A question impossible to answer

Let's say you went to the kitchen at your workplace, and let's say, hypothetically, that there was, in theory, a large tray of cookies and sweets. And let's pretend that you decided on a piece of baklava from this tray. In this imaginary dreamworld, you carried your new baklava over the threshold of your office and proceeded to eat it. Now let's say that, for some odd reason, this baklava tasted almost exactly like a Krispy Kreme glazed donut.

Now: is this a good thing? You might logically put together that a Krispy Kreme is good, so therefore, this is a good thing, but don't you want baklava to taste like baklava and not a Krispy Kreme?

I'm confused. Satisfied, but confused.

Do I have to come right flat out and tell you everything?

Somewhere around the turn of the century, the stigma attached to bands letting their songs be used in shameless, money-grubbing commercials was almost completely removed. Bands were free from peer scorn to start making the big bucks for doing absolutely nothing except allowing people to forever associate their art with mortgage companies and SUV's, to turning the point of a song from kicking heroin to spending quality time with your family on a cruise ship. Times change. Besides the fact that, from the point that commercial airs onward, there is almost no way that anyone will think of anything other than the product (or at least the commercial), I think it's pretty understandable why an artist would allow it. I'm not crazy about the practice, but I can't really fault anyone for it.

But doesn't it seem like it's gotten a little out of control? I've heard The Jam's "Start", Magnetic Fields' "I Think I Need A New Heart", The Go Team's "Huddle Formation" and The Stone Roses' "Love Spreads" in commercials recently. The worst, of course, is the Violent Femmes' "Blister In the Sun" being used to shill Wendy's. WHO the HELL thought it was a good idea to advertise burgers with a song about masturbation?! Insert your own "special sauce" joke here.

My brain was scrambled this evening when I heard a familiar song over a commercial for some sort of financial service. The song was a version of "Gimme Some Money" by...wait for it...SPINAL TAP! It was their "mersey beat period" song. So let's get this straight: a farcical song by a fictional band was covered by someone else and used in a commercial. What does that make it? Is it a joke? Serious? The next time I watch This Is Spinal Tap, will I laugh, or be suddenly and inexplicably compelled to open a retirement plan?

It's a strange world we live, readers. A strange world indeed.