music trivia - band names

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just out of interest i would like to know...

1. first band whose name was just one word that wasn't a name of a person (e.g. Sparks)

2. first band whose name was two words that wasn't THE something e.g. (Cheap Trick)

what about three worded bands without using The? four? five?...you get the idea...i want the earliest examples in each case, going from the pop/rock n' roll era onwards (post WW2 i guess), unless there are many examples of recording artists and acts whose names were NOT their own names or related

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 23:56 (twenty-two years ago)

1 ride
2 iron maiden

― keith (keithmcl), Thursday, 25 September 2003 00:49 (twenty-two years ago)

i have no idea who was first, but i propose we just start going backward, with each post offering examples from earlier than the post before it. and then maybe 170 posts from now we will arrive at an answer.

1 love
2 vanilla fudge

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 25 September 2003 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

1. love
2. herman's hermits, harpers bizarre, jefferson airplane
3. strawberry alarm clock
4. godspeed you black emperor

― reo fordecor, Thursday, 25 September 2003 01:36 (twenty-two years ago)

4. they might be giants

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 25 September 2003 01:58 (twenty-two years ago)

5. bonzo dog doo dah band, a popular history of signs

7. my life with the thrill kill kult

10. and you will know us by the trail of dead

― notfazed (notfazed), Thursday, 25 September 2003 02:16 (twenty-two years ago)

9. when people were shorter and lived near the water

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 25 September 2003 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

4. earth wind and fire, unit four plus two

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 25 September 2003 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

1. Them

― bham, Thursday, 25 September 2003 08:14 (twenty-two years ago)

put the years these bands formed if you can, ta!

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 25 September 2003 08:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Original Dixieland Jazz (or Jass) Band released their first record in 1917. You can't beat that!

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 25 September 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Oasis . They invented pop music and had a few hits during the 60:s, some called them the Fab Four.

― Ping, Thursday, 25 September 2003 13:49 (twenty-two years ago)

so far...

Love / Them (who came first?)
Cheap Trick (a two word band name not relating to someone's name)
ELO (first acronym? surely not)
Manic Street Preachers (again, surely not)
They Might Be Giants / Frankie Goes To Hollywood (unless Frankie is an actual someone)

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Wasn't "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" based on a newspaper headline referring to Frank Sinatra?

― dlp9001, Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

frankie predates tmbg

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Creedence Clearwater Revival predates Manic Street Preachers (and I'm very sure someone predates them)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:19 (twenty-two years ago)

them (1963) beats love (1965).

herman's hermits beat cheap trick by a decade or more, unless you're counting pseudonyms, since herman's wasn't anyone's real name. if that's a problem, i re-nominate vanilla fudge (circa 1966) or perhaps savoy brown (same year).

strawberry alarm clock (1967, maybe earlier) beat ELO, but both are disqualified because they're really THE strawberry alarm clock and THE electric light orchestra. creedence is a good answer in category 3.

unit four plus two (not sure when they were formed, but their big hit was in 1965) beats both they might be giants and frankie by quite a bit!

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

but were ELO the first band to best known as just three letters?

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 25 September 2003 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

where did the Herman come from then? it must be a Frankie-style reference. i would accept names in bands as long as they didn't relate to anyone in the band or anyone close to them.

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 25 September 2003 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

RE: Cheap Trick.

Would not Led Zeppelin beat that? (They weren't THE Led Zeppelin were they? - unless you're Robert Hedges in Love Boat.)

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 25 September 2003 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

herman was athe band's nickname for singer peter noone. which may or may not disqualify them, depending on your rules.

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 25 September 2003 19:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Pink Floyd predate Vanilla Fudge/Savoy Brown (not Herman's Hermits though)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 25 September 2003 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

unit four plus two (not sure when they were formed, but their big hit was in 1965) beats both they might be giants and frankie by quite a bit!

As I said, Original Dixieland Jass Band beats any four-word band mentioned here by decades.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 26 September 2003 05:50 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

iron butterfly signed record contract in 1967. origin must be before that.

― cameron bell, Friday, 9 January 2004 20:26 (twenty-two years ago)

pink floyd WERE "the pink floyd" for a bit though

― search and delete, Friday, 9 January 2004 20:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Moby Grape formed in San Francisco, 1966; signed with Columbia Records and released debut, 1967. Pink Floyd signed in 1967. Moby Grape is winner so far.

― dan bell, Friday, 9 January 2004 23:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Credence Clearwater Revival was formed in 1967. Interestingly, one of the Fogerties was in a band called Spyder Webb in 1959-1966, but it was a local band, so it doesn't count.
Vanilla Fudge was The Pigeons until 1967 even though The Pigeons' first album had the words Vanilla Fudge in the title. They lose to Moby Grape.

― cameron bell, Saturday, 10 January 2004 00:27 (twenty-two years ago)

1.Them-1963
2.Moby Grape-1966US; Unit Four-1964UK(Became Unit Four Plus Two)
3.Credence Clearwater Revival-1967US;
4.Unit Four Plus Two-1965UK; (Original Dixieland Jass Band is not a post WWII POP/ROCK BAND)

― cameron bell, Saturday, 10 January 2004 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

"but were ELO the first band to best known as just three letters?"

there was a band called SRC in 1968ish

― Michael Dubsky, Saturday, 10 January 2004 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

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