UPDATE: Twisted Sister founding guitarist Jay Jay French announces that he, too, shall not take it; delivers a blistering rebuke of Paul Ryan to Roll Call. Read It
Are there any recording stars not named “Kid” or “Jr.” willing to let the Mitt Romney campaign use (or like) their music? A week after Silversun Pickups issued a cease and desist order to the GOP candidate for playing one of their songs at events, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider has now spoken out with a similar objection.
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After getting word that Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, used the band’s biggest hit at a recent rally in Pennsylvania, Snider issued a statement to Talking Points Memo.
“I emphatically denounce Paul Ryan’s use of my band Twisted Sister’s song, ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It,’ in any capacity,” Snider said through his manager. “There is almost nothing he stands for that I agree with except the use of the [workout program] P90X.”
“We’re Not Gonna Take It” spent 15 weeks on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1984, topping out at No. 21, making it the band’s biggest hit. Watch the video:
WHAT DO YOU WANNA DO WITH YOUR LIFE?!?
Other artists that have blasted the campaign include Somali-Canadian artist K’naan and Silversun Pickups, who objected to the campaign’s use of their song “Panic Switch.” Guitarist Tom Morello penned an Op-Ed last week after hearing Ryan was a fan of his band Rage Against the Machine.
“He is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades,” Morello wrote for Rolling Stone. “Ryan claims that he likes Rage’s sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don’t care for Paul Ryan’s sound or his lyrics.”
Romney does have friends in country veteran Lee Greenwood, who has sung his anthem “God Bless the U.S.A.” at events, Kid Rock, an early supporter whose song “Born Free” is used at rallies, Hank Williams, Jr., a particularly vocal opponent of Barack Obama, and KISS bassist Gene Simmons.
This current musical controversy is the latest case of politicians butting heads with unhappy artists over their campaign soundtracks — during the 2008 presidential campaign alone, the Foo Fighters, Jackson Browne and John Mellancamp asked Republican candidate John McCain to quit using their songs.