Legal News

John McCain, No ?Hero? to Foo Fighters

By Ashby Jones

Nothing has ever given us reason to link John McCain to the Foo Fighters. Now that’s changed.

You guessed it, the band — fronted by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl (pictured) — is objecting to McCain’s use of its song “My Hero” on the campaign trail.

Grohl’s complaint is only the latest in an increasing string of rockers who object to their music being used by stumping politicians. Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart objected to the McCain campaign’s playing “Barracuda,” in reference to Sarah Palin. Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp have also objected to the use of their songs on the trail. But lest you think this is just a problem confronted by Republican candidates, think again. According to the above-cited AP story, Soul legend Sam Moore also has asked the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to stop using “Soul Man.”

But back to McCain and the Fighters of Foo. Perhaps the best things to come out of these kerfuffles are the rather, well, self-important statements the bands make about the songs. “The saddest thing about this is that `My Hero’ was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential,” the Foo Fighters said in a statement. “To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song.”

(Equally indignant was Heart’s Ann Wilson during the band’s dustup with the McCain campaign: [”‘Barracuda’] was written in the late ’70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. . . . There’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”)

In any event, here’s what the McCain-Palin campaign had to say about it all: “The McCain-Palin campaign respects copyright. Accordingly, this campaign has obtained and paid for licenses from performing rights organizations, giving us permission to play millions of different songs, including `My Hero.’”

Photo: AP

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 09, 2008 (boomark / email).