Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe, shared a fun story about his ‘socks crisis’ with Bon Jovi on the Life In The Stocks podcast. On tour, Crane was frustrated about not receiving socks, a simple request from their rider. This led to a humorous encounter with Eddie Van Halen, who generously offered his socks to Crane during the Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals. He told:
“(Jon) Bon Jovi is a fucking super-cool dude. He took us on this great tour. On the rider, I put ‘socks.’ And guess what wasn’t on the rider when we got backstage. Socks. And I was, like, ‘Fuck, man. No socks.’ It’s not that big an ask. We’re not asking for like some crazy thing. We want socks. Nobody really wants socks but me, by the way. No one cares about it. They’re all, ‘Shut up with your sock shit.’ I’m, like, ‘These motherfuckers should give us socks.'”
We learn that Eddie and Alex Van Halen joined them on the Germany leg of their tour and got involved in the sock problem:
“On that tour, we played Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park [festivals], which there was a bunch of bands on those shows, but all the bands that we were friends with were there — Van Halen was there, Bon Jovi was there, whatever. And Eddie Van Halen would come hang out, and his brother would come hang out, and we would just kind of hang out.”
Crane still complains about his socks when they are hanging out backstage, but Eddie Van Halen gives him his socks, and he gets his wish:
“Eddie sits next to me. He’s, like, ‘How’s it going, guys?’ And I’m all… No one wants to hear me say socks one more time, but I’m gonna fucking be relentless. And I’m all, ‘Fucking Bon Jovi.’ And Eddie‘s, like, ‘What happened? What did he do?’ And I’m, like, ‘He won’t give me socks.’ And Ed goes, ‘What? He won’t give you socks?’ ‘No, man. I asked on the rider. Guess what, Ed?’ He said, ‘What?’ I’m, like, ‘No socks.’ And he goes, ‘Fuck that,’ and jumps up on the table, takes off his shoes, pulls his socks off and gives me his socks. And I proceed to take my shoes off, put on Eddie Van Halen‘s socks, strap in and go play a rock show.”
Ugly Kid Joe’s Record Company Tried To Turn Them Into Bon Jovi
Whitfield Crane didn’t want to play their hit ‘Everything About You’ in concerts because he considered himself a bad-ass rock’n roll vocalist. But their record label pushed the band to switch to a more commercial sound due to the success of the song. Whitfield Crane told ‘The Guardian’ in 2019 that after their success with their song ‘Everything About You,’ their record company tried to turn them into ‘Bon Jovi II.’ He said:
“When we made Everything About You, the record label weren’t expecting much of us, which gives you a lot of freedom. But once the song blew up, the label wanted to grab hold of us and turn me into Bon Jovi II – and that’s when there was friction. Back in 1995, I wouldn’t play Everything About You live, because I wanted to prove myself as a heavy, badass rock’n’roll singer. It’s a song that has gone around the world, and pays the electricity bill, thank God.”
You can listen to Whitfield Crane’s podcast appearance on the Life In The Stocks podcast below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_SN3cxaDww
