10 Politicians Who Got Burned By Celebrities

Paul Ryan and Rage Against The Machine, 2012

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan is a mystifying guy – it’s hard to figure out what’s going on inside his head. Beyond all of the fibs about marathon running and his body fat percentage, one of the strangest contradictions in Ryan-world is his love of Rage Against The Machine. The legendary 90s band takes a political stance in opposition to just about everything the Wisconsin congressman believes in, and guitarist Tom Morello took the time to write a vicious takedown in Rolling Stone. The gist? Paul Ryan is The Machine.

John McCain and Van Halen, 2008

John McCain’s 2008 Presidential campaign was rife with musicians getting pissed at his party for unauthorized song use. One of the most notable was classic hair metal band Van Halen, who erupted after McCain used their 90s hit “Right Now” to close a campaign rally, but McCain also had run-ins with myriad other artists, including Jackson Browne, Abba, the Foo Fighters and Bruce Springsteen, all of whom requested the Arizona Senator keep his hands off of their music for political gain.

Ronald Reagan and Bruce Springsteen, 1984

One of the most legendary political fails of all time came during Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign. At a stump speech in New Jersey, the Gipper referenced the “message of hope” in the songs of the state’s favorite son, Bruce Springsteen. Ronnie was referring, of course, to “Born in the U.S.A,” which is in reality a lament on how America was going down the crapper. Bruce was so baffled that somebody would misinterpret the song so badly that he decided to only play it acoustic from that point forward so people would actually listen to the lyrics.

Michelle Bachmann and Katrina & The Waves

Of all the political also-rans that have popped up on the landscape recently, none are quite as terrifying to liberals as Michelle Bachmann. The Minnesota Congresswoman brings a Tea Party mindset to legislating, working against equal rights for gays, against Obamacare and against financial regulation. But it was her quixotic Presidential run in 2011 that got her on this list. At several campaign stops, Bachmann’s party used “Walking On Sunshine,” the classic feel-good 1985 hit by Katrina & The Waves, to pump the crowd up. The band’s singer, Katrina Leskanich, fired back, stating that she doesn’t endorse the song’s usage, saying that it’s her job to defend it against situations that might tarnish its message.

Bryan Adams and David Duke, 1991

The general argument that most musicians have when they come after celebrities for using their songs without permission is that they fear that people will associate the music with the candidate’s beliefs. Never has that been more apparent than when Louisiana gubernatorial candidate David Duke used Canadian soft-rocker Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)” as the soundtrack for his 1991 run. If you weren’t paying attention back then, Duke was formerly best known as the Grand Wizard of the KKK. Not the kind of personality you want record buyers thinking about. Adams got an injunction against Duke using his song and even petitioned to have it kept off Louisiana radio in toto until the election was over.

Mike Huckabee and Boston, 2008

This is a particularly sad one, because perennial also-ran Huckabee tried to go the extra mile when he used Boston’s AOR anthem “More Than A Feeling” as a campaign song during the 2008 primaries. In addition to blasting the syrupy song over the loudspeakers, Huck actually picked up his bass guitar and jammed out a version of the song along with one-time Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau. Huckabee even introduced him to crowds as “the guy who originally did it.” Only one problem here: Tom Scholz wrote and performed every guitar track on that song, and Goudreau had nothing to do with it. Needless to say, angry words were exchanged and Huckabee had to drop his performance. 

George W. Bush and the Dixie Chicks, 2003

Country musicians have typically tacked towards the Republican end of the spectrum, but Texas trio the Dixie Chicks bucked that trend in 2003 and paid for it. After the Bush administration announced that we were going to war in Iraq based on fraudulent intelligence, singer Natalie Maines stated on-stage in London that she was ashamed that the President was from Texas. This is one of the few entries on this list where things worked out better for the politician – Bush was re-elected for a second term and radio stations throughout the South dropped the band from their playlists.

Mitt Romney and Peter Berg, 2012

Coming up with a good political slogan is a tough task. Campaigns pay writers big bucks to coin phrases that are instantly catchy and memorable. Or sometimes they just steal them, as was the case when Mitt Romney red-handedly appropriated “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” from Peter Berg’s TV series Friday Night Lights. The campaign thought they could get away with it until Berg wrote a scathing letter comparing Mitt to the show’s Buddy Garrity, a sleazy car salesman who turned his back on American car manufacturers to sell product from Japan instead. Well played, Berg. Romney didn’t listen, instead doubling down on his unauthorized use of the slogan.