Van Halen’s 1978 classic, “Runnin’ With The Devil”, is providing the soundtrack to a Super Bowl 50 commercial for car maker Acura.
The New York Times reports the ad for the 2017 Acura NSX high-end sports car contains no dialogue. Instead, an isolated vocal track of singer David Lee Roth is set against images of the car, which will become available this spring for the sum of $156,000.
Los Angeles ad agency MullenLowe U.S. created the commercial after reviewing a variety of songs from different genres.
“Ultimately we knew that we wanted this to be a rock song,” says Leila Cesario, the national advertising manager for American Honda’s Acura division. “The Super Bowl is a big American platform. It needed a big American band that screams excitement.”
The Van Halen ad marks Acura’s first Super Bowl commercial since 2012, when comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno dueled over the first NSX to come off the production line.
“Runnin’ With The Devil” was the second single issued from Van Halen’s groundbreaking 1978 self-titled debut album.
The song peaked at No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the album hit No. 19 on the Billboard 200 and went on to sell more than 10 million copies in the US alone.
The tune has remained a staple of Van Halen’s live shows through the years.
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