Professional Documents
Culture Documents
uuwest!control.spies.com!spies!sgiblab!darwin.sura.net!haven.umd.edu!uunet!comp.vu
w.ac.nz!waikato.ac.nz!dfong
From: dfong@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc,alt.rock-n-roll
Subject: REPOST: what's in a name ?
Message-ID: <1992Nov21.165037.12370@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 21 Nov 92 16:50:36 +1300
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Lines: 764
Groups that are named after songs or films may not have the date of
release listed. e.g. Bad Company.
Because of time restrictions I don't have time to look them up.
I have not included solo artists that have changed their name, only those
that have an interesting reason for it, e.g. Elton John.
Also, my reference books are quite old, so no recent bands are in here.
(apart from Nirvana of course ;-)
Though if I had more time, I wouldn't mind doing a list of recent
artists.
Oh well, this is the last thing I shall ever post here as my account
expires on the 23rd.
But mail messages will get to me somehow...it just might take a few months,
that's all !
Goodbye.
This whole USENET has been great fun.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
What's in a Name ?
A Flock of Seagulls - a line from the Stranglers' song "Toiler on the Sea".
All About Eve - name taken from 1950 Bette Davis movie about an
ageing Broadway star.
Amen Corner - a section of the Negro spiritual church where a group of women
sat and hollered the 'Amens'.
The Animals - Named after a squatter known to the group, one Animal Hog.
"He epitomised what we wanted to represent with our music. Total freedom,
a little bit of anarchy, a lot of wildness and a lot of good times."(E.Burdon)
The Art Of Noise - The Art Of Noises was a 1913 booklet by italian futurist
painter Luigi Russolo, urging a new concept of music:"One day...every factory
will be transformed into an intoxicating orchestra of noises."
Aswad - In the Ethiopian Amharic language, Aswad is the word for black.
The Band - Formerly Dylan's backing musicians, habitually called "the band".
Hence the name!
The Beach Boys - Formerly Carl & the Passions, then Kenny & the Cadets.
Changed name to suit image behind the first hit single "Surfin'".
The Beatles - Insect theme was inspired by name of Buddy Holly and the
Crickets. They also liked Crickets' double meaning( an insect or a game)
so they made Beetles into Beatles, to carry pun on beat music.
B-52's - An American bomber plane that later gave its name to a beehive
hairstyle.
Big Country - "It just implied a sense of vastness, open spaces. A sense
of new discovery. A sense of ambition." (Stuart Adamson)
Black Oak Arkansas - Amazingly they came from Black Oak, Arkansas.
Black Uhuru - swahili for 'freedom'.
Blow Monkeys - In his teens, single Dr. Robert lived in Australia, where
he heard the expression used as a somewhat diaparaging term for
Aboriginal didgeridoo players.
Also cited as jazz slang for saxaphone players.
Blue Rondo a la Turk - after a jazz song, best known in its version
by David 'take five' Brubeck.
BoomTown Rats - Formerly Mark Skid and the Y-Fronts, they wisely opted for
the name of a gang in Woody Guthrie's autobiographical book "Bound for Glory."
A gang of kids in Oklahoma who were the children of the casual oil-well
labourers.
David Bowie - Named himself after a hero, Jim Bowie, who fought with Davey
Crockett at the Alamo. Changed his name from David Jones to avoid confusion
with Monkee of similar title.
The Clash - named by Mick jones, because "that was the word that seemed
to appear most often in newspaper headlines in 1975/76".
Alice Cooper - Born Vincent Furnier. Name of a 17th century witch which
was supposedly reincarnated into him.
Curved Air - From A Rainbow In Curved Air, title of 1969 electronic album
by Terry Riley.
Darling Buds - "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?/Thou art more lovely
and more temperate./Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May./And
summer's lease hath all too short a date." (Shakespeare, Sonnet XVII)
Deep Purple - Name of a 1962 pop hit by Nino Tempo and April Stevens.
Original version by hard rock legend Bing Crosby.
Also cited elsewhere as named after a Joe South song.
Are they all the same songs ?
