Tom Waits Miffed

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Tom Waits miffed at soundalike singer in European car commercial
NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Waits’ next boozy, bluesy tune might be about European car manufacturers.
The gravel-voiced Waits says Opel, a European division of General Motors, is running a TV commercial in Scandinavia with a soundtrack resembling his style and sound. And he’s not happy about it.
“Commercials are an unnatural use of my work,” the 55-year-old singer said in a statement. “It’s like having a cow’s udder sewn to the side of my face. Painful and humiliating.”
Waits said he’s never allowed his voice or music to be used in commercials “and I have lawyers over there investigating my options.”
Opel denies any intention to mimic Waits.
The carmaker said the music in the ad is a Brahms composition with a Frankfurt, Germany-based singer giving a “rough voice interpretation for the Wiegenlied theme in English.” The company said Steven Tyler of Aerosmith was the only celebrity approached for the ad.
“We actually are surprised about the fact that Tom Waits considers the music ... a potential misuse of his voice and style of singing,” Opel said in a statement. “We have been assured by our agency partners that Tom Waits has not been approached at any time within this project.”
In 1992, Waits was awarded $2.5 million US in damages from Frito-Lay after successfully arguing that another singer was hired to imitate his voice for a Doritos corn chip commercial.
In the early ’90s, he filed several lawsuits against his previous record label, Third Story Music. He alleged, among other things, that Third Story reneged on a contract by allowing two of his songs to used in TV commercials overseas.

― Huk-L, Friday, 22 April 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

I need to scan that Great Pop Things panel showing him looking at a picture of Rowlf the Dog at the piano and going "SUNUVABITCH!"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 22 April 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

“It’s like having a cow’s udder sewn to the side of my face. Painful and humiliating.”
File that alongside that Dylan quote about throwing horses over cliffs.

― Huk-L, Friday, 22 April 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

Tom Waits, do not cross him. I hope he wins this battle if only to produce another genius quote.

― jmeister (jmeister), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

>In 1992, Waits was awarded $2.5 million US in damages from Frito-Lay after successfully arguing that another singer was hired to imitate his voice for a Doritos corn chip commercial.

In that case, not only was the voice a soundalike, the commercial jingle was a ripoff (or might have been a straight-up cover) of Waits's song "Step Right Up."

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

A rip-off, not a cover -- but the suit wasn't about plagiarism, but an unauthorized use of Wait's own rights of publicity. Compare the case where Bette Midler sued and won against a car company (I think Ford) for hiring an imitator to sing like her on some well-known (and properly paid-for) song that someone else had written

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

So now, will Capt. Beefheart file one of those amicus curiae brief thingies?

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

Howling Wolf Miffed at Beefheart Brief

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

So now, will Capt. Beefheart file one of those amicus curiae brief thingies?

I'LL WRITE THAT BITCH PRO BONO

― J (Jay), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

(XPOST OBV)

and oh shit forgot about wolf

― J (Jay), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

(xpost) I really see no need to drag Bono into this.

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

Ouch.

― J (Jay), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

Personally, I'm waiting for Tom Verlaine to start suing Johnny Borrell.

― Ben Dot (1977), Saturday, 23 April 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

Tom, miffed, waits.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 23 April 2005 08:05 (twenty years ago)

“It’s like having a cow’s udder sewn to the side of my face. Painful and humiliating.”
File that alongside that Dylan quote about throwing horses over cliffs.

"No farm animals were harmed during the making of this album!"

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

I was really hoping this thread was titled "Tom Waits Milfed"

― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

Tom Waits Can't Get ENough YOung Cock!

― Huk-L, Monday, 2 May 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

er, Delete please, mods

― huk-L, Monday, 2 May 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

Singer Tom Waits files lawsuit over alleged soundalike in car ads
By Matt Moore
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Singer-songwriter Tom Waits said Thursday he has filed a lawsuit against a unit of automaker General Motors Corp. and a German advertising agency for allegedly using a soundalike in a series of European ads.
The 55-year-old singer, whose distinct, gravelly voice has won him two Grammy Awards, filed the civil lawsuit this week with a state court in Frankfurt, listing Adam Opel AG and the advertising firm McCann Erickson as the defendants.
Andreas Schumacher, Waits’ German lawyer, said the singer was approached numerous times about doing the ads last year, but declined, citing a policy of not doing commercials. He said the firm then hired a soundalike and the ads aired earlier this year in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.
“We have sent copies of the lawsuit to McCann Erickson and Opel,” Schumacher said.
Waits is seeking damages and any profits derived from the ads for violating his personality rights, Schumacher said.
“Apparently the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad — ideally naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honour,” Waits said in a statement. “While the court can’t make me active in radio, I am asking it to make me radioactive to advertisers.”
Ralf Specht, the manager of McCann Erickson in Frankfurt, said the agency spoke with Waits in May and had changed the music in the ad campaign. He said the company had not gotten a copy of the lawsuit yet. An Opel spokesman said he couldn’t comment because the company had not received a copy of the lawsuit.
Waits’ albums include the Grammy-winning Bone Machine and Mule Variations.
As an actor, he has appeared in The Outsiders, The Fisher King and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
———

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 15 September 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Waits' legal statements are better than most people's novels.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 15 September 2005 22:27 (twenty years ago)

Seems he makes way more from law suits than he ever could from advertising. Brilliant.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 15 September 2005 22:50 (twenty years ago)

Tom Waits...naked and purring on the hood of a car...
Brrr.
(*goes off to scrub brain with a brillo pad and a strong abrasive cleanser*)

― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Friday, 16 September 2005 00:28 (twenty years ago)

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