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Apple Celebrates 40th Anniversary With Apple Music Playlist Highlighting Songs From Past Ads

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On April 1, Apple celebrated its 40th anniversary, marking four decades since Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne co-founded the company.

To mark the occasion, Apple shared a 40th anniversary video, flew a pirate flag at its Cupertino headquarters, held a beer bash, and launched an Apple Music playlist filled with songs that have been used in past Apple advertising spots.

applemusicplaylist
Apple's playlist includes 40 tracks from a wide range of genres, featuring artists and bands from The Rolling Stones to Adele to Coldplay. Songs from Apple ads highlighting a number of products are included, like Paul McCartney's Dance Tonight, used in a well-known iPod commercial, and Alabama Shakes' Sound & Color, used in a recent iPad Pro commercial.

Apple's "Apple 40" anniversary playlist is available to all Apple Music subscribers and can be accessed under the "New" section under Hot Playlists. It can also be accessed through this link.

Top Rated Comments

dampfnudel Avatar
138 months ago
I discovered some great music over the years thanks to Apple.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrgraff Avatar
138 months ago
This will always be my favorite Apple ad:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
138 months ago
Too bad I have not signed up for Apple Music. It was nice when they allowed the radio feature on the free side of the pay wall. Now Apple is pushing me to look to other Music services to discover new music.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
matrix07 Avatar
138 months ago
I discovered some great music over the years thanks to Apple.
I found lots of songs that I forgot for quite some time thanks to Apple Music. They brought back good memories..
[doublepost=1459933392][/doublepost]
I have too. Too bad Apple didn't include any of that great, creative, previously-undiscovered music in their playlist. They only included songs that were already popular. It was a nice try, it's just unfortunate that Apple didn't actually include their best ad songs here.

What about this song? A classic.
Exodus Honey by Honeycut
https://itun.es/us/EUJAk?i=174735019

And this. Not a classic, but good.
Chimes by Hudson Mohawke (from MacBook Air "Stickers" ad).
https://itun.es/us/p4nR1?i=900521565

1:18 by Lemaitre from "Designed Together" ad for iPhone 5c below.
https://itun.es/us/CpAND?i=496870699



While I'm on the music topic, I'll just post the great songs for the first three Apple Watch ads (hard-to-find music).
From "Us"
https://itun.es/us/KrN17
From "Up"
https://itun.es/us/MNM17
From "Rise"
https://itun.es/us/k6M17

Here are two great songs from Apple Watch videos/reveals, one of which is most likely made by Apple and cannot be found elsewhere.

Motifs II - EP by 20syl ("Choose Colorfully")
https://itun.es/us/QYge7


Below, I have the Apple Watch Reveal Video then a 2 hour loop of the music.

Thanks. I added all the songs to my "Apple 40 (2)" playlist. Here.
Apple 40 (2) ('https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/apple-40-2/idpl.bfcf85a282d44e7aa39e37566c5aebf9')

You can add this playlist to play after the official Apple one.

BTW, I just found out that now you can add songs to your playlists but not My Music, which is great. Looks like Apple keep improving the app frequently. I like that.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cwolk Avatar
138 months ago
I discovered some great music over the years thanks to Apple.
I have too. Too bad Apple didn't include any of that great, creative, previously-undiscovered music in their playlist. They only included songs that were already popular. It was a nice try, it's just unfortunate that Apple didn't actually include their best ad songs here.

What about this song? A classic.
Exodus Honey by Honeycut
https://itun.es/us/EUJAk?i=174735019

And this. Not a classic, but good.
Chimes by Hudson Mohawke (from MacBook Air "Stickers" ad).
https://itun.es/us/p4nR1?i=900521565

1:18 by Lemaitre from "Designed Together" ad for iPhone 5c below.
https://itun.es/us/CpAND?i=496870699



While I'm on the music topic, I'll just post the great songs for the first three Apple Watch ads (hard-to-find music).
From "Us"
https://itun.es/us/KrN17
From "Up"
https://itun.es/us/MNM17
From "Rise"
https://itun.es/us/k6M17

Here are two great songs from Apple Watch videos/reveals, one of which is most likely made by Apple and cannot be found elsewhere.

Motifs II - EP by 20syl ("Choose Colorfully")
https://itun.es/us/QYge7


Below, I have the Apple Watch Reveal Video then a 2 hour loop of the music.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
darkknight14 Avatar
138 months ago
Been listening to this for a few days, brings back some memories of the iMac and iPod!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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