The Doors - Jim Morrison took it from an essay on drugs, The Doors of
Perception by Aldous Huxley. The title itself is a phrase from 18th century
poet William Blake:"If the doors of perception were cleansed, man could see
things as they truly are; infinite."
Bob Dylan - Born Robert Zimmerman, but adopted name of welsh port Dylan
Thomas. Another version suggests it was after a cowboy called Matt Dillon
in TV show Gunsmoke.
Echo and the Bunnymen - "it means, like, nothin'." (Ian McCulloch)
"We had this mate who kept suggesting all these names, like The Daz Men or
Glisserol and the Fan Extractors. Echo and the Bunnymen was one of them. I
thought it was just as stupid as the rest." (Will Sergeant)
[wasn't Echo the name of the drum machine? DF!]
Elton John - from friends John Baldry and fellow musician Elton Dean.
Everything But the Girl - Name of a shop in Hull, where Ben and Tracey
were students.
Fine Young Canninbals - Named after a sleazy soap-opera movie, All the Fine
Young Canninbals (1960, MGM), starring Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood. For
the record, Halliwell's Film Guide describes it as a "boring rather than
daring farrago which is not even unintentionally funny."
Fleetwood Mac - Formely Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. From the surnames of
drummers Mick Fleetwood and bass player John McVie.
Gang of Four - Name applied to four political figures in China, 1976, who
emerged in power struggle after death of Mao Tse Tung. Group included
Mao's widow Chiang Ching.
Gap Band - from the initials of the three main streets (Greenwood, Archer,
and Pine) in the band's home town of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Generation X - Taken from the 1964 book of the same name by Chris Hamblett
and Jane Davidson, which records teenage attitudes to sex, politics, drugs,
religion,etc. The book includes a poem from which it takes its name, written
in a psychiatric hospital by a 20-year-old female suffering from depression.
One brief verse is as follows:"I am me/I must suffer/Because I am me."
Grateful Dead - Previously called The Warlocks. New name picked at random
by Jerry Garcia from a prayer in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
Herman's Hermits - Peter Noone misheard another band member, who told him
he resembled the cartoon character Sherman from 'The Adventures of
Bullwinkle and Rocky'.
House Of Love - name taken from a book, [whose title escapes me]
Human League - From the science fiction boardgame Star Force, in which the
Human League was one of two rival futuristic empires in the year 2180.
Iggy(Pop) and the Stooges - "Iggy" derived from his one-time membership
called The Iguanas. The Stooges came from US comedy troupe of that name.
[I.P.'s real name, James Osterman DF!]
Michael Jackson - From the subtle combination of his family name, Jackson,
plus the christian name given to him by his parents at the time of his
birth, Michael.
James -
[all text from an interview in New Zealand music magazine Rip It Up Issue 177,
April 1992]
The Jesus and Mary Chain - The group has stated that it was taken from an
offer on a breakfast cereal packet, to send away for a gold Jesus
and Mary Chain.
Jesus Jones - While on holiday in spain the boys decided to get serious
with their music. One day on a beach of the group made the comment that
in the spanish phone book there was as many Jesus'es as Jones'es in
the English phone book. Hence Jesus Jones.
[thanks to plastic. from oz for this info!]
Johnny Hates Jazz - taken from the Frank Sinatra song of the same name
Tom Jones - Born Thomas Woodward. Manager Gordon Mills rechristened him after
swash-buckling hero of Henry Fielding novel, which had just become a saucy
hit film. Also had suitable welsh element.
Judas Priest - From the Bob Dylan song The Ballad of Frankie Lee And Judas
Priest, on his John Wesley Harding album.
Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls - this australian group took their
name from the line in Lou Reed's 'Walk on the Wild Side'.
['...and the coloured girls go...doot do doot...']
The Kinks - Formerly The Ravens. "Kinky" was favoured word in 1960s swinging
London, meaning "attractively pervy" (as in "kinky boots"). For early
photos the band posed with riding whips.
Kursaal Fliers - after the train that paraded along the front at
Southend (UK) advertising the Kursaal Pleasure Park.
