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[i]REM stands for rapid eye movement and I think it's what your eyes do whilst you are dreaming[/i]
The really interesting bit would be if someone could explain why this was a clever or interesting name for REM to have specifically. If they had hit upon a different name ("Take That", "Michael Stipe And His Band", "Doctor Livesey's Snuff-Box" or something) would that have been less clever and interesting of them?
It's tricky to see that any of these are more than just a name, which happens to sound pleasing and requires an explanation. If that's right then I'm rather with Peter that the background to the name doesn't greatly matter, except as an interesting piece of fan trivia. 🙂
Joy Division was named after the ss prostitue wing in the Novel House of Dolls...
New Order also has Nazi Connotations.
Eurythmics - Heart Rythm.
Thomson Twins - named after the Duo from the Tintin comics!
Talking Heads; named after Alan Bennet monologues, non?
Radiohead: named after a (not very good) Talking Heads song. I would have liked 'The Great Curve' or 'Dream Operator'.
Funeral For A Friend is also the opening synthtastic instrumental track on Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'.
Super Furry Animals was lifted from a wierd japanese comic book.
I used to be the front'man' in a terrible band called Liquid Silk Explosion: comedy karma to anyone who remembers where we got that name from.
Eurythmics are named after the dance tecnique of eurythmy. Not a medical diagnosis.
I thought Steely Dan was NewYork slang for a dildo?
Half Man Half Biscuit-named after the singer, who had biscuits instead of genitals...probably (made that up...;)
the pod people had stiff little fingers, that's how you could tell they were aliens
Oh yeah! I saw that film! What was it called?
Foo Fighters
Fields of the Nephilim- named after the race of giants that were the offspring of angels and mankind in sumerian mythology that later arrived in the bible.
I don't think REM originally meant anything to the band - just liked the name - though on an album they do mention Rapid Ear Movement.
Motorhead : a speed freak as in Amphetamines.
LOL at "Talking Heads"
LOL at "Talking Heads"
Foo Fighter is the name USAF pilots gave to UFO's they were sent up to engage.
Sisters Of Mercy
Pooka
"Goats don't shave". I have no idea
Stiff Little Fingers - From a Vibrators song....
Their record label, Rigid Digits
T'pau named after a Vulcan revolutionary? in the Star Trek series!
GrahamS - MemberAnyone here know the genesis of Pearl Jam. They formed from the remnants of a one off album made in tribute to a mutual friend of the bands Mother Love Bone and Sound Garden, the former lead singer of Mother Love Bone was called Andrew Wood and his nickname was Dog. The tribut album is called 'Temple of the Dog'. If you're a Pearl Jam fan and don't know about this album seek it out as it's utterly brilliant.
Just gave it a go on Spotify and I thought it was pretty pants.
Occasional flashes of better stuff, but it mainly sounded very dated and flat.Sorry.
If you want to go deeper into the Pearl Jam history, also check out Malfunkshun (Andy Wood's previous band) and Green River (where various PJ members came from)
Seattle-tastic!
🙂
durutti column, manchester band and spanish civil war anarchist militia.
scritti politti,yorkshire band and writings of italian marxist.
bauhaus 80s goth band and german design house.
boards of canada,electro group and 70s canadian film maker.
the bolshoi 80s band and soviet era ballet company.
jasonm945 - MemberT'pau named after a Vulcan revolutionary? in the Star Trek series!
spocks mothers name.
Fugazi- American military slang for a *uck up
Yup, The Levellers are named after the revolutionary political party led by John Lilburne, Richard Overton, Thomas Prince & William Walwyn during the Civil Wars.
Interestingly (to me anyway) Lilburne's tract 'An Agreement Of The People' is basically the first draft of the US Constitution - written over 100yrs earlier.
Lilburne was the only man ever to have been tried for treason by BOTH sides during the Civil Wars and also the man credited with the first recorded defence by right of silence..
"I reserve the right of a free-born Englishman not to answer to interrogatories" - John Lilburne.
"The Kingdom shall not be settled so long as Lilburne is alive!" - Oliver Cromwell.
Re Guns n roses: a melange if you will of the LA guns and Hollywood roses. Not gay in the least!
Spandau Ballet was the 'dance' when someone was executed by machine gun (Spandau being a make of same).
Asobi Seksu: play sex, or sex without committment.
Captain Bee Fart??
sisters of mercy were named after a newspaper headline "man found dead in sisters of mercy convent"
skyclad- the art of charging into battle in the nip