After 50 million or so trons tuned in Wednesday night to watch the fat naked guy win a million dollars on the final episode of CBS's blockbuster Survivor, it seems that a member of the '80s hard-rock band Survivor thinks that perhaps
his group actually deserves some of those greenbacks.
According to Presswire, Survivor lead guitarist Franklin M. Sullivan III filed a suit on Monday, August 21 in Chicago against TVT Records, which is releasing a TV soundtrack on August 29, and the CBS Corp. for their alleged "unauthorized use" of the Survivor trademark, which he registered back in 1977.
Survivor, the band, won a Grammy and an Oscar for the uplifting Rocky III theme song, "Eye of the Tiger," which was released in 1982 and is the 18th-biggest-selling song of all time. The ubiquitous '80s track remained at No. 1 for six weeks. The band continues to tour and just recently played on the Styx and REO Speedwagon reunion tour.
"It's unfortunate that after 23 years of building, promoting, and protecting the name of our band, someone can suddenly come along and release a recording that uses our name and takes away everything we have worked for," Sullivan told Presswire. "This isn't a band. This is my life and this is my livelihood."
Sullivan, however, lost his preliminary motion for a temporary restraining order.
TVT Records issued the following statement: "It should be obvious that consumers are not going to confuse the soundtrack to the TV show Survivor with classic rock songs by the band Survivor."
But Sullivan hasn't lost the tiger in his eyes. His lawyer Annette M. McGarry said after the setback, "Even in the Rocky movies, Rocky lost the early rounds, but we are confident that Mr. Sullivan will be the ultimate winner." Perhaps Sullivan should consider making an alliance and walking naked on the beach.
In other Survivor-related news, the fat naked millionaire, also known as Richard Hatch, has been tapped to be a presenter at MTV's Video Music Awards, according to the Daily News. The awards show airs live September 7 from New York's Radio City Music Hall.
In even more Survivor/luckiest-humans-in-the-universe-related news, castoff survivors Jenna Lewis, Greg Buis, Gervase Peterson, Colleen Haskell, and Joel Klug debate their favorite desert island discs tomorrow on VH1's The List at 8:00 p.m. ET. You can find out all about the show and even email with the panel by going to VH1.com's Survive the List Web page.
Perhaps someone should nominate that "Tiger" song.
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