“Girl You Turn Me On” The leadoff track from the band’s 1999 album Shrinking Violet, the only full-length of the band’s to have Love/Hate frontman Jizzy Pearl handling vocal duties. (Lead vocals on this track are handled by bass player Kelly Nickels.)ĩ. I can’t really imagine mother-daughter bonding to this tale of debauchery the way that the person who crafted this video-tribute apparently does, but, you know, to each their own. Guns and Pavement back-to-back-so maybe things haven’t changed with my ears that much. Then again, in those days, I was perfectly content listening to L.A. They had other songs, too, that are worthy of your time if you happen to be into seedy, attitude-laden hard rock of course, the lyrical chronicles of the seediest parts of Los Angeles living (particularly all the parts about the women who did them wrong/who they did wrong back) make me blanch a bit as a 36-year-old, but the tracks still sound good, even when wrapped within the sort of classic-hard-rock production that would fall out of favor as bands of Malkmus’s ilk replaced those sorts of bands in the pantheon of popular rock acts of the day. 33 on the Hot 100 and was an MTV fixture for a bit it still gets a fair amount of notice on the nostalgia circuit. Their biggest hit, “The Ballad Of Jayne,” peaked at No. (Other candidates: Faster Pussycat, Skid Row.) Lewis’s British-accented yawp and Guns’ frenetic riffing played off each other incredibly well, and the band had learned enough from punk to make their best songs seem absolutely economical even as they brushed the four-minute mark.

Guns were if not one of the best hard-rock acts proffering their wares on Headbangers Ball (and Dial MTV), at least somewhere in the top five. It is kind of a shame that there’s so much confusion about all this, because in their late-’80s/tip-of-the-’90s prime L.A. Guns’ ilk took a back seat on rock radio. They’ve been looking for revenge since ’92 and let’s face it- you weren’t far from the scene of the crime.ġ992 being, of course, one of the years during which alt-rock ascended, and bands of L.A. These headbangers are angry and vindictive. I can just see the two factions healing their schism and coming after you with both barrels blazin. Or, as a record executive an associate of Malkmus’s put it: If that is not correct, then the risk would be substantially higher.) But given the state of their mark, and assuming you take the steps outlined above, we believe it would be a manageable risk for SM to call his album “LA Guns.” (We assume that if SM were ever deposed, he would say that he did not choose “LA Guns” as a reference to the group. In the end, we cannot guarantee you that neither of the two L.A. Guns” and an album called “LA Guns” that prominently bears the name of an artist with a completely different name. Guns,” they certainly can distinguish between one or more groups called “L.A. Thus, if one of the groups were to send you a demand letter, the first point you would make would be that if consumers are distinguishing between two groups called “L.A. (Also, on 11/24/08, one of the factions of the group tried to cancel the above registration, but then gave up by 8/23/10.) Normally, in order to have trademark rights, there must be a single source for products or services marketed under the mark. Guns,” both including former members of the group from its heyday. We also note the helpful fact that, according to Wikipedia, because of personnel changes and disputes, there are now two groups using the name “L.A. (The latter incarnation is playing Bowery Electric on January 29.) As the lawyer (who cited Wikipedia?!) noted during the email chain regarding the possible name-borrowing:

Part of the reason for the album not being named such was the fact that right now there are actually two incarnations of the band touring the country: the one releasing the split single, which contains original guitarist (and band namesake) Guns, and the one with “classic lineup” frontman Phil Lewis and drummer Steve Riley. This seems have stemmed in part from a flareup earlier this year where Malkmus wanted to call his album L.A.

The hard-rock outfit, led by the guitarist Tracii Guns, will take on Malkmus’s “Gorgeous George” (from this year’s Mirror Traffic) while Malkmus will return the favor by covering “Wheels Of Fire,” off L.A. Guns (more on that in a minute) will be releasing a split 7-inch on Matador where they cover each others’ songs. Today, Matador announced that it would be launching a new singles club and the inaugural release would be Stephen Malkmus and one of the bands currently calling itself L.A.

L.a. guns custard pie