RUMOR MILL
Monday, May 1, 2000
MCLACHLAN, WHEELER SONGS PULLED FROM COLUMBINE TAPE
Jefferson County, CO, Officials Respond To Labels’ Request, Pull Songs From "Training Tape"
Representatives of both Arista Records and Rounder Records have confirmed that Jefferson County (CO) officials have agreed to remove songs by Sarah McLachlan and Cheryl Wheeler from a firefighter training video that featured footage from last year's Columbine High School shooting.
Arista had demanded McLachlan's "I Will Remember You" be removed from the video, since neither party was "ever approached for the usage of [McLachlan's] music or image within the video being released." Likewise, in his cease-and-desist letter to Jefferson County attorneys, Tony Gottlieb said, "It's pretty appalling, and the effect of [the video] was dramatic, to say the least." Gottlieb is the manager for folk singer Wheeler whose "If It Were Up To Me" was also included on the video.
The 10-minute videotape was made by a Littleton firefighter, who put footage copied from surveillance cameras and firefighters' helicopters together with music for a police and fire training video. The tape had been selling for $25.
