Skid Row had an interesting history with Bon Jovi, and recently, Sebastian Bach shared a juicy tidbit from their past collaboration on Steve-O’s Wild Ride Podcast. It’s a story of unexpected twists and a rock ‘n’ roll ultimatum.
Back in the day, Skid Row wasn’t an overnight sensation with a record deal. Instead, they struck an unusual agreement with Jon Bon Jovi himself. Bach reminisced, “We signed a deal with Jon Bon Jovi, and the catch was, we’d join his tour. We were just a bunch of unknowns, so the chance to tour in arenas was like hitting the jackpot.”
Curious minds might wonder why they didn’t opt for a traditional record deal. Bach clarified, “It was all about that Bon Jovi tour. That’s what it boiled down to.”
However, things weren’t all sunshine and roses. Skid Row realized they might have made a grave mistake, but the epiphany came just in time. Bach admitted, “Nobody dangled me off a balcony, but let me tell you, countless bands were trying to make it, and only a handful did. It was like chasing a unicorn. When I understood what we had signed up for, I quit the band. I said, ‘I’m not going through this.'”
In a bold move, Bach laid down an ultimatum that would alter their course. “So, we had this huge meeting with our lawyer, Michael Guido, who’s now big in the business world. I told them, ‘I’m out unless we renegotiate with Bon Jovi, and I want a 25% cut of everything in the band.’ Considering we had five guys in the band, that was gutsy. But they agreed. We revamped the deal, got out of the initial one, and then our next record debuted at number one.”
As fate would have it, Skid Row’s star began to outshine Bon Jovi’s, with their merchandise and albums flying off the shelves. Their relationship started with playful pranks but escalated into a feud involving a whopping 60 people from Bon Jovi’s crew. Jon Bon Jovi, alongside his brother and father, took charge. Amidst the chaos, Bach even received a death threat from Bon Jovi’s father.
In Bach’s words, Bon Jovi Senior cornered him, proclaiming, ‘I’ll darn well kill you.’ Thankfully, the confrontation ended with some shouting and intimidation, rather than actual violence.
