Musicians You Didn’t Know Wrote Infamous Commercial Jingles: The Rolling Stones, Barry Manilow, and More

Commercials—Love them or hate them, they are home to some of the catchiest tunes of all time. From Lucky Charms to Subway, commercial jingles have been a staple of advertising for years. Even if one doesn’t buy the product being marketed, the company still very well knows that the tasty lick put on air has seeped into the brains of television viewers around the world.

However, a question nobody really cares to ask is—Who writes these jingles? More often than not, people don’t assume that it’s a big-name musician as that would seemingly be beneath their pay grade and talent. That is false. Matter of fact, some of the most famous commercial jingles are written by some of the most famous musicians. That being so, here are three musicians you didn’t know wrote these iconic jingles.

1. Barry Manilow and State Farm

Like a good neighbor / State Farm is there is a jingle we’ve heard thousands of times. Originally written by Manilow for the insurance company in the early ’70s. Furthermore, on Windy City Live Manilow stated, “You don’t get residuals if you write it, so they just buy you out. At that point, $500 meant a lot of money — I was grateful to have it.”

Despite only making $500 for the jingle, Manilow would anonymously enter the hearts and minds of people across the country. Continuing to do so to this day, as it seems every State Farm commercial includes Manilow’s jingle.

2. Justin Timberlake and McDonalds

Who has ever heard I’m Lovin’ It and then immediately driven to McDonalds and ordered a Big Mac? Well, if you haven’t, I’m sure there are quite a few people who have. In 2003, Timberlake and McDonalds created the iconic jingle, making it the first-ever time McDonalds used a single jingle for all of their commercials worldwide.

In addition to Timberlake writing the song, Pharrell Williams and Pusha T were also given credit for the creation of it. Unlike Manilow, Timberlake was paid a whopping $6 million to simply sing the song according to The Culture Crypt.

3. The Rolling Stones and Rice Krispies

Wake up in the morning there’s a snap around the place / Wake up in the morning there’s a crackle in your face was a Rice Krispies jingle from the early ’60s and was written by The Rolling Stones before their massive success. According to Loud Wire, Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones wrote the song with Mick Jagger doing the vocals.

It is an odd choice, as The Rolling Stones don’t necessarily appeal to that type of viewer. Nonetheless, the commercial was successful and reportedly led to the more iconic Rice Krispies marketing slogan of “snap, crackle, pop.” Despite falling into obscurity, the jingle stayed in circulation in the UK for quite some time following its creation.

(Photo by Roger Bamber/Shutterstock)