For Joey Molland, continuing forward under the Badfinger banner has been both a blessing and – after all of his other classic-era bandmates died – a curse. Questions about where the money goes these days linger.
The controversy heated up when Badfinger, some four decades past the doomed band’s brief hey day, returned to the charts after October’s finale of Breaking Bad featured the group’s 1971 song “Baby Blue.” Pete Ham, Badfinger’s main songwriter, and collaborator Tom Evans are long gone. Both died by hanging — in 1975 and 1983, respectively — and both were also said to have been distraught over royalty issues, after signing a disastous deal with a late-period manager. (Ham’s suicide note said: “Stan Polley is a soulless bastard.”) Mike Gibbins passed in 2005, having suffered an aneurysm.
Which leaves Molland, who teamed with Evans for a post-Ham release called Airwaves in 1979 but then found himself touring opposite Evans with competing versions of Badfinger into the 1980s. That Molland, who replaced Ron Griffiths in time to help Badfinger reel off four consecutive smash hits between 1970-72, has become the keeper of the flame continues to rankle some. After all, he wasn’t credited as a songwriter on “Come and Get It” (Paul McCartney), “No Matter What,” “Day After Day” or “Baby Blue” — the latter three of which were written by Ham. Ham also collaborated with Evans on “Without You,” which became a charttopping 1970 hit for Harry Nilsson.
Molland — who recently released a long-awaited solo effort — finally responded to critics, many of whom have viciously criticized him for touring as Joey Molland’s Badfinger, and for receiving a share of the band’s songwriting fees.
“I’ve been reading some of the blogs about Badfinger and how I fucked them all over, stole all the money, took credit for stuff I didn’t do, caused Tommy and Pete to kill themselves and leave their families to fend for themselves,” Molland said. “I don’t know where I found the time to be such an asshole and write, gig, get married, have a family, make records, collaborate with Tom, Pete and Mike, try and get Ron G. paid some money (yes, it was me that paid the accountants to see if it could be done), not talk about their lack of courage to face up to Polley, and get to make Airwaves with Tommy even though he hated me — so they say.
“Now I’m an asshole because I do shows with Joey Molland’s Badfinger?” he continued. “Well, I’ll tell you what: You can all fuck off. You’re a bunch of morons. You have no idea what went on in any band you weren’t involved with — and I mean ‘in’ the band. As much as you would like, you can’t read minds — and have no idea what someone is thinking about.”
By the way, here’s how Bloomberg reports that Badfinger royalties are being split: The group’s main songwriter or his estate — typically Ham — receives 32 percent of royalties for publishing and 25 percent of songwriting monies for songs released under the Badfinger name, while the other members (including Molland) and the group’s original manager share the rest. Album shares, Bloomberg said, were split evenly at 20 percent for each member and Bill Collins, the manager.
- Angell & Crane, “Himalayan Dial-Up” from ‘Angell & Crane’ (2024): Video Premiere - November 22, 2024
- Michael Attias, “Avrils” from ‘Quartet Music Vol. II- Kardamon Fall’ (2024): Streaming premiere - October 11, 2024
- Bryn Roberts, “Aloft” from ‘Aloft’ (2024): Video Premiere - September 20, 2024
Joey, you were as much a part of Badfinger as was Pete, Tom, Mike and Ron. Like you said the citics can all fuck off. I’ve seen Badfinger, as a whole, in the early seventies — and separately. I’ve seen both Tommy’s and Joey’s Badfinger, but the best was the original. Alas, this is no more. Keep up the good work.
Fuck the critics Joey. If it wasnt for you, no one would give a rats ass about Badfinger. Ive seen you live in 1993 I think it was at the ‘Firehouse in Ballard’ in Seattle. You opened with ‘I dont mind’. Every time you played a song written by anyone else, you gave the credit where it was due. Thank you for the work you have done and the pleasure you have given us fans. And you really should play Everett…. north of
Seattle. And if you have the time, stop at out #houseofmanycolors and maybe do a little recording at #theSoundry The#WarrenProject could serve as your back up band.
I disagree. Vince Gilligan did more to raise awareness of Badfinger than Joey did in the last twenty years.
okay…
il; bite.. who is Vince Gilligan/..?
Use Wikipedia or a search engine. Keywords “Vince Gilligan Badfinger”.
10 million viewers in one night asked what was that song.
Anyway, what does Joey really do except play shows during the year to line his pockets and answer a few email interviews every few years?
Badfinger were contempories of Big Star. Like Badfinger, Big Star only has one surviving original member, Jody Stephens. Stephens does not tour under the band name but occasionally performs at dedication shows that feature a range of contemporary artists.
It’s the fans who have kept the Big Star legacy ongoing. Fans, who also were professionals at what they did, produced a documentary that was released worldwide and wrote the Alex Chilton biopgrahy.
All Joey does is play shows? How many rehearsals of Badfinger were at?
And you say that all he does…. He is the lone surviving member and the ONLY one who was there all the time… He keeps the name alive by playing and doing interviews… I guess you would prefer if he stopped and never was seen again.
Or you would prefer a cover band doing a tribute…. I prefer to see the originals before they die…. Think of who we have lost already this year…
#DrMorq
Why would I do a search for someone you admire instead of having you explain what a good guy vince is…?
“Why would I do a search for someone you admire instead of having you explain what a good guy vince is…?”
