Rock Names: From ABBA to ZZ Top: How Rock Bands Got Their Names

by Adam Dolgins

Book Overview

This newly revised edition includes the origins of the names of the such contemporary bands as Chumbwamba, Savage Garden, Smash Mouth, and others. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806516178
• ISBN13: 9780806516172
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Carol Publishing Corporation
• Length: 249 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Really Cool!

This book promises just what it says, it's the definitions of how all the famous rock bands got their names and why. VERY addictive! Loads of fun! Finally, I know why "Bread" decided on that stupid stupid name, and why The Ramones' name means so much to them. This book has it ALL.

Book Description

FROM BACK COVER: ROCK NAMES, the classic guide to the origins of rock bands'names is bigger and better than ever with more than 125 new and revised entries. Adam Dolgins offers comprehensive and entertaining information, revealing the often obscure, sometimes hilarious stories behind the names of hundreds of bands from the 1950's through the 1990's including: -Foo Fighters: U.S. Air Force slang for unexplained flying objects spotted over France and Germany during World War II. -Rufus: Named after a column, "Ask Rufus", in the magazine 'Popular Mechanics'. -Talking Heads: A Name taken from TV-camera jargon for a head-and-shoulders shot and inspired by circus and carnival acts that had 'talking heads'. -Savage Garden: A name based on Anne Rice's description of the lush yet brutal world of a vampire. This edition (revised 1998) includes interviews with Jane's Addiction, Jefferson Airplane, Collective Soul and other bands as well as the origins of the names of the lastest rock bands, including Marilyn Manson, Chumbawamba, Smash Mouth and more! ROCK NAMES is an indispensable volume for anyone interested in rock and roll and pop culture.

Highly Informative, Very Funny

This book was spectacularly well-researched. I learned more from reading it--and came away with more amusing anecdotes to tell my friends-- than I have from my eleven years of subscribing to Rolling Stone. The author really knows what he's talking about.