There’s a story in music news today about The Dropkick Murphy’s – everyone knows their track “Shipping Up To Boston” – a very emotive song, wouldn’t you say? Even Conor McGregor used it for his entrance into the ring... you can’t get more fired up than that! Well it looks like he’s not the only fan of the song... Wisconsin State Governor Scott Walker used the song as his entrance music at an event on Saturday. Well, what a mistake he made! The Dropkick Murphy’s subsequently tweeted to the Governor:
Please stop using our music in any way...we literally hate you !!! Love, Dropkick Murphys
It’s not the first time the band have had a run in with a fan of the political variety – they had a few choice words for the Republican Party in the States when they used the same track in 2012 - they wrote a post on Facebook at the time...
“We just got word that Wisconsin State Rep and Speaker of the State Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald used ‘Shipping Up To Boston’ as his walk-on song yesterday at the Wisconsin GOP Convention in Green Bay. The stupidity and irony of this is laughable. A Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate – and crony of anti-Union Governor Scott Walker – using a Dropkick Murphys song as an intro is like a white supremacist coming out to gangsta rap.”
This isn't the first time this kind of row broke out between music and politics...
SPRINGSTEEN vs REAGAN:
Musicians and politicians have been coming to blows over this type of thing for many years now, Bruce Springsteen famously made his anger known at Ronald Reagan’s use of his song “Born in the USA” for the 1984 US presidential election.
GROHL vs MCCAIN:
Dave Grohl wasn’t happy about US presidential candidate John McCain using the Foo Fighters song “My Hero” in the 2008 presidential election. The band made a statement at the time saying “It's frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property. The saddest thing about this is that 'My Hero' was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential.”
THE SMITHS vs CAMERON:
Morrissey and Johnny Marr of the Smiths – have made it very clear about their feelings about UK Prime Minister David Cameron – they have banned him from listening to their music. In 2009, Cameron apologised for being a fan of Morrissey and the Smiths live on The One Show on BBC 1. He said “I'm sure when Morrissey finds that he's getting an endorsement from the leader of the Conservative Party, he will think 'Heaven knows I'm miserable now'. But I'm a big fan, I'm afraid. Sorry about that.”
THE JAM vs CAMERON:
Paul Weller wasn’t best pleased about Cameron’s love for The Jam track “Eton Rifles”. When he heard about Cameron’s fondness for the song, he hit out, saying: “Is he thick? He probably thinks 'Eton Rifles' is a song about him and his mates at school.” Ouch.
MULVEY vs CAMERON:
Seems like the UK PM just can’t catch a break, can he? In a recent interview in newspaper The Mail on Sunday Cameron said that he was a big fan of Nick Mulvey, even though he was “a bit grungy, I admit”. Now we talked about this story on the show before, and if Cameron thinks Nick Mulvey’s music is grungey, he’s going to get a big shock when he actually hears some grunge! Anyway, Nick was asked about how he felt having the Prime Minister as a fan, he said he felt “a bit sick”. Not exactly a gleaming review of Cameron’s cred!
