nancywilson.jpgEntertainment Weekly’s Hollywood Insider is reporting that Heart’s Nancy Wilson is upset with the McCain campaign for using “Barracuda” as somewhat of a theme song representing Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. Wilson publicly and explicitly asked the campaign to stop using her band’s classic song to help sell their candidate. Yet, following McCain’s speech at the Republican National Convention, what should hit the speakers when Palin walked onstage but Heart’s “Barracuda.”

Heart isn’t the first band to request their music not be used to accompany the Republican agenda. As the Huffington Post points out, Van Halen, Jackson Browne, Frankie Valli and Orleans have all asked their songs be pulled from the ongoing McCain playlist. Commenters on the Hollywood Insider story suggest the songs are fair game and should be able to be used without permission. Sure, if you want to contend that copyright is irrelevant. But then, I suppose, for a campaign that has claimed victory in Iraq and has called Americans a “nation of whiners,” eschewing the rights of artists to dictate how their work is employed would seem commonplace. Judging from Sarah “Barracuda” Palin’s acceptance speech the other night, saying anything with confidence and a firm face makes it so.

Last I checked, anyone seeking to use a piece of copyrighted material to help them sell anything—be it an SUV, a can of soda, or a political campaign—needed to first get permission from the person holding the copyright. That the McCain camp would ignore the wishes of Nancy Wilson is absurd, but not surprising. After all, it’s the same campaign that spent the last several months selling its opponent as inexperienced and naive-to-national-politics then turned around and hired an inexperienced and naive-to-national-politics running mate. It’s a strong double standard, and a fierce adherence to the notion that a few people agreeing to ignore the facts might just make them go away.

There really is nothing silly or petty about an artist requesting their intellectual property not be used to further an agenda with which they don’t agree. Chances are Palin wouldn’t be too thrilled if something she said once was taken out of context and used in marketing materials for Planned Parenthood. She and the rest of the McCain campaign should really honor the artistic integrity and intellectual property rights of the people who wrote the songs in the first place.

Music has long been entrenched in the selling of a political campaign. Bruce Springsteen famously asked “Born in the U.S.A.” be pulled from Ronald Regan’s run for office more than 20 years ago. It’s no secret or surprise that so many artists are lining up behind the Obama camp, eager to have their songs used to support his message. No doubt this probably puts McCain/Palin in a difficult place. I would bet they’d be hard-pressed to find a song that’ll do the trick by a well-loved artist who supports their cause. Then again, there’s always Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue.”