No-holds-barred, attitude saturated reviews from die-hard fans assessing the merits and shortcomings of new ..rock albums
I should have known something was up when I opened my Gmail account and it had 40 emails in it with “Bon Jovi” in the subject line. “Did someone die?” was the first thing that came into my head, alas, it was merely about a story that was run on antiMusic about a musician who claims Bon Jovi stole his song and then a follow up news story printed the following day, who also felt that the band had ripped off a different song. Ultimately, at antiMusic we like to cover all music news stories. Let me repeat that…we like to cover all music stories. The Day In Rock is heralded as the best news source on the net for all encompassing music stories everyday and let me tell you, I don’t envy my editor’s job as it’s a daunting task. He does his job so well that an overwhelming majority of the same stories appear on RollingStone.com within 48 hours (of course without credit to antiMusic).What made this whole scenario so bizarre is that I was receiving hate mail and was even referred to as “Judas” by one person all because a magazine I write for reported about on two stories that were written by other outlets. Yet I received 40+ emails? When the first story was published, my editor posted links to both songs so that the readers (the fans) could make up their own minds. The Sleazeroxx story was posted merely in response to the aforementioned piece and if anyone had read today’s Day In Rock, you would note that my editor went to great lengths to explain the story (which did not originate with antiMusic). For those who did not see it, I will reprint it here:
Finally we offer a overall answer to a few emails we received about yesterday's story "Another Bon Jovi Song Theft Accusation" we will reiterate that the claims were made by a musician who emailed a statement to SleazeRoxx.com. Unlike last week's story about Boston rocker Bart Steele, who claims that Bon Jovi stole his Red Sox tribute song, we did not have access to links to the actual songs where you could compare the compositions and judge for yourself. Also the claims made by the musician in yesterday's report about members of Bon Jovi listening to demos by unsigned bands in order to steal their music was clearly hearsay as he was just passing on a claim that he heard from another person. So take those claims for what they are worth. If we are informed about samples of the original composition being made available online we will pass those on to you so you can hear and make your own judgment about the claims of song theft.
antiMusic did not write either of the aforementioned articles and merely reported a link to where reports and stories had previously been published. The stories originated with Sleazeroxx.com and Boston Magazine, not antiMusic. Ultimately, the story was run in the Day In Rock because it had traction, had been published in Boston Magazine and had even been reported on other online music magazines such as Melodicrock, Bravewords, Blabbermouth and other assorted online magazines. Ultimately, my editor chose to run the article because someone else (Boston Magazine) wrote a three-page article on the subject and that alone gives it traction whether you agree with it or not.
antiMusic is not anti-Bon Jovi, in fact, we report all aspects of all genres of music. There is a reason RollingStone.com likes to steal stories from us, because my editor puts together the most comprehensive music news found anywhere on the net. He gathers stories, posts links to them and ultimately it’s why the site has huge traction and a few million visitors every month. What really amazes me is that if you added up all of the emails I got combined for my reviews of their shows from last summer (link here), Chicago this past February (links here and here) and recently about “Whole Lot of Leavin’” (link here) it would still be less than the hate mail I received today for an article I did not write or have any part of. I don’t have a choice in articles that get posted to the Day In Rock, I leave that up to my editor and well, he’s been doing it for ten-years and it is ultimately his magazine and I respect his decisions to merely report on these stories which once again…were originally published elsewhere. If this story was about Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake or Johnny Cash, he would have run it. Ultimately, when I asked my editor how he chooses the stories he said “If it is newsworthy we will run with it but if there is a follow up, we almost always post that as well”. Regardless of what you think, everyone out there, whether it is antiMusic, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Fox News or CNN has the right to run stories they deem newsworthy and it is up to you…the reader…to decide the merit of the story.
Now, I would normally not comment my personal feelings on the article in any fashion but the large number of emails I received made me think otherwise. So here’s my two cents on the whole fiasco…
Earlier this year, I was contacted by Bart Steele who wanted me to write an article on his situation. In short, after hearing his song I didn’t feel there was a story to be told. In my humble opinion, there are absolutely no similarities between this song and Bon Jovi’s “I Love This Town”. Once again, this is merely my opinion. I feel that his grudge has more to do with Major League Baseball than Bon Jovi. Just my two cents…
In regards to the second accusation posted on Sleazeroxx, well, I’d love to hear this so-called demo. Now, ultimately the only people who know the truth are Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Joel Ellis. I just find it odd that this person waited 20+ years to make this accusation. What I find even more head scratching is the fact that his own record label (Atlantic Records) didn’t sue as the suit would have provided momentum and press for Cats In Boots. On a side note, their Kicked & Klawed album is a lost 80’s treasure. Do yourself a favor and check it out, it can be bought here. At the end of the day, the only people who really know the truth are the parties involved and I’m not about to ponder whether or not it’s true and at this stage in the game, does it really matter? One act never caught a break (unfortunately as I believe they were quite talented) and another has had another 20 years of hits. Ultimately, I don’t like commenting on these stories if for no other reason than I have a backlog of artists, albums and concerts I want to write about that are far more inspiring than this one.
On a side note, musicians often are “inspired” and lift things from other artists and songs. Has anyone listened to the Rolling Stones albums from the 1960’s? They sound very similar to Chuck Berry records. In Bon Jovi’s case, can anyone tell me the different between their 2002 song “Joey” and Elton John’s “Levon”. Jon Bon Jovi has even gone on record saying they “stole” “Never Say Goodbye” from Southside Johnny’s “Hearts of Stone” (for the record, he used the word “stole” with a big giant smile on his face). If you really want to get into heavy influence and lifting of lyrics, why not throw Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen into the mix. The title track of Springsteen’s latest album, Magic in my mind is plagiarized {Lyric Link} from Warren Zevon’s “For My Next Trick I'll Need A Volunteer” {Lyric link}. Back in 2003, the Wall Street Journal posted a story on how Bob Dylan lifted many of the lyrics from his Grammy nominated album Love & Theft from a Japanese author {Source}. So does this make the Wall Street Journal anti-Bob Dylan? Then there’s the case of the Rolling Stones who in my mind have never properly credited Ronnie Wood or Mick Taylor for any of their albums with the latter receiving one writing credit during his five-album stint with the band. What I am trying to say is that the music business is not an easy one and if Dylan and Springsteen are lifting from other sources, subconsciously or not, well…then in my opinion anyone can...subconsciously or not.
The funny thing is when you rip someone off in film, it’s seen as an homage whereas in the music business, they sue you. If Quentin Tarantino were a musician, he’d be broke and out of work as he would most likely never receive the clearance needed to shoot most of his films as virtually every shot of his films is wholly unoriginal. However, his vast and spastic knowledge of film allows him to combine all these different elements into a wholly unique film and experience. It’s a shame that an album like the Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique will never be made again.
Now whether these items were subconsciously lifted or not I can’t say. In the end, what shocked me was the vehemence the filled my inbox this past week. It’s rather surprising considering I didn’t even receive a fraction of emails for my more positive pieces on this band, that’s disappointing. As previously mentioned, I normally would have sat this whole fiasco out, yet the level of mail I received warranted an explanation.
See you all further on up the road…
(Please don’t sue me Bruce)
