‘JoJo’s Bizarre Musical Adventure’: Good Trouble, R.E.O. Speedwagon

No Joestar has an easy life, thanks to DIO that is. At some point, there’s a grave threat, a horrible misfortune that befalls them, the ones around them and sometimes even the world.

But to make things a little easier, they do have allies. The first and the best of them all is Robert E.O. Speedwagon, whose namesake is quite obviously the rock band R.E.O. Speedwagon.

Funny thing is that R.E.O. Speedwagon (the band) itself has a namesake. Neal Doughty, an electrical engineering student at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois had just begun searching for a name for his band when he saw the words REO Speedwagon scrawled across the blackboard in his History of Transportation class. The REO Speedwagon, REO Motor Car Company’s light motor truck was a predecessor to the modern pickup truck. The REO in REO Speedwagon stood for the initials of its founder Ransom Eli Olds.

But before we get to the honorable hoodlum (Robert E.O. Speedwagon) there’s another music reference hiding in there.

Jonathan’s quest to find a cure for his father takes him to Ogre Street. It’s the bad part of town where danger lurks in every corner you turn. It’s a horrible maze, straight out of a nightmare, the walls themselves appearing to have faces and several paths ending in dead ends.

“Come to the ogre-battle-fight”

It is here that Jonathan gets ambushed by Speedwagon and his henchmen. And thus began the Battle of Ogre Street.   

Soon Jonathan is surrounded by thugs on all sides.

“Ooh keep a lookout/The ogre-men are coming out/From the two-way mirror mountain/They’re running up behind and they’re coming all about.”

“Ogre Battle” is actually a song by Queen, the lyrics fitting Jonathan’s position rather well.  

Speedwagon and co thought themselves to be the “tough guys” of Ogre Street.

“They think that they can do anything they please/But they’re gonna get a surprise”

And their surprise came in the form of Jonathan Joestar. Despite being outnumbered, Jonathan manages to hold his own against Speedwagon and his goons.

“You were different, indifferent, unbelievably cool/I approached you, to show you, that I’m nobody’s fool.”

Assuming that Jonathan was an easy target, the thugs on Ogre Street were gravely mistaken. Speedwagon soon realizes that not only are they outmatched but also that Jonathan was holding back. He is incredibly shaken right down to his bones, moved by Jonathan’s gentlemanly good nature, the latter’s determination to save his father and his ability to be merciful to those who had tried to harm him.

“So, I’ll follow, I’ll follow you anywhere”

Speedwagon decides then and there that from now on he would follow Jonathan and aid him in his journey. Loud and boisterous, Speedwagon often describes events that are happening right in front of him, functioning as a sort of narrator with heartwarmingly hilarious results even in the direst of situations. He always goes above and beyond the line of duty to help his friends albeit occasionally in the most roundabout of ways.

Now Speedwagon may be trouble, but he was the good kind – “Good Trouble.”

“Good trouble all night/Good trouble’s all right”

Being born and raised on the dangerous Ogre Street made Speedwagon an equally dangerous man but it had also given him the ability to discern people, good and evil, by their smell. That’s how he was able to tell right away that Dio was bad news.

He joins Jonathan and his mentor Will Anthonio Zeppeli on their quest to rid the world of the newly turned vampiric Dio. Though he wasn’t able to use the Hamon technique, not for lack of trying though, Speedwagon does manage to hold out his own against Dio and his minions. He’s the one who smashes the Stone Mask with his sledgehammer.

Following the battle against Dio, Speedwagon at the end of Phantom Blood, rushes to the docks where Jonathan and Erina are about to set sail for their honeymoon. As he wishes them well and bids them goodbye, he doesn’t realize he has bid Jonathan his final farewell.

“Midnight on the hill I heard the thunder fill/The stillness of the night/It hit me like a slap, you’re never comin’ back/From the stillness of the night”

For Jonathan dies on the ship, clutching Dio’s head, leading to his watery grave.

“Backwoods killer from a river town/A mixed up kid that let his hair hang down

High school rebel, he’s always been bad/And his poor old man’s still wondering ’bout the lad

But he’s gone, gone away to find his fortune”

After the events of Phantom Blood, Speedwagon travels to America, where he quite literally finds his fortune. He’s struck liquid gold with oil, becoming one of the world’s richest men. He then establishes the Speedwagon Foundation. The Speedwagon Foundation (SPW) is an organization that conducts medical research and is also involved in the conservation and preservation of flora and fauna. However, that is not all that the SPW does. The Supernatural Research Department, as the name suggests, is the wing that investigates the occult, supernatural and bizarre phenomena that plague the JJBA universe. The Speedwagon Foundation continued to serve the Joestar line long, long after even its founder dies.

 “And if I can’t/Get inspired ’round here/I’m going out to the world and learn/There’s action in my soul tonight/I feel the wheels are beginning to turn.“

Dedicated to eradicating the world of any threat like DIO, Speedwagon and his organization travel to Mexico and discover the mysterious Pillar Man (Santana). The Pillar man is a human figure in a pillar that holds numerous Stone Masks like the one Dio had used. Fearing that history would repeat itself and the Stone Masks would be used to make more vampires, Speedwagon calls for help to destroy it. However, things don’t go as planned.

And there begins Part Two of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

In Part Two (Battle Tendency), we see that Speedwagon is still loyal and close to the Joestar clan. He remains a good friend of Erina (Jonathan’s wife), and is practically family in the eyes of Joseph (the second JoJo, Jonathan’s grandson). Speedwagon sees a lot of Jonathan in Joseph, though they are poles apart in personality. In Battle Tendency, Speedwagon once again aids a JoJo on his journey, this time not to defeat Dio but the even more sinister (and stronger) Pillar Men who have awakened from their deep slumber.

Speedwagon’s fierce loyalty to Jonathan (and by extension the rest of the Joestar bloodline) is felt long after the former’s death…all the way through to Part Six. Without the help of the Speedwagon foundation, the Joestar gangs would have had a very hard time making it to the final fight (quite literally in one piece). Despite not being able to master the Ripple (Hamon), he certainly created a ripple throughout the story of JJBA, making him the most important ally in the saga. Safe to say that Robert E. O. Speedwagon is a friend we all need but seldom deserve.

Speedwagon’s discography

“Tough Guys” (Album: Hi Infidelity, 1980)

“Follow My Heart” (Album: Hi Infidelity, 1980)

“I’ll Follow You” (Album: Good Trouble, 1982)

“Good Trouble” (Album: Good Trouble, 1982)

“Stillness Of The Night” (Album: Good Trouble, 1982)

“Find My Fortune” (Album: Ridin’ the Storm Out, 1973)

“Wheels Are Turnin’” (Album: Wheels Are Turnin’, 1984)