Will politicians ever learn? Regardless of what that statement is in relation to, it seems the answer will always be ‘no’. However, one thing they should get through their heads – especially those on the right – is that musicians don’t like it when they use their music.
See, rock ‘n’ roll stars tend to have a lot of friends who right-wingers don’t like. We’re talking about gay people and people who aren’t white here.
And of course, while not every right-wing leaner is a racist or homophobe, sadly, they’re aligned with people who are or, at the very least, really sound like it. And so, when Tom Petty discovered that US presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was using one of his songs, he got into a strop.
Of course, if Tom Petty was any good, this story would be a breeze to write. We could just take his side and that would be that. Sadly, Petty and his Heartbreakers make really, really boring dadrock.
Either way, Bachmann used ‘American Girl’ as her exit music, which saw Petty sending a ‘cease and desist’. This isn’t the first glitch in the Republican’s campaign either. During her announcement speech, the Tea Bagger managed to confused the birthplace of John Wayne with the place that serial killer John Wayne Gacy was born.
That’s just brilliant isn’t it? Since Sarah Palin went quiet, it’s nice to have another nutter knocking around American politics.
And it’s because Bachmann has said things like…
”Not all cultures are equal.”
and
‘Normalization (of homosexuality) through desensitization. Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders, is take a picture of ‘The Lion King’ for instance, and a teacher might say, ‘Do you know that the music for this movie was written by a gay man?’ The message is: I’m better at what I do, because I’m gay.”
…that seems to stick in Petty’s horribly wrinkled craw. He didn’t have any problem with Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton using the same song. He did take issue with George W Bush using ‘I Won’t Back Down’ at his rallies. After Petty chided him, Dubya ironically backed down.
Bachmann was incredibly naive to think that Perry would be okay with her using his song, especially given that Petty is something of an environmentalist – support such causes. Given that Bachmann’s view on global warming is:
?The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. Its all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax.?
Perhaps she should stick to country music, eh?
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