On Aug. 15, the alternative rock group Silversun Pickups sent a cease and desist order to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, asking in no uncertain terms that they stop playing the band’s song “Panic Switch” during campaign events. “We don’t like people going behind our backs, using our music without asking, and we don’t like the Romney campaign,” frontman Brian Aubert said to E! News. Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul responded that “Panic Switch” — which contains the GOP-unfriendly lyric “The red views/Keep ripping the divide” — had only been played during the set-up for one campaign event, which the band must have heard about over Twitter. “This is not a song we would have played intentionally,” she wrote. “That said, it was covered under the campaign’s regular blanket license, but we will not play it again.” So everybody’s happy.
Fight Songs: Eleven Great Musician-Politician Campaign Feuds
Silversun Pickups vs. Mitt Romney
Full List
feuds
- Tom Morello vs. Paul Ryan
- Silversun Pickups vs. Mitt Romney
- Tom Petty vs. Michele Bachmann
- Rush vs. Rand Paul
- Don Henley vs. Charles DeVore
- David Byrne vs. Charlie Crist
- Heart vs. Sarah Palin
- Jackson Browne vs. John McCain
- The Rolling Stones vs. Angela Merkel
- Tom Petty vs. George W. Bush
- Bruce Springsteen vs. Ronald Reagan