Rock Names: From Abba to Zz Top : How Rock Bands Got Their Names

by Adam Dolgins

New edition of a reference work which collects the stories behind the names of hundreds of rock bands from the 1950s through the 1990s. The bands are arranged alphabetically. This edition features 125 new and revised entries. No subject index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference

299 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Fun Ghoul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Faith No More’un hikayesi hiç beklediğim gibi çıkmadı ve çok eğlenceli. 🖤

[Sharon Falduto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is exactly the sort of book you would like, if you like this sort of thing. Informative listicles. Of course it's copyright 1998 so we don't get the names of some of your more current bands; Bowling for Soup or Fountains of Wayne or Panic! at the Disco (I suppose we have the internet now.)

What I've learned is that many times, bands just chose names because they had a gig coming up, and needed a name. It's about 50/50 between "Oh yes, I'm very happy with this band name!" (Foghat, which came from a word game the singer played with his brother and meant nothing) and "Oh, I hate this name, it's embarrassing" (Strawberry Alarm Clock).

There's also a lot of "we wanted to be 'the' something because that's what everyone was" and "we didn't want to be 'the' something because that's what everyone was."

Also, several times this book would say that the band members had given false stories to magazines about how they chose their name, so why would this book have the definitive answer?

[Min · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strange collection of origins of band names. The range is from the 50's to the 80's- featuring some of the more popular acts. Thirty years later, most aren't remembered names. I am old enough to know nearly all of them.
A portion of the selections are only a few sentences long. Others are, sometimes long, excerpts from interviews discussing band name origins; occasionally this is a double feature with a member of one or more bands explains them all.

The subject itself- one might think- would be interesting. Overall, the stories are not gripping, or even intriguing, at all. Often a band's name is a result of a whim, or fluke. Rarely is there much deep thought given. The tale of Procol Harum was the most fascinating one; a cat, to break suspence; misspelling of Latin "beyond these things"- so the story goes.

I discovered there is an edition updated into the 21st century. I hope to read it soon.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be interesting enough, but I really don't see reading it cover to cover. There were many bands listed that I'd never heard of. I read about the groups I was familiar with, and that's it.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for what it is and true to its name. Some entries are quite long (longer than necessary in my opinion) and some are very short, but they get the point across. This makes for a good reference book.

[Murat Başaran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abba'dan ZZ Top'a, sevilen pek çok grubun isimlerini alış hikayeleri kitapta yer alıyor. Ne eksiği ne fazlası...