Led Zeppelin - Arose out of Jimmy Page's early plan to start a band with
Keith Moon and John Entwistle (who were fed up with The Who). Cynically,
Entwistle said "We'll call it Lead Zeppelin, because it'll go down like a
lead balloon." The 'a' was later dropped from Lead so it wouldn't be
pronounced Leed.
Level 42 - From the fact that 42 is given as "the ultimate answer to the
ultimate question of life, the universe and everything" in Douglas Adams's
book HitchHiker's Guide To the Galaxy.
Little Feat - When Lowell George was a member of the Mothers of Invention,
their drummer Jimmy Carl Black (the indian of the group) used to refer to
him as Little Feet, an ironic reference to the size of his pedal extremities.
Lovin' Spoonful - Taken from Mississippi John Hurt's blues number, Coffee
Song:" I love my baby by the lovin' spoonful."
Lynard Skynard - From Leonard Skinner, name of unpopular gym teacher in the
Florida school that most of the group attended.
Renowned for punishing boys with long hair.
Madness - Title of old ska hit by the band's hero Prince Buster.
Manhatten Transfer - taken from a novel by John Dos Passos about New York
in the 1920s.
Marshall Tucker Band - after the piano tuner who owned their rehearsal hall
Mi-Sex - the classic New Zealand synthy band took their name
from the Ultravox song.
Mothers of Invention - Were simply called The Mothers until record company
voiced concern it might be taken as short for "the oedipal compound" word.
New Name adapted from old proverb about Necessity Being...
Motorhead - B-side of a 1974 Hawkwind single Kings of Speed. Lemmy was band
member at the time, subsequently sacked.
In turn, also after a US term for a speed freak.
Mungo Jerry - from T.S. Eliot's 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'.
New Model Army - after the name given to Oliver Cronwell's troops
New Order - Signified "fresh start" for Joy Division after death of their
old singer Ian Curtis. Term was also used by Hitler, but band deny
Nazi connotations.
New Riders of The Purple Sage - Named in 1970 after 1912 novel by western
fiction writer Zane Gray, Riders of the Purple Sage.
The "new" was added in 1971.
Pop Will Eat Itself - supposedly taken from a David Quantick article
heading about the future state of music, from UK mag. New Music Express.
[I think the issue date was 1985 ?]
Pere Ubu - Character in Alfred Jarry's avant-garde 1896 play Ubu Roi.
[De Fish! says 'YoW !! ArE wE hAvInG fUn YeT ?" ;-)]
Pet Shop Boys - "we had some friends who owned a pet shop and they were
always joked about calling themselves The Pet Shop Boys and recording
'How much is that Doggie in The Window'. When it came time for us to
find a name we decided to use it." - Neil Tennant
It is also supposedly a slang term for a person who performs the
homosexual act of putting a tube pipe up their anus and letting a gerbil
run wild. Hence the t-shirt "So little time, so many Gerbils".
The Pet Shop Boys deny ever knowing about the term.
Pink Floyd - After two Georgia bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
Poco - Were to have been Pogo, after Walt Kelly's satirical cartoon strip, but
Kelly refused permission, so group chose Poco as being similar, and having
a musical connotation in sheet music where it means "a little".
The Pogues - Abbreviation of "pogue mahone", irish for Kiss My Arse. So,
are they now The Kisses, or The Arses ?
Pretenders - From the ballad song The Great Pretender, a 1956 hit for
The Platters.
Primal Scream - the obvious influence in the name being Primal Scream
therapy. See Tears for Fears.
The Ramones - When The Beatles were still known as The Silver Beetles, Paul
McCartney briefly used the pseudonym Paul Ramon. When The Ramones formed in
1974 they chose their stage names in memory of the days when McCartney was
still a rocker.
The Residents - The most favored rumour is that when the group was sending
out demo tapes to record companies, they once forgot to include their names
in the package. The record company returned the package, addressing it to
The Residents, at the address given on the package. Suitably amused, the group
decided that their name had found them.
Rick Kids - the band containing Midge Ure was named after a
Jean Cocteau book
Rolling Stones - From the Muddy Waters blues song, Rolling Stone.
