Mick Jagger once pretended to be in a band with pre-fame Jon Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi worked as "the gofer" at New York's Power Station studio when he was 18

By Tom Skinner
15th March 2021

Excerpt:

Around the same time, he also bumped into The Rolling Stones – whose frontman Mick Jagger pretended to be in a band called The Frogs with the teenage Bon Jovi.

“I’ll never forget this, I was outside paying my cabby… and The Stones got out of whatever car it was they were getting out of,” he explained.

“At the same time, they were going into [The Power Station] studio and a photographer jumps out of a trash bin and the paparazzi starts taking pictures. I swear to god this is true. The Stones, they open up the door of the studio… Wyman, Mick and Keith. They go into the studio.”

He continued: “The photographer is screaming, ‘Mick, Mick, Mick! Give us a picture!’ and I swear to you, he grabs me and these kids and he says, ‘Here’s my new band, The Frogs’ And we took a f*cking picture.”

[www.nme.com]

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Quotes culled From the Rockonteurs podcast

If Gazzza reads this, you’re going to need a defibrillator.

I saw Bon Jovi in Cardiff in 1995 - They were playing a bandstand outside Virgin records on Queen St before their show at Cardiff Arms park on 21.6.1995....(true)

I didn't know who they were until a friend told me later. I said to her...."Did you see those blokes on the bandstand?.....That singer didn't half give me a dirty look .............

"That was Bon Jovi.................><

Still don't know what his problem was...........

Quote
EddieByword
I saw Bon Jovi in Cardiff in 1995 - They were playing a bandstand outside Virgin records on Queen St before their show at Cardiff Arms park on 21.6.1995....(true)

I didn't know who they were until a friend told me later. I said to her...."Did you see those blokes on the bandstand?.....That singer didn't half give me a dirty look .............

"That was Bon Jovi.................><

Still don't know what his problem was...........

I used to report sales to Billboard magazine (I was a music buyer for a pretty big chain of general merchandise/grocery stores. We essentially had record stores in the larger stores). One time Jon Bon Jovi called me begging for inflated sales numbers. I played it straight & didn't give false reports although that sort of thing was rampant in the business. I thought it was unseemly to have the artist call to ask to do that & pretty much showed him the (audio) door.

Quote
crholmstrom

Quote
EddieByword
I saw Bon Jovi in Cardiff in 1995 - They were playing a bandstand outside Virgin records on Queen St before their show at Cardiff Arms park on 21.6.1995....(true)

I didn't know who they were until a friend told me later. I said to her...."Did you see those blokes on the bandstand?.....That singer didn't half give me a dirty look .............

"That was Bon Jovi.................><

Still don't know what his problem was...........

I used to report sales to Billboard magazine (I was a music buyer for a pretty big chain of general merchandise/grocery stores. We essentially had record stores in the larger stores). One time Jon Bon Jovi called me begging for inflated sales numbers. I played it straight & didn't give false reports although that sort of thing was rampant in the business. I thought it was unseemly to have the artist call to ask to do that & pretty much showed him the (audio) door.

Was that before SoundScan? Not sure if that was accurate when it started. Before that wasn't is basically sales based on shipments? Something ridiculous. LOL you could've lied and said "Yeah, we got a million copies shipped in today!"

Quote
GasLightStreet

Quote
crholmstrom

Quote
EddieByword
I saw Bon Jovi in Cardiff in 1995 - They were playing a bandstand outside Virgin records on Queen St before their show at Cardiff Arms park on 21.6.1995....(true)

I didn't know who they were until a friend told me later. I said to her...."Did you see those blokes on the bandstand?.....That singer didn't half give me a dirty look .............

"That was Bon Jovi.................><

Still don't know what his problem was...........

I used to report sales to Billboard magazine (I was a music buyer for a pretty big chain of general merchandise/grocery stores. We essentially had record stores in the larger stores). One time Jon Bon Jovi called me begging for inflated sales numbers. I played it straight & didn't give false reports although that sort of thing was rampant in the business. I thought it was unseemly to have the artist call to ask to do that & pretty much showed him the (audio) door.

Was that before SoundScan? Not sure if that was accurate when it started. Before that wasn't is basically sales based on shipments? Something ridiculous. LOL you could've lied and said "Yeah, we got a million copies shipped in today!"

It was prior to Soundscan. A sales reporter could basically tell Billboard anything they wanted to. We had over 100 stores in the NW US & Alaska. Places like Medford, OR & Anchorage, AK we were pretty much the only music retailer in town. While not "hip" record stores we did a pretty good job in keeping a diverse mix out there. Soundscan changed things but that was ok with me as I was reporting sales straight off the computer anyway. When Soundscan came we were already set up for them. I knew people who cleaned up on the bribery from the labels before Soundscan. I still got to do a lot of things & got some cool stuff without compromising my integrity. Also (this is a good one), I was able to charge my company for mileage & parking to go to shows as it was considered part of my job to go check out bands. Those were the days!