You'd think after Rush, Peter Gabriel and the Fabulous Thunderbirds all requested Rush Limbaugh to stop using their music during his show, Rush might pick someone a bit more right-wing-friendly to play during his radio show.
Nope. He went with Rage Against the Machine.
As you might expect, Tom Morello and Co. were none too pleased to hear that Rush had used "Sleep Now in the Fire" from The Battle of Los Angeles on his radio show yesterday, prompting the following Tweet from Morello: "Hey Jackass, stop using our music on your racist, misogynist, right wing clown show."
While Rush Limbaugh has never exactly been a friend of the liberally minded, this latest backlash -- which also includes more than 50 advertisers pulling spots from his show, and at least two radio markets ceasing to carry it -- comes from remarks he made about Sandra Fluke, a 30-year-old Georgetown student who testified before Congress regarding contraception being provided as part of health care.
While they really don't bear repeating (You can find them in my Rush story from yesterday), Rush's comments have continued to lose him support, even after he issued a public apology.
A piece in Rolling Stone pointed out yesterday that, because the songs are being played on the radio, which means they have been paid for, the bands actually have no grounds to legally stop Limbaugh for using their music.
"Artists who make money from public performance royalties don't have the right, typically, to control who plays their songs," attorney Larry Iser told Rolling Stone. "Once they choose to add their songs to the public performance catalog, they're out there for anyone [with a licensing agreement] to use."
Iser would add: "The Constitution is the Constitution, and thank goodness for it. They do have a legal right to stand up and make as much noise as possible about how appalled they are."
Read more the full story here.
