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Sunday, January 25, 2009
Bands named after other bands' songs
Posted by Joran Oppelt on Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 5:47 PM
In response to Leilani's "Top 10 Stupid Band Names," I'd like to point out that, yes, not only are some band names stupid, or bad - sometimes they're downright stolen.
We've all sat around stoned, drunk (even sober) and thought up - or accidentally stumbled upon - the next greatest band name EVER. There's got to be a list of those names somewhere, right? I seem to remember someone saying, "We've got to write that one down!"
There are plenty of band names inspired by literate source material or that just make sense (Steely Dan, named after a dildo in William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch or The L.A. Guns and Hollywood Roses combining to form Guns and Roses). But to lift the name of your group straight out of another artist's catalog instead of establishing a new identity for your sound, your band, your business? It's like starting up a fast food chain and calling it "Big Mac's."
As my wife pointed out, the only time a tribute should be paid to a band's song is when you're actually paying tribute to that band - as is the case with "Paradise City: The Guns N Roses Tribute" or "Strutter: The Ultimate Tribute to Kiss."
Here's my list of offenders (in order of offense taken):
1. Radiohead - (Radio Head, Talking Heads)
2. Uh Huh Her - (PJ Harvey, the name of an album - the title track was actually cut)
3. The Brief Candles - (The Zombies)
4. Boris - (Melvins)
5. Sisters of Mercy - (Leonard Cohen)
6. Rolling Stone(s) - (Muddy Waters)
7. Godsmack - (Alice in Chains)
8. Funeral for a Friend - (a multi-layered offense here - after Planes Mistaken for Stars' song "Funeral for a Friend" jacked from Elton John's "Love Lies Bleeding/Funeral for a Friend.")
9. Turns out I'm unwittingly guilty as well. My most recent group, Auditorium, could be accused of taking our name from the Guided by Voices song.
10. I want to hear from you - there have got to be more out there.
Comments (14)
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what about Radio Birdman- they named their band after a line in the Stooges song "1970" actually,Radio Birdman misheard the line, because it actually says, "radio's burnin'"
I couldn't disagree with this writer more on his point. For instance, The Rolling Stones, while lifted from a Muddy Waters line (a rolling stone gathers no moss), could hardly be attributed to Muddy Waters, since it was a popular phrase. Also, since their songs were based on American Blues, taken their name from a blues song reference, actually makes sense and pays omage to those who came before them. Regardless. Art is derived from the world around us. We create from that which exists and inspires. Everything is a rehash of a rehash.
What about bands named after literary figures/stories? Bob Dylan (Dylan Thomas) Rainer Maria (Rainer Maria Rilke) Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse novel) Modest Mouse (from a Virgina Woolf story) Steely Dan (the name of a dildo in William Burroughs' Naked Lunch)
I had mentioned Steely Dan already in the post, and the others seem OK, but to cut to the chase - Life of Pi is liveable (for now) ;-)
Joran, since you mentioned your own band, I will do the same. Without getting into an extremely detailed (and extremely boring) story, Zillionaire takes it's moniker from the ABC album "How to be a Zillionaire". It has nothing to do with being ABC fans... I already told you, it's an extremely boring story. Keith
YES! Great piece, keep up the terrific work. This is the type of information that should gain recognition for it’s craft. More writers should learn from you. This is right on the money.
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