Hustead's Collision Center - Oakland

The 5 Best Car Commercial Songs

We've all heard songs that keep repeating over and over in our heads. They're called earworms. No, they're not the parasites that creep in through your ears and lay melodic eggs in your cranium, but they do cause a "brain itch" that makes the song repeat over and over in your mind. Some tunes are so catchy that they will loop in your head for several days or months.

Here is our list of the Top 5 Best TV Car Commercial Songs, brought to you by Hustead's Collision Center - Oakland:

1.)  John Mellencamp’s “Our Country” for Chevrolet

After this Chevrolet commercial went viral, most people thought it was a John "Cougar" Mellencamp song, but in reality it was handed off to him by Bob Seger. The song was Seger's single from his 2006 album “Freedom’s Road” and encapsulated the essence of Middle America and its unending love affair with its trucks. This song was popular nationwide for several years and we heard it more than a few times here in Oakland and all over the state of CA.

2.) Sheryl Crow's "Every Day Is A Winding Road" for the Subaru Impreza

Sheryl Crow was first reluctant to let Subaru use this song for an advertising campaign, but after seeing that Sting did a Jaguar commercial and Bob Dylan was seen in a Victoria's Secret ad, she felt like "okay

 the floodgates have been opened and now that our industry is really suffering so badly, the best way to get marketing dollars and to have your music heard is through a commercial," she explained. The result was pure advertising gold, as people loved the tune and the commercial.

3.) Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" for Volkswagen

Wilco was also not enamored initially about doing a song for a VW commercial, but after weighing all of the pros and cons they jumped in with both feet. In the end, they said that they did get their music out there to a different audience. (Plus I'm sure the money was probably a factor too.) Several members of the band drive VWs, so it wasn't a stretch for them to endorse the carmaker with this tune.

4.) Sting’s "Desert Rose" for Jaguar

Sting’s manager sent a video of the song to Jaguar and then worked closely with their ad agency Ogilvy & Mather to make a TV commercial that won several ad awards, including a Cleo.

5.) Eminem's “Lose Yourself” for the Chrysler 200

Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” made some huge impact when it appeared in a TV commercial that debuted during the 2011 Super Bowl. It was one of the few car commercials that attracted a fan base of its own, receiving tons of accolades and of course--car sales. It was a big victory for Chrysler and even today, some portions of the tune is in their current ad campaigns.

If you remember all of these TV car commercial songs, it means you probably watch too much TV. At Hustead's Collision Center - Oakland, we love cars and music, so when the two meet, it's sweet music to our ears! 

Sources: Ad Age, Ad Week and Rolling Stone