Remember how surprised and disappointed you were the first time you heard the Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun" playing during a Wendy's commercial.
It felt like I had just caught my girlfriend making out with that rich boy who always had a pound of coke on him. I was pissed.
Looks like I wasn't the only one. Bassist Brian Ritchie sued lead vocalist Gordon Gano for misappropriated royalties - and for using their signature song to sell chili and baked potatoes.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Blister In My Memory
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3 comments:
Brain Ritchie is one of my top 3 bass heroes, and I'm a huge Femmes fan. But, I gotta say - this lawsuit is ridiculous. Gano wrote ALL the songs. Although the bass is usually the lead instrument on most of their songs, I really don't think he should claim songwriting credit. This is just a blatant "fuck you" lawsuit. It's pretty clear that they haven't gotten along in many, many years. Plus, they haven't put out a good album since the 80's. If this doesn't put an end to their career, I don't know what will....
Funny about Blister in the Sun, though. It really has a life of it's own - only proving what a remarkable album their debut was. It hasn't dated in any way. In fact, I remember hearing radio commercials for the local "alternative" station a few years ago, and they would feature a soundbite of BitS mixed in with the other hits of today. Dudes, that song is from 1983! But, somehow it still encapsulates "alternative" better than anything else out there.
Having not seen the Wendy's commercial, I can't really complain about it. I will say this, though: Gano has been touring and busting his ass for 25 years. They can't have made much money, none of their albums were hits - even though the debut finally went gold a few years ago. If selling his song to Wendy's paid for his retirement, then I don't have a problem with it.
It's easy to sit back at your well-paying job and bitch about musicians selling their songs to advertising - but these guys don't have a 401k or corporate health insurance or anything like that. They generally live hand to mouth, depending on each year's tour to survive - which I guess basically answers my question of why they're still together....
What well-paying job?
That was a general "you".
And I think we are both "well-paid", at least in regards to the general population. Median household income is $46k in the USA.
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