Conservatives Jilted By Musicians They Love
Pitchfork explains: ‘It can be easy to forget sometimes, but (most) politicians are not reptilian humanoids every second of every day. Like the rest of us, they (should) have genuine interests outside of work. Sometimes, like in the extraordinary case of Obama or vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine, this translates to palpable musical
fandom. But what the lizards (er, politicians) sometimes seem to forget is that it’s more or less impossible to remove the politics of a song’s creator from the work itself. Outside of country music, the majority of outspoken musicians lean left—a fact that makes itself apparent every time an election rolls around. It’s become an inevitability that artists whose songs are used during conservative political campaigns will take issue with the co-opting of their work. They cite disagreement with the candidates’ politics, or anger at the lack of permission, or often both. In rarer instances over the years, artists straight-up have called out conservatives for even being fans, rebuking their love for the music and distancing themselves as much as possible. You can’t stop all your fans from being douchebags, but you can certainly call out the ones you know.’
