Stop the music! Trump hits a sour note with chorus of artists played at his rallies

LOS ANGELES  |  From the beloved opening lines of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to the rousing, children’s-choir conclusion of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies have been filled with classic songs whose authors and their heirs loudly reject him and his politics.

It’s become a sub-cycle in the endless campaign cycle. The Trump campaign can hardly play a song without the artist denouncing its use and sending a cease-and-desist letter. Neil Young, John Fogerty, Phil Collins, Panic! At The Disco and the estates of Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty and Prince are just a few of those who have objected.

Campaigns have been turning popular songs into theme songs for more than a century, and American artists have been objecting at least since 1984, when Bruce Springsteen denied the use of “Born in the U.S.A.” to the Ronald Reagan reelection campaign.

But this year, the issue has reached an unprecedented saturation point, indicative of a wide cultural divide between the president and his supporters, and overwhelmingly left-leaning musicians, who virtually never make the same demands of Democratic candidates.

“I’ve been covering this beat for probably 20 years, and this is probably as stark a division I’ve seen as far as artists not wanting a politician to use their songs,” said Billboard contributor Gil Kaufman, who has been covering the convergence of music and politics for the record trade magazine during the campaign. “The choice is so stark for a lot of voters, and it is for musicians too.”

Few have objected as adamantly as Young. The fiercely opinionated rock Hall-of-Famer is the rare musician who has gone beyond demands and filed a lawsuit over the repeated use of his songs.

“Imagine what it feels like to hear ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ after this President speaks, like it is his theme song,” Young wrote on his website in July. “I did not write it for that.”

That feeling that they’ve been drafted onto Team Trump clearly fuels many artists’ anger.

“Their music is their identity,” Kaufman said. “It’s important to them to not appear as though they are tacitly endorsing Trump.”

Other artists have been more befuddled than angry about the playing of songs whose themes are the exact opposite of the messages Trump is sending.

Fogerty said he was baffled by Trump’s use of “Fortunate Son,” his 1969 hit with Creedence Clearwater Revival, whose condemnation of privileged children of rich men who did not serve in Vietnam sounds like a tailor-made slam of Trump.

“I find it confusing that the president has chosen to use my song for his political rallies, when in fact it seems like he is probably the fortunate son,” Fogerty said in a video on Facebook in September.

He was more fiery after he kept hearing it played.

“He is using my words and my voice to portray a message that I do not endorse,” Fogerty said in an Oct. 16 tweet announcing a cease-and-desist order.

That the president’s rallies are potential spreaders of the coronavirus may be adding intensity to artists’ desire not to have their music contribute.

“It’s not a great look for the artists, if their music is aligned with something seen as unsafe,” Kaufman said.

Many social-media observers pointed out that, given its title, Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” was especially tone-deaf when it was played at Trump’s Oct. 14 rally in Iowa. Collins’ attorneys promptly demanded the campaign stop using the song.

Legally, politicians don’t necessarily need direct permission from artists.

Campaigns can buy broad licensing packages from music rights organizations, including BMI and ASCAP, that give them legal access to millions of songs

BMI said the Rolling Stones had opted out of inclusion in those licenses, and it informed the Trump campaign that if it did not stop playing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” a Trump favorite in regular rotation at his rallies, the campaign would be in breach of its agreement.

But even if their songs can be played contractually, artists can still object. That usually just means a public demand to the campaign.

“A lot of the time it just takes the cease-and-desist to tell them not to use it, that’s already enough for the artist to get their message out that they’re not associated with the campaign and did not approve the use,” said Heidy Vaquerano, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in entertainment law and intellectual property.

And there are other legal channels, such as states’ right-of-publicity laws, which treat an artists’ identity as their property, or the federal Lanham Act, which protects an artist’s personal trademark and contains a provision barring false endorsement.

“The use of their music, it could dilute the worth of their trademark,” Vaquerano said. “Courts have recognized that that could be an implied endorsement.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The president has turned more recently to slightly friendlier ground, dancing at events to “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People, whose leader and primary songwriter, Victor Willis, has said he doesn’t feel he’s endorsing Trump when the song plays.

Yet the campaign cannot avoid condemnation even when playing dead artists.

