--- title: Musical Artists Slam GOP for Using Their Songs for Campaigns description: R.E.M. does not condone the use of their songs mixing with politics canonical: https://time.com/4029090/donald-trump-music-kim-davis/ author: ashley Ross article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-10T11:47:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:53.160Z article:section: Politics og:title: Musical Artists Slam GOP for Using Their Songs for Campaigns og:description: "I do not like mixing rock and roll with politics" og:url: https://time.com/4029090/donald-trump-music-kim-davis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt362cce68092e82eb/698862e10b72e37f776e5bd6/donald-trump-capitol.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Donald Trump, president and chief executive officer of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a Tea Party Patriots rally against the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sep og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Musical Artists Slam GOP for Using Their Songs for Campaigns twitter:description: "I do not like mixing rock and roll with politics" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt362cce68092e82eb/698862e10b72e37f776e5bd6/donald-trump-capitol.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rock Stars Slam GOP for Using Their Songs for Campaigns > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=87d8da3e-e5c8-4315-a812-7b886b95f161&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Behind the Scenes With Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Behind the Scenes With Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8z07UrJ6.m3u8) (0:59)  _Published 2015-08-19. Trump Behind the Scenes_ by [ashley Ross](https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Sep 10, 2015 11:47 AM UTC  Donald Trump, president and chief executive officer of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a Tea Party Patriots rally against the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. Donald Trump, president and chief executive officer of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a Tea Party Patriots rally against the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [ashley Ross](https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Sep 10, 2015 11:47 AM UTC R.E.M. took to Facebook to comment on Donald Trump and Ted Cruz using the band’s song at a Tea Party rally. --- > “” --- This comes days after Survivor founding member Frankie Sullivan talked to _Rolling Stone_ about Mike Huckabee and Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis, who refused to give out gay marriage licenses, used “Eye of the Tiger” at a rally for Davis after she was released from jail. “I do not like mixing rock and roll with politics; they do not go hand in hand,” Sullivan told _Rolling Stone_. “What upset me most was that, once again, my song was being used to further a political agenda – and no one even bothered to ask for permission.” It’s far from the first time politicians have stirred up trouble in the [music world](http://time.com/3686392/campaign-song-artists/). In 2000, John Mellencamp’s agents asked George W. Bush’s team to stop using his song “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A,” and in 2012, Rage Against the Machine’s guitarist Tom Morello wrote an opinion piece against Paul Ryan, calling him “the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4029090/donald-trump-music-kim-davis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4029090/donald-trump-music-kim-davis/"},"headline":"Rock Stars Slam GOP for Using Their Songs for Campaigns","datePublished":"2015-09-10T11:47:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:53.160Z","description":"\"I do not like mixing rock and roll with politics\"","url":"https://time.com/4029090/donald-trump-music-kim-davis/","keywords":["2016 presidential race"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt362cce68092e82eb/698862e10b72e37f776e5bd6/donald-trump-capitol.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"ashley Ross","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt362cce68092e82eb/698862e10b72e37f776e5bd6/donald-trump-capitol.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump, president and chief executive officer of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a Tea Party Patriots rally against the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sep","caption":"Donald Trump, president and chief executive officer of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a Tea Party Patriots rally against the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sep","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-presidential-race/","name":"2016 presidential race"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4029090/donald-trump-music-kim-davis/","name":"Rock Stars Slam GOP for Using Their Songs for Campaigns"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Scenes With Donald Trump","description":"Trump Behind the Scenes","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8z07UrJ6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-19T22:24:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8z07UrJ6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4029090/donald-trump-music-kim-davis/","duration":"PT59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4029090/donald-trump-music-kim-davis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```