You'd have to be living under a rock to have not been caught up in the feud between Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider and United Australia's Clive Palmer.
The current run of TV campaigning uses a terrible version of the classic Twisted Sister glam-rock 80s hit "We're Not Gonna Take It" by changing the lyrics to "We're not gonna cop it, Australia's not gonna cop it". Cringe. It's so cringe-worthy we're not even going to share it here.
Dee is currently in Australia doing a speaking tour with sold out shows in Sydney and Melbourne. He popped into the Today Show this morning to chat with Richard Wilkins about the debacle and raises some great points. The main one being - and this has nothing to do with your political views - it's highly illegal to use a song without clearing the publishing and paying a license fee to use that song. Why Clive Palmer & co skipped that process is beyond us - however, it's not the first time we've heard of a politician committing a criminal offence.
For those of you with little knowledge about the use of recorded music in advertising, here's a really simple breakdown. There are two types of copyrights in every song. One is the copyright of the recorded track known as the master recording and this belongs to whoever paid for that recording (usually the record label). The second part of the copyright belongs to whoever wrote the song, in this case, Dee Snider. The songwriter's copyright is also known as 'publishing' and is often represented by a publishing company who ensures that the correct procedures are followed, legally, and therefore the correct rights holder is paid for the use of that music.
Music and politics have always been intertwined; folk, punk, blues and hip hop's foundations were built on rebellion born out of oppression. We're seeing an uprising in musicians fighting back for their legal rights and more so for the desire to not be associated with political parties they do not agree with.
In this clip, Dee Snider makes it clear he does not agree with the values of United Australia. But more to the point, has every single right to defend the legal usage of "We're Not Gonna Take It".
.@deesnider hits out at Clive Palmer over his "blatant rip-off" of 1980's hit 'Not Gonnna Take It'. #9Today pic.twitter.com/5Fosy0LrF6
… The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) January 29, 2019
Now that we've cleared that up, let's enjoy the vibrant music video first released in 1984...
If you're not interested in the drama and just want to crank up some 80s glam rock, check out Spotify's This Is Twisted Sister playlist.
