Clive Palmer spat with Twisted Sister escalates
The musical spat between political hopeful Clive Palmer and an American rock band over the use of their hit 80s song We’re Not Gonna Take It has escalated.
Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider performing. File photo: Katy Winn / AP
Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider says Clive Palmer is ignoring a cease and desist order, after allegedly using the band’s 1980s hit We’re Not Gonna Take It as inspiration for the song used in a television advertisement for his recently registered United Australia Party.
“We are contacting our legal team to address this and if that doesn’t work… I’LL BE DOWN UNDER IN THREE WEEKS TO DEAL WITH IT MYSELF!” Snider tweeted.
The lyrics of the song in the United Australia Party ad are: “Australia ain’t gonna cop it, Australia’s not gonna cop it, Aussies not gonna cop it… anymore”.
The lyrics of the chorus of We’re Not Gonna Take It are: “We’re not gonna take it, no, we ain’t gonna take it, we’re not gonna take it… anymore”.
The melody is near-identical and the songs are in the same key, and a similar chord progression.
The United Australia Party ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-V2tPyFm6o&list=PLpN7eaG3505sYFTQmKGDoSuzV4VQfu3BT
We’re Not Gonna Take It (chorus at 1:40):
But Palmer says the song is a “rip-off” of the Christmas carol O Come, All Ye Faithful, and has called on Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to cancel the frontman’s visa ahead of his forthcoming Australian tour.
The opening five words in the lyrics of O Come All Ye Faithful have the same melody as the song in the ad, as well as the chorus of We’re Not Gonna Take It, but the Christmas carol follows a different chord progression and is traditionally played in a different musical style to both the ad and the 80s hit.
Palmer said he wrote the lyrics of the ad himself and holds the copyright for them.
“If they (Twisted Sister) attempt to use my lyrics in any of their songs, I’ll not hesitate to take legal proceedings against them,” he said in a statement.
“As foreigners they should stay out of Australian domestic politics and stay where they are.”
The musicians are due to tour Sydney and Melbourne from the end of the month, with Palmer hinting the furore was for publicity.
“I understand their current proposed tour has been slow to sell tickets,” he said.
“This is understandable given how long ago they had any influence in the world of music.”
– additional reporting by Bension Siebert
