I love stories about the music that candidates pick to play at their campaign rallies. But I love the stories about the blowback from musicians even more. Musicians often get angry if they find out that a candidate from a party they don’t support is playing their music. Be sure to also read the full article on MSNBC.com.

This article on MSNBC gives a pretty solid rundown of the music choices of some of the candidates from early on in the campaign. I honestly believe that everyone needs a theme song. Obviously, candidates are no different. They often try to find meaning in the lyrics that will somehow relate to their stance on an issue. As an example, the article above states this about Edwards in 2004

During his 2004 campaign, Edwards used John Mellencamp’s “Small Town,” a reminder of the small-town roots of this son of a mill worker.

Often times though, the music gets muddled in some half baked attempt for the candidate to dance to the song. This happens to any type of music, not just an official “campaign” song. Here is Hillary shaking it a bit in Puerto Rico. I’m glad to see she at least has a drink in her hand.

And here’s Barack dancing on the Ellen Degeneres show.

And this is all you get for McCain. I don’t think he dances, so there isn’t footage.

And while we’re at it, here’s a couple songs I think would be funny as campaign music. But that’s simply because I have a twisted mind.

“The Perfect Drug” by Nine Inch Nails

“Smack My Bitch Up” by the Prodigy

“Legalize It” by Peter Tosh (candidate would have a strong chance of winning on this campaign)

“It’s Raining Men” by the Weather Girls (I just learned that this song was written by Paul Shaffer! Who knew.)

See, these would be funny. And they would make politics more interesting.