Tag: R.E.M.

Music, Politic, and the Contrast of Eras

I have an album coming that I bought off eBay. I had to get this CD from 1996 because it features a track you cannot buy in MP3 format through the ‘net… At least I haven’t been able to find it. The song is Automatic Baby’s libw performance of U2s “One” at the 1993 inauguration concert for Bill Clinto.

Automatic Baby was R.E.M. and U2 in a collaborative performance.
It’s coincidental and ironic that I wait for the Childline album specifically for a song performed at a political event and now, 27 years later, a message has been sent by many titans of the music field – including R.E.M. – to keep unauthorized use of music out of politics. In essence, it’s a message for Donald Trump and his campaign staff who have partaken in this action for Trump rallies and political events since before he took office in 2017. It’s resulted in cease-and-desist messages over, and over, and over again from musicians and public comments by artists (example: Axl Rose of Guns n’Roses) but ultimately no legal actions that hold Trump accountable.

Knowing habits of The Donald by way of histenure in the White House, unauthorized use will continue with jealousy encouraging it. After all, Bill Clinton had music’s blessing, as could Joe Biden. Where are the big shits of music – people who perform music he likes – tftor support??? He wants and needs popular music to keep his base of supporters content too!

It would be rather fitting if the Automatic Baby cover of “One” got a prominent MP3 release in 2021 to commemorate the group’s lone performance…and more specifically to mark the completion of Donald Trump’s one-term presidency. We’ll see if that happens in the months ahead. For the moment, I get to rip an MP3 file as the Trump Administration continues to operate as if rules and laws don’t apply to them.