Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump declared his candidacy for US president, the real estate magnate is already drawing ire. The Republican strutted on stage to Neil Young's 1989 song Rockin' in the Free World – a move that immediately upset its politically outspoken composer.
Trump was "not authorised to use Rockin' in the Free World in his presidential candidacy announcement", said Young's management in a statement. Published in the Wall Street Journal blog Speakeasy, the statement went on to say that Young is a supporter of the left-wing senator Bernie Sanders for president.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman insisted they had paid for the right to play the song through a licence agreement with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. "Nevertheless, we won't be using it again," she added. "There are plenty of songs to choose from. Despite Neil's differing political views, Mr Trump likes Neil very much."
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Young is not the first to rebuff a politician for misappropriating his work...
George Osborne
Irvine Welsh was less than flattered when George Osborne "ripped off" a passage from his famous novel Trainspotting in October 2014 as he announced £3bn of welfare cuts. In fact, he called the Chancellor a "f***ing twat" and said he would rather have Fred and Rose West quote his characters on childcare. Osborne borrowed from Welsh's famous "Choose life" passage, in which heroin addict Renton says: "Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career... Choose a f***ing big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers... Choose rotting away at the end of it all, p**sing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f***ed up brats you've spawned to replace yourself..." Instead, Osborne told delegates at the Conservative Party Conference: "Choose jobs. Choose enterprise. Choose security. Choose prosperity. Choose investment. Choose fairness. Choose freedom. Choose David Cameron. Choose the Conservatives. Choose the future." Vice magazine suggests it might have been a clever and deliberate plot to parody a parody "were Osborne not likening a country he's running to a heroin addict deciding to stay on the junk".
David Cameron
David Cameron received scathing rejections from both Paul Weller and The Smiths after listing their songs among his favourite tracks. The Conservative leader appeared to have misunderstood that The Eton Rifles, his favourite 1979 hit from The Jam, was actually railing against elitism and ridiculing Eton boys such as himself. "Which part of it didn't he get? It wasn't intended as a f***ing jolly drinking song for the cadet corps," Weller told the New Statesman in 2008. Two years later, Johnny Marr "forbade" Cameron from liking The Smiths. Marr didn't go into details, but his former bandmate Morrissey's song Margaret on the Guillotine – about the execution of Mrs Thatcher – made it pretty clear how he felt about the Conservative Party.
Tony Blair
Tony Blair had flowing locks and a fringe as the front man for student band Ugly Rumours – but this wasn't enough to keep indie icons Oasis on side. Noel Gallagher was among the stars to visit No 10 Downing Street in 1997 at the infamous "Cool Britannia" reception after Blair came into power. But a decade later Gallagher blasted Blair for being no different from every other politician and admitted he had taken a lot of "flak" for being so closely associated to the prime minister in New Labour's heyday.
Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel ended up in an embarrassing row with the Rolling stones after she used their song Angie as part of her election campaign in 2005. Merkel, now German Chancellor, claimed she had permission to use the track, which included lyrics such as "Angie, you're beautiful... There ain't a woman that comes close to you." However, a Rolling Stones spokeswoman insisted no such right had been granted. "We are surprised that nobody has asked us," she said. "We would probably have said 'no' if they had."
Ronald Reagan
Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA has been described as one of the most politically misunderstood anthems of all time. In 1984 Ronald Reagan seized on the hit during his re-election campaign, telling crowds in Hammonton, New Jersey that America's future rests in "the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen". The singer was not impressed at the misappropriation of his song, which actually addressed the negative effects of the Vietnam War on Americans.
