Ongoing History Daily: The Black Keys Pizza Hut lawsuit

June 9, 2022June 8, 2022 Alan Cross 0 Comments

One of the Black Keys’ best-known songs is “Gold on the Ceiling” from 2011’s El Camino album. But then they ran into an issue when Dan Auerbach was watching TV one night. Pizza Hut launched an ad campaign for their Cheesy Bites Pizza.

The song they commissioned for the commercial (or, more correctly, the music their ad agency ordered up) sounded way too much like “Gold on the Ceiling”—and it was done without their mission. So the Black Keys sued and settled out of court.

This wasn’t the only time something like this happened. Home Depot had an ad for power tools that took liberties with the song “Lonely Boy.” The Black Keys sued them, too—and won again.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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