The Unforgiven

For several months in the mid-eighties the Unforgiven stood at the center of intense major-label interest throughout Los Angeles. Record executives viewed the six-guitarist outfit as a domestic counterpart to the sweeping, stadium-scale rock then dominating British airwaves, the sound associated with U2, the Alarm, the Waterboys, and Big Country. Fronted by Steve Jones, who took his grandfather’s name John Henry Jones, and including four guitarists—one of whom, Johnny Hickman, would later join Cracker—the band fused that expansive roar with iconography drawn from the American frontier. Their sole release, the self-titled Elektra album of 1985, stalled at number 185 on Billboard and vanished from the chart after two weeks, after which the group dissolved. A devoted cult following eventually secured a one-off reunion at the 2012 Stagecoach festival.

Jones had previously played with the Los Angeles punk band the Stepmothers and the metal group Overkill, yet by 1983 he envisioned a new project shaped by spaghetti-Western atmosphere and driving rock & roll. He recruited drummer Alan Waddington and guitarist Mike “Just” Jones, soon adding Johnny Hickman; a year later Todd Ross, brother of Rank & File’s Jeff Ross, completed the lineup. Regular Hollywood club dates attracted notice in the British music press because of the members’ earlier connection to the Stepmothers, prompting NME to spotlight the Unforgiven as a Next Big Thing and igniting an international bidding war that Elektra ultimately won.

The resulting contract brought representation from CAA and from Doc McGhee, manager of Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi, while John Boylan—producer of Boston’s 1976 debut—oversaw the album. Opening slots for Tom Petty and ZZ Top were secured, yet commercial success remained elusive. Ross was dismissed, Hickman departed, and further personnel shifts left Jones and Waddington alongside several ex-Stepmothers. An abortive second attempt at Atlantic ended the band’s run. Jones subsequently worked in A&R at Hollywood Records, wrote “Days Like These” (later recorded by Asia), and produced the Discovery Channel series Pitchmen.

Goldenvoice president Paul Tollett remained an admirer and persuaded the original members to reassemble for the 2012 Stagecoach festival. Two years afterward Real Gone Music reissued the sole album, accompanied by liner notes from Chris Morris recounting the group’s brief trajectory.