US rock band the Foo Fighters publicly endorsed the Democratic Party’s re-election push yesterday (September 6th) by performing a short set at the convention in North Carolina on a night when President Barack Obama formally launched his 2012 campaign with a key speech to the huge crowd.
Foo Fighters aired their tracks ‘My Hero‘ and ‘Walk‘ during the performance, which can be viewed via YouTube below, as the rock world continues to take a more welcoming standpoint to the Democrats than their Republican counterparts.
Veteran songwriter Tom Petty is another to embrace Barack Obama’s support after the US President used his track ‘I Won’t Back Down‘ as his ‘walk-on’ music yesterday.
“I’ve been on the wrong side where I’ve had to tell some candidates to stop using my music,” he told Rolling Stone at the 2012 MTV VMAs. “I got chills. They knew it would be okay. I’ve had a chance to meet the President and talk to him about the music he listens to.”
It’s been a different story for the Republicans, who have received strong criticism from the likes of Rage Against The Machine‘s Tom Morello and the mother of the late Thin Lizzy guitarist Phil Lynott after members of the party both praised, and used, the pair’s music recently.
They did enjoy a warmer reaction from The Killers‘ bassist Mark Stoermer however, who told Rolling Stone after Mitt Romney declared his fondness for the band: “Anyone’s allowed to like us. If it’s just about music, I guess it’s not a negative thing. He’s, I guess, a guy and he listens to music and happens to like us. That’s fine.”
