It’s as if the Flaming Lips were destined to end up here, all the rolling-around-in-gerbil-balls, all the drugs, all the space rock operas about girls fighting robots, all the EPs released in seven-pound skulls made of gummy bears, all the jelly (or lack there of), all the four-disc albums meant to be listened to on four separate CD players, just so Wayne Coyne & Co. could star in a Super Bowl commercial for Hyundai. According to Billboard:
The clip is refreshingly suited for the band: The group suddenly appears in a family’s breakfast room and takes them on an appropriately wild voyage that involves animals, bikers, Space Invaders and even, for the son, a trip inside one of the giant balloons that Lips frontman Wayne Coyne regularly crowdsurfs in at the band’s gigs.
Hyundai VP of marketing Steve Shannon says the Lips were on a “very short list” of bands the automaker wanted to feature in its Super Bowl spot, and quickly rose to the top after the band noted it was preparing for the release of its next album, The Terror, due April 2. In a matter of weeks, not only did the band sign on for the spot and the original song, the track was eventually confirmed for inclusion as a digital bonus track for its upcoming iTunes release. “The Flaming Lips are very much like Hyundai,” Shannon says. “They’re a little offbeat. They’ve been around a long time and they continue to reinvent themselves.” (Via)
Indeed. I await Hyundai’s next car, styled after a abscessed arm caused by too much heroin.
