Is Donald Trump Using Music Inappropriately At His Rallies ?

From the launch of his 2016 presidential campaign to the more recent reelection campaign for 2020, is President Trump using music “inappropriately” at his rallies?

By: Ringo Bones

The Rolling Stones might be the latest of a growing number of musical artists launching their own cease and desist directives to the Donald Trump presidential campaign after their songs are used inappropriately in his rallies. Even though the Stones had been telling Trump to stop using their songs since 2016, the iconic band finally issued a legal action for Trump to stop.

Donald Trump had been exploiting loopholes in the BMI’s Blanket Political Entities License Agreement law in being able to play a number of classic Rolling Stones, Queen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pharrell Williams, Rhianna and Adele just to name a few. But a growing number of artists are complaining and had launched their respective legal cease and desist orders from their lawyers because their songs are used in a Trump rally for very inappropriate lessons.

Earlier this week, the family of the late Tom Petty posted on the band’s official Twitter account saying that the Trump campaign’s use of his song is “in no way authorized,” adding that he: “would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate.” Pharrell Williams’ Oscar nominated “Happy” was played at a Trump rally hours after 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue back in October 2018.

This more than just pointing out the preexisting thinking of hard right conservatives not giving a rat’s ass about copyright laws since the launch of Fox News, being tone deaf to the social injustices endured by non white Anglo Saxon Protestant musicians is one thing, but keeping silent while Trump uses their songs inappropriately in the era of the renewed Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd was killed in an act of police brutality is just unforgivable. It’s high time to vote Trump out of the White House this November 2020.

Is Robbie Williams a Secret Trump Supporter?

Despite being debunked for four years, does former Take That member Robbie Williams’ belief that the Pizzagate conspiracy is real make him a “secret Trump supporter”?

By: Ringo Bones

In the wake of the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter protest brought about by the application of excessive force during the arrest of George Floyd, admitting publicly that you subscribe to debunked bizarre conspiracy theories put forth by white supremacist could be tantamount to saying publicly that you are an unabashed Holocaust Denier. Sadly, former member of a popular 1990s era boy band Take That, Robbie Williams, just recently did that in a recent interview.

The 46-year-old sat down for an interview with journalist Anna Brees, and in a teaser clip from the second part of the interview, the Rock DJ singer appears to question the validity of a conspiracy theory alleging that several high-ranking members of the U.S. Democratic Party and U.S. restaurants were involved in an alleged human trafficking and child sex ring. That theory was widely debunked during the 2016 US Presidential Election following an investigation by the New York Times and the fact-checking website Snopes. Although various American far-right and white supremacists groups still believe to this very day that the Pizzagate Conspiracy is real and proof that – according to them – the US Democratic Party are composed of sex deviants, while denying President Trump’s association with convicted billionaire-paedophile - the late Jeffrey Epstein.

As well as the Pizzagate Conspiracy Theory being debunked by a number of investigative journalists, no alleged victims came forward and no physical evidence supporting the theory was ever found. Sadly, it caused the defeat of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential Election that resulted in subjecting America into over three years of social trauma that culminated in the COVID 19 response mismanagement and the systemic racism of US law enforcement that resulted in the resurgent Black Lives Matter protests. Let’s just hope this is nothing more than Robbie Williams’ sad attempt to be famous again to the 18 to 24 crowd who are now heavily into Billie Eilish and peacefully marching in Black Lives Matter protests.

Black Lives Matter: The Musical?

Given that the so-called modern music is predominantly influenced by African American culture, should the music industry lend a voice to the Black Lives Matter cause?

By: Ringo Bones

From a musicologists’ perspective, modern popular music is largely influenced by black American or African-American culture. I mean when was the last time a hit song had forgone that signature singing back-and-forth between the tonic and the suspended fourth – i.e. the Pentatonic Blues Scale? Fortunately, our contemporary online digital music streaming providers immediately took notice and avoided from being on the wrong side of history by launching Blackout Tuesday.

Blackout Tuesday was a collective action to protest racism and police brutality in conjunction with the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. The action was originally organized within the music industry in response to excessive police action that led to the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breona Taylor. It took place on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Streaming services taking part were encouraged to abstain from releasing music and other business operations. Some outlets used blacked out, silent or minimal programming for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time officer Derek Chauvin compressed Floyd’s neck resulting in death.

Given that Black Lives Matter protests have since gone global, maybe musicians everywhere should do their part to tell everyone that racism is still alive and well in this day and age. Not just in Trump’s America, but also in the rest of the world. Country music band Lady Antebellum recently changed their name to Lady A in the wake of the protests of the killing of George Floyd and ongoing Black Lives Matter Protests. Although if you ask me, the name change is somewhat reminiscent to the 11^th Hour urgency of one of their biggest hits Need You Now. It’s a quarter after one but the famed country music band should have changed its moniker back during the June 2013 Paula Deen racism row.