Sunday, December 18, 2011

HTC Rezound Rap City Destruction Ad

In this spot for a cell-phone with built-in Beats Audio, some guy walks down the street in a city that looks like New York, and while he listens to some rap song on his ear buds, the city is devastated, I guess by the music (?). Either that, or he’s just really distracted by the music, so he doesn’t notice there’s an earthquake, or an alien attack, or whatever’s supposed to be happening. I feel like it couldn’t be the music, actually, though, for two reasons: one, he’s listening with ear buds on, so it’s unlikely there would be enough sound escaping to harm anything besides his hearing; and two, because it’s totally not the right kind of music to destroy a city, I shouldn’t think. When I think of music that could destroy a city, I think of death metal stuff like maybe Deicide, or perhaps black metal like Mayhem, or something heavy and brutal like that, maybe Suffocation. But the music in this commercial just sounds like fake drums with some guy talking over it: hardly powerful or even aggressive sounding at all, and certainly not city-destroying. Perhaps it’s the lyrics that contain the aggression, or perhaps it’s the searing attitude that could move mountains; but it’s not the sound, that’s for sure. But that’s good, because a police car got smashed, and that, mixed with how much cops seem to dislike rap music, could spell trouble for this young man (they might want to lay down some beats on his head for crushing their cruiser); and nobody needs that kind of hassle.

Here’s the concussive commercial: