The Goodyear Pimps formed in Rockford, IL in 1997
and after honing their chops in Midwestern clubs they gained a fanbase
that made national labels take notice. They were signed by Disney
subsidiary Hollywood Records in 2000 for a two album contract worth $1
million.
The Pimps were promised no censorship and full creative control, but
when they delivered the first of the two contracted albums, More Songs
About Drugs With Curse Words, the suits at Disney balked at releasing it.
The Pimps were dropped in 2001, but this major label tale has an oddly
happy ending that allowed the Pimps to walk away from the label with
$600,000 of their contract.
Beyond that the Pimps has other claims to fame, or at very least infamy,
including having songs on major movie soundtracks for Mission Impossible
2 and Crazy Beautiful as well as having a song featured on the long running
NBC drama Third Watch. Also noteworthy was the series of cease and desist
letters from the Goodyear corporation that forced the band to change their
name from the more imaginative and less misogynistic moniker of the
Goodyear Pimps.
Despite their positive and negative brushes with the corporate world, the
Pimps have remained independent. They spent their $600,000 payment
from Hollywood Records to buy their own apartment building in Rockford
that serves as living quarters for all the band members as well as housing
the Pimps’ office and recording studio. They have achieved the noble goal
of completely avoiding day jobs by investing their money wisely and
keeping up a schedule of 160 shows a year during the entire decade mainly
playing 2 or 3 day strings of weekend shows to fans throughout the
Midwest.