# Is permission required from musicians for political rallies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-permission-required-from-musicians-for-political-rallies/760968 "2016-07-26T19:36:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-permission-required-from-musicians-for-political-rallies/760968/41 "2016-07-30T15:55:57Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Let’s take 2008 when for a brief time the media was calling Sarah Palin " Sarah Barracuda." The campaign began playing Heart’s song Barracuda at campaign events. Heart raised hell and they stopped. > > How could anyone believe that Heart (whoever they are individually, if they are even still alive) wrote this song nearly 20 years earlier in the hopes that Palin would come along so as to endorse her? It would seem to be a particularly dense person who believed that the playing of that song meant that the band Heart officially endorsed McCain/Palin 2008. So, since Springsteen didn’t foresee robot vacuums when he wrote _Born to Run_, Roomba can use it in their commercials without permission? Right. You have to consider artists rights as part of a larger category. Could a product/politician distribute material showing it/them with a famous person (living or dead) using Photoshop? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-permission-required-from-musicians-for-political-rallies/760968/42 "2016-07-30T18:50:16Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Sure, but if you’re a Republican candidate asking for the artist’s permission basically limits you to playing Hootie or Ted Nugent songs. Followed up by a plausible DNC song with the words “…the jury has found [them] guilty of being a redneck, white bread, chickenshit motherfucker?” The song from which that verse was taken is even more plausible for the DNC: it is produced by Dr. Dre who also sings in it–and Dr. Dre has been one of President Obama’s personal invitees to the White House (perhaps Hootie or Ted Nugent have also been so honored in a Republican administration). The song, named after it’s chorus, is “Fuck the Police,” by Niggas Wit Attitudes (N.W.A.) and precedes the verse I quoted with: …But take off the gun so you can see what’s up And we’ll go at it punk, and I’ma fuck you up! Make you think I’ma kick your ass but drop your gat, and Ren’s gonna blast I’m sneaky as fuck when it comes to crime But I’ma smoke 'em now and not next time Smoke any motherfucker that sweats me or any asshole, that threatens me I’m a sniper with a hell of a scope Taking out a cop or two, they can’t cope with me The motherfucking villain that’s mad With potential, to get bad as fuck So I’ma turn it around Put in my clip, yo, and this is the sound [BOOM, BOOM (gunshot sounds)] Yeah, something like that but it all depends on the size of the gat Taking out a police, would make my day… > **[N.W.A. - Fuck The Police Lyrics | AZLyrics.com](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nwa/fuckthepolice.html)** > > N.W.A. "Fuck The Police": Right about now, N.W.A. court is in full effect Judge Dre presiding In the case of N.W.A. vs. the Po... ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-permission-required-from-musicians-for-political-rallies/760968/43 "2016-07-30T19:51:11Z")
“Fuck the Police” is a very important and culturally significant song, and it expresses generations of frustration at police oppression of black Americans, but I don’t see any reason to suggest that it would be used by a mainstream politician. There are a lot of popular songs by a range of artists that express rage or an impulse do commit illegal or destructive acts. Is every politician who has been seen in the company of any such artist responsible for literal interpretations of anything that has appeared in any lyric by that artist? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-permission-required-from-musicians-for-political-rallies/760968.md?page=2)