What's in a Name?

Yesterday, we were at the club and the discussion turned to how some bands, especially in the 60’s, just had the most bizarre and off the wall names.  Some people blame it on the LSD but I think a good part of it was just trying to out-weird the next guy.  After all, the more outrageous the name, the more acid drenched the music must be and people would buy it up, right?  Maybe.

One thing led to another and it was suggested that maybe I could do an entire show of bands with bizarre names.  Well, I happened to be doing one today (the next day) so here it is, an entire DJ set of bands with those outrageous names.  At first, I wanted to include all decades but it soon became apparent that 98% of those names are from the late 60’s, so this has become a period piece.  Those that I could find of the same caliber of weirdness just didn’t make the cut like the B-52’s or Men without Hats.

I compiled quite a few and I was able to trim it down to the best two hours musically.  When I looked at the list, a few things become apparent, like taking any inanimate object and making it “electric” somehow made it psychedelic and a great band name, like the Electric Flag, the Electric Prunes and the Electric Banana to name a few.  You will songs from all three today.

You will hear a band today called the “Moving Sidewalks,” which had a young musician, Billy Gibbons, as a member.  Through a couple of personnel changes, Billy and the Moving Sidewalks became ZZ Top.  Something similar happened to the two young Fogerty brothers and their band, the Golliwogs, which evolved into Creedence Clearwater Revival.  We will hear from both this afternoon.

“Creedence Clearwater Revival” is itself a strange enough name to make the list but they are so mainstream that the name has lost its weirdness factor.  Same could be said by many bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Jefferson Airplane.  I won’t play anything by those mainstream artists but I will play one from something of a copycat knock-off, the Jefferson Handkerchief.

People often hold up Norman Greenbaum as the quintessential “one hit wonder,” and his song, Spirit in the Sky.  This isn’t true as he was also a member of a band you will hear today, Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band.  They had a top 40 hit with the Eggplant that Ate Chicago, making Norman Greenbaum a “two-hit-wonder,” instead.

Here is a list of some of the bands with strange names I’ll feature today.  These are in alphabetical order but I will not play them in this order.

The Blue Things

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band

Brain Police

The Brass Toads

Capt. Groovy and His Bubblegum Army

The Children of the Mushroom

The Chocolate Light Bulbs

The Chocolate Watchband

Crazy Elephant

Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band

The Driving Stupid

Edwick Rumbold

The Electric Banana

The Electric Flag

The Electric Prunes

Farpardokly

Fee Fi Four Plus 2

Fifty Foot Hose

First Crew to the Moon

The Flamin’ Groovies

Fruit Machine

The Golliwogs

The International Submarine Band

The Jackson Investment Company

Jefferson Handkerchief

The Jolly Green Giants

The Moving Sidewalks

The Neighb'rhood Childr'n

Oedipus and the Mothers

The Peanut Butter Conspiracy

Plato & the Philosophers

The Rock & Roll Double Bubble Trading Card Co. Of Philadelphia 19141

Strawberry Alarm Clock

Ultimate Spinach

Vampires’ Sound Incorporation

W.C. Fields Memorial String Band

West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Wimple Winch

The Wizards from Kansas

The Zakary Thaks

The 13^th Floor Elevators

The 1910 Fruitgum Company

Join me today at 2:00 PM SL time as I take a look at these bands with strange names.

Ultimate Spinach's 1968 Debut Album, They released a total of 3 albums. Many of the above bands had several albums.