In this blog post I am going to direct my focus into a slightly different artistic medium – music. I am going to look into the song ‘Shakermaker’ by Oasis and pick out the various references to advertising included within it. It will be interesting to see how song lyrics have been used to ridicule and satirize advertising in comparison to the visual language of the photography. From this study I hope to be able to better access the effectiveness of photographs in terms of being a mechanism to tackle an idea, and judge whether an idea is clearer if it is shown visually, or expressed through written language.

This study will also be useful in the sense that I am looking into the decade of the 1990s, when Parr’s ‘Common Sense’ was published. It will be interesting to compare Parr’s artistic intentions with that of Oasis, both now seen as legendary cult figuires in the world of British music and photography respectively.

‘Shakermaker’ is a 1994 single from British rock band Oasis from their debut album ‘Definately Maybe’. This song is directly references various commercials which existed in the 1970s, when Noel Gallagher (who wrote the song) was a child. The band have been very open about ripping off the names of these old brands.

The 1990s

The context of the time this song was written, the 1990s, was a time when advertising was going through major developments; commercials were becoming more frequent; photographs were becoming sharper and more vivid; the rise of the internet led to increased networks of advertising; and the general availability of advertising was really taking off. From a modern perspective, the 90s is seen as the benchmark for the expansion of technology and the effects this had on commercial ventures; the birth of ….

• digital photography (c.1998)
• the internet (c.1995)
• the SIM Card (1991)
• email (1993)
• DVD (1995)
• Apple iMac (1998)

Such technology changed the way advertising not only was, but how it was percieved. Some embraced it, whereas others fear such a rapid rise. Oasis formed in 1994, just at the point when advertising changed rapidly.

The song is in many ways a response to the madness and hysteria of advertising.

 

Examples

“I’d like to build myself a house out of plasticine”

The title ‘Shakermaker’ and this quote is a direct reference to the popular toy Shaker Maker made in the early 19700s by the ‘Ideal Toy Company’. It was a mouldable plasticine/clay used to make toy figures, which Gallagher recalls as being “a toy that I used to have in the 70s”.

 

“I’ve been driving in my car with my friend Mr. Soft”

Mr Soft is a reference to the the character of “Mr Soft” was taken from a Trebor Soft Mints commercial, which featured Cockney Rebel’s song “Mr. Soft”. This advert was critised for being extremely cheesy and annoying.

“Mr. Clean and Mr. Ben are living in my loft”

“Mr. Clean” is a 1978 song by The Jam, one of Gallagher’s favourite bands.

Mr Benn was a British children’s cartoon which was aired by the BBC between 1971-72

“Mister Sifter sold me songs when I was just sixteen”

“Sifters” is a record shop in Manchester, where Galllagher used to visit regulary to buy records when he was younger.

 

One theme that links all of these references together is the 1970s. This is because Gallagher (born in 1967), remembers these adverts clearly as a part of his childhood. Arguably, they are nostalgic reminders to a past when advertising was a bit simpler and there was less scrutiny over the fact that the quality was often shocking and terrible (at least from a modern perspective!). Oasis as a band stood for the expression off ideas simply and directly. Therefore it can be agued that the reference of these adverts is perhaps a celebration of how advertising in the past was much simpler, with its cheesy nature is almost accepting in a satirical way, the acknowledgement of its sole purpose, to manipulate and exploit. Gallagher never took this song very seriously and is not afraid to criticise its tacky and absurb nature. Furthermore, the melody of song in itself ripped off a verse of the Coca-Cola song  “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)”, something which Gallagher shamelessly admits to. The Band was later sued for its uncanny likeness. Interestingly, this was yet another reference to the 1970s.

 

How does the message of this song compare to the message in Parr’s ‘Common Sense’?

Similarities

• The purpose of this song is to show how tacky advertising really is. In many ways Parr’s images are similar in this sense because they too express advertising, through copying the visual language, in a way which makes the resulting images appear gimmicy, tacky and at times grotesque.

• Both are similar in the sense they are very raw – Parr through his Vernacular style and Oasis through a very blunt song, sung by Liam Gallagher with his discintive coarse vocals

• Both satirise popular advertising brands and produce comical pieces of work

• Both send out a bright and powerful message.  Gallagher brings his abstract daydreams to life whilst Parr shows products and items in their greatest detail. As a result it can be argued that both serve to represent a positive message.

• Both represent the surreal; ‘Shakermaker’ through Gallagher’s imagination of building a “house out of plasticine”, and Parr through highly saturated colours and use of flash photography to distort a sense of how the image really looks

• Both were made in the 1990s, a time when advertising was rapidly changing

 

Differences

• Parr’s photographs are a document of what he sees, whereas ‘Shakermaker’ represents more of a mindset. As an assesment, this makes Parr’s work in a sense  more credible because their is a direct and central theme. ‘Shakermaker’ on the other hand goes off on a tagent

• Parr’s photographs were taken of a course of many years and are extensively pieced together, whereas ‘Shakermaker’ is a 5 minute song which Noel Gallagher claims took a matter of minutes to put together

• ‘Shaker maker’ is more of a look into the past, whereas  ‘Common Sense’ is a look into the present and a hint into the future of advertising

• Whilst ‘Shakermaker’ celebrates advertising, ‘Common Sense’ hints at it vulgarity and deceptiveness. Gallagher celebrates flaws whereas Parr seeks to exploit them

 

Conclusion

It is clear therefore that despite expressing their ideas in different ways, Gallagher and Parr both mock and satirize the role of advertising. Both are entertaining in the same way that they paint a picture in the mind of the viewer, both of the viewpoint that advertising is cheesy and tacky, done through the act of re-construction to emphasize such an agenda.

However it is apparent that Parr’s images are stronger than the song in the sense they express an actual document the viewer can see with their own eyes. Furthermore Parr is allowed more to play with in the sense that he has the means to create a 100+ page photo-book and sell commercially. Gallagher on the other can only produce a short song which hints a just a handful of ideas. Photography as a medium therefore arguably allows the artistic to express more, along with the additional advantage of being already there for the viewer to appreciate, whilst in music the listener must carefully study the limits and extract an interpretation.

Overall both are incredibly successfully in what they achieve are are equally intriguing and unique in their take on 1990s society.