We won’t get fooled again

How “liberal” music gets co-opted by conservative forces to appeal to youthful masses

Contemporary pop superstar Adele recently called out presidential hopeful Donald Trump for using her song at one of his rallies.
Image supplied by: Supplied by Wikipedia Commons
Contemporary pop superstar Adele recently called out presidential hopeful Donald Trump for using her song at one of his rallies.

Conservative politicians in the U.S. have been co-opting liberal music for their own purposes for decades. But the implications are more than just political. 

Adele is the most recent in a string of artists urging Donald Trump to stop using their music as part of his political campaign. Her complaints follow those of Neil Young, REM’s Michael Stipe and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, who have each spoken out against the Trump’s use of their music. 

Outside of the political madhouse that’s Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, this is nothing new. Countless Republicans have used liberal music (or music written by liberals) in political demonstrations, often disregarding the artists’ wishes. Not only does this misconstrue the original intent of the songs, it implies a connection between the politician and the music — a link that is simply not there.

When Ronald Reagan ran for president in the mid-80s, he said Americans should aspire to emulate Bruce Springsteen.

“America’s future rests in the message of hope in songs of a man so many young Americans admire, New Jersey’s Bruce Springsteen,” he said in a rally in Hammonton, New Jersey on Sept. 19, 1984.

No doubt attempting to inspire nationalistic sentiment using American music’s working-class hero as bait, Reagan failed to grasp that Springsteen’s music in no way aligned with his politics. 

“Born in the U.S.A.” is widely misunderstood as American jingoism, but it’s actually a protest against the treatment of veterans of the Vietnam War — the same war Reagan deemed a “noble cause” in a speech delivered on August 18, 1980 in Chicago at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention. 

Some, like Politico’s Marc Dolan, even suggest Springsteen’s liberal tendencies are a direct reaction against Reagan’s use of his image.

Immediately, skeptics asked Reagan whether he had even heard a Springsteen song before — Springsteen included. In an interview for Rolling Stone published in December 1984, the musician addressed Reagan’s use of his music and distanced himself from Reagan’s political campaign.

“I think people got a need to feel good about the country they live in. But what’s happening, I think, is that that need — which is a good thing — is gettin’ manipulated and exploited.”

More recently, Alaskan Governor and outspoken Republican Sarah Palin attempted to use Heart’s “Barracuda” as her theme song many times throughout her vice-presidential campaign with John McCain in 2008. The band later sent a cease and desist letter to the Republican Party, claiming that Palin’s politics didn’t represent them as American women. 

Beyond this, they claimed the Republicans never asked permission to use their song. The campaign, however, continued to use the song despite the band’s wishes. 

After Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker walked out to Dropkick Murphy’s “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” at a 2015 event in Iowa, the band Tweeted:

@ScottWalker @GovWalker please stop using our music in any way…we literally hate you !!!
Love, Dropkick Murphys

— Dropkick Murphys (@DropkickMurphys) January 25, 2015

The insistence on using liberal music for Conservative political events is a clear attempt by Republicans to appeal to a younger, less traditional demographic. That’s a necessary aspect of American politics and part of a good marketing strategy. 

What’s contemptible, however, is the desperation Republican politicians display when they insist on using music by artists who clearly want nothing to do with them. Critics like Michael T. Spencer in “Rockin’ the Right-wing Blogosphere: John J. Miller’s Conservative Song Lists and Popular Culture after 9/11” argue that these actions constitute 

cultural colonization. 

By associating themselves with music that does not belong to them, conservatives redefine the areas in life — like art and musical expression — that matter to people. From then on, those areas are associated (consciously or subconsciously) with conservatism and garner those images when we interact with music and other forms of cultural expression. Rather than simply colonizing the past by reimagining the music of yesterday, Conservatives are now attempting to colonize the present by claiming the music of today as their own.

If Donald Trump is successful in co-opting the music of hugely successful pop artists, the negative consequences could quickly become apparent. By appealing to a less traditionally conservative demographic, his voter base may grow even wider, and considering the weight Americans place on the support of celebrities, including musicians, aligning with these celebrities can only fuel Trump’s campaign — a campaign driven by the politics of fear and hate. 

Making America great again should not involve misappropriating pop music, but rather letting Americans decide who best represents their interests. Give their music back to them.

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