Back in December of 2003 The Offspring would be releasing their seventh studio album named
Splinter. But going back to April of the same year the band was getting ready to announce the name of
the album and as an april fools joke they got on the nerves of Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
So much so, it reportedly resulted in the threat of legal action from Guns N' Roses camp.
Let’s explore what happened in today’s video.
Guns N’ Roses classic 90’s lineup would slowly fall apart by the mid 90’s.
While there was no big explosion or nasty breakup, members one by one seemed to leave the group. Axl
Rose would carry on with the Guns N' Roses name while working on a new album . Years had passed
since the band’s last studio album effort in the early 90's and by 1998 it appeared that Rose had
assembled a new lineup of the band.. The following year the album had a name Chinese Democracy
during an interview with MTV's Kurt Loder where he said the following “There's a lot of Chinese
democracy movements, and it's something that there's a lot of talk about, and it's something
that will be nice to see,” “It could also just be like an ironic statement. I don't know,
I just like the sound of it.” Years would go by and while Rose and his new lineup of Guns N’ Roses
would play some live shows and tour the album was a no show. By 2003 The Offspring decided to
have some fun with the whole situation when it came time to name their seventh studio record.
Frontman Dexter Holland would tell Spinner what happened saying “When the record’s
coming together, you try to seriously think of a title for ten minutes and then everyone in
the band jokes around for the next two hours with ideas like Offspring Bloody Offspring," "One day,
somebody suggested Chinese Democracy and we couldn’t stop laughing about it." The Frontman
would issue a statement to commemorate the Offspring’s seventh album being announced saying
You snooze, you lose,”“Axl ripped-off my braids, so I ripped-off his album title.”
Some news stories claimed the offspring’s seventh album would be simply titled chinese democracy
while others stories claimed it was chinese democracy and in parentheses you snooze you lose)
So was the whole stunt legal you maybe asking. Well Rolling Stone
Magazine would cite Greg Victoroff who is a copyright lawyer who stated at the
time “Trademark law does not come into existence unless the title is used in interstate commerce,”
adding that copyright lawdoes not extend to titles saying
“[Right now], they’re just two ordinary words,”. “Under that analysis, it would seem that
Guns n’ Roses have no right to that title
and the Offspring are free to use it in any purpose they wish.”
The lawyer would go on to tell the magazine that while Guns N’ Roses had referred to the
name CHinese Democracy in press releases and part of their 2002 failed tour the album never had an
official release date. Even then Victoroff would tell Rolling Stone that if both albums could share
the same name as long as the name of each band was clearly labeled on the record there wouldn’t
be an issue for the Offspring. In fact it’s pretty common to see albums and songs share same names.
It was reported at the time that Guns N’ Roses legal team had sent the OffSpring a
cease and desist letter, something which was disputed by the Offspring’s camp.
Coincidentally enough drummer Josh Freese, would play with the Offspring in 2003 and had
originally worked and wrote some of the material on Chinese Democracy material from 1998-2000.
The Offspring would eventually change their minds and name their seventh album Splinter
with Holland issuing a statement at the time that read “I don't think we ever seriously considered
using that name. But we could have if we wanted because you can't copyright or trademark an album
title or a song title. Think of all the songs that are called 'I Love You' or 'Baby, Baby.' “
3 years later in 2006 Rose would appear on Eddie Trunk’s late night talk show
where he was asked about the whole situation and Rose would respond the following it doesn't
mean anything. i mean i'm not saying they don't mean anything. it just doesn't matter you know.
Then more recently a friend of Guns N' Roses back in the day and photographer marc canter
used to take fan questions on the mygnrforums and was asked by a fan When The Offspring
announced that they were going to name their new album 'Chinese Democracy' in 2003,
what was Axl's reaction? Did Slash, Duff, Izzy or Steven ever comment about it?
Were there any major freak outs by anyone. To which canter responded
No one said anything about it. Axl's people Shut that shit down. The last
thing Axl needed was them f***** with him while he was trying to get his
record out. It's f***** up when another band tries to Steal something from you
to get some press. I remember back in 1994, Axl thought Self-esteem was cool he'd say.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like button
and subscribe and we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.