Jack & Coke

When The White Stripes exploded on the scene there must have been whole departments full of Coke marketing executives falling over themselves trying to sign them for an ad. Decked out in red and white and the kids singing their praises, it must have seemed like a perfect fit.

But Jack and Meg weren’t to be had – selling their songs for corporate use wasn’t their thing. In 2001 Gap approached them for a commercial, but they were having none of it.

"The Gap wanted us to be in a commercial and we said 'no' and everyone said, 'why not'? It's almost as if, if people are willing to give you that much money, you are insulting everyone you know by turning it down," said White at the time to the New Music Express. "People's opinions about selling out seem to have changed over the years."

And change again it seems, as there is now a White Stripes-penned Coke ad hitting the airwaves. Of course Jack didn’t sell the sugar water conglomerate one of his songs, he wrote them a new one.

"I've been offered the opportunity to write a song in a way which interests me as a songwriter. I certainly wouldn't want a song that I'd already written to be used on a commercial. That seems strange,” said White.

"But to be asked to write something particular along one theme of love in a worldwide form that I'm not really used to appealed to me. I've written a song and I wrote it really quickly and it's an interesting commercial that's been made. I was inspired by the commercial."

He was also likely inspired by the staggering amount of money they must have been offered. Now I’m not so naïve that I don’t understand people have been “selling out” for years and it doesn’t really bother me. I just never expected it from Jack White, who went from turning down the Gap to directly shilling the product: "I think it's the greatest drink ever made by man - I used to have six a day," said the caffeine-adled frontman.

I’m not the only one who never expected to see them singing in perfect harmony with an advertiser.

“He's meant to be the posterboy for the alternative way of thinking,” Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher told the NME. “Coca-Cola man. Fucking hell. And OK, you want to spread your message of peace and love, but do us all a fucking favour. I'm just not having it. It's like doing a fucking gig for McDonald's."

But enough of me, watch the above ad (which admittedly looks cool) and judge for yourself.

List-O-Rama

It's that time of the year where lists are appearing more often than your friends ask you what you are doing on New Year's Eve.

I've never been one for lists - mostly I'm too lazy - but it's hard not to get sucked into the pop culture nostalgia (remember last month? That was so cool!) and the keeping up with the neighbours (is my list hip enough?) that comes with them. So who am I to buck a trend? So here are my Top 10 Albums of 2005, with limited commentary:

1. Beck – Guero
A great combination of the of his last two albums, Sea Change and Mutations with a little of Odelay thrown in. It was as if he got over his melancholy and decided to go on a road trip with the top down. Breezy coolness.

2. The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
I just can’t get enough of Jack White. Whether he’s singing about his doomed relationship with Rene Zellweger in Little Ghost or taking on celebrity culture in Take, Take, Take, he’s got this non-dancer toe tapping along.

3. Stars – Set Yourself On Fire
“When there’s nothing left to burn, you’ve got to set yourself on fire.” Just like this Montreal band and the rest of the scene.

4. Spoon – Gimmie Fiction
5. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
6. The Bravery – The Bravery
7. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
8. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
9. Stephen Malkmus – Face the Truth
10. The Deadly Snakes – Porcella

Of course my other reason to make this list is to point you all to Fimoculous.com, which has the list to end all year end lists.