of control... Admittedly, this needs a shave & a haircut. “Our prices are out of control” could suggest high prices, which is counterproductive. “Our prices are really low” is less faithful to the song, though.

2. Coke Zero takes “Zero” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Do I have to explain? We’ve got some glum teens walking through a drab, dark rain-drenched alley, bored and shit, restless but unenthusiastic. Then someone hands them a can of the stuff, the bright lights flash for your zee-roooooooo-whoa… If you come by the Washington Independent offices, you’ll find Dave Weigel and myself constantly buying fridge packs of the stuff and singing this every time we pop a can open. Every. Single. Time.

3. Windows 7 takes “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Macs. They don’t love you like I love you. This would be a dagger strike at the heart of Apple’s clientele.

4. Stonyfield Ba-nilla Yogurt takes “A Milli” by Lil Wayne. I happened to be enjoying this banana/vanilla flavor hybrid for breakfast this morning and this idea just came to me. Mack, I’m goin’ in!

5. Yuengling takes “Jingling Baby” by LL Cool J. Not actually an 00s song, of course, but we remembered late 80s/early 90s New York rap in the 00s, so I rule this in bounds. Also this decade, Yuengling, the Pennsylvania beer that’s a Northeast Corridor favorite, tried for the first time to go national. But they’re not going to see true success until they bring in LL — who, coincidentally, could use a career boost. Girl brings a guy a bottle. “A Yuengling, baby?” Yeah, go ‘head, baby. Do it for Farmers Boulevard.

Update: An IM conversation with Matthew Yglesias about refining the concept of this post prompts me to realize that “Y Control” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs needs to be used to sell women birth-control options like Depo-Provera or the Nuva Ring.

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