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Astrakhan · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 135 Location: nowhere, man

I've been listening to the Velvet Underground for the first time in a while, and somewhere around the song "European Son" I recalled reading somewhere that the band's name came from a book.

Now, I've never read this, much less seen a copy, but I understand it's a tawdry look at suburban swinging. Twisted Evil

It got me to thinking about other groups that got their names from books. I came up with the Doors (The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley) and the Soft Machine (a novel by William Burroughs) but then ran out of steam.

Who else was inspired by something they'd read? Or read about?
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What a shame Mary Jane caught a pain at the party!

Joe_Stax · Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:30 pm Post subject:

mmmm.... suburban swinging.

I'm pretty sure that Steppenwolf copped their name from a Herman Hesse novel.
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One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz.

Joe_Stax · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:20 am Post subject:

While I'm thinking about it, JRR Tolkien was pretty popular in the late 60's, and a few bands used his books for inspiration.

There were...

The Hobbits, who released 3 albums on Decca in a sunshine pop-psych vein.

Gandalf, a NYC band who recorded a nice moody psych lp for Capitol.

Gandalf the Grey, a New York folkie who appeared on his album cover dressed like the wizard himself (