The Daily Swarm

Hip-hop and pop have been plundering Hollywood musicals for samples and hooks for a long time. Jay-Z turned to Annie. Gwen Stefani used The Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof. But the latest example digs into a slightly more-obscure source: Alan Parker’s 1976 film Bugsy Malone, starring Scott Baio and Jodi Foster in a Prohibition-era gangster musical with pre-teens playing all of the roles, Uzi’s that shoot whipped cream, getaway cars with pedals, and an all-out food fight finale. The songs were written (and in some cases performed) by Paul Williams, better-known for hits like 3 Dog Night’s ”(Just an) Old Fashioned Love Song” and the Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun.”

‘Wanna Be’ is the song in question, the recently-leaked collaboration between UK rapper Dizzee Rascal and pop singer Lily Allen from his soon-to-be-released Maths and English. Nice one! Now, check the hook and then watch:

This isn’t the first re-appearance of a Bugsy Malone song. Last year’s much-loved Coca-Cola/Grand Theft Auto commercial grabbed its theme from the movie’s closing number. Exhibits A and B below:

Watch two new Wilco/VW spots below…

Update from the band: ‘Wilco music used in advertisement in an effort to sell records’

Wilco has long refused to license their music for commercials. Until now, when they decided to make up for lost time. This summer no less than 5 songs from Sky Blue Sky will appear in different Volkswagen spots, part of a much larger unique cross-platform campaign that will soon flood the airwaves and the interweb. More details coming soon…

The ads were created by Miami-based agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky as part of a brand new VW campaign based around the theme “When you get into a Volkswagen, it gets into you.” According to AdAge, the car company thinks the theme will be transformative:

To convey that theme, it has prepared six national TV spots about to break, and each will use a different song from Wilco’s new album, “Sky Blue Sky.” Andrew Keller, executive creative director at Crispin, said the words line up well with the VW brand.

More from adcritic.com (sub. req.):

Rock band Wilco has agreed to allow 5–10 songs from its newest album, Sky Blue Sky, to ride along with the latest brace of Volkswagen commercials, the first of which, “Tow Truck,” features the track “The Thanks I Get” accompanying a tow truck driver who feels the VW vibe in a GTiMkV. Additional assets, including streaming songs and downloadable spots, will be available at vw.com early next week.

VW – Valet (feat. “You Are My Face” by Wilco)

VW – Tow Truck (feat. “The Thanks I Get” by Wilco)

Watch Wilco perform the both songs live after the jump.

In what we hope will become a regular feature, we’ve invited some of our favorite musicians and producers to check in when they’ve got something on their minds to share with The Swarm. Today we heard from Jose Luis Pardo of the popular Venezuelan band Los Amigos Invisibles, who shares some thoughts about the loss of television station RCTV, which was not only a strong voice of opposition to the government, but an integral part of the country’s cultural fabric.

Last Sunday May 28th of 2007, Venezuelan TV station RCTV (Radio Caracas Television) went off the air for good. President Hugo Chavez decided not to renew their airwaves’ concession because the channel was supposedly disrespectful with the government policies.

That TV station was not only the oldest one in the country, it was also responsible for most of the pop culture that all Venezuelans share in common. TV shows that we grew up with, icons that made us feel special, girls to fall in love with, international stars that came to visit, telenovelas that made history, comedians that made us laugh for years, cartoons that often became the favorite subject of drunk conversations, TV shows, news shows, etc. RCTV is part of the history of our country and they just disappeared from Venezuelans’ TV screens last Sunday.

As part of Los Amigos Invisibles and as journalist, RCTV became for me a place full of friends: people who liked our band and people who I shared classrooms with. They opened the doors of their shows to let us play music during our entire career; they knew when we were in town and invited us to go on and tell everybody how everything was going for us and with our tours; they were happy to support us. We probably appeared at least once in every one of the shows they had—probably lots of Venezuelan bands did too, they were really supportive with musicians. I just feel sad for not being able to return the favor, but truth is that I just couldn’t believe that they were going off the air for good, I just couldn’t believe that Chavez made that happen, it took too much time to believe it.

Seeing all the crew of the station singing the national anthem in the last minutes on the air was just brutal, unbelievable. Let me try to tell you why.

Update: Final price $928.57

Ebay auction ends tomorrow.