The '80s rock band Heart is not happy about John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin using their song "Barracuda" at the Republican National Convention. (When the Alaska governor was a high school basketball champ, her teammates nicknamed her “Sarah Barracuda.”)
"The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission. We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored," the band said in a statement on Thursday.
But after McCain finished his speech accepting the GOP's presidential nomination on Thursday night, Palin joined him on stage, and the song was used for the second time.
"I think it's completely unfair to be so misrepresented," Heart's Nancy Wilson told EW.com after the speech. "I feel completely f---ed over." She and sister Ann Wilson then e-mailed the following statement to EW:
"Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."
Last week, right before McCain introduced Palin in Dayton, Ohio, he played the song "Right Now” by Van Halen. A few hours later, Van Halen’s publicist told MTV News that the hopeful was never granted permission to use the track, and had permission been sought, it would never have been granted.
This February, John Mellencamp told McCain to stop using his songs, "Our Country" and "Pink Houses," on the campaign trial.
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