Posted in: Music, Opinion, Pop Culture, TV, TV | Tagged: donald trump, Foo Fighters, My Hero, opinion, the rolling stones, trump

The Rolling Stones Could Be Key to Foo Fighters/Donald Trump Confusion

Did Donald Trump's campaign have the right to use Foo Fighters' "My Hero," and who authorized it? The Rolling Stones might be the key...

Okay, it looks like we might have some clarity on what exactly went down – but first? A brief history lesson! On Friday, we learned that ex-reality show host, multi-impeached ex-POTUS, and convicted felon Donald Trump, and the walking magnet for awkward moments, Sen. JD Vance, had picked up points in the all-important brain worm and dead bear cub pranksters demos with an official endorsement from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Later that day, Trump invited RFK Jr. onstage during the former's rally in Arizona on Friday night to make it even more official. But it would be the song selection that was used to introduce RFK Jr. that would grab serious attention – Foo Fighters' (Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee, and Josh Freese) "My Hero," the hit single from the band's 1997 album The Colour and the Shape.

When Wu Tang is for the Children tagged the band on Twitter with a clip from the rally, asking them if they let Trump use the song – the answer was crystal clear: "No." The band then screencapped the exchange and sent out the following follow-up tweet.

Shortly after, a spokesperson for the Foo Fighters spoke with Billboard: "Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were, they would not have granted it" – noting that "appropriate actions are being taken" against the Trump/Vance campaign (with any monies received as a result being donated to the Harris/Walz campaign). The story took another twist over the weekend when The Independent reported that Trump's campaign claimed that it did have the right to use the song. "We have a license to play the song," a campaign spokesperson said to the news site, which added that it had seen documents that reportedly confirmed that "My Hero" was licensed from BMI's Songview service.

So who's right? Well, it looks like The Rolling Stones could be the key to getting some answers. Back in 2020, Trump used the band's song, "You Can't Always Get What You Want – and The Stones weren't too happy with it. Partnering with BMI at the time, The Stones were able to keep the song from being used for political purposes – with the company explaining how its Political Entities License works and the "provision" that allows for songs to be earmarked not to be used for political purposes.

"The Trump campaign has a Political Entities License, which authorizes the public performance of more than 15 million musical works in BMI's repertoire wherever campaign events occur," stated BMI regarding the matter. "There is a provision, however, that allows BMI to exclude musical works from the license if a songwriter or publisher objects to its use by a campaign. BMI has received such an objection and sent a letter notifying the Trump campaign that the Rolling Stones' works have been removed from the campaign license and advising the campaign that any future use of these musical compositions will be in breach of its license agreement with BMI."

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