Rockers in revolt
The rock band The Foo Fighters have joined a growing list of musicians that have asked John McCain to stop using one of their songs ("My Hero") at his political rallies. Back in August, Van Halen criticized the Republican presidential nominee for using their song "Right Now," and the pop-rock band Heart was furious when the '80s hit "Barracuda" was co-opted as the introductory rally tune of Sarah Palin, who played high school basketball back in the day under the alleged nickname "Sarah Barracuda."The list goes on. U.S. Representative John Hall of New York, a former member of the band Orleans, issued a cease-and-desist when he caught word that McCain was waving and nodding on stage to their wedding anniversary classic "Still the One," and John Mellencamp asked the Arizona Senator to stop using both "Our Country" and "Pink Houses." Attorneys for Jackson Browne filed a lawsuit when "Running on Empty" was incorporated as background during campaign ads about high gas prices.
This type of thing has been going on for a quarter century or more. Bruce Springsteen was pissed when Ronald Reagan turned "Born in the U.S.A." on its thematic ear back in 1984. Misuse of copyrighted music and failure to give musical artists their rightful financial compensation is a serious issue, but often the corporate rights holder is just as guilty for failing to make adequate remuneration for services rendered. In ranking legal priority, restoring the original music to "WKRP in Cincinnati" DVDs should be issue one, presidential politics a distant second.
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Howard Zinn, author of "The People's History of the United States," lends some historical perspective to the Wall Street bailout.
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The nation's best political writer, Matt Taibbi, tackles Sarah Palin and leads with his helmet.
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On all-too-rare occasions, in public service, this blog takes a moment to recognize the most underappreciated player in baseball.
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Funniest joke in movie history: Woody Allen as the title character in 1983's "Zelig"-- I have to get to masturbation class. If I'm late, they start without me."
posted by CM @ 8:35 PM
1 Comments:
I don't think the Foo Fighters, Van Halen, Heart or even the powerful Jackson Browne could last 2 seconds in a Vietnamese POW camp. John Cougar Mellenwhatever still lives in Indiana and complains that "all my friends are in NYC" nobody is keeping you in the Midwest Johnnyboy... you can go.
Jackson Browne has not had a "hit" since Daryl Hannah.
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