That's The Anthem, Get Ya Damn Hands Up

Have you been hearing all these stories lately about how all of these bands are demanding that John McCain stop using their songs at his rallies? First it was the girls from Heart when Palin wanted to use Barracuda, then it was John Mellencamp telling him he couldn't use songs like Our Country and Pink Houses -- and not for nothing, but how much do you think it burns the average conservative that guys like Mellonhead, Springsteen, and Willie Nelson are raging liberals? I'm thinking that's what it must have been like in the 70's when folks started to realize that Elton John might be gay.
You know -- sorta screws up the radar a little, dontcha think?
But to me the funniest part about this continuing story about bands not wanting their music associated with McCain (the latest now is the Foo Fighters, who's song There Goes My Hero was preceding McCain rally speeches) is that waaaay back there was this country artist named John Rich who wrote this tune called "Raisin' McCain" in support of the candidate that by all indications the Republican campaign has never once even tried to use.

And then when you dig a little deeper what you find is this whole sort of comedy of errors surrounding the tune, starting out with the fact the John Rich's normal singing partner Big Kenny (hell of a birthmark there, Hal) from the group Big and Rich refuses to play it with him since he supports Obama, all the way up to the fact that John Rich has continued to perform the song in support of his candidate (which is cool, it's his right) but keeps getting stuck with press ops like this:
Now look, it's no secret that I'm not a big fan of the republican ticket, but every musician knows what it's like to play a nightmare gig -- so it's hard not to feel a little bad for the guy every time he goes on TV and they stick him in front of 35 Obama supporters with signs in their hands.
Honestly, how is that not a setup?
Seriously, can't you just see John Rich standing backstage before the gig talking to some producer saying, "OK, how bout this? I'll give you some money to go to Office Depot, we'll make a couple of McCain/Palin signs and then hire a couple of extras to hold them while I play?"

I mean the way things keep going, you'd sorta think someone out there would step up and volunteer a song for the republicans to use, kinda help out the party a little bit? Because when you get right down to it -- all these modern bands yanking their sort of unwritten support for the republicans isn't a mistake that John McCain himself is making (no disrespect, but does he even know who the Foo Fighters are?) -- clearly it's some staff worker or something who thinks these tunes will speak well to the party base but doesn't bother to oh I don't know, ..spend 10 seconds or so on Google to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't keep happening over and over?

It's bad enough McCain is trailing in the polls and fighting a bad press image, but can you just imagine him on a plane somewhere shouting into a cell phone, going "Who the hell is in charge of the music!? Honestly, what's next -- are we gonna start playing Streisand and Madonna? Hey, I think The Village People are available -- lets see if they'll do a live spot for us. THINK, people!?"
It's one thing for me to disagree with the guys ideas about foreign policy and health care, but I'm not gonna stand here and point fingers at the guy just because his public relations teams aren't smart enough to realize that someone like John Cougar Mellencamp might have a problem with the GOP using his art to support their cause.
Luckily for McCain, he's still got an ace in the deck -- namely, Sarah Palin.
Because even if the music industry is loaded with bleeding heart liberals and namby-pambys these days,
There's still nothing that inspires songwriters more than
a girl in a miniskirt wearing librarian glasses, knammsayin?

btw, what does it say about your personality when even the girl in your own video won't kiss you?

[Listening to:  The Sex Pistols"Pretty Vacant" ]

Comments

Satorical said…
Hilarious.
Frank said…
Wouldn't it be more appropriate for McCain to have big band music at his rallies? I know how folks of his age feel about the use of "electrical gee-tars" in pop music nowadays.
Amanda said…
Something from the Lawrence Welk show, perhaps?
Andrews Sisters?
Hex said…
Satorical -- Whenever people say Palin is cute/hot, I'm gonna send them this link and tell them "THIS chick is cute/hot. Go back and check your math."

Frank -- You know what would totally rock? If after the election, assuming Obama wins -- some reporter goes to talk to McCain and finds him listening to Slayer at full volume, and telling the reporter to go away.

Amanda -- Turn on the bubble machines, eh?
Satorical said…
Oh, as for the Big & Rich thing, the Today Show is in NYC, which is probably 80% for Obama at this point. There's a reason Bloomberg had the cops illegally arrest 1,000 peaceful protesters during the 2004 RNC: Clearing the streets is the only way to pretend it's not a blue town.

So those Obama signs in the background were inevitable.

For the record, I'm a registered independent, and the rabid Dems are just as annoying as the elephants.