Direct mp4 download or play: Aphex Twin – Bank of America (original version)
Here is the original version of a Bank of America commercial from the fall of 1997 that appears to have the music of Aphex Twin. The piece is Girl/Boy Song, released in 1996. Note the beginning of the commercial is cut off for a second or so.
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Direct mp4 download or play: Aphex Twin – Bank of America (alternate version)
This is another version of the same commercial, with a sort of watered down “easy listening” version of what sounds like Girl/Boy Song. I don’t know if Aphex Twin performed this music.
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Direct mp4 download or play: Aphex Twin – Bank of America (other alternate “easy listening” version)
Here is another version of the commercial with the alternate “easy listening” music with different dialogue.
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Direct mp3 download or play: Aphex Twin – Bank of America – left/right comparison
This audio has the original Bank of America commercial on the left channel, (voice over and sound effects) and on the right channel the part of the Aphex Twin piece (Girl/Boy Song) mixed to mono, featured in the commercial. The music is fairly well synchronized, so if you fade the sound left and right, I think you will agree the music is identical.
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More information about this commercial, and the Bank of America “motion” campaign of 1997 can be found here. There is no mention of Aphex Twin in that article, however. I can remember being a little perturbed when I first saw these commercials. I always wanted to point out that some artists have sell out sometimes. In fact a lot of artists have to sell out in order to survive or maintain a lifestyle. Of course, Negativland would never do anything like that at least not that I know of. As for me personally at this time, I merely wanted to point this out, and I am neither for or against the commercial, although I have thought about it on and off for over 10 years!
15 users commented on " Aphex Twin – Bank of America "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThat’s interesting! II has no idea AT had done that. You’re right about the second commercial, though; it sounds like a copycat version of his song.
I have some discs of commercial, royalty free production music from some song mill and they have songs that were meant to sound like contemporary hits, yet have minor melodic variations to make it legal. Many of them sound funny and have titles that are evocative of the hit song that they’re ripping off – i.e. a Coldplay ripoff called ‘Playin’ in the Cold’ etc.
sometimes it’s not selling out, it’s selling art.
Sometimes it’s about making room for a handful of mertz suppositories.
another one, for your viewing pleasure, would be the of montreal mess:
http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/2006/12/outback-of-montreal-ripoff-updated.html
i think of montreal made every attempt to destroy every mp3 link to their song, but you can hear it here:
http://www.last.fm/music/of+Montreal/_/Wraith+Pinned+to+the+Mist+and+Other+Games
love aphex twin and of montreal, so it’s a tough pill to swallow.
I believe that in my lifetime Chicken Diction will be picked up by KFC to sell those delicious nuggets…
I’ve read that Richard James was hell-bent on becoming a top-40 artist, during the mid-nineties. Perhaps this has something to do with the commercial. I think he retired that goal with the Aphex Twin moniker.
Richard James a “techno-celebrity” ? That’s funny to me…”techno-celebrity” aren’t there like 327million 99c techno records available on the international market ? And here I am having paid 5$ for a copy of “helter stupid” on ebay
It’s true! I’ve been getting into the song-mill business recently (only up to my knees) to try and help relieve a bit of the extreme constant financial stress that comes from making music for a living. In my few short months in this business, I’ve done sound-alikes for songs by Talking Heads, Devo (not “Whip It”), Marilyn Manson, Madness, Bjork and a bunch of other groups formed after I stopped listening to anything on pop radio. Change just enough to not get sued. It’s as satisfying as data-entry or mopping floors. That’s why they call it work, huh? I’m thinking about going back to college so I can learn to be a weatherman (not THE weatherman, mind you)
@ David, I’ve re-written this post so many times; I just can’t come up with anything that appropriately conveys my contempt for you.
@SquidgyB, This is my very first time posting this message. Honestly, I thrive on contempt. I hope that by now you are able to find the words to appropriately convey it. If you lived in Hawaii I’d say “Aloha!”.
Nice mash up! haha tHats awosomw! Thanks!
Thank you all very much! By the way, the music in this new B of A commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnkIwfIjdQ) sounds somewhat familiar. Might this, in fact be Richard D. James?
Very funny to find this so many years later.
I know exactly who wrote the sound-alike track and exactly how much he got paid for it and it wasn’t Aphex Twin.
I think everything wrote made a bunch of sense.
However, what about this? suppose you composed a catchier title?
I ain’t suggesting your information is not good., however suppose you
added something that makes people want more? I mean »
Aphex Twin – Bank of America How Dare You?: is a little plain. You should glance at Yahoo’s home
page and note how they write news headlines to get viewers to open the links.
You might add a video or a pic or two to grab people interested about what you’ve written.
In my opinion, it would make your posts a little
livelier.
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