Foos fed up with McCain
- October 9, 2008 1:41 PM |
- By Arts Online
Guitarist and lead singer Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Another day, another example of the McCain campaign thoughtlessly pissing off a non-Republican rock 'n' roll act.
The offended parties are Dave Grohl and his pack of alt-rock Foo Fighters, whose tune My Hero (though rumoured to have been inspired by Grohl's late Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain, the Foo songwriter claims it's actually "a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential") was co-opted by Team McCain/Palin as a theme song.
The Foos are downright livid. Honestly, this trend is starting to get a bit tired. Grohl and co. are the latest in a series of musicians who songs have been used in pro-GOP propaganda, even though the artists' political leanings are on the absolute opposite end of the spectrum. In addition to the Foo Fighters, McCain's crew has infuriated Heart, Jackson Browne, John Cougar Mellencamp and Van Halen.
The thing is, though a healthy proportion of artists tend to lean left, it's not that hard to find bands whose politics are more conservative. Couldn't members of the McCain/Palin camp take a couple minutes to, y'know, research the partisan affiliations of the acts behind their putative campaign anthems before barrelling ahead? Or hey, here's a thought -- check in with these artists prior to borrowing their work! You could avoid unnecessary bad blood. Heck, proud redneck John Rich wrote his very own celebratory ode to McCain.
Yahoo has a nice round-up of some of the most odious band-candidate face-offs. In addition to their picks, we tracked down several other anthemic gaffes.
The Republicans used the seemingly patriotic song Independence Day, sung by Martina McBride, to intro Sarah Palin at a recent rally. Unfortunately, songwriter Gretchen Peters was royally irritated, since the tune actually tells the tale of a woman who leaves her abusive mate. Peters vowed to donate performance royalties to lefty charities like PFLAG and the ACLU.
In 2007, British Conservative party leader David Cameron beamed proudly at a rally while the strains of You Can Get It If You Really Want, by reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, rang through the air. When reached for comment, Cliff claimed that, though he always supports the "lower classes" and the working man, he wasn't interested in challenging the Conservatives' use of his song.
Squeaky-clean Mike Huckabee had to bend to the wishes of Boston founder Tom Scholz, who demanded that the former Arkansas governor stop using the cheese-rock classic (and surefire karaoke hit) More Than A Feeling for his campaign.
At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, performers from the Broadway revival of The Music Man were prepared to serenade the gathered throngs with a rejigged version of 76 Trombones, complete with topical lyrics praising the Dems. Much to their dismay, the widow of Music Man composer Meredith Wilson -- a proud Republican -- refused to give clearance unless the organizers agreed to get rid of the new pro-Democrat segment.
And finally, George Bush The Elder proudly blasted the song This Land Is Your Land -- a staple at hippie-folk campfires -- during his presidential campaign in 1988. Poor ol' Woody Guthrie must've been turning in his grave.
--Sarah Liss
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Comments (5)
He probably should have asked Toby Keith, or Alan Jackson... They would have written a cheesy anthem, and hand delivered it all wrapped up in khaki wrapping.
I sure hope McCain was nailed for paying for the use of the song.
Even more of a reason for me to remain an admirer of Dave Grohl.
Now we know.
It's not as if they are stupid. It's worse: they don't care.
Whatever happened to all the fuss about intellectual property laws? I guess that rule does not apply to politicians. Par for the course. One rule for “Joe Public”, and another for the Capital Hill Cronies. That mentality never ceases to amaze me. When will someone wake up and smell the coffee and take these fools to task. Then to make matters more interesting these blithering idiots on the hill ask themselves, “why are we derided by the public”? Duh! Judging by the lack of input from Lars Ulrich, Metallica must be Republicans.
Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foos are hypocrites. They may not agree with anything McCain says, but god knows they licensed their music a long time ago for profit, which meant as long as anyone using it paid the fee, they could use it and the Foos cashed in.
All these acts should be ashamed of themselves. You don't pick your fans, your fans pick you, and they have a lot of fans who are Republicans and conservatives who listen to them simply for the music sans the message. A lot of Americans (and I'm sure Canadians) are that way, too. If not for them, their commercial success would not be what it is today.
If nothing else, it's a cynical tactic by the band to get some media coverage.
Sorry, Jimmy, it doesn't work that way. Just because they licenced it to one person or company doesn't make their work fair game for anyone else to help themselves to when they please. It's a case-by-case approval and if they don't want McCain to use it, it's their music and they control it.
Maybe instead of ranting about their supposed "hypocrisy", you could check the intellectual property laws so it won't be you who should be ashamed of himself for a childish, pointless, and factually wrong little rant. No offence, of course.
You're right about conservatives saving the music industry. If you didn't buy so many CDs to burn in protest bonfires, the record companies would really be struggling.