This morning, while listening to WCPE in Boston (because there are so few stations in the Detroit market that play classical music on the radio, and their signal is weak where we live) I heard Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” (go ahead and bring up that link and scroll to the bottom for a sample) (errata: It was “Für Elise“. Why I screwed that up (even with the clip on the Wikipedia page) is an exercise for the reader). Its arguably a beautiful piece of music, but its been completely ruined for both JoDee and I? Why? Highland Appliance, that’s why. Highland Appliance had some very well written advertisements in the early 80′s (exhibit 1, 2), but several of their ads featured prominent classical pieces (like the “Moonlight Sonata” “Für Elise“) and were played with great frequency (aka all the damn time), so the first few notes of the “Moonlight Sonata” “Für Elise” bring up now thoughts of 13″ portable color televisions and microwaves, not the beauty of moonlight on a walk or a serene boat ride some chick named “Elise”.
Another classical piece beat to heck and back was Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor“, played by a demonic looking Phantom of the Opera-like character hunched over an organ extolling the virtues of the Midnight Madness Sale at Highland Appliance.
Highland Appliance has been defunct now for at least 15 years, but their advertising legacy lives on.
What otherwise beautiful classical pieces have been ruined for you by advertisements or the media?
Whoops.
Umm… it was Fur Elise not Moonlight sonata that Highland Appliance as well as the radio played.