Pat Dollard | Young Americans

I feel its time all these musicians start to understand that just because their POLITICAL views are different doesn’t mean that their music is not being heard and BOUGHT by MILLIONS of republican and conservative listeners who could care LESS about the what “Entertainers Political Views” are…I thought we were all Americans?Wired

September 5, 2008

The female-fronted band Heart has issued a statement denouncing John McCain’s use of their ‘77 hit song “Barracuda” after he accepted the Republican nomination for president on Thursday night. Apparently, vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s nickname on the high school basketball was “barracuda,” so McCain’s use of the song was meant as a reference to that.

But Heart is crying foul.

“I feel completely f—ed over,” said Heart’s Nancy Wilson to Entertainment Weekly, adding later with her sister and bandmate Ann Wilson via email, “Sarah Palin’s views and values in no way represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late ’70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”

This is getting downright weird. It seems like each day another band issues another statement that John McCain is using their music without permission. First Jackson Browne sued McCain for using “Running on Empty,” then it was Van Halen’s turn to hassle him for his use of “Right Now.”

Now, Heart is broken up about yet another of McCain’s musical missteps. The way things are going, it’s clear that the guy needs to start vetting his music a bit more carefully. Is Ted Nugent available? Or maybe ABBA?