UK's Conservative Party have requested the use of the song 'Happiness' by Pizzaman, a Norman Cook pseudonym.
According to Gigwise, the party plan to use the 1995 track that Cook recorded under the name of Pizzaman with producer friends Tim Jeffrey and JC Reid for the walk in to their New Direction Conference next week. While Cook has refused the use of the track, there's nothing stopping the party using the song as long as they pay royalties.According to the Fatboy Slim homepage, this isn't the first time political parties have used his music. Al Gore's 1999 campaign reportedly used 'Praise You' at every opportunity and in 2004 the UK's New Labour party used 'Right Here, Right Now' as their election anthem.
Cook announced on his site, "At least the Conservatives had the decency to ask first unlike Labour. The Tories however remain my least favourite political party so an emphatic 'no' is the answer."
Unfortunately, no matter how much disdain Cook holds for any political party, he's is essentially powerless in the face of the legal loophole regarding royalties and licensing.
