It was only last week that Pharrell Williams sent Donald J. Trump a cease-and-desist letter, righteously angry that the president was blasting “Happy” at a rally that happened mere hours after a gunman murdered 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Now Axl Rose is pissed, too.
The Guns N’ Roses frontman took to Twitter Saturday night, one day after Trump had played the band’s 1987 classic “Sweet Child O’ Mine” to a crowd whose median age is twice as old as the song itself. Rose was not happy about that the commander in chief — whose latest pre-midterm ad has been widely criticized as straight-up racist — was in any way associating himself with a song about consensual love.
Just so ya know… GNR like a lot of artists opposed to the unauthorized use of their music at political events has formally requested r music not b used at Trump rallies or Trump associated events.
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) November 4, 2018
Alas, Rose points out, that doesn’t legally prohibit the president of the United States from using the band’s most played song on Spotify.
Unfortunately the Trump campaign is using loopholes in the various venues’ blanket performance licenses which were not intended for such craven political purposes, without the songwriters’ consent.
Can u say “shitbags?!”💩
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) November 4, 2018
Nor, the singer says, would anyone at the rally be bugged by the fact that the person singing the song they’re enjoying at the Trump rally hates everything they stand for.
Personally I kinda liked the irony of Trump supporters listening to a bunch of anti Trump music at his rallies but I don’t imagine a lot of ‘em really get that or care.
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) November 4, 2018
But then, these tweets are really for any non-Trump supporter who happens to catch glimpses of the rally on the news, hears Guns N’ Roses, and assumes Rose, Slash, et al. are endorsing someone who repeatedly joked that one of his gun-toting Second Amendment fanatics should assassinate Hillary Clinton.
And when ur phone’s blowin’ up cuz peeps r seein’/hearin’ Sweet Child on the news at a rally… as a band we felt we should clarify r position. Peace!🇺🇸
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) November 4, 2018
With that, Rose joined a long, long, long line of artists who’ve either sent the president cease-and-desist letters or angrily called him out for using their music. That list, helpfully compiled by Vulture, includes [deep breath] Neil Young, R.E.M., Twisted Sister, Adele, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Queen, the estate of George Harrison, the estate of Luciano Pavarotti, the estate of Prince, Steven Tyler, and the aforemtioned Pharrell Williams.
If Trump actually honored the requests, he wouldn’t have much to play. Then again, he could just blast all those beloved songs by his most famous Hollywood superfan, Scott Baio. Sadly, formerly Twitter-banned supporter James Woods did not personally sing any of the songs from the 1997 Disney movie Hercules.
Everyone else, though, can enjoy the music of Guns N’ Roses in peace. Let’s go out with this classic scene from the final Dirty Harry movie The Dead Pool, in which a pre-fame Jim Carrey lip-synchs to “Welcome to the Jungle,” with a cameo from a pony-tailed Liam Neeson.
(Via Mashable)
