Bon Jovi to ‘Blonde Jovi’: Flattery Will Get You Nowhere
— April 7, 2009 1 204Although I was wondering if this was a late April Fool’s joke when I first read it, apparently this story isn’t one that someone made up to honor that tradition.
As reported by Australian music site Undercover, an all-female tribute band has found themselves in the crosshairs of Bon Jovi’s crack legal team. Never having been a rock star myself, I have know way to know if this is something that the group’s legal eagles do as part of their normal duties without making anyone in the group aware of it or not. That seems unlikely, but I’m no lawyer and have never even been friends with one!
One thing is for sure, however, if they were not aware of it before, they are now.
Who would want to pick on these ladies?
One would presume that it is well within the group’s power to put a stop to foolishness like this. You know, ring up the suits at “Blakely Sokoloff Taylor And Zafman” and tell them to back off.
As others around the net have pointed out, the tribute band calling itself “Blonde Jovi” (nice play on words, by the way) are obviously fans of the original group. Heck, they probably all had crushes on pretty boy Jon Bon Jovi at one time or another during their lives. And after viewing their site on MySpace, I’d have to say that having some of these ladies pining for you would not be a bad thing!
Speaking of their MySpace page, it appears that the ladies may have caved to the demands made of them by Bon Jovi’s lawyers. Although I reached their page at this URL: http://www.myspace.com/blondejovi, there are now signs that the group is calling itself “Blonde Jersey.” Reading further, I was able to confirm that they have indeed changed their name as a result of the legal action that was being threatened.
How pathetic is that?
I’m seated firmly on the bandwagon with Undercover on this one, and will echo their sentiment that this is indeed a new low for Bon Jovi if they allow something like this to remain final. This whole thing should be called off and they should tell the ladies that they can resume the use of their original name.
This whole thing would be understandable if these ladies were out there performing for big crowds at major venues and making records, but it’s a local tribute band who are probably working their butts off playing clubs and other small venues just trying to make a living, and honoring Bon Jovi at the same time!
You don’t see the guys from Led Zeppelin sending their legal attack dogs after Lez Zeppelin, do you? And that name even more closely matches the original. Heck, I’ve even seen Lez Zeppelin ringtones for sale on some of the major ringtone websites. Apparently, Plant, Page and Jones are sensible enough to appreciate the sentiment.
Gee, I hope the ladies don’t have to worry about the state of New Jersey coming after them now that they are calling themselves “Blonde Jersey” until they come up with something they like better. Perhaps they could borrow a page from Prince’s handbook and call themselves “The Artists Formerly Known As Blonde Jovi,” but I suppose that wouldn’t keep the lawyers off their backs since it still contains the sacred word “Jovi.”
At the risk of being redundant, which in this case I feel is warranted: How pathetic.
1 Comment
I’ve seen worse. My brother began an online music publishing business last year. He was planning to call it “Credo,” but then was bullied into changing the name when the band Creed threatened to sue him. His lawyer had told him that since Creed published their own music, they might actually have a case, and he concluded it wasn’t worth the hassle.
Bon Jovi has had some less-than-flattering press in the past several months, mostly due to stupid mistakes that someone as smart and reportedly image-conscious as Jon should have been able to avoid. For a band that’s never had much support from critics and has made it because of the loyalty of their fans, they seem to be taking an awful lot for granted.