You may not know that the notes to NBC’s famous chimes are G, E, and C, but chances are you’d recognize the Peacock jingle in an instant. With that in mind, executives at the network decided to have some fun with their famous chimes and launched a national campaign calling for a 21st century reinvention of the 75-year-old television staple. To help drive the point home, NBC solicited some of its stars, including The Office‘s Jenna Fischer and Heroes‘ Masi Oka, as well as a handful of music luminaries who filmed individual eight-second spots entirely of their own creation.
The music-themed promos were shot in Los Angeles last week, featuring T.I., B.B. King, Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora, The B-52’s, country star Clint Black, and the always eccentric Flaming Lips, who let EW.com sit in on their two-hour shoot atop downtown L.A.’s now vacant Park Plaza Hotel for this exclusive video. Naturally, the band’s noise-assault interpretation of the chimes was out there to begin with, but what really blew our mind was frontman Wayne Coyne’s tricked-out double-neck guitar, which, as a jab at rhythm-game obsessed kids, featured a twist on the Guitar Hero plastic axe. Watch for the NBC promos to start airing around Thanksgiving.
Love the dual neck guitar shown at the end with the homage to Guitar Hero. Really cool!