Let’s say you write a song. Let’s that song becomes a hit — your biggest hit, in fact. When people think of you, this song is the first song they think of. This song gets so popular that it becomes a cultural phenomenon, as thousands of college football fans chant its melody en masse every Saturday. That would be pretty awesome, right? Okay, now let’s say that a right-wing demagogue who thinks Mexican immigrants are rapists and wants to ban Muslims from entering the country used that song as part of his campaign to become the president of one of the largest nations in the world. How would that make you feel?
Well, the White Stripes were pretty pissed about it.
Recently, the Donald Trump campaign released a video in which the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” was played. The band, which broke up in 2012, was very clear just how unhappy they were with this development in a Facebook post earlier today, which read:
Regarding the use of “Seven Nation Army” in a Donald Trump campaign video, The White Stripes would like to unequivocally state that they have nothing whatsoever to do with this video. They are disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of their song.
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The Stripes are not the first musical act to rebut Trump after he played one of their songs. When Trump announced his campaign, he used Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Young, who supported Bernie Sanders in the primaries, quickly spoke out against it. Later on, Trump would also be rebuffed by R.E.M. after using “It’s the End of the World as We Know it (And I Feel Fine).” Really, this all goes back to when Springsteen called out Reagan for using — and misinterpreting — “Born In the U.S.A.” If you’re a Republican running for office, you should probably just stick to country and the Nuge.
