Convention blogging, schmonvention blogging, we have something way better for you today:

History Of The Campaign Jam

Popular music has been used to bolster support for presidential candidates since George Washington. Today the presidential race is a spectacle; where politicians are celebrities, campaign advisors are often marketing executives, and political conventions are opportunities for entertainment at Super Bowl venues rather than opportunities to make deals in smoke filled rooms. At conventions and rallies balloons drop, bulbs flash, banners wave, and music blares before and after candidates take the stage in front of adoring fans/potential voters.

Campaigns searching for that perfect song to pump up the crowds and boost support draw on popular music that is “pop” rather than folk songs and standards of the past. Too bad for today’s politicians and staffers that the spectrum of pop music keeps growing to include new styles of music. It must be hard to find a song that appeals to hip hop and country fans and even harder to find a hit song from any genre over the past 30 years that doesn’t reference guns, drugs, sex, and other cool things unbecoming of presidential decorum (you’ll see that rarely do politicians actually care if their campaign songs are lyrically appropriate. I applaud this).

We can trace the first successful application of a popular song by a campaign to JFK’s use of “High Hopes” performed by Frank Sinatra with lyrics tailored to promote the candidate in his 1960 (no surprise for the president who regularly bedded famous movie stars and had his portrait rendered in an abstract expressionist style). Even though other popular songs had been chosen by previous presidential candidates I choose this election as a starting point because at the time Americans mass-consumed the song, the artist, and the candidate through the multiple mediums of radio, record, and television. The song complemented Kennedy’s personal and political charm while Kennedy himself played off the the optimistic lyrics, up-beat tempo, familiarity people had with the song, and popular idolization of its singer.

Since then only one other president has successfully used a lyrically optimistic pop song, performed and in this case also written by a super cool band. When Bill Clinton picked Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” as his campaign theme song, even quoting the chorus in important speeches, he doomed every subsequent politician from both sides of the aisle to squaredom.

Republican candidates tried to use “cool” songs, Ronald Reagan tried to use Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” and in ‘88 George H.W. Bush tried Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, until both musicians, Democrats, publicly requested that the campaigns to keep their mitts off the hits. H.W. settled for “This Land Is Your Land” a Woody Guthrie classic that is certainly the public domain. Isaac Hayes and his record label put an end to “Dole Man” a perversion of “Soul Man” used by virile geezer veteran Bob Dole.

Most recently, Tom Petty and John Mellencamp each served current Republican presidential nominee John McCain with a cease and desist order to stop playing their songs. Now Jackson Browne is suing the McCain campaign for copyright infringement for using “Running on Empty” in a negative ad about Barack Obama.

Lacking support from many recording artists, Republicans have had to fill their play lists with less hip recordings. Just leave it to the Democrats, the party with endorsements from the artists with musical catologoues ripe for the picking, to blow it and pick the worst campaign songs. Typical.

In mystery science election 2000, George W. Bush commissioned a song from Billy Ray Cyrus for his campaign theme. Yet, Al Gore, taking a direct cue from the president he sought to distance himself from on the campaign trail, chose Bachman Turner Overdrive’s stuttering “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” for his campaign anthem and pet phrase.

Dick Gephardt paraded around to Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” a song which Ricky Gervais mocked in an episode of the original UK Office.

Howard Dean and Mitt Romney blasted that awful remix the Elvis song “A Little Less Conversation” that could be retitled: “Shut Up and Blow Me”

Wesley Clark wore mock turtlenecks and played John Mayer’s “Waiting On The World To Change”.

Joe Lieberman turned to Sister Sledge’s cheesy wedding and bad bar mitzvah anthem “We Are Family.”

Hillary Clinton dropped the ball when she had the people vote for her theme song and they chose Celin Dion. (exactly why we don’t have a direct democracy). At least Hillary stilled played “Right Here, Right Now” by Jesus Jones at her rallies.

The only candidate that chose perfect campaign songs was Republican Mike Huckabee who rocked Skynard’s “Free Bird” and Mack Rice ’s “Mustang Sally”, while making stops on the trail to SHRED bass with his band, Capitol Offense. RAW! Check them out:

Barack Obama’s Jams:

Obama has played soul songs like Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” but he also plays U2 and Natasha Bedingfield. Gross. Something needs to change. And after watching Michelle Obama’s speech bookended by some Stevie Wonder I have faith in Barack. Just in case he needs any help… I asked a few BYT’s DJ friends to pick what they think would be the perfect song for Obama’s campaign.

Suggestions for Barack ‘08

Gavin Holland of Nouveau Riche:

The answer is obvious - Imagination’s “Changes“.

Imagination’s silky smooth basslines and vocal harmonies are sure to melt Republican hearts and get toes tappin’. Meanwhile, the completely goofy (and fabulous) video will be a rallying cry to Obama’s liberal base. Also, you may notice that that “Changes” has the word “change” in it, which, while I am not sure, seems to be a theme of the Obama campaign.

Chris Burns of Disco City:

Robert Owens’ “I’ll Be Your Friend” As a state senator in 2004, Obama went through the process of putting through an ordinance to rename the street where the legendary Warehouse club was located to “Frankie Knuckles Way.” As a result, the street was re-christened and August 26th is now declared Frankie Knuckles Day. I think it would be incredibly fitting for the Democratic nominee to use a legendary house track that was championed and produced by Knuckles’ Def Mix crew:

Thanks Gavin and Chris. Those songs would rule if campaign rallies were Nouveau Riche or Disco City but I think THEY SUCK for a campaign. Here is my suggestion for Barack Obama’s campaign theme song: “America: Fuck Yeah”

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