Petty’s widow and daughters, who had been fighting in court over his estate, united in their demand in June that Trump stop using his song, “I Won’t Back Down.”

Cohen’s estate attorneys vehemently objected to the prominent use of “Hallelujah” during the final-night fireworks at the Republican National Convention in August, saying in a statement it was an attempt to “politicize and exploit” a song they had specifically told the RNC not to use.

Cohen attorneys made the rare move of suggesting an alternative, whose title could be taken as a dig at Trump.

“Had the RNC requested another song, ‘You Want it Darker,'” the lawyers said, “we might have considered approval.”

A look at artists who’ve objected to Trump using their songs

From classic American rockers to British artists to the estates of late legends, here’s a look at some of the musicians who have objected to Donald Trump using their songs at campaign events.

JOHN FOGERTY, PHIL COLLINS, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Some classic rockers say not only do they oppose Trump using their music, the choice of songs is ironic or downright wrong. John Fogerty, who last week sent the campaign a cease-and-desist letter over the use of “Fortunate Son” by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival, said he was baffled by the use of a song that could have been written to slam Trump. Phil Collins sent the campaign a demand to stop using “In the Air Tonight” after it was played at an Iowa rally this month. Many observers say it was an odd song to choose given that the air among the mostly mask-less people at the rally could have been spreading the coronavirus. And just as he had with Ronald Reagan in 1984, Bruce Springsteen objected in 2016 to Trump blasting “Born in the U.S.A.” as a patriotic anthem, when it’s actually a scathing indictment of the treatment of Vietnam vets.

___

NEIL YOUNG, EDDY GRANT

Most musicians have stopped at legal threats, but a few have actually sued over the use of their songs. Neil Young filed a lawsuit in August over the Trump campaign’s use of his music including “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which he said he couldn’t bear to hear as a theme song for Trump. Eddy Grant sued Trump in September over the use of his 1980s hit “Electric Avenue” in a Trump campaign animated video that mocked his opponent Joe Biden.

LEONARD COHEN, TOM PETTY, PRINCE

The heirs of dead artists have been as quick as living musicians in objecting to Trump’s use of songs. Tom Petty’s wife and daughters, who had been in legal squabbles over the management of his estate, came together to issue a statement in June denouncing Trump’s use of the rocker’s “I Won’t Back Down” at rallies. After “Purple Rain” was played at a Trump rally in Prince’s hometown of Minneapolis in 2019, the late singer’s estate publicly condemned the use of the song and said the campaign had previously agreed not to play it. The lawyers for the Leonard Cohen estate condemned the use of “Hallelujah” at the finale of the Republican National Convention, saying they had denied organizers’ permission.

THE ROLLING STONES, THE BEATLES, ADELE

Artists from the UK have been as vocal about their songs as their American counterparts. The Rolling Stones objected to “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” getting regular rotation at Trump rallies, threatening to sue in August and saying they had opted out of music licensing that allows campaigns to legally play songs. When the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” was played at the 2016 RNC, the heirs of George Harrison, who wrote the song, called it “offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate.” Adele made her objections clear when she learned her songs, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Skyfall,” were playing at Trump rallies.

PANIC! AT THE DISCO, PHARELL, RIHANNA

It’s mostly Baby Boomer favorites who have objected to Trump’s use of their music, but younger artists have cried foul too, sometimes with foul language. Panic! At The Disco singer and songwriter Brendon Urie sent a profane tweet that ended with “you’re not invited, stop playing my song” in June after the Trump campaign played the hit “High Hopes” at a rally in Phoenix. Pharrell Williams sent a cease-and-desist letter after his song “Happy” was played at a Trump rally in 2018. He was especially angered that the event was hours after a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. And Rihanna demanded that Trump stop playing “Don’t Stop the Music” after the song played at a 2018 rally.

R.E.M., GUNS AND ROSES

Generation X bands have been as angry as anyone about the use of their tunes. The Trump campaign has played “Losing My Religion,” “Everybody Hurts” and “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” at rallies, to the outrage of the left-leaning members of R.E.M. “Please know that we do not condone the use of our music by this fraud and con man,” bassist Mike Mills tweeted in January. And Axl Rose has tweeted his annoyance at the songs of Guns N’ Roses, including “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” being used to entertain Trump rally-goers.