Forget Ballot Access, the big issue of 2008 was Music Access.
A musician -- pay attention those who fancy themselves that -- wants their songs heard by a wide audience. Otherwise, s/he would never hit the road, let alone the recording studio.
So one of 2008's biggest embarrassments came from rockers.
Time and again, they rushed forward to say, "Oh, no, you don't!" to the McCain - Palin campaign. It was really embarrassing.
Take Heart (and we love the Wilson sisters). "Barracuda" is not a song utilized on one of the many CSIs (though we would love it if it and "Crazy On You" were). "Barracuda" was used for Governor Sarah Palin at the GOP convention and Ann and Nancy Wilson wanted to make it clear that they would never, ever vote for Palin and/or McCain. Fine. No problem. But they also wanted the campaign to never, ever use the song again.
With regards to McCain, that's pretty damn insulting and we'll come back to that.
But did the Wilson sisters check to see if Barack Obama carried all fifty states? No, he didn't. And looking at what he didn't carry, we're seeing states that kept Heart alive when no one in the rest of the country gave a damn. That was before they resurfaced on Capitol and after.
So what message are they sending to the people in those states?
It's something they might want to think about.
But Heart, to their credit, has never been used in any national political campaign and maybe the message is: We don't want to be used ever. And maybe their message is we don't want to be part of the political process?
If that's the message, fine.
But if the message is only some people can use our songs, we have a problem.
Which brings us to Jackson Brown who didn't drink the Kool-Aid, he damn well snorted lines of it and, in the process, disgraced himself.
"Running On Empty" was used in a web ad and used under Fair Use guidelines (by the McCain campaign, of course). Jackson Browne had a meltdown.
We went back and forth over this one throughout the campaign. In the end, we couldn't find any way to support Jackson's view.
Mainbly because, though Jackson doesn't like to publicize this and most Americans who agree with his politics have no idea, he's raked in the royalties over the years -- at a time when no one would play his songs on radio -- through his songs being bumper music on a variety of right-wing talk shows. "Lives In The Balance,"via its use on right-wing radio (during the Clinton years) has become his best known hit since "Tender Is The Night."
Now he had no problem with it being used on right-wing talking shows, he had no problem if the demented hosts were preaching that the Clintons wanted one-world government, to take away your guns, and to kill you like they 'did' Vince Foster. Jackson Browne never said a damn word complaining about that.
So it was a little embarrassing to see him making a spectacle of himself over the McCain campaign using a snippet of "Running On Empty."
Let's break it down a little bit further.
Jackson can insist (as he does) that he phoned the cops that night when they arrived at his home for a disturbance call. He can insist that until he's blue in the face. No one's believing it and they wouldn't even if Joni Mitchell hadn't used him as an inspiration for "Not To Blame" (Turbulent Indigo). Right or wrong, the voyeurs of pop culture spoke long ago and they sided with Darryl Hannah. That's the main reason Jackson can't get his new stuff played on the radio today.
True or false, he's seen as the man who physically abused Darryl Hannah. It's killed his career. The bulk of his peer group doesn't want to hear a too-sensitive-for-words love/observational song from Jackson Browne as a result.
To put it bluntly, Jackson Browne's songs can use all the exposure they can get.
We said we'd come back to McCain. We are on record long before 2007 stating we would not vote for John McCain, that we do not agree with his politics, etc. We don't have to 'prove' our disagreement with John McCain because it can be found throughout the archives. That said, musicians need to remember one important point: When Congress held hearings on radio consolidation, McCain was the one on record opposing the censorship of the Dixie Chicks for their political statements.
There's not an adult alive in this country that doesn't know John McCain supports the illegal war and supported it from the start, from before the start. He defended the Dixie Chicks not because he agreed with their opinion but because he believed in their right to say it. It's called free speech and once upon a time rockers grasped it.
Ronald Reagan couldn't stop attempting to harness Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA work in 1984. Bruce and Reagan agreed on nothing. Bruce made that clear nicely. He wondered if anyone with Reagan's campaign had paid attention to the verses of "Born In The USA"? But he never threw a hissy fit and whined, "Don't you use my song at your rallies! Don't you use my song!"
Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney were two worthy candidates that All Things Media Big and Small shut out. And when all the rockers were embarrassing themselves during the last months of the campaigns, we started thinking about them and other independent and third party candidates. What are they going to be able to play at their rallies?
If Heart and Jackson Browne is a sign of what's to come, where does it end?
The reality is that thirty years after the songs were releases, Heart and Jackson Browne should be thrilled to death that a national campaign was interested in them. That's what you live for when you write a song, that it will live on for years long after it falls off the charts.
Van Halen (who ever's left in that group at this late date) and the Foo Fighters had to object to.
What really is the point?
Is your music only for certain people?
In 1984, Springsteen had enough sense not to throw a public tantrum and insist that his song couldn't be used in a campaign. Twenty-four years later, common sense is in short supply.
And if songs are only allowed for candidates you approve (or a quorum of the band?) rallies just got a lot harder for third party and independent candidates.