Joey Tempest to Tories: Stop playing The Final Countdown

Joey is 100% correct it's not a political song and it should not be used in that context.

Hi guys,

I do respect every personal and political opinion, anyhow I'd suggest to look at this stepping out of Joey as something not related from which political party has abused of the song.
Because in the past it happened the same for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump campaigns, you know...

Personally I don't think the intent is to take one side. And personally, if we're talking Brexit, I am pretty much against it. And we know that when we're talking Brexit, anyone's statement is not completely related to what political party he/she is for.

I think that the position of the Band here was a due position to dissociate themselves from any political use or misuse of their song.
From what I have understood the only declaration of the band has been done through The Times and I am a subscriber, so I have access to what it has been published there.

Even if I know very well that you cannot count on a 100% correct transcription of the declarations, I'd count only on The Times as a source for the news, because I immediately recognized the "cascade effect" that occurred on the other newspapers and this includes The DailyMail, becoming a "Joey Tempest slams Conservatives" thing and so on and so forth.

I definitely encourage people to check the sources. In Italy, for instance, this news has been translated into: "Europe has sent a letter through their lawyers to immediately stop the use of The Final Countdown...", you really can see how these things are taken over and misused!

Said that, I am probably violating the rules in providing here the content of The Times' article, but this is what it has been reported there:

Song gets Tories in trouble with Europe (the band)
An attempt to gee up Conservative Party campaigners by playing The Final Countdown has prompted a protest from the song's creator.
Joey Tempest, the lead singer of the glam rock band Europe, said that he objected to the song being used at the party headquarters in London but conceded that he was powerless to stop it.
Adam Parsons, the band's manager, said that Tempest and his fellow musicians would like the party to cease and desist from using it.
"We're used in a lot of political campaigns," Mr Parsons said. "Both Hillary [Clinton] and [Donald] Trump used the song.
Joey does not condone any use in a political context. This was written as a good-time hard rock song back in 1986."
It is unclear whether the Conservatives are interpreting The Final Countdown as a metaphor for the number of days until the general election or Brexit. Mr Parsons said that the Conservatives should have asked the band before using the song.
"We did not give permission for them to use it, not that we need to because it's not commercial. I think it's very unethical for political parties to just take a song like this because it can look like the band are allied with them."
He said it was a leap of imagination to interpret the lyrics of the song in a pro-Brexit context. The opening lyric is: "We're leaving together." Mr Parsons said: "The song was about the end of the world. It was about leaving Earth."