That Song From That Car Commercial

Chances are that if you've watched TV any time in the past couple of months, you've probably seen that shiny, luxurious, and sleek car commercial where the shiny, luxurious, sleek car hurtles towards the earth like an apocalyptic comet.
Or maybe you don't really remember that commercial 'cos you don't pay attention to commercials like me. But you probably heard the computerized voice sing "4..3..2..1" and have referred to it since as "that-car-commercial-with-the-countdown." Or something like that.

I knew it was a car commercial, but not until I FINALLYYYYY looked it up this week did I know that it was a commercial for the Lincoln MKX. (Nor do I care.) I just really liked the song they used in the commercial--beautiful voice, danceable beat, catchy melodies--I'm sold. And it's such a tease because the commercial ends right when the chorus climaxes.

But anyways, for all of those other curious cats out there, the song is a fantastic cover of Peter Schilling's (who?!) 1983 song "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by the equally fantastic band Shiny Toy Guns. They're one of those bands you've never heard of, but once you listen to some of their songs, you realize that you've definitely heard their (very marketable) music in movies, commercials, TV shows, etc. Just take a listen to "Le Disko" -- you've heard it somewhere before.

But I'm definitely making room for Shiny Toy Guns on my summer playlist. Just the kind of fun and rocking music that I like in the summertime.


Oh, and just as a side note, this isn't the first time that Major Tom (a character originally created by David Bowie) has been featured in a Lincoln car commercial. Indie-music-queen Cat Power recorded a beautiful and quite haunting cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and was featured in a commercial last year. People of my generation know this classic song better from the short Friends clip below: