What's That Song in the Dell Laptop Commercial?

Posted on Sep 7th 2007 5:20PM by Kim Davis
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'The W.A.N.D.,' by the Flaming Lips

Dell's latest commercial for its Inspiron 1420 series of laptops illustrates the computer company's revamped motto ("Dell. Yours is here.") with vibrant scenes of individuals being ... well, highly individualistic to the tune of the Flaming Lips' acronym-magical 2006 pop hit 'The W.A.N.D.' The song is the first single off last year's 'At War With the Mystics,' its title standing for a message of originality, "The Will Always Negates Defeat." From posh poolsiders and out-west snake wranglers to human robots and quirky kung fu enthusiasts, the ad introduces us to a spectrum of high-tech weirdos expressing themselves with the help of the company's customized color laptops to the sounds created by one of the more colorful, offbeat men in music today, the Lips' frontman Wayne Coyne.

Coyne, the mastermind behind the Lips' lush, hippy-friendly psychedelic rock songs, and his crew are known for their outrageous, now legendary live shows, which arrive complete with puppets, confetti, elaborate costumes and video projections, not to mention Coyne's personal favorite stunt, which involves getting inside a giant balloon and walking on top of the crowd. Named one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die" by Q magazine in '02, the Lips are very self-aware of what they bring to the stage and unapologetically like to push limits and summon a '60s frame of mind. "There should be naked women up there 20 feet tall, there should be dancing bears and images of the cosmos exploding," Coyne told the BBC. "It should be magical ... we just say: Go crazy, get drunk, take drugs, have sex with each other!"

But their success doesn't stop at their glittery, mind-blowing, clap-happy live events. In addition to sales from the Grammy-award-winning Oklahoma City band's albums, the Lips also reap the benefits of being extremely savvy when it comes to licensing deals. In fact, the Dell TV spot recently helped bolster sales for 'Mystics' both physically and digitally. Previously, Lips' tunes could be heard anywhere from the 'SpongeBob SquarePants Movie' to this year's Land Rover commercial, which used the uplifting track 'Do You Realize?,' and have run the well-oiled WB gamut with spots on 'Charmed' and 'Smallville.' The band's music is also featured in two recently released comedies: the Dane Cook and Jessica Alba movie 'Good Luck Chuck' and the Ben Stiller-starring remake of 'The Heartbreak Kid.'

Listen to the song!

Buy it on iTunes

Next: Geico Commercial

Why Wayne Coyne "Freakin' Loves" Fergie

Flaming Lips Have an Alley Named After Them?

Can't find that song from that commercial? Send the commercial, movie or TV show to us at whatsthatsong@aim.com.