From Black spirituals to antiwar folk, music and politics have long come hand in hand. But what happens when music is used not only to carry a message, but to capture voters’ attention in an election campaign? Are artists always happy with the associations their songs come to have?
Today the country goes to the polls for a set of local elections that might determine the future of Keir Starmer’s Labour party – or at least the public’s confidence in the Greens and Reform. To mark the occasion, here is The Observer’s pick of the best election songs.
The bright, jolty chords of Christine McVie’s forward-looking Don’t Stop – which featured on Rumours – make it an obvious choice for any politician looking to promise voters a better tomorrow. It’s no wonder, then, that 15 years after its first release, Bill Clinton used the track as the theme to his presidential campaign, even though some of his team reportedly tried to convince him to choose a more contemporary number. After winning the election, Clinton even had Fleetwood Mac perform at his inaugural presidential ball, giving the band’s Greatest Hits album a boost in the charts.
Another injection of unquestionable positivity comes in the form of the Northern Irish act’s sleeper club hit, which became the anthem for Tony Blair’s 1997 election victory. The zany, tenor-saxophone-filled track then had an unlikely comeback when it was played through Downing Street’s loudspeakers on that wet day in 2024 when Rishi Sunak announced a general election. D:Ream have since said they regret the Labour association, and don’t want their music soundtracking any such events in future. “There’s no way – our songs and politics, never again,” Al Mackenzie told LBC.
The list of artists who have raised opposition after their songs appeared without permission as the soundtrack to Donald Trump rallies or social media videos is long – Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Olivia Rodrigo, Radiohead and Jess Glynne are all part of this not-so exclusive club. But few Trump picks epitomise the shallowness of his political mission as Money, Money, Money, one of three Abba songs to be played at a rally in St Cloud, Minnesota, in 2024. The group’s rebuttal came as thick and fast as those showy piano riffs.
Not everyone has to ask for forgiveness. Beyoncé reportedly gave Kamala Harris permission to use her Lemonade track, complete with marching band-like percussion and a verse from Kendrick Lamar, before the presidential candidate walked out on stage to the song at an event in 2024. Brash, unexpected and close to riotous, it’s a thrilling piece of music –if not a thrilling victory for Harris.
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Will you ever again be able to listen to this bass riff without matching Jeremy Corbyn’s name, syllable by syllable, to its beats? Seven Nation Army was already the basis for a popular football chant before some genius adapted it to become a rily anthem for the then increasingly popular Corbyn project. At Glastonbury 2017, it was inescapable, with everyone from Stormzy to Radiohead joining in when the crowd began to roar it in gaps between songs. It was never an official election track, but a crowd-mandated anthem.
Illustration by Charlotte Durance