From Neil Young to R.E.M., there have been a handful of musicians recently who have asked Donald Trump to stop playing their music at campaign rallies. But none have apparently ruffled the feathers of the Republican presidential hopeful quite like Aerosmith.
According to Boston Magazine, frontman Steven Tyler sent Trump’s people a cease-and-desist over use of 1973 hit “Dream On,” which Tyler argues could “give a false impression” of Aerosmith endorsement. Tyler says it’s simply a matter of copyright law, and as BoMag points out, attended first Republican debate as a guest of Trump. The singer even wrote an editorial about copyright use today for Huffington Post.
But where Trump was relatively quiet on the verbal assaults from Young and R.E.M. — the latter of which brought this juicy quote from Michael Stipe: “Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you — you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men… Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign” — he lashed out at Tyler this afternoon via Twitter.
Trump says he has a better song that “Dream On” — Ha! Imagine that! — to use at campaign stops, and he was actually doing Tyler a favor, giving the singer “more publicity on his song request than he’s gotten in ten years.”
Guess Trump hasn’t heard Tyler’s recent country song “Love Is Your Name”.
Even though I have the legal right to use Steven Tyler’s song, he asked me not to. Have better one to take its place!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2015
Steven Tyler got more publicity on his song request than he’s gotten in ten years. Good for him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2015
Sing with us, sing for the years, Donald.