GUITARIST GEORGE LYNCH EXPLAINS WHY DITCHED ELECTRIC FREEDOM AND RETURNED TO THE LYNCH MOB NAME, “NOBODY REALLY LIKED IT”
Iconic guitarist George Lynch explains why he has decided to go back to using the Lynch Mob moniker versus the interim name, Electric Freedom.
He tells Full In Bloom, as per blabbermouth.net, “[Lynch Mob is] just a brand I’d established for decades, obviously — over three decades. Nothing’s perfect, and I’ve gotta just live with the fact that it has some negative connotations that I probably have to continue explaining for the rest of my life, and I don’t mind doing that. But it is a brand that I built, and I’m just gonna stick with it. As far as a marketing thing and a brand thing and a business thing and a working thing, and it keeps my band guys working and it keeps the fans happy, it makes sense.”
“I really felt, when I adopted Electric Freedom, that I was really going against the grain more than keeping the old name,” he laughed. “I really felt a lot more resistance than I’d ever felt having Lynch Mob; that was actually the reality of it. Nobody really liked it. And I didn’t like living with that; it was just kind of uncomfortable. It’s, like, ‘Okay, well, we’ve just gotta put up with George’s decision here to do this, but nobody agrees with it. We’re not comfortable with it.’ It has a sort of disingenuous ring to it. As much as my motives were pure — I felt honest — it just never caught on, on all kinds of levels.”
Asked if he had gotten any negative comments from fans over the Lynch Mob name, he said, “I may have had a few in the 35 years it’s been around, but I’d say probably the most negative criticism I’ve had of it came from me. So I was my own worst critic with the name, especially in later years. I got a lot more criticism with Electric Freedom.”
“It’s a brand,” Lynch explained. “I mean, nobody wants Coke to change their recipe. Just stay the same, and that’s what you built over the years. Why would you…? ‘Why would you change it’ is a rhetorical question. Why I’m probably not more successful in some ways in my career is because I followed my aspirations musically rather than sometimes be smart about just sticking to the plan. [Laughs].”
In August 2021, the band celebrated the 30th anniversary of Wicked Sensation with a special limited print/deluxe edition of the album. Wicked Sensation Reimagined featuring re-worked and re-recorded versions of the LP’s classic songs, and was made available via Rat Pak Records.
I LOVE Lynch, but I also thought it was a terrible name.
This sounds like it was a poor business decision, and as such, has now been corrected.
Dana, please don’t take this as an “I told you so” (it’s not!) because I was just conjecturing in my previous comments on this topic, based purely on George’s personal politics. I do think my conjecture proved to be mostly correct in that George admits the decision to change the name was by and large his own.
“I may have had a few in the 35 years it’s been around, but I’d say probably the most negative criticism I’ve had of it came from me. So I was my own worst critic with the name.”
That being said, I admire George very much for making the EXTREMELY rare move by a public figure to actually admit to his own misstep and reset accordingly. He gives no PR spin, doesn’t blame “the media,” etc.
RTunes,
You may be right, but that may also be what Lynch is choosing to state, whilst not throwing others, such as family members, under the bus. But based on his face value comments, yes, it seems to have been his decision, and at least he acknowledges, it wasn’t the best choice.
It was a stupid decision to begin with, most people never thought of the name “Lynch Mob” as anything more than the name of a rock band, George totally overreacted to the bullsh-t so-called “woke” movement, but at least now it appears he has come to his senses. I may have overreacted myself, when I first heard of Lynch’s stupid decision to change the band’s name, I threw away all of my Lynch Mob CD’s, oh well!
I never understood why he felt it necessary to bow to the Woke Mob. As the saying goes: “If you go Woke; You go broke.” I’m more offended by the Jonas Brothers existing than a metal band named after its creator’s last name.
LOL!!!
George , we told you so . LOL
George Lynch should have kept the “Lynch Mob” brand name the same way the band “Anthrax” steadfastly refused to change their brand name amist the “anthrax scares” about 20 years ago.