Badly Drawn Boy
Photo: Beggars Banquet

The original idea was for companies like Mitsubishi and the Gap to use artists like Groove Armada and Badly Drawn Boy to sell cars and clothes. But in the end, it may be that Groove Armada and Badly Drawn Boy were simply using cars and clothes to sell their music.

Exhibit A: As Seen on TV: Songs From Commercials, due June 5 from the people behind the chart-topping Now That's I What Call Music compilations. As Seen on TV includes some of the more memorable TV ad songs of recent months, from late singer/songwriter Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" — featured in a much-remarked-upon Volkswagen ad — to Badly Drawn Boy's equally delicate "The Shining," which the Gap used in a winter-themed ad.

The 20-song album also includes Trio's new-wave nugget "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha," used in a Volkswagen ad, the Propellerheads and Shirley Bassey's "History Repeating," used in a Jaguar ad, and Groove Armada's "I See You Baby," used in a Mitsubishi commercial.

Fittingly, As Seen on TV's makers plan to promote the TV-commercial comp with TV spots of its own.

Adam Starr, the UTV Records product manager who dreamed up As Seen on TV, said he hopes the compilation will give more exposure to acts like Drake and Badly Drawn Boy, whose sales hardly match their critical acclaim.

"When the Nick Drake commercial first happened, people were half disgusted by it and half, like, 'Great, he's getting attention.' And that's kind of the gist of what this is about," Starr said Tuesday (May 22).

Other tracks on the album, which UTV A&R Vice President Jeff Moskow described as "either cool or kitschy," include Handsome Boy Modeling School's "Rock n' Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This)," the Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds," the Buzzcocks' "What Do I Get?" and, of course, Styx's "Mr. Roboto." UTV isn't the first company to see potential profit in the boom of hip commercial soundtracks — Volkswagen itself recently released the collection Street Mix — Music From VW Commercials Volume 1, which includes the same Trio, Drake and Styx tracks (see "Volkswagen Rolls Out Mix CD With Styx, Trio, Other Commercial Hits").

• Badly Drawn Boy
• Nick Drake
• Groove Armada
• Fatboy Slim
• Propellerheads

Styx
Photo: Mark Weiss

For several years Volkswagen has been relaunching musical careers as successfully as it has its own discontinued models. Thanks to Volkswagen's music-friendly commercials, the popularity of Trio, Styx and others has soared since the clips began airing during the mid-'90s — and you can bet they're grateful.

Now the car company that ignited the hip-commercial-music craze and created a new outlet for Moby and Sting is releasing VW Street Mix, Volume 1, a compilation CD featuring music from Volkswagen's first commercials.

Nick Drake's "Pink Moon," Trio's "Da Da Da" and Styx's "Mr. Roboto" are included, along with tracks from Hooverphonic, Spiritualized and Pitchshifter.

"We've been putting this together for a couple of years now," said Alan Pafenbach, whose Arnold Worldwide advertising firm creates the commercials for Volkswagen. "It doesn't have all of the songs we have used, but hopefully we will keep releasing CDs and getting them out there." Music fans have already demonstrated they will buy a song they like from a commercial. U.S. sales of Nick Drake's Pink Moon album rose from 6,000 copies, prior to the song's use in a Cabrio commercial, to 74,000 copies in 2000, according to Palm, which distributes Drake's music through Hannibal Records.

Volkswagen have pressed some 30,000 copies of VW Street Mix, Volume 1 and plan to sell them through the company's Internet radio station, RadioVW (www.radiovw.com), by the end of April. Local VW dealers will also eventually sell the CDs, Pafenbach said.

Track listing for VW Street Mix, Volume 1, according to Arnold Worldwide:

• Nick Drake, "Pink Moon"
• Hooverphonic, "Renaissance Affair"
• Charles Mingus, "II BS"
• Styx, "Mr. Roboto"
• Master Cylinder, "Jung At Heart"
• Ben Neill, "Turbonium X"
• Pitchshifter, "Subject To Status"
• Fluke, "Absurd"
• Spiritualized, "Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space"
• Trio, "Da Da Da"
• Velocity Girl, "Sorry Again"
• Psychic TV, "Roman P"

• Styx
• Trio
• Nick Drake