Turning Up the Volume on Campaign Music
ABC’s Sara Just reports: With reports that Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi may be performing later this week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the campaign music wars are reignited. Will the McCain camp respond with a big musical guest of its own? And what songs will the candidates select for the moment they walk on stage to accept their party’s nomination?
Both candidates have a series of know-them-by-heart popular songs that routinely can be heard at their campaign events. Obama is partial to Springsteen’s “The Rising” and U2’s “Beautiful Day.” At Saturday’s rally in Springfield, Illinois with new ticketmate Joe Biden, the Obama campaign played country mega-hit, “Only in America,” by Brooks and Dunn, which was, ironically, also a staple of President George W. Bush’s campaign events when he was running for office.
John McCain’s campaign has also favored the sounds of Brooks and Dunn this year, playing “That’s What It’s All About,” as well as Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” at many rallies. ABCNews’ Bret Hovell reports hearing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” at a few McCain events, although Diamond recently acknowledged that Caroline Kennedy, who chaired Obama’s veep selection committee, was his inspiration for that song.
It may seem like a frivolous part of campaign theatrics, but it is not without its potential pitfalls.
Just ask John McCain. Earlier this year John Mellencamp’s lawyers brought a cease and desist order against McCain for playing his tunes, “Our Country,” and “Pink Houses” without permission.
And now Jackson Browne, a liberal activist since the No Nukes days, is suing the McCain campaign for copyright infringement for using his hit, “Running on Empty,” in a negative ad about Barack Obama.
Springsteen has long stood at the crossroads of politics and pop music, with themes of struggle and survival among the working class prevalent in his work. Springsteen campaigned for John Kerry in 2004 and and his most recent release, “Magic,” has many songs that speak to anger with Bush Administration policies.
But back in 1984, the political connections came without his ok. When Springsteen’s blockbuster, “Born in the USA” was climbing the charts and selling out concerts at stadium arenas, his music was invoked by President Ronald Reagan at campaign re-election rallies and speeches without the artist’s permission. Reagan spoke of the “message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.”
Springsteen fans have been pointing out ever since that Born in the USA is actually an anti-war anthem. But at a campaign rally, maybe people aren’t listening too closely to the lyrics.
