– William Shakespeare
But were
it only so in the rock ‘n’ roll game some two centuries later.
But alas 'tis not!
A few weeks ago, I found myself in a discussion with a few local
musicians on the topic of the “Name
Game” that bands play when they try to pick the perfect moniker with
which they hope to emblazon the world.
We chatted about how some bands have come to take their respective names.
In some ways it’s all about having the right name when it comes to
finding success in the music business. It’s
got to be memorable and it’s got to be marketable.
Finding just the right name is generally among most frustrating moments
of one’s career, according to many artists. “You have to pick a name that people will remember. It’s got to be marketable and it got to be something you can live with for a long time...hopefully,” said late Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys backstage in 1979 at Comisky Park when the band was part of the expansive “Chicago Jam” festival. “Our name is all of those things. Even though Dennis (Wilson) is the only member who is an actual surfer, the name Beach Boys just seemed to best fit our style of music and the kind of songs we do. It lent itself to an image that was easy to market.”
Here are a few other famous stories behind how some of out more popular
bands came to be called what they are... •
Let’s start with the world’s most famous rock band,
The Beatles. Paul
McCartney explained that he and his mates were huge fans of American
rockers, Buddy Holly & The Crickets,
so they opted for a variation of their idols’ name. A beetle was akin to a cricket after all. Being as
their sound was tagged as “Mersey
Beat,” they altered the
spelling to signify their inclusion in that regional scene and came to be
called, The Silver Beatles, which
soon after shorten to simply, The Beatles. •
Another fledgling band of the Mersey Beat era that idolized Buddy
Holly while banging around the British pub scene simply borrowed his name
and pluralized it. They enjoyed a
lengthy hit-laden career as The Hollies. •
Originally signed to Apple Records as staff songwriters in 1968, Tom
Evans and Pete Ham eventually formed a performing group in 1969 called The
Iveys. “We changed our name to Badfinger,
because The Iveys just sounded way too nice,” laughed guitarist
Joey Molland, the only surviving member of the British band whose hits
include: “Come And Get It,” “Baby
Blue” and “No Matter What.”
“The name Badfinger sounded more
rock ‘n’ roll and rebellious,” he continued.
“It was a name open to
interpretation.” Following
their name change, Paul McCartney went on to produce several of Badfinger’s
original songs, including the minor hits,
“Rock Of All Ages” and “Carry On
Tomorrow.” •
Hoping to cash in on the British Invasion scene, a young Southern quartet
touted themselves as The Golliwogs in
1964 and cut records of cover songs such as “Brown-Eyed
Girl,” for an upstart Berkley-based indie label, Fantasy Records. the band
might have stayed obscure and never made it into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of
Fame had they not changed their name to Creedence
Clearwater Revival in 1967.
According to the band’s bassist Stu
Cook –– “Creedence” came
from an old friend’s name, “Clearwater”
from a beer commercial, and “Revival”
was added as a statement of intent. As
CCR, the band released a string of hits that made Fantasy a powerhouse label of
the day. •
Despite the frustration of having people think he is named Jethro
Tull, the band’s flute-playing frontman, Ian
Anderson, still loves the name of his band.
“There was a real Jethro Tull
once but I don’t think he played music,” explained Anderson. “He may have, but I think he was too busy working the land.
Jethro was an 18th Century British
agronomist (farmer) who invented a special drill for sowing seeds.”
Anderson, himself the owner of a catfish farm and an avid history buff, thought the name just fit because the band’s
early music borrowed a lot from traditional Celtic folk, including songs that
dated back to the real Jethro Tull’s era. •
Late ‘80s hard rockers, TESLA,
borrowed their name from Nikola Tesla,
an electrical engineer and inventor overshadowed in the scheme of things and in
history books by Thomas Edison,
because they too felt like an underdog.
“Rock ‘n’ roll is ALL about electricity and we looked at Nikola as
a kindred spirit,” explained guitarist Tommy
Skeoch. “It seemed like a way
to give him proper recognition for his work while giving us a pretty cool name
at the same time.” •
The raunch ‘n’ roll group called Nashville
Pussy take their name taken from an introductory statement to the song
“Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” made by gonzo guitarist Ted
Nugent on his Double
Live Gonzo album.
The four-piece band is as outrageous and tawdry as their name implies.
“We love Nugent and it was the only name we even considered,”
said guitarist/vocalist Blaine Cartwright.
•
New York heavy metal gods, Blue
Oyster Cult, may have a very scary name, but its origins are hardly a dark
story.
“Our manager Sandy Pearlman
was in his kitchen and opening a can of Blue Point oysters and the name caught
his eye,” explained the band’s lead vocalist/guitarist, Eric
Bloom. “Next thing you know,
we are being billed as the Blue Oyster Cult.
It sounded ominous enough for us and it fit with the kind of supernatural
and science fiction songs we were doing.” CLOSER TO HOME: THE STORY BEHIND CHICAGO BAND NAMES... •
The first national recording act of the rock era to succeed from the
Calumet Region was The Spaniels, who
topped the charts in the mid- ‘50s with the perennial favorite –– “Goodnight
Sweetheart.” Formed in
1952, they took their name from a casual comment tossed out by the girlfriend of
a group member.
“We were all hand clappin’
and singin’ up a storm one night and she said we sounded like a bunch of
yapping dogs,” laughed group leader James
“Pookie” Hudson, who’s group was discovered singing on a street corner
by Gary’s Vee-Jay Records. •
REO Speedwagon took their name
from a high-speed fire truck and roared out of Champaign, Illinois in 1968 to
become one of the most popular live club attractions in the Midwest, earning the
attention of Irving Azoff (Eagles,
Steely Dan), who landed them a deal with Epic in early 1971.
“We thought it was a good name
for us because we thought we were ‘hot’ stuff,” explained the band’s
former guitarist Gary Richrath with a
chuckle in a 1988 interview. “It was a very cool
looking truck and it sounded like a good rock ‘n’ roll name.” •
Chicago hit makers of the late ‘60s –– The Buckinghams –– owe their name to a rent a cop.
“We were auditioning for a local
television show called, ‘All Time Hits’, which aired on WGN-TV,”
explained vocalist Carl Giamarese.
“They liked us but they hated our name. We were called The Pulsations
back then. They told us to come up
with a new name fast if we wanted to be on the show. A security guard backstage at WGN came up with ‘The
Buckinghams’ just before we were to go on, so we took it.
It was 1966 and British Invasion bands ruled the charts. People just
assumed that we were a British band because of Buckingham Palace and all. We
just went along with it and in doing so managed to get our songs on the charts
along with the Beatles and all the other British bands.
For a long time people thought we were really British.” •
The Loeffler siblings of the national alternative hard rock act, Chevelle,
named themselves after the popular ‘60s muscle car that their beloved
gear-head father worked so tediously on in their garage.
“That was THE car of it’s time
and it was our way of paying tribute to our dad in a way we knew he’d like,”
explained eldest brother Sam Loeffler, who penned the Gurnee, Illinois group’s
1999 hit single, “Mia.” “Our
dad has played a big part in our lives. He
not only passed on his love of music to us, but also his love of street rods,
muscle cars and racing. The
name fits our music and us and it conveys a cool image as well.” • Recently signed to Clive Davis’s J-Records global imprint, SOiL, is one of the latest Chicago bands to step up to the big leagues, and will tour as part of this summer’s “OzzFest.” Would they have succeeded as well under their old name – Vent? Who’s to say. “We changed the band’s name to SOiL because it seemed to fit our sound,” said guitarist Shaun Glass. “We were a muddy rock band at ground level.” Web
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