By Donkey Hotey, Creative Commons

The very first story that I wrote as a blogger involved the instance of Senator John McCain using the song “Barracuda” as the theme song for Sarah Palin and the fact that the singers and songwriters of that song- the band Heart- were less than happy with it being used. The song in question was about the predatory nature of the music industry.

Go back further, and you have the interesting incident of Ronald Reagan’s campaign wanting to use the Bruce Springsteen song “Born in the USA” to be his campaign theme song. Not only was this a problem, but apparently no one in the Reagan Campaign knew what the song was really about.

So, enter 2010- and Mitt Romney’s little kerfufle with Silversun Pickups. Romney’s camp is getting into trouble for using their song “Panic Switch” on the campaign trail without permission from the band. Maybe Romney should try getting in touch with Megadeath.

Brian Aubert, the band’s frontman, has stated that Romney has been using their 2009 hit without permission, but they wouldn’t have gotten it if they had asked anyway. Aubert stated that “We don’t like people going behind our backs, using our music without asking, and we don’t like the Romney campaign. We’re nice, approachable people. We won’t bite. Unless you’re Mitt Romney!”

Aubert also pointed out that the song is a problem for Romney because “he is inadvertently playing a song that describes his whole campaign.”

This is also a major problem for the GOP. Back in 2008, Senator John McCain was sued by Jackson Browne for using “Running on Empty” without permission, and the GOP promised, after that, to “respect and uphold the rights of artists and to obtain permissions.”

The GOP seems to have a lot of trouble with asking permission and respecting the rights of others, doesn’t it?

A cease and desist order has been sent out.