Quote:
MotherJones.com: When Donald Trump strode on to the stage at Trump Tower on Tuesday to announce that he would enter the Republican race for president, a rock and roll anthem blared: Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World. It was an odd choice, given that the 1989 song seemed to slam a Republican administration for not giving a damn about the poor...(Young's) longtime manager...issued...(a) statement...Donald Trump's use of Rockin' in the Free World was not authorized. Mr. Young is a longtime supporter of Bernie Sanders.
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I think it first happened around 1984 when the Ronald Reagan campaign was told by Bruce Springsteen to stop using
Born in the USA. They switched to John Mellencamp's
Little Pink Houses, and HE got pissed. Since then, rock bands having their songs borrowed by politicians without permission has become as much a part of the American election process as red, white, and blue confetti!
Quote:
HuffingtonPost: Dropkick Murphys is not happy with Wisconsin governor Scott Walker...who used the band's song I'm Shipping Up to Boston...(They) tweeted.."Please stop using our music in any way...we literally hate you!!!"
...(I)n 2012...Dropkick Murphys lashed out at...Jeff Fitzgerald...for using the same song..."The stupidity and irony of this is laughable...A Wisconsin Republican...using a Dropkick Murphys song...is like a white supremacist coming out to gangsta rap!"
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Quote:
New York Times: Jackson Browne...won an undisclosed cash settlement and a public apology from John McCain and the Ohio Republican Party for using his hit Running on Empty...(to) attack...the energy policies of Barack Obama...
Ann and Nancy Wilson, the core of Heart, formally complained that Sarah Palin was using their hit Barracuda as a theme song without their permission...
Tom Petty forced Representative Michele Bachmann to quit using his song American Girl at her events by sending her a (cease-and-desist) letter...
In 2010 Don Henley...won a copyright lawsuit against Chuck DeVore...(who) had used satirical lyrics set to the backing tracks of...Boys of Summer (and) All She Wants to Do Is Dance to attack his opponent...
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Quote:
Xfinity.com: David Byrne hit...Charlie Crist with a million-dollar lawsuit for using Road to Nowhere without permission...Crist filmed a 90-second apology that aired on YouTube...
In early 2000, (Tom) Petty’s publishers sent a cease-and-desist letter to then-Texas governor George W. Bush after the latter used the song I Won’t Back Down during his presidential campaign...
After the McCain campaign began playing Our Country and Pink Houses at rallies during the 2008 presidential race, Mellencamp began quietly, and then not-so-quietly, requesting that they stop...
In 2004, the Bush campaign often spiced up public events with the 1976 Orleans’ hit Still the One. That sparked the ire of the song’s co-writer, John Hall, who later became a New York congressman...John McCain repeated the mistake at a 2008 campaign stop...
Dave Grohl and company were upset to learn presidential candidate John McCain had been using their hit My Hero as his campaign theme songs...
At the conclusion of the rally at which he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain cranked up the volume on Van Halen hit Right Now. Little did he know that Eddie and Alex Van Halen were Obama supporters...
Jon Bon Jovi lashed out at Sarah Palin for using his band’s song Who Says You Can't Go Home during a 2008 rally – Bon Jovi had thrown a $30,000 per plate fundraiser for Obama the month before.
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Last but not least is political radio show host Rush Limbaugh. He was asked by Chrissie Hynde to stop using
My City Was Gone, while Rush the band told Rush the radio host to stop using
Tom Sawyer and
Spirit of The Radio (which includes the lyrics
"but glittering prizes and endless compromises/shatter the illusion of integrity.")
And these are only the ROCK bands -- that's enough for a double compilation album, LOL! And I guess that having your music used by a politician you don't like is now as much as part of achieving superstardom as selling a zillion records!
P.S. Was Palin aware that
Barracuda was written in response to rumors that Ann and Nancy Wilson was carrying on an incestuous lesbian relationship?