Since my other post, “Isn’t Google Cool?”, I wanted to find out how other bands got their names. Here’s just a few more.
– This band, formed in 1968, went under many different names. Seems they had performed pretty badly in a place, but wanted to play there again and give it another shot, so they had to change their name in order to get another appearance. They did have an agent. And their agent studied History in college. One figure this agent studied was Jethro Tull, an 18th century English agriculture innovator and educator. They played in London at the famous “Marquee Club” when they were using that name. They thought they did okay and maybe gained a few followers, so they wanted to stick with that name.
*Side Note 1 – along with The Marshall Tucker Band – oddest band name origins ever
– Men Without Hats is exactly what you think it is – it’s guys that didn’t wear hats. They are from Canada and even in winter, it was a thing that they didn’t wear hats. In their group of friends, they were, “Those guys that didn’t wear hats”.
– Pet Shop Boys didn’t actually meet or work in a pet shop. But their friends did. The two founding members of The Pet Shop Boys met in a music store when one guy went there to buy an amp (I think it was an amp) and they started talking and found they had a similar music style. Needing a name, they decided to name their newly formed group after their friends who worked in a pet shop and were called “The Pet Shop Boys”.
– Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America” is one of my favorite albums. I just assumed it was a playful nickname one of them had. But no. Author Jon Krakauer wrote of a person named Christopher McCandless who thoroughly enjoyed his life on the road and loved telling of his exploits of a tramp’s life on the road. And a band member loved that author.
– R.E.M. is my favorite band. There are a few distant other favorite bands – FAR distant. Guitarist Peter Buck met Michael Stipe in a record store in Athens, GA where Peter worked. They struck up conversations about music and Michael was constantly buying records that Peter had put aside that he wanted to purchase himself. They later got introduced to the other 2 members, Bill Berry and Mike Mills and started playing together. They didn’t have a name and started kicking things around. Some possibilities were: Negro Eyes. Twisted Kites and….. ugh…. Cans of Piss. They dodged that bullet. While thumbing through a dictionary, Stipe came up with the name by putting random words together. A doctor who was researching sleep disorders, Dr. William Dement had coined the term R.E.M for Rapid Eye Movement, and reached out to the band to inquire about the use of the term. I can only assume Dr. Dement had trademark infringement on his mind, but was told on the phone by Stipe that the band was not named after Rapid Eye Movement.
In the end, it’s all about the name.
So says Princess Consuela Banana Hammock
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