Why did Van Halen give up their song “Right Now” for a Crystal Pepsi commercial? The YouTube channel Rock N’ Roll True Stories has attempted to “clear” up that question.
You may have first seen the commercial for Crystal Pepsi during Super Bowl XXVII on January 30th, 1993. Along with old-school 90s fonts and computer graphics and — for some reason — a rhino and a rat in a wheel it includes the music of Van Halen’s 1991 song “Right Now”. It turns out that Eddie Van Halen didn’t want his song used for the commercial but PepsiCo made a move that prompted Eddie to ultimately give them permission. After watching the video from Rock N’ Roll True Stories above you’ll be crystal clear as to exactly what went down.
Here is the commercial Pepsi aired between 1992 and 1993: