opinion
Johnny Marr, singer and guitarist for The Smiths, spoke out this week to demand that former President Donald Trump stop playing his music during his campaign rallies.
Mar seems out against Trump
Earlier this week, a video went viral showing The Smiths' 1984 song “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” while Trump played at a rally in Rapid City, South Dakota.
This did not sit well with Mar, who responded by demanding that Trump stop using his music.
“Uh…right…okay,” Mar wrote. “Never in a million years would I have thought this could happen. Consider this – shut it down now.”
Marr's comments contrast with those made by Morrissey, the former frontman of The Smiths, who has spoken out against left-wing cancel culture in recent years.
“People can make five T-shirts and the stickers will stick to them, and now the stickers are completely bloodless, and they will get rid of you if you say anything they don't agree with, they don't care,” Morrissey said. 2022, according to Fox News. “Now they're talking about: ‘Oh, we should have diversity, diversity, diversity.’ “Diversity is people you don't know, which is just another word for conformity, it's the new way of saying conformity.”
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Other musicians make the same request
Mar is the latest in a long line of musicians demanding that Trump stop using their music. Others who have done so include the Rolling Stones, Pharrell Williams, Linkin Park, Rihanna, the Village People and Tom Petty's estate. Back in 2019, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne issued a statement saying they no longer wanted Trump to use “Crazy Train” at his rallies.
“Based on this morning's unauthorized use of Ozzy Osbourne's 'Crazy Train', we are sending notice to the Trump campaign (or any other campaigns) that they are prohibited from using any of Ozzy Osbourne's music in political ads or in any political campaigns.” They said in a statement posted on Sharon's Instagram account.
They added: “Ozzy's music cannot be used for any medium without approvals.”
Neil Young sues Trump
Singer Neil Young went so far as to sue Trump for copyright infringement over his use of his music in 2020.
“This is not acceptable to me…” Young wrote on social media in response to his songs “Rockin' in the Free World” and “Devil's Sidewalk” being played at a Trump rally in Tampa, Florida. In his initial complaint, Young stated that he “cannot allow his music to be used as the theme song for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate,” according to the New York Post.
Full story: Libertarian rocker Neil Young sues President Trump over alleged copyright infringement
Young had previously said he had “nothing against” Trump legally using his music.
“He has already obtained a license to use it,” he added. “I mean he said he did and I believe him…but if the artist who made that song says you never talked to them, if it meant something to you, you should probably stop playing it. And it meant something to Donald and he stopped.”
Despite this lawsuit being filed, Young continued to quietly and voluntarily dismiss the case in New York courts.
Trump usually ignores singers when they ask him to stop using his music. It remains to be seen whether he will respond to Marr's demands or continue to use The Smiths songs during his marches.
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