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Donald Trump wanted The Killers, Kiss, Celine Dion or Meatloaf to play his 2017 presidential inauguration.
The claim came in a new book, Melania and Me, written by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff – a close friend and previous Senior Advisor to first lady Melania Trump.
Other artists reportedly touted by the President were Aerosmith, Mavis Staples, Kelly Clarkson and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
As shared in New York Magazine, Wolkoff remembered saying to the First Lady: “‘We don’t have any A-list performers locked in, or B-list for that matter…”
At the eventual inauguration, 3 Doors Down, Toby Keith, and DJ Ravidrums were the only acts to play.
Trump stopped using The Rolling Stones‘ ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ to soundtrack the end of his campaign rallies following complaints from the band.
That’s according to NBC News’ Kelly O’Donnell, who last week tweeted (August 21) that the US President had opted for The Village People‘s ‘YMCA’ instead, since being threatened with legal action by the Stones. The British rockers had issued multiple cease and desist directives demanding him to not use their music.
“Now that I have seen it a few times at various events, clearly The Village People’s ‘YMCA’ is now the walk-off song for the president replacing the Rolling Stones’ ‘You can’t always get what you want’,” O’Donnell wrote.
Victor Willis, the band leader of Village People, echoed the Stones’ feelings about Trump using his band’s music. In June, Willis wrote publicly via Facebook to Trump: “I ask that you no longer use any of my music at your rallies, especially ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and ‘Macho Man’,” following the George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter marches. “Sorry, but I can no longer look the other way.”
Trump played The Rolling Stones songs including ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ and ‘Start Me Up’ during his 2016 rallies, causing the Stones to follow in the footsteps of Adele, Neil Young and Steven Tyler to request that he stop. However, Trump continued to use the music as his campaign continued.
Speaking about Trump to NME recently, The Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers said modern America was “ugly and polarising” under Trump’s presidency and says that he has his “fingers crossed for Joe Biden” in November’s US elections. He added that his optimism was undermined by the fact that Donald Trump remains “unfathomably popular”.
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