The Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, Prince’s estate – Donald Trump’s use of music at campaign rallies keeps drawing lawyers’ letters
- President Trump’s campaign rallies make heavy use of popular songs, causing outrage among the mainly left-leaning artists who wrote them
- Artists from John Fogerty to Panic! At The Disco and the estates of Leonard Cohen and Tom Petty issued cease-and-desist letters. Neil Young filed a lawsuit
From the beloved opening lines of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah to the rousing, children’s choir conclusion of the Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, US President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies have been filled with classic songs. But their authors and heirs loudly reject him and his politics.
The Trump campaign can hardly play a song without the artist denouncing its use and sending a cease-and-desist letter. Neil Young, John Fogerty, Phil Collins, Panic! At The Disco and the estates of Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty and Prince are just a few of those who have objected.
Campaigns have been turning popular songs into theme songs for more than a century, and American artists have been objecting at least since 1984, when Bruce Springsteen denied the use of Born in the USA to the Ronald Reagan re-election campaign.
But this year, the issue has reached an unprecedented saturation point, indicative of a wide cultural divide between the president and his supporters, and overwhelmingly left-leaning musicians, who virtually never make the same demands of Democratic candidates.
“I’ve been covering this beat for probably 20 years, and this is probably as stark a division I’ve seen as far as artists not wanting a politician to use their songs,” said Billboard contributor Gil Kaufman, who has been covering the convergence of music and politics for the record trade magazine during the campaign. “The choice is so stark for a lot of voters, and it is for musicians too.”