Inspired by this earlier
diary, which made the (IMO) excellent suggestion that somebody should arrange a musical DemFest, and this interesting
thread from a while back, I got to thinkin':
What can we tell about the candidates and campaigns by the theme song or campaign-event background-music they choose?
We all remember, obviously, Al Gore's "You Can Call Me Al," which was a kind of cute attempt to loosen up Al's image (didn't work, alas) and appeal to baby boomers. Bill Clinton had Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow," which did the idealist baby-boomer thing, too (though if one wants to be snarky one could suggest that the sentiments of that song--"Yesterday's gone...Don't you look back," etc.--imply a rather hubristic historical myopia, but that's another story). I think George W cynically used some Ricky Martin latino-type tune at his sham of a convention (he probably also used that most vile of recorded melodies, Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American," but my brain is blessedly repressing that memory). Ronald Reagan also of course, tried to coopt Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
So what are the theme songs this time around? And what messages are they trying to send? One example: When I went to a Clark campaign appearance in Atlanta, they were playing R.E.M. on the loudspeakers, which worked pretty well for me. Any other examples?