Like a number of their American and U.K. contemporaries, Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand are not happy about their music being used to promote the current Israeli/U.S. war against Iran. Specifically, the group lashed out over the weekend when their 2004 Billboard Hot 100 No. 66 hit, “Take Me Out,” was featured in a video posted by the Israeli Defense Forces, saying it was used without their consent.
According to Rolling Stone, in a since-expired Instagram Story, lead singer Alex Kapranos shared the IDF video, which features footage of fighter jets and explosions amid images of an Israeli soldier celebrating the country’s recent attacks on Iran amid footage of fighter jets taking off and dropping bombs, with the caption: “Operation Roaring Lion — this is how it’s done.”
In reaction, a furious Kapranos reportedly replied, “these warmongering murderers are using our music without our consent. This makes us both nauseous and furious. Kind of typical though, isn’t it? To strut up and take what isn’t theirs with a vile arrogance…” At press time a spokesperson for Franz Ferdinand had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on this story.
The U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28, which Donald Trump called Operation Epic Fury and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to as Operation Roaring Lion. Iran has since retaliated with missile and drone strikes against Israel and U.S. bases and allies in the region, including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Quatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
With muddled, ever-changing explanations from Trump and U.S. officials about the reasons for the war — citing everything from an alleged imminent threat to the U.S., to a mission to destroy Iran’s military and alleged nuclear weapon stocks to regime change — the war has quickly sparked fears of a potentially sprawling, global conflict, as well as economic panic over rapidly spiking oil prices.
Franz Ferdinand’s Kapranos is just the latest musician to take issue with an official state video using their music without sanction. In tearing a page from his good friend Trump’s frequent unauthorized use of popular music to promote his political agenda, Netanyahu’s government is sparking a similarly outraged response in using popular music to hype the war that has once again sent his country’s citizens running to bomb shelters just months after a shaky peace agreement with militant group Hamas.
Last month, Radiohead were incensed when the U.S.’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency posted a video on the agency’s X account on Feb. 18 cued to the group’s 1997 OK Computer track “Let Down” featuring images of Americans and the caption, “American citizens raped and murdered by those who have no right to be in our country. This is who we fight for. This is our why.”
Radiohead responded in a statement to Billboard that read, ““We demand that the amateurs in control of the ICE social media account take it down. It ain’t funny, this song means a lot to us and other people, and you don’t get to appropriate it without a fight. Also, go f–k yourselves.”
The Trump administration also drew the ire of Kesha, who lashed out at Trump recently for what she called the unauthorized use of her song “Blow” in a White House TikTok video. In an Instagram Story posted on March 2, she accused the administration of using her song to “incite violence and threaten war,” adding that she does not approve of her music “being used to promote violence of any kind” and that this is “the opposite of what I stand for.”
The IDF appears to be doubling-down on using music in their promotional videos as well, including one posted on Sunday (March 8) touting its reported successes striking Iranian targets cued to the 1993 Los Del Rio Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash “Macarena.” An earlier video from Friday (March 6) used a reference to the workout tracking app Strava and a snippet of the 2002 Coi Leray single “Players” to promote Israeli bombing sorties on Iran. At press time, spokespeople for Leray and the IDF had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
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