In 1960, the presidential marketing campaign of John F. Kennedy featured the favored music “Excessive Hopes,” with specially-written lyrics sung by Frank Sinatra:
Ok E Double-N E D Y
Jack’s the nation’s favourite man
Everybody needs to again Jack
Jack is heading in the right direction
‘Trigger he is received excessive hopes
He is received excessive hopes
Nineteen Sixty’s the yr for his excessive hopes
The proper music can set a candidate aside from the pack, and that is why it has been a part of the American political panorama since Day One. College of Michigan music historical past professor Mark Clague says marketing campaign music goes again to the founding of our nation, “again to the time of George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Actually even predates the time after we had broad, fashionable elections, when it actually was the Electoral School. Music was nonetheless part of the discourse, and it was a method to convey ardour into politics.”
Discuss ardour: The 2024 election has turn into a Battle of the Bands, beginning with Child Rock on the Republican Nationwide Conference in July:
And some weeks later, the Democrats turned their roll name right into a dance get together, led by DJ Cassidy:
A catchy music could be a marketing campaign’s calling card, a free advert that performs indefinitely. Take Invoice Clinton with Fleetwood Mac’s “Do not Cease,” or Ronald Reagan with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the usA.” That music took on particular which means within the days after 9/11.
Greenwood mentioned he wrote it for all Individuals, and initially he didn’t need it used as a part of any political marketing campaign: “No, that bothered me at first. The Democratic Occasion had known as me in 1984 and wished me to carry out ‘U.S.A.’ at their conference in San Francisco, and I mentioned no. I declined. The Republicans additionally known as me for his or her conference in Dallas; I additionally declined.”
However when President Reagan requested Greenwood to sing it in 1988, he did, and it is since turn into a Republican anthem.
Lee Greenwood sings “God Bless the usA.” on the 1988 Republican Nationwide Conference:
Greenwood additionally sang it on the RNC this previous summer time.
So, if a Democrat requested him to make use of his music, would he allow them to? “If that query got here, I would have to contemplate that,” mentioned Greenwood. “That is the fourth or fifth Republican president I’ve sang for. However I’ve sang for ten presidents, together with Presidents Obama and Clinton and Carter and Nixon and Bush. And so, if one other president on the Democratic Occasion needs to make use of ‘God Bless U.S.A.,’ I do not know that it might be clever, however I would have to contemplate that.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has her personal musician buddies, most notably Beyoncé, who’s allowed Harris to make use of the music “Freedom” in her marketing campaign.
The Harris marketing campaign’s advert “We Select Freedom,” that includes the Beyoncé music “Freedom”:
However what occurs when a musician would not need their music used? Dozens of artists, from ABBA to The Rolling Stones, have mentioned “no” to the Trump marketing campaign.
The Issac Hayes household objected to using “Maintain On, I am Comin'” by the Trump marketing campaign, and final week a decide in Atlanta granted a preliminary injunction barring them from utilizing it.
And Celine Dion pushed again when the Trump marketing campaign used the “Titanic” film theme, “My Coronary heart Will Go On,” saying, “Actually, that music?”
Lawrence Iser is a music copyright lawyer in Los Angeles who efficiently sued John McCain’s marketing campaign over using Jackson Browne’s “Working on Empty.” “If they have been informed to not use it, however then they proceed to make use of it, then that is really copyright infringement,” mentioned Iser. “And it is actionable. It is actionable in Federal Courtroom. So, you may sue.
“So, if you’re a politician, these candidates must respect the Constitutional proper of a musician or a songwriter to only say no to using their music in a political marketing campaign,” Iser mentioned.
Music could not change voters’ minds, however it could possibly undoubtedly make them sway. “It is having that refrain that type of sticks in your mind that does not allow you to neglect it,” mentioned Clague. “And so, that is a part of music’s energy in a manner that, you realize, a stump speech is rarely gonna pull off.”
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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler.
