Here’s a little Throwback Thursday for you.
Let me introduce you to the Willie Nelson single you’ve never heard of…
“The Steak Burrito From Taco Bell From The Woman In The Rose Tattoo.”
In the early ’90s, Taco Bell was looking for somebody to advertise their brand new steak burrito supreme, and they ended up landing Willie friggin’ Nelson to kick start their campaign. Granted, Willie was in a bit of tax trouble with the IRS (something to the tune of $16 million) and could use the extra change, but thank God he did.
I mean, just listen to the songwriting in this jingle… it sounds better than half the stuff you hear on country music radio today.
Hell, I’m not even a huge Taco Bell fan, but if I saw Willie Nelson headlining a commercial for their new steak burrito, I’d probably be running people off the road while trying to get to the nearest Taco Bell.
The ’90s just hit different, man…
The commercial also led to this “Save Willie” bit from legendary comedian Bill Hicks.
“You do a commercial, you’re off the artistic roll call forever… and that goes for everyone EXCEPT Willie Nelson.”
And while you can definitely appreciate the “sellout mentality” behind the notion that artists shouldn’t be doing corny commercials, you can’t tell me that Willie wasn’t smoking all that weed and eating a shit ton of Taco Bell back in the day.