Rumor has it that Elon is getting Jon to do the first concert on Mars
found an interview from 2018, he wasn't wrong that he couldn't make money
Ask him if he cares that rock music has been declared dead for the 48th time this decade, and he shrugs. “I never started banging away on a guitar because I thought I could make money,” he says. “I did it because I couldn’t help it.” His heroes were never the ones cashing checks anyway—The Stooges, Throbbing Gristle, Big Black, The Jesus Lizard. The ones too weird, too abrasive, too stubborn to compromise. “They did their own thing, and they just kept doing it.” Which is why he’s unfazed by the whole “rock is dead” conversation. “It comes in cycles,” he says. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and rock has always been ‘dead’ to somebody. I came up in the underground. That’s where I’ve always been.”
Of course, there’s being underground, and then there’s getting your song in a major Hollywood blockbuster. Baby Driver opened with Bellbottoms—an absolutely unhinged needle drop that made audiences explode in applause before they even knew what the hell they were watching. But this wasn’t just some random sync job. Edgar Wright had the scene mapped out in his head since the ‘90s. “The first time I met Edgar was in 2005,” Spencer says. “One of the first things he told me was, ‘I’ve got this idea for your song in a movie.’ Turns out he’d been thinking about it since Orange came out.”
Did it change his life financially? Spencer laughs. “Huge spike on Spotify,” he says. “Doesn’t mean a damn thing. Nobody’s buying the record, they’re just streaming the one song. But hey—got some licensing deals out of it.” Would he work with Edgar Wright again? “If there’s a Baby Driver 2 and they need a prison guard, sure. I’ll go back to prison.”also did find out he had a few more soundtracks and ads over the years
Placement Type Project / Brand Song Used / Notes
Film Baby Driver (2017) “Bellbottoms” – opening scene + soundtrack
Film The Butterfly Effect (2004) Featured on film’s credits/soundtrack
Film Hall Pass (2011) Listed in soundtrack credits
Film Trailer/Scene War Machine (2017, Netflix) “Confused” used in film and trailer
TV Commercial Toyota RAV4 “Power Lunch” JSBX track in TV ad
TV Commercial Gatorade Featured music from JSBX in ad campaign
was still getting some traction in 2019
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ZA5Z/toyota-power-lunch-song-by-the-jon-spencer-blues-explosion-t1damn and a messi ad in 2018
https://youtu.be/FHOwt-9Oego?si=IyBGNoOArjB4fN0k
