We learned a lot about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz during his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday night (August 21). The former high school football coach, Army National Guard veteran and social studies teacher wowed the packed crowd at the United Center with a rousing speech about his Midwestern values and loving family while accepting the party’s vice presidential nomination alongside current Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
And, in keeping with his reputation as a “Dad Rock” guy who raged against the machine for not inducting Warren Zevon into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and whose record selection at his favorite record store in Minneapolis Electric Fetus Last year’s album included vinyl classics from Genesis, the Moody Blues and Steve Winwood, among others, and he entered and left the stage to solid, down-to-earth rock.
In fact, a spokesman for Neil Young confirmed to Billboard On Thursday (August 22), the governor received personal permission from the 78-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer to cap his emotional speech with Young’s fiery 1989 anthem “Rockin’ in the Free World.” The song from Young’s Freedom The album took a sledgehammer attack on then-Republican President George HW Bush’s famous phrase “a thousand points of light,” and its lyrics lamented the lack of urgency on climate change and conservatives’ lack of compassion for homeless Americans amid what Young saw as empty promises to “keep hope alive.”
Young’s official endorsement conflicts with his complaint that Walz and Harris’ White House rival, former Republican President Donald Trump, did not seek permission to play the song during his first campaign in 2015. This prompted Young to sue Trump. In 2020, Young sued Trump for copyright infringement for playing “Rockin'” and “Devil’s Sidewalk” at rallies. Young said he could not “in good conscience” allow his music to be used by the controversial former reality TV star.
After Trump lost his second candidacy, Young dismissed the copyright lawsuit.
In a post on his archive site earlier this week, Young noted that he was following the DNC closely — not on network or cable TV, but on C-Span, where he said there were “no slick commentators … no bias,” in a letter that included a reprint of artist Shepard Fairey’s “FORWARD” poster for the Harris campaign.
Walz took the stage to John Mellencamp’s 1985 song “Small Town,” a tribute to his Midwestern childhood. At press time, a spokesperson for the Indiana-born rocker had not confirmed that Mellencamp had given his personal consent for the song’s use.
Young is on a long list of artists who have either sued, threatened to sue or complained about Trump using their music at his rallies. That list was recently joined by the estate of the late soul icon Isaac Hayes and Beyoncé’s label, which this week issued a cease-and-desist order against convicted felon Trump’s campaign because its spokeswoman improperly used her anthem “Freedom” – the official Harris/Walz theme song, which was personally approved by Queen Bey – in a social media post that has since been deleted.
Trump has a long history of using the music of popular artists despite public opposition. The unauthorized playing of songs at Trump’s rallies, which twice impeached him, has drawn complaints from artists such as the Rolling Stones, Adele, Rihanna and the late Sinead O’Connor, to name a few.
