Foo Fighters turn on John McCain

John McCain has incurred the wrath of the rock band The Foo Fighters for using one of their compositions as a campaign song. The band, who are led by Dave Grohl, formerly of the grunge band Nirvana, have fired off a missive telling the Republican presidential candidate to stop using My Hero, which has been played at number of rallies and is used to highlight McCain's service as a pilot in the Vietnam war.

"The saddest thing about this is that My Hero was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential," said a statement issued by all the band's members. "To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song."

But their demands have fallen on deaf ears at Team McCain. Said a spokesman: "The McCain-Palin campaign respects copyright. Accordingly, this campaign has obtained and paid for licenses from performing rights organisations, giving us permission to play millions of different songs, including My Hero."

This is not the first time McCain has been told to stop using a song. John Mellencamp, Heart and Jackson Browne have complained - Browne even filed a lawsuit. And the Republicans had to drop an earlier choice, Abba's Take A Chance On Me, after the Swedish group complained. Said McCain: "We played it a couple times and it's my understanding [Abba] went berserk." ·