With the Pandora's Box of hilarity that is Sarah Palin, it's easy to forget
the O.G. of terrible candidates, John McCain. However, he's been doing his best to keep from being overshadowed by apparently declaring war on musicians.
The most recent is
Heart:
Palin's nickname is Barracuda, causing the campaign to use it post-speech.
"The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song,
nor would they have been granted that permission. We have asked the
Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes
will be honored."
McCain, who runs an honorable, respectful campaign in no way influenced by Rove protege Steve Schmidt, did not honor them, using the song again after his own speech.
"I think it's completely unfair to be so misrepresented. I feel
completely fucked over."
They issued another statement following:
"Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American
women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote
her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late '70s as a
scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music
business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the
business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their
song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to
make use of it there."
But this is no one off event.
Van Halen:Van Halen management tells us the band had no idea McCain was planning
on using "Right Now" during his big entrance in Ohio telling us,
"Permission was not sought or granted nor would it have been given."
John Hall:Yes, Rep. John Hall (D-NY). In delightful irony, George Bush did the same thing a few years earlier.
"This is yet another example of John McCain not learning anything from
George Bush's mistakes," Hall wrote First Read in an interview over
e-mail. "First, McCain adopted Bush's failed policy of an open-ended
war in Iraq, then he wrapped his arms around the failed Bush economic
policies that have put the squeeze on middle class families. Now, he's
making the same mistake George Bush made illegally using a copyrighted
song without asking either the writers or the performers for
permission."
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, asked and got permission to use the song at her rallies.
Yes, the diehard Democrat who actually stumped with possible babydaddy John Edwards for months last year.
"Mellencamp hasn't yet made a public response, but his reps are quietly
reaching out to McCain and asking him to stop playing his tunes.
(McCain's press office did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.)"
But surely, surely this must be it, right?
Jackson BrowneYes, anti-nuclear activist Jackson Browne is suing the campaign. Why? Far from simply playing the song at a rally, the McCain camp set one of their ads to "Running on Empty" without bothering to license it or even sending a postcard. Unfortunately thanks to McCain-Feingold's Campaign Finance Reform, the settlement he's likely to receive will not go to McCain's opponent, as Browne has already maxed out his donation to Obama's campaign. Perhaps, in a blatant violation of the spirit if not letter of McCain-Feingold, he'll set up a 527. Just like John McCain.
But all that leads up to the ultimate betrayal. His very favorite band of all time, the band so embarrassing that
he actually cited his POW experience to explain his love for.
AbbaBack during his primary campaign, he "found out that he has few fans in Scandinavia when he tried to adopt
Abba's "Take a chance on me" as his campaign song. After running into
difficulties with the Swedish supergroup, McCain lamented to reporters
on board his plane that it wasn't as easy to play the song as he
thought.
"It gets expensive in a big hurry and if you're not careful you can
alienate some Swedes," he joked."If word gets out to Stockholm that
we're using Abba music, then there'll be a
worsening in U.S.-Swedish relations.""
Apparently this poor experience with the costs of licensing is the reason he's stopped even asking, much less paying.
