Time to clarify what Jon Bon Jovi said regarding Robbie Williams and Oasis now. We reported in the Daily here yesterday how the Bon Jovi star had dissed Robbie and the Gallaghers, claiming they "couldn't fill a bar", a seemingly dumb claim given that Robbie and Oasis are behind some of the biggest ever concerts in UK music history. But it seems that that quote, reported in lots of places, was taken a bit out of context. It came from a Glamour magazine interview, which we don't read (sorry, our news gathering operation does have its limits) but fortunately one of our readers - Shari Black Velvet - has access to the original interview, which went like this...
CB [interviewer]: Which British rock bands are you into?
JBJ: Coldplay are the real deal I reckon...
CB: Pete Doherty?
JBJ: We are not familiar with anything other than Pete's antics and the fact that he is always in trouble - I've never heard a single one of his songs.
CB: Yeees - neither has anyone else. Is Robbie Williams a star in America?
JBJ: That guy? He couldn't fill a bar. He couldn't even sell 500 tickets...
CB: And what about Oasis?
JBJ: They couldn't fill a bar either - and they're full of themselves.
It was also reported that Jon Bon Jovi had had a go at David Beckham, but that bit of the interview read like this:
CW: You own a football team don't you? Do you think David Beckham is going to be an asset to LA Galaxy?
JBJ: I don't know - is he past his prime? The fact is that soccer in America doesn't mean anything to anyone, and it's losing so much money. You can see what's happening a mile away - they're setting David Beckham up with all these movie stars like Tom Cruise and his wife's going to be on TV now, so they're priming the pump. But they have tried to make the sport cool before, and it didn't work.
So, consider that clarified. Though it has to be said, while Robbie and Oasis are certainly no where near as big in the US as here, Oasis did very recently stage a rather successful US tour which visited venues rather bigger than a bar, albeit mainly on the East and West coasts. So I think we still OK to take issue with some of what he said. Especially the bit bigging up Coldplay. Ha, what does he know?