Roxy Music - "It was intended to convey a slightly old-style glamour, with
a pun on rock." (Bryan Ferry)
Sad Cafe - after the book The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, by Carson McCullers.
Sex Pistols - Chosen by Malcolm McLaren, who assembled band in his boutique
Sex, and a distortion of botanical term sex pistils, referring to male sexual
parts of flowers.
Showaddywaddy - From the doo-wop backing vocal line. (Same as Sha Na Na).
Simple Minds - from a line in the David Bowie song 'Jean Genie'.
Small Faces - "Faces" were any leading characters on the 1960s mod scene.
Marriot, Lane and Co were, if you will, physically "small" examples thereof.
The Smiths - Morrissey just came up with it, and Johnny Marr approved: "All
other bands at the time had 15-syllable names...We just wanted four
individuals who could be collectively known as something normal." Morrissey
has denied it was tribute to fellow Mancunian Mark E. Smith of The Fall.
Spandau Ballet - Spandau is an area in Berlin; in the last century they had
a ballet there. Friend of the band saw it written on a toilet wall. Gary
Kemp: "Basically we used the name because it had a lot more mystery
than Neasden Ballet."
Starry-Eyed and Laughing - from a line in the Bob Dylan song 'Chimes
of Freedom'.
Status Quo - Chosen by manager Pat Barlow: "It was a name i kept reading
about in the papers and hearing on the telly. It sticks in the mind."
Francis Rossi: "We're always asked about the name: Did you do it for a
reason? In a word, no."
It is latin for 'the existing position of or in society'.
Still Little Fingers - Derived from a line in a Vibrators song which was, in
turn, referring to an early '60s US sci-fi series, The Invaders, in which
the invading aliens were distinguishable from earthlings only because
they all had unbendable pinkies.
Strawbs - Short for Strawberry Hill Boys, after the district of London where
they rehearsed.
Booker T and The MGs - Short for Booker T. Jones and the Memphis Group, once
the house rhythm section at Stax Records in Memphis.
Tears for Fears - A phrase lifted from Arthur Janov's The Primal Scream, which
advocates the release of pent-up emotions, such as crying, as a method of
relieving fears and neuroses.
The Teardrop Explodes - From a caption in the Marvel comic Daredevil, (number
77, June 1971): "filling the park with an unearthy whine - painting the
leaf-bare branches with golden fire - the teardrop explodes..."
They Might Be Giants - taken from the 1971 George C. Scott movie
This Mortal Coil - Shakespeare. From Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be"
speech. "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,/When we have
shuffled of this mortal coil,/Must give us pause."
Three Dog Night - an australian term for a very cold night, which comes
from the thinking that a man in the outback would need to sleep with
one dog to keep him warm on a mild night, two on a colder night and
three when it's freezing.
Unit 4 + 2 - in the sixties the chart rundown was divided into units (1-4).
The group called themselves Unit 4 and later when two more people
joined, they became Unit 4 + 2.
U2 - Formerly The Hype. Adam Clayton liked XTC's name, and a friend suggested
U2 as being along the same lines. The U2 was a US spy plane, is also the
number of a battery, and could be taken as a pun on "you too."
Van Der Graaf Generator - The (misspelled) name was given by founder member
Chris Judge Smith in 1967, commemorating the invention of R.J. Van de Graaff
(1901-1967), a static electricity generator used for accelerating charged
atomic particles (protons) to high energies.
Velvet Underground - from the salacious pulp book of the same name, about
the joys of sado-masochism.
Wet Wet Wet - From the line "his face is wet, wet with tears" taken from the
Scritti Politti song Getting Having And Holding. The third Wet was added to
distinguish them from such double-headed names as Duran Duran and Talk Talk.
Wham! - Taken from their early composition Wham Rap, which contains the
lines "Wham! Bam! I am a man!" [yeah!! slap it to me blud!! DF!]
The Who - Chosen because it would print up big on posters, and cause enough
confusion to make it memorable. Townsend's first suggestion, The Hair And
The Who, was turned down for sounding like a pub.
--