Whimsical names of pop/rock bands

[DaleCooper]

Back in the late 70s/early 80s there seemed to be an eruption of whimsical names for pop/rock bands. A few I particularly remember are...

Half Man Half Biscuit
Prefab Sprout
Splodgenessabounds

...any others?

 

[dgl]

Men Without Hats

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark



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[t_star2001uk]

Living In a Box.

Hue & Cry

Was Not Was

 

[DarloRich]

Creedence Clearwater Revival

 

[AlterEgo]

Tonto's Expanding Head Band

 

[W-on-Sea]

Trixie's Big Red Motorbike

 

[backontrack]

Morris Minor and the Majors? It was Tony Hawks' band before he went into comedy.

 

[306024]

Kilburn and the High Roads

 

[bradford758]

Kilburn and the High Roads

(Ian Dury's first band I believe)
On a similar note,
Hatfield and the North

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Creedence Clearwater Revival

Weren't they 60s ?

Living In a Box.

Hue & Cry

Was Not Was

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[Ash Bridge]

Talking Heads, Talk Talk.

 

[Hornet]

Eek-A-Mouse
Clint Eastwood & General Saint

 

[Bevan Price]

Back in the late 70s/early 80s there seemed to be an eruption of whimsical names for pop/rock bands. A few I particularly remember are...

Half Man Half Biscuit
Prefab Sprout
Splodgenessabounds

...any others?

Odd names occurred even in the 1960s, e.g.

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Incredible String Band
Pavlov's Dog
It's A Beautiful Day.
Strawberry Alarm Clock
Chocolate Watch Band

to name just a few.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Morris Minor and the Majors? It was Tony Hawks' band before he went into politics.

Did he? I was curious about this comment, so did some Googling, but I can't find any reference to Tony Hawks subsequently going into politics.

Intriguingly, Wikipedia also lists one of the other Morris Minor members as 'Richard Hammond', but I can't see anything to link this to the Richard Hammond of Top Gear fame so I'm guessing it's a different person.

 

[bradford758]

Ugly Rumours, including Tony Blair, who has just completed a spell in politics.

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[Howardh]

Cocteau Twins,
Penguin Cafe Orchestra,
The Orb
.

 

[Groningen]

Why have such a negative topic about bands from 30 to 40 years ago? For me they are considered normal.

 

[EM2]

MC 900ft Jesus.

And two current ones:
Scott and Charlene's Wedding, and Have You Ever Seen The Jane Fonda Aerobic VHS?.

 

[DaleCooper]

Why have such a negative topic about bands from 30 to 40 years ago? For me they are considered normal.

What's negative about it? We just like remembering and sharing the quirky names.

 

[Cowley]

Gay Bikers on Acid.

 

[dgl]

Another 80's one,

Pet Shop Boys

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[DarloRich]

Jefferson Airplane / Jefferson Starship

 

[EM2]

Three that all appeared on the scene about the same time:
The Teardrop Explodes
Echo And The Bunnymen
The Mighty Wah! (originally Wah! Heat and, briefly, Wah!)

The lead singers of these three bands (respectively, Julian Cope, Iain McCulloch and Pete Wylie) were briefly in a band together, The Crucial Three.

A little later, also from Liverpool, came The Icicle Works, led by Ian McNabb who once said that the name came from an HG Wells short story, 'The Day The Icicle Works Closed', but I can find no trace of such a story?

 

[DaleCooper]

Jefferson Airplane / Jefferson Starship

When they started out they were just Jefferson Pushbike.

 

[FQ]

Martha and The Muffins?

 

[Condor7]

Odd names occurred even in the 1960s, e.g.

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Incredible String Band
Pavlov's Dog
It's A Beautiful Day.
Strawberry Alarm Clock
Chocolate Watch Band

to name just a few.

...and my favourite.....
The Electric Prunes

 

[backontrack]

Did he? I was curious about this comment, so did some Googling, but I can't find any reference to Tony Hawks subsequently going into politics.

Intriguingly, Wikipedia also lists one of the other Morris Minor members as 'Richard Hammond', but I can't see anything to link this to the Richard Hammond of Top Gear fame so I'm guessing it's a different person.

Meant comedy.

 

[DaleCooper]

Martha and The Muffins?

I don't know much about them except the brilliant Echo Beach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEQkIEkxm7k
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.
I must add Ozric Tentacles

 

[Tracked]

Some of the best gigs I've been to in the last few years have been bands with, er, interesting names;

The High Llamas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S1FvDfvBnE

Monkey Swallows the Universe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aw6D1xURZo

Frogbelly & Symphony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWmhTWu7o9U

Haiku Salut
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOHvtkLEUR8


Have seen Half Man Half Biscuit a few times too, but someone mentioned them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaQRPxx-YyQ

and years ago saw Sparklehorse;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1NRmWl0ou8

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Meant comedy.

Ah yes, of course. Comedian vs politician. Easy to get confused

 

[prod_pep]

Inspiral Carpets.