Is the classic rock legend JBJ really responsible for the iconic “John” meme?
We all know the “John” meme by now. Simply take the name of something and add “John” in front of it, and there you go, your new de facto main character. John Fallout, John Halo. Hell, when I worked at GameStop we even had a running gag about the company’s “founders,” Johnathan Game and Robert Stop. Why is it funny? I have no idea. Maybe it’s deep fried internet humor. Maybe it’s pure brain rot. But whatever the reason, it seems like the joke is here to stay.
Earlier this week I was driving in my car when Alice Cooper came on the radio. That reminded me of a conversation I had years ago with a listener: is Alice Cooper the man, or the band? The answer is technically both. Originally, it was The Alice Cooper Band, fronted by Vincent Damon Furnier. As the group grew in popularity, Furnier began performing under the name Alice Cooper himself, eventually adopting it as his legal name. What started as a band name became a person.
Once you notice that phenomenon, you start seeing it everywhere. Take Van Halen. The band is named after Eddie and Alex Van Halen, but when someone says “Van Halen,” you almost always think of the band itself rather than the brothers individually.
Then there’s Bon Jovi. Most people assume Bon Jovi is simply Jon Bon Jovi’s name. But technically, it isn’t. Jon’s real last name is Bongiovi. “Bon Jovi” started as a stylized version of that name — a band name, not a personal one. But as the group became famous, Jon adopted Jon Bon Jovi as his stage name, essentially taking the band’s name as his own surname.
And that’s when it hit me. Jon Bon Jovi might have accidentally invented the “John” meme decades before the internet did. Think about it. The band name becomes the character’s name. If the situation was identical but Jon happened to front Nirvana instead, it would be the equivalent of John Nirvana.
The internet may think it invented the “John” meme, but the truth is that rock and roll might have gotten there first. And somewhere out there, John Fallout is probably very proud.
