I Just Heard Of Cartel Yesterday And I Already Hate Them

So recently I saw an ad for Dr. Pepper on tv that featured some pop punk band named Cartel. If you've read some of my past entries you already know how I feel about licensing songs for commercials, but this takes it to a whole new level of patheticness.

You see, Cartel is part of a corporate orgy of a cross-promotion between MTV, Epic Records, and Dr. Pepper, that is being called "Band in A Bubble". Band in a Bubble is a reality show being produced by MTV in which a band is enclosed in a large bubble where they must write and record a new album in 20 days while under surveillance of tv and internet webcam viewers. Of course when they say "must write and record a new album in 20 days" I'm sure they mean put the finishing touches on some already essentially finished album, as there is no way Epic Records would let an album out before monthes of analysis throughout the process of it being made, to make sure it can make a maximum profit (If you want a more interesting version of this there is a NOFX ep called "Surfer" in which Fat Mike gave himself ten minutes of writing time per song, and had the band record them all in a two day session).

But now for the oddest part, apparently we have gotten to the point where tv shows are not only having advertisements during the show, but now have them in the programs name. That's right the show isn't even called "Band in a Bubble", it's called "Dr. Pepper Band in a Bubble". Even the shows website is url is drpepperbubble.com.

I have never hard of Cartel before and have never heard any of their songs other than the one in the commercial. I do not know if they ever had any credibility (I'm guessing not), but congratulations to them, for the rest of their careers they will be remembered as a joke, and I doubt even the mainstream will accept them as anything more than a gimmick. You've made your bubble now sleep in it.