The implications are of sordid, seamy activities perhaps. It’s not a pretty picture of long drives in the country but of mysterious night time rides in the city’s darker corners. He’s sitting behind glass, looking indifferently at the poverty and deprivation outside. If Toyota had listened to the song carefully they’d see the text as being a sharp critique of the passenger. This happened in 1976 during an exceptionally busy period in Bowie’s career.Īs is well known, Bowie was living in Berlin and Iggy Pop, for a time, shared a crumby flat with Bowie at Hauptstrasse 155 (I think Bowie asked him to leave). Mr David Bowie produced it and sung the backing vocals. But there’s more. The credits for the song go to Iggy Pop for the lyrics and to Ricky Gardiner for the catchy guitar riff. Toyota thought it was just about passengers. What I find more interesting is the deeper meaning of the song itself. It´s not black or silver or dark blue, is it? And it´s not in Berlin. Certainly nobody believed the Avensis was going to be so sybaritic an experience as driving one would make you feel as if you’d been nursed to the rear of a Rolls-Royce in a haze of Montrachet. On that superficial level, the ad failed since it really said this is not a car you are ever going to be involved with. To get this across the controls are seen moving by themselves and the passenger (or driver) is seen nodding off in the back or just looking revoltingly self-satisfied. The theme Toyota were trying to get us to understand was that by being so incredibly relaxing, driving an Avensis was like being a passenger. The external appearance is as close as you can get to a characterless vehicle while still being convincingly realistic. In the great tradition of advertisers misunderstanding lyrics, Toyota chose Iggy Pop’s 1977 song to sell the 1997 Avensis, a car so incredibly uninteresting** that even I won’t be caught trying to discover its appeal. The alternative photo was of the 1997 Avensis and I thought that was too boring to use. David Bowie and Iggy Pop (but not in Berlin). Iggy Pop’s song The Passenger springs to mind now that Simon has launched another theme of the month.
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