An eight year court battle is set to conclude over the rights to the band name “Panther Oblivion.” The name may not sound familiar, but in 2002 they caught lightning in a bottle with the single “Lightning in a Bottle.” That name might not be familiar, but it was the one that went “duh duh dang dang ding pow pang” while the singer screams “Lightning in a bottle!” Well…you’d totally know it if you heard it.
Former lead singer Lars Angersson claims the right to tour using the name because, according to him, he came up with the name one night after reading of the plight of the Siberian tiger in National Geographic. However, he has been prohibited for years by court injunction and could only legally bill his shows as “Lars Angersson, The Voice of Panther Oblivion, But in No Way Representing the Band Panther Oblivion in its Entirety.” Angersson has a pending multimillion dollar lawsuit against the remaining band members for lost income due to the inability to use the lucrative band name which he claims as his property. Angersson just finished a three day stint at the Cottonwood Art Festival in Richardson, Texas.
The remaining band members, led by guitarist Christopher Landis and bassist Mike Fenton, say that they already were Panther Oblivion even before Angersson joined the band in 1998. “Lars is no animal lover. He bought ivory when we toured Thailand, and I’m pretty sure he may have eaten dog while he was drunk, too.” Yet they’ve been forced by legal injunction to tour only under the name “The Sounds of Panther Oblivion, But Only the Instruments, With Some New Singer.” The two say they most recently rocked an entire arena, along with whatever fans stayed behind after the Trenton Freedom arena football game on Thursday night.
“I’m confident that there would have been a lot more fans sticking around if it hadn’t been a school night,” added Fenton.
Despite the impending legal decision, bad blood still lingers between former bandmates. “By the way, ‘Lars Angersson’ isn’t even his real name,” says Landis. “His mom calls him ‘Leslie Plimpton’.”
Back in the day ‘N Sync legally reclaimed its name after a huge lawsuit and went on to make mega-millions. But methinks Panther Oblivion doesn’t have the same tiger by the tail. They have it only half-right…Oblivion.
The trials and tribulations of fame lol.