'TV STARS'

Whooo, that was probably the weakest headline Ive used, its only because of the SKIDS b-side of the same name and because it makes a (pretty weak) connection to this article that Ive lazily shamed myself into using it. But so what, its got me here. Anyway, as you may of guessed by now this is about punk music and the telly box.
The number of punk tunes that has been featured as incidental music is nothing new, it has been used occasionally for years but recently the use of punk tunes has been growing by the day (why couldn't i just of started like that?), and most of them have been used wildly out of context, or maybe that's the point? recently we have had the SEX PISTOLS 'pretty vacant' and THE JAM'S 'this is the modern world' have been used to advertise UKTV HISTORY'S 'ancient Rome' series, just what those two songs have in common with ancient Rome- or with each other is any ones guess but they have both been used for the same series and THE JAM song 'English rose' is also being heard on an advert for 'England' of all things (why not use......... (add name of song).
IGGY AND THE STOOGES have been popping up as well, yesterday morning 'the little one' was watching CBBC and the show she was watching was using 'i wanna be your dog' and on a 'magazine' programme - why? THE STOOGES 'search and destroy' has been heard as well on 'grown up TV' as a channel programme advert.
CBBC has also used THE RAMONES 'beat on the brat' which i think is someones personal critique of kids from the kiddies TV perspective, and is a wee bit amusing, CBBC has also used 'blitzkrieg bop' and also a couple of others by THE RAMONES whose music also pops up quite a lot on the (all) new SCOOBY DOO SHOW during the 'chase scenes' where the 'scooby gang' run from room to room - or hallway to hallway.
On a lesser note, THE DISTILLERS popped up on a poster on a bedroom wall this weekend in a horror film called 'CURSED' starring CHRISTINA 'millenium domehead' RICCI (ooh that was a weak connection!).
And using my totally crap powers of recall i remember hearing THE DAMNED'S 'new rose', THE ADVERTS 'gary gilmores eyes', NEW MODEL ARMY'S 'justice' (that one was used without a context!) plus X -RAY SPEX and, others Ive forgotten the names of!
THE STRANGLERS were on EASTENDERS in a funny scene that had one of the local battle axes getting drunk along to the 'rattus' LP, as well as 'peaches' being (badly) used as background music for programme advertising (the "ooh-er-ooh-er-ooh" grunting bit), THE CLASH have also been heard in the 'queen Vic' quite a few times (so sad) and 'rock the casbah' has been used many times as backing for programmes about the middle east/oil/Iraq war (predictable really).
And finally we even got actual punky rockers in an advert for a Sunday rag, they were accompanied by a duff headline something cringe worthy like 'punks- they rejected modern pop culture!' which i wouldn't say is exactly true, but then again who am i to say what is what? And the old TV ad for a newspaper featuring a charging skinhead saving a man from falling bricks has been back on TV -looking all grainy and scratchy like a tired old worn out film reel from years ago which is a shame because it is a good advert (which is different).
I know that using punk tunes and images on the TV isn't new or original but never before has it been used so much and in such a wide ranging way, its even been on breakfast TV! And who would ever of thought that songs like 'beat on the brat', 'pretty vacant' or 'i wanna be your dog' would be heard on prime time and kids TV as advert music? and that's the ones i can remember while sitting here at the computer- ooh my giddy aunt, how the world changes!