Because it is 2016. If you don’t want to stay ignorant, you can use a search engine and not have to take an adversarial stranger’s word for things.
Anyway, you’ve had your head buried in the sand (and other places) for the last seven years. Vince Gilligan is a screen writer who is most famous for creating a popular TV series called “Breaking Bad”. The series finale had over 10.3 million viewers and prominently used the song “Baby Blue”. He wrote the episode and chose that particular song.
Subsequently sales spiked extremely well. 10.3 million viewers were asking “who is this band? what is this song?” How many mediocre dives and awful boat cruises (eg Rock the Boat 6) would Joey have to play to achieve that much exposure?(If I am being extremely generous and say there is an audience of 500 people per show, that’s 20,600 shows.)
He is not the only person keeping the name alive and it’s not his job to use that as an excuse to milk the band name. As I said, it’s fans who do that. It’s fans who write about the band. It’s a fan who put their song in the ears of millions of listeners. It will be fans who make documentaries about the band.
When he dies, does the band name die with him? Of course it won’t.
I would prefer if he didn’t milk it for all it is worth by releasing unnecessary rerecordings and rearranging tracks on live concert albums so the few songs he wrote were at the forefront.
We could debate about whether a band should continue after a prominent member leaves or dies. INXS and Van Halen have been particularly farcical and I love them a lot. Queen have largely retired the name except for a few shows with Adam Lambert as front man. 3/4 of Badfinger have passed away and none of the key songwriters and vocalists are still around.
yeah…. Good guy Vince…
Joey was there for most of everything Badfinger did. He did write many of their songs and was a part of the group.
Why should he give up the name of the band that he was in? He IS the last remaining member. Do you ever think that maybe he is playing the music as a real tribute to a fallen friend? Do you think that maybe he truly loves the music and his relationships with Tom and Pete?
Nope, of course not,… he is just milking the music…
How many bands have you been again? How many played only their own songs?
How many tours did you do with Badfinger? How many years did you give up the big paychecks and put the money with management only to find out you were screwed? Of course Joey was there. Were you? Was Vince?
And you want to take that away from him? I wouldnt want you as a fan….
#DrMorq
No. How many bands have YOU been again? How many tours did YOU do with Badfinger? You’re just a fanboy.
He was also there with the rival version of Badfinger driving Evans to suicide.
He is milking the band and the music running what is a tribute band.
I love Tom Evans’ music, but accountability for Tom Evans’ decisions rests where it has always rested – with himself. Nobody ever makes anyone else do anything like this.
also, Joey was not part of The Iveys. That’s how far back history goes.
Badfinger’s Joey Molland sent an email, with information that contradicts the Bloomberg report linked to in this update.
Here’s his message:
“Bloomberg’s wrong. The publishing royalty split is really: the writer gets the first 32.5% + 1/5th of the 67.5% group share — making 46% of the total. The recording royalties are split evenly at 20% each. I should point out this deal was in place when I joined the band in 1969, and it only applied to the songs the writer recorded with the band. No one knew who, if anybody, would write a hit and the band all agreed to it. You might not agree but the lads and Bill Colllins, their manager, all thought it was a good idea. I’ve never seen or heard a quote by any of them that said otherwise. Can we move on now?”
Dan Matovina, official agent for the estates of Pete Ham and Tom Evans, sends this follow-up report:
“Yes, Joey Molland was correct to correct the article’s report of how the publishing splits are now specifically calculated. The writer of the Bloomberg piece made mistakes in re-interpreting my interview (done over the phone taking hand notation – not taped) of how the divisions are done – per a court settlement. I asked the writer’s editor to correct the article on that mistake – and another error by the writer – but the editor refused after the fact. Joey’s assertion in the comments section here, that this agreement was already in place when he joined the band, is false. There was never such an agreement in writing nor can it be verified to be done verbally. In fact, manager Bill Collins is on film saying this – he stated that the court-ordered sharing done later was what was “morally right.” He agreed it was never agreed to in writing. He is filmed stating this. Ron Griffiths was in the band when signed to Apple and through to November 1969 and he insists there was nothing specific agreed to or signed. The fact is, there was never such a division agreement ever applied in any accounting books of Apple Publishing, Warner Brothers Music or the band accounting by Bill Collins up until the 1985 settlement, which was well after Pete Ham and Tom Evans’ deaths. There were claims of vague discussions on occasion, at times in their career, to have a “limited” period of sharing in each others ASCAP and/or publishing. But it never happened. And any earnest talks of this limited time frame sharing were only really begun AFTER they were successful and Pete Ham was shown to be writing most of the hits and Pete and Tom’s ‘Without You” was making a lot from airplay (ASCAP). And even then sharing was not to be retroactive to the hits, it would be going forward. Again, it must be clear no sharing of each other’s song divisions was ever applied or active – not until AFTER Pete and Tom were dead. In 1985, with publishing royalties and artist royalties still being held by Apple – and needing to be dispersed in some way – Pete and Tom’s inheriting family members felt especially pressured to stop their legal costs bleeding unnecessarily from what they now feel were extremely incompetent lawyers representing them at the time. Fact is – Molland, Collins and Gibbins were very lucky to get, what is now, a perpetual and a vast income from the publishing and airplay of these classic, highly-successful songs written by Ham and Evans. Joey’s claim this specific publishing divisions split had been agreed upon for “Iveys/Badfinger” – before he even joined – is simply not true. The estates wanted this conveyed in retort to his claim here.”