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Mitt Romney’s campaign soundtrack brought into question
Other | Tuesday 4th September 2012 | Osh
Romney is having trouble putting music in his campaign, due to musicians who are not really up for being associated with his conservative ideas. Maybe before deciding to season their campaign’s meetings with famous band’s songs, he should ask for copyright before feeling the embarrassment of being publicly rejected by his favorite bands. Even the dead ones are being protected by their familiars cause their last will would never be to have their hits popping up in Mormons´ aperitifs.
That’s the case with Thin Lizzy’s singer, Philip Lynott, whose mother has publicly complained about her son’s hit The Boys Are Back In Town being used to announce the entrance of Republican Vice-Presidential runner Paul Ryan at last week’s Republican National Convention. The song, included in the band's 1976 album Jailbreak and written by Philip Lynott, was used to show Ryan’s love for rock and roll and make him look cooler to a certain audience, or anyone who might believe it. But 81-year-old Philomena Lynott wouldn’t allow her son’s memory to be stained by Republicans, as she told Hot Press: "As far as I am concerned, Mitt Romney's opposition to gay marriage and to civil unions for gays makes him anti-gay – which is not something that Philip would have supported. He had some wonderful gay friends […] Neither would Philip have supported his policy of taxing the poor and offering tax cuts to the rich, which Paul Ryan is advocating. There is certainly no way that I would want the Lynott name to be associated with any of those ideas”. She added that Phillip would be for sure pro-Obama.
Other bands have also raised their voices complaining about the inappropriate use of their songs, as Silversun Pickups, who ordered Romney to stop using their song "Panic Switch" at events, or Twisted Sisters’ front man Dee Snider, who denounced Ryan’s use of their 1984 hit "We're Not Gonna Take It". Other bands prefer not to take part in the debate, as The Killers, who recently were asked about what they think about Mitt Romney’s liking his group, and their answer was quite dull: "He's, I guess, a guy and he listens to music and happens to like us"[…] "We're not really a political band. And we don't necessarily have all the same views, but none of us are very politically active anyway." Despite their name, they´re the kind of band that doesn’t like confrontation.
Apparently the only one that is actively supporting Romney’s campaign is Nicki Minaj. After venting at President Obama over Twitter, the rapper-singer expresses during an instrumental on the fifth song of Minaj raps album, Mercy her support with powerful reasoning: "I'm a Republican voting for Mitt Romney, you lazy bitches are f---ing up the economy." Her economy wouldn’t be so damaged if she gets the deal to become a judge on the (openly republican channel) Fox's American Idol. Well, birds of a feather flock together.
By Laura Vila
