After yesterdays news of Spirit's bass player Mark Andes suing the Led out of Zeppelin over "Stairway To Heaven",(see previous post or here), and by the way even the BBC News ticker ran that story this morning such was it's surprising nature, now Billboard have just announced that along with drummer Dennis Carmassi the pair who played in 80's rock band Heart are suing The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame -
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"their likenesses and the songs they performed were used to promote Heart’s induction. The duo’s complaint states that when fans and fellow musicians offered them congratulations for their success, they were “humiliated” to explain “that they were inexplicably not chosen for induction.”
So the Andes litigation march is on, and quite possibly it's with same lawyer as the Zeppelin case, although he's not been named so far.
The Rock Hall had, in their usual manner, only inducted those that were in the original 70's band and as Andes and Carmassi joined Heart in the 80's they weren't part of the glad handing on the night Heart were summoned to the Rock Hall bun fight in 2013.
But despite whinging on about being "humiliated" the complaint makes it quite clear this isn't the reason for the lawsuit -
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“Plaintiffs are not asking that defendant Rock Hall induct them into the Hall of Fame. Instead, this is an action to protect the rights, reputations, and likenesses of Mark Andes and Dennis Carmassi through the causes of actions false light invasion of privacy, misappropriation of name and likeness invasion of privacy, injurious falsehood, libel, slander, and right of attribution falsification of rock and roll history for Defendants’ wilful and unauthorized use of Plaintiffs’ images and likenesses."
Don't you love the bit - "falsification of rock and roll history".
Most PR people and the press who thrive off such bollocks must be quaking at their lunch time boozer with amount of BS that's always spread about rock and roll. Good luck in stamping that out.
Anyway here's old Mark Andes, obviously most peeved at 2 major rock establishments messing about with the real story of rock and roll so he's starting a new career in the courts to put it all right.
Old rockers don't fade away they just hire a lawyer and sue your sorry A..
And now on Dec. 26 on 2012 at the Kennedy Center Honors, Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson perform.. wait for it... "Stairway To Heaven".
Watched by members of Zeppelin who look as if they've just sat on something unpleasant.
Oh the rock and roll irony of it all.
