Music

This artist is being sued after pretending her Blind Melon knockoff was a cover

by Richard Howard

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Blind Melon’s “No Rain” is one of the catchiest rock songs of all time. That goddam ear-worm of a guitar hook (which was actually written by the band’s bassist) pulls up a La-Z-Boy and chills in your head for about a week every time you hear it, amirite?

There are a billionish covers versions floating around, and some under-the-radar hip-hop and dance artists have sampled the iconic riff – but you’re unlikely to hear that particular sliding pattern in any commercially promoted hits. Not really a surprise, since knowing those guys and their commitment to musical integrity, licensing “No Rain” to Pitbull or some shit would be pretty out of character. Which is probably why singer Mandy Jiroux tried something sneaky, and why the band is suing the pants off of her for it.

If Blind Melon’s complaint is accurate, Jiroux’s manager Kenneth Komisar is either the ballsiest human being or worst music manager I’ve ever heard of. The band claims that in May, Komisar contacted them requesting permission for his client to do a “No Rain” cover. He was informed that he didn’t need permission to do a cover – just to register it with the publisher. It was only later that the band actually heard the tune which, with different lyrics and title (“Insane”), clearly is not a cover, but rather a brazen knockoff.

Wow. The band says they told Komisar he must be the “Insane” one and that they wouldn’t be licensing the tune to Jiroux. At this point, Komisar apparently either plugged his ears and yelled “LA LA LA LA LA” or put on his big boy pants and said “Fuck Blind Melon,” because a month later he proudly emailed the final master of “Insane” to the band with a proposal of how profits should be split. The band’s manager then got on the phone with Komisar to tell him: “Bro. You can’t use the song. Quit it.” (I’m paraphrasing.) Komisar, allegedly, went on to whistle innocently and act as though he hadn’t heard that either. Witting or unwittingly. Jiroux herself also widely propagated the idea that Blind Melon was in support of the tune. F’rinstance, there’s this unfortunate quote from an interview with online radio giant iHeartRadio:

“…I just kind of said where I think we should take it, and, hopefully the Blind Melon guys would let us use it. And it turned out that they loved the song so much I’m the only artist that they’ve ever let use that classic hook. It was super natural, super easy and that’s when you know it’s right.”

Actually, wrong – to the degree that the band is suing Jiroux for willful infringement and seeking a permanent injunction, defendant’s profits and actual damages tied to the alleged injury to the market value of “No Rain.” If Jiroux doesn’t fold and settle, this could be one of the first high-profile copyright cases where the defendants try to show how alike the tunes are while the plaintiff’s complaint focuses on the fact that the two version are too dissimilar. Weird, right?

Little side note – you may be wondering “Who the hell is Mandy Jiroux?” Well, she’s had a successful career as a choreographer and backup dancer, but if the name sounds familiar you’re likely either a thirsty dude that’s one of her 131,000 Instagram followers or, in 2008, were a fan of the YouTube adventures of Jiroux and her best friend and former employer: Miley Cyrus. Busted.

[h/t Billboard]