Pretenders Frontwoman Calls For Assassination Of Businessmen

[Michael Pugliese]

<URL: http://www.google.com/search?num=25&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf- 
8&q=Hynde+Limbaugh>
<URL:http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:XHnPGbx1OhAC:www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/08.28.97/limbaugh- 
9735.html+Hynde+Limbaugh&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 >
> ...Recently, Limbaughdiscussed on air how he came to hijack Hynde'slament 
> over the mallification of America ("My pretty countryside/Had been paved 
> down the middle/By a government that had no pride"). Recalling the days 
> when he was first firing up his show, Limbaughnoted that he tried a 
> number of rock songs for his theme music. A few callers griped that a 
> "conservative guy" should not be identified with a rock & roll sound. To 
> "tweak" these fans, Limbaughsearched for "the hardest-pounding bass line" 
> he could find and selected "My City Was Gone."
Was he aware he had picked the work of an animal rights activist and an 
ideological opponent? He sure was. He relished that. "It was icing on the 
cake that it was [written by] an environmentalist, animal-rights wacko--and 
an anti-conservative song. ... It is anti-development, anti-capitalist. ... 
Here I am going to take a liberal song and make fun of [liberals] at the 
same time." But Limbaughnever licensed his show's use of the song, 
according to Hyndeand her manager, Gail Colson. Asked about 
Limbaugh'sconscription of "My City Was Gone," several music licensing 
experts maintained that if a radio show adopts a recorded song as its 
theme, it must receive permission from the music publisher and the record 
label. (Labels often require approval by the artist, and Hynde, in 
addition, retains publishing rights to her songs.) As Kohn on Music 
Licensing, a prominent industry text, notes, "The making of recordings of 
introductory music themes ... as part of syndicated radio shows ... 
[requires] permission from the copyright owners." Besides a license, 
Limbaughwould need permission to alter the song--which he has done by 
editing it to a 75-second-long instrumental excerpt. Assuming these experts 
are correct, Limbaughhas stolen the intellectual property of another. Years 
ago, when Limbaughwas coming into phenom status, Hyndereceived letters from 
fans who were flabbergasted to discover her art associated with the Right's 
No. 1 mouth. At airports, people approached her and complained. Hynde, who 
has lived in England since 1973, was unfamiliar with the Limbaughshow. 
"From what I understood," she says, "I wouldn't be endorsing his show. I 
went to Kent State, and we burned down the R.O.T.C. building." Clever 
Controversy HYNDEASKED COLSON to investigate. Colson says she checked and 
was told Hyndecould do nothing to nix this use of her song. Colson seems to 
have received bad advice. And until this summer, neither she nor 
Hynderealized that the Limbaughshow was playing an edited version of the 
track. "If he's redoing the song, he must license it," Colson remarks. "And 
there is no way we have ever cleared a license or even been asked for one." 
(Hynde, as the publisher and writer, does receive performance royalties 
through ASCAP for the airplay on Limbaugh'sshow.) Limbaughdid not respond 
to inquiries regarding "My City Was Gone." "I'm sure if I heard this show," 
Hyndenotes, "it would piss me off, and I would say, get my song off right 
away. ... He's obviously very clever. If he just played the Carpenters, it 
wouldn't cause any controversy. So now he plays rock, and he's bold and a 
rebel. I probably should have done more when people were rushing at me in 
the airports. But since I had not heard the show, I said, 'Oh fuck it.' 
That's a lazy attitude, I know. I only wanted to be a rock singer, but I am 
associated with speaking my mind." Now Colson, in response to this article, 
has asked Hynde'slabel and publishing rep to research the matter. "It would 
be wonderful if we could get him," she says. Few of the other musicians 
whose songs have been less formally recruited into Limbaugh'sconservative 
cavalcade feel compelled to complain. We surveyed 20 such artists and asked 
what they thought of their discs being played by Limbaugh. Most had nothing 
to say. The publicist for the Wallflowers (which is led by Jakob Dylan, son 
of Bob) replies, "I talked to the band's management, and we've decided to 
pass." A spokesperson for Garbage says the band members "have no comment 
either way and don't wish to say anything. They think of themselves as 
apolitical, and they just don't want to be in those kinds of stories." Eric 
Clapton, the Dave Matthews Band (fronted by a marijuana aficionado), Peter 
Gabriel (a human-rights activist), Stone Temple Pilots, Seal, Pearl Jam 
(abortion-rights proponents), Reel Big Fish and the Rolling Stones declined 
comment. So did Bob Seger. (When Rush played a nugget of Seger's "Fire 
Inside," he dedicated the day's program "to all the long-haired, maggot- 
infested, dope-smoking FM types.") Last year, one musician nearly went 
after Limbaugh. When Joan Osborne was told Limbaughhad played her song 
"Right Hand Man," she was upset and considered issuing a public statement. 
Danny Goldberg, the president of her label, Mercury, provided Fairness & 
Accuracy in Reporting with a small grant to search past Limbaughbroadcasts. 
FAIR found that Limbaughhad indeed played the tune, but only once. Osborne 
decided not to howl about this one-time offense. Is Limbaugha hypocrite for 
spicing up his program with drug anthems like "Purple Haze"? Probably. But 
rock music as a genre has become so content-neutral that the obvious 
contradictions between Limbaughism and the values expressed in the music he 
airs do not rate high on today's Outrage-o-Meter. After all, for years rock 
has been selling soda, banking services and overpriced sneakers 
manufactured by underpaid workers abroad. Why not right-wing rants? "Rock 
music was once political and countercultural," Hyndesays. "Now music is 
music. The whole of popular culture has gone more mainstream, and even 
conservatives want to be hip." Limbaughshows how easy that is. While 
Hyndemay have the power to make him pay for swiping one song--hers--there's 
not much to inhibit Limbaugh'srampant exploitation of rock music. Rush can 
rock--and that's less a comment on him than on the neutered culture of 
rock.

-- 
Michael Pugliese, "Rock and Roll Is Dead And I Don't Care." The Rubinoos.