Tom Petty has a message for presidential candidate Michele Bachmann: Don't do me like that.
In fact, he'd prefer it if she didn't do him at all.
Kelly O'Donnell reported on NBC Nightly News on Monday that the "Breakdown" singer's camp is incensed with the Republican Minnesota congressperson for using his 1977 hit "American Girl" at her televised speech in Waterloo, Iowa, on Monday, during which the song played her off the stage.
According to the report, Petty's manager plans to tell the Bachmann campaign not to use the song anymore.
Petty had allowed then-candidate Hillary Clinton to use the song during her 2008 campaign; however, he gave a red light to George W. Bush in 2000 when he wanted to use Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down."
This would be far from the first time that a GOP candidate has been rebuked for the unauthorized use of popular music during campaign appearances. In 2008, Canadian rock group Heart told Sarah Palin to stop using its song "Barracuda" as her campaign theme song. Likewise, John Mellencamp also laid into the McCain campaign for the use of his tunes "Our Country" and "Pink Houses" on the campaign trail. Singer-songwriter and Obama supporter Jackson Browne, meanwhile, sued John McCain in 2008 when his song "Running on Empty" was used in a campaign ad, though as it turns out, the ad was put together by the Ohio Republican party.
Calls for comment to Petty's management and record label, as well as the Bachmann campaign, were not immediately returned.
