Life’s been good, 1980: When Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh decided to run for president
During the MTV Video Music Awards in 2016, Kanye West took to the stage and announced that he would be running for president. This was met with applause at the time, but as his campaign started and his rallies resulted in emotional breakdowns, his run was quickly dismissed, and he didn’t get many votes in the 2020 election.
Interestingly, Kanye isn’t the first musician to launch a failed presidential campaign. It seems this is a common trait, and when you think about it, it’s not surprising. Musicians are often followed around by “yes men,” whether that comes from their posse or their fans. They make a living from acceptance, and subsequently, any musician who has had a mildly successful career will likely begin to believe they’re right about nearly everything.
From there, they continue feeling that every decision they make is good; it’s only a hop, skip and jump until they start pondering over what good they could do for the world in other areas. When those thoughts begin to pop into their minds, the announcement of a presidential campaign is just around the corner.
In 1980, Joe Walsh, who initially found fame as the guitarist for The Eagles, announced that he would be running for president. The first major issue with his campaign is that even if elected, he could never be president. At the time of running, Walsh was only 33 years old, and to be a president in the US, people must be at least 35.
Regardless, that didn’t stop Walsh from trying. His campaign was a simple one, but that certainly appealed to a lot of people. One of his biggest policies was that he guaranteed free gas for everyone. There are some issues with this promise, the first being that there wouldn’t be enough gas to go around, and it would probably plunge the county into economic decay. On top of his gas policy, Walsh also said that he would replace the national anthem with his song ‘Life’s Been Good’, a track about drugs, drinking and partying.
He wasn’t successful in his campaign, but that didn’t deter him. He decided to run again in 1992, this time for the role of Vice President. He wrote the song ‘Vote For Me’ as a campaign theme, which, despite being catchy, wasn’t enough to ensure his success in politics. His campaign fell on deaf ears again, and Walsh was reminded to continue working on music rather than try his hand at politics.
It is hardly a surprise that so many musicians decided to give politics a go, especially when they think they are right about everything and are constantly affirmed that they make the world a better place. However, the fact remains that just because the whole country will buy tickets to see them live doesn’t mean they will vote for them, something Walsh found out the hard way.
