So, recently there was news that the Foo Fighters had told John McCain to stop using their song "My Hero" at live events, as he had not asked the band's permission to use the song.  The Foos joined artists such as John Mellencamp, Van Halen, Heart and Jackson Browne (who sued over the usage of his song "Running on Empty") in admonishing the campaign for not asking permission to use their songs.

And you figure, after five major artists tell you to be polite and ask permission to use the music publicly, John McCain's people would have learned.  Then again, you figure the people running his campaign would have learned that asking permission is polite, say, back in KINDERGARTEN with the rest of us.

So, the GOP started using Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky III as McCain's theme song at events.


Anyway, you'll never believe what turned up on Survivor's official website:

Survivor has no affiliation with John McCain or Sarah Palin.  They have no right to use "Eye Of The Tiger" in any way as part of their campaign. Using our music without our permission can give people the impression that we are supporters - this is not the case.

You know, I should be surprised that McCain's people haven't learned.  Mostly?  I'm just impressed Survivor has an official website.  I didn't know those guys were even still together.

And before you go off on "ZOMG, LIBERAL ARTISTS HATE MCCAIN!" look at it this way: this isn't just about whether they support McCain or not.  This is about taking someone's music and using it for publicity without their permission.  Anytime a song that's not in the public domain is used for a television commercial, to advertise something, they have to have permission from the artist.  And they usually have to pay royalties.

What McCain's camp continues to do is to use the music without permission to advertise him to the American people.  It's not as if he couldn't go to artists and say "Can I use your song?"  But the thing is, all of the songs he's used?  He's ended up being told to STOP using.  Basically, this makes his campaign's attitude look like "I know you won't let me use this, so I'll just use it until you tell me to stop."

Okay, and the title of this is a little over the top.  Odds are John McCain doesn't put his iPod on shuffle.  Because he doesn't know what one is.  These new fangled things will never replace the good old gramophone in his heart!