The Battle Between Music & Political Campaigns
Political campaigning is difficult, but campaigning without the support of hit musicians? Even worse. President Trump’s campaign has been repeatedly banned from using the work of musicians who don’t want their lyrics of unity to be associated with Trump’s campaign. Showcasing his broken promises from the past, Trump continues to use music with the message of love for a rally of hate.
Written by Maride Espada
Image courtesy of Quinn Lemmers for Yahoo Entertainment
Trump’s campaign has been gathering the attention of artists as he continues to use their work and music at his rallies, even after they’ve made it clear they are against it. Celebrities like Rihanna, Guns N’ Roses, The Rolling Stones, Nickelback, and most recently, Prince’s estate have spoken out about their anger towards the use of their lyrics in his movement.
One recent instance of this controversial use of music has been with Prince’s “Purple Rain.” This song was played during one of Trump’s rallies in Minneapolis. However, Prince’s estate quickly turned to social media to make it known that Trump’s lawyers had previously agreed not to use Prince’s music in any more of their campaign material in a letter sent in 2018. After Trump’s law firm released a statement confirming they would stop using Prince’s music, the estate reaffirmed on Twitter stating that they “will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs.” “Purple Rain” is all about love, and many Prince fans felt that due to the views displayed by the Trump campaign, it was an unbelievable disappointment to allow this song to be played at a campaign that seemingly opposes the meaning of the song.
A few weeks prior to the Prince incident, however, Trump faced yet another artist’s anger towards his use of their music. The Canadian band Nickelback was quick to fire back at Trump after his use of a meme negatively portrayed Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Trump tweeted the infamous meme of Nickelback, “Photograph.” This meme features a clip from the song’s music video where lead singer Chad Kroeger thrusts forward a picture frame, but this one looked a little different — Trump (or, more likely, a tech-savvy member of his campaign) edited the clip to insert a photograph of Joe Biden alongside a man that Trump claimed to be a “Ukraine gas exec,” insinuating Biden’s involvement in Ukraine’s current corruption. This came along with Trump’s caption that repeats Nickleback’s lyrics in all caps: “LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH!” Although Nickelback never released an official statement over this incident, they quickly had the video taken down for copyright violation.
In November 2018, Trump found himself in yet another music battle, this time with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose. Trump used Guns N’ Roses’ hit song “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” in a rally, and Rose was not happy about it, especially given his public disapproval of Trump in the past. Rose sarcastically tweeted, “Personally I kinda liked the irony of Trump supporters listening to a bunch of anti-Trump music at his rallies.” However, with these tweets, the public becomes increasingly aware of the small say that artists have in where their art is being heard or in what context in which it is being used.
Another song involved in this battle was Pharrell Williams’ “Happy.” Trump played this song at a rally that took place moments after a shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue, which killed 11 people in 2018. The mere thought of such a thing infuriated Williams and his team, and a cease and desist letter banning Trump from using this track was sent soon after the incident. Williams’ attorney, Howard King, wrote in the letter:
“On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged 'nationalist,' you played his song 'Happy' … There was nothing 'happy' about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.”
Image courtesy of Ben Kaye for COS Magazine
However, the most angry response to the Trump campaign’s music usage came from the ‘80s band R.E.M. In February 2019, Trump tweeted a meme of the R.E.M song “Everybody Hurts” and a picture of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Sen. Kamala Harris, looking sad. The band’s official Twitter tweeted, “World Leader PRETEND!!! Congress, Media--ghost this faker!!! Love, R.E.M.” This references their 1988 song “World Leader Pretend,” which contains the lyric “I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down.” However, this was not the end of the battle between the two. As Trump continued to use their music, R.E.M. continued to express their anger on Twitter: “Go f—- yourselves, the lot of you — you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”
Many other artists including Adele, Neil Young, and Queen have had this same fight with the Trump administration. However, this begs the question: should artists have the right to decide where their music is played based on their own beliefs? After all, their music is comprised of their own lyrics, their own art, and their own hard work. But when does it stop being activism and start being censorship? Only time (and more inevitable clashes between campaigns and musicians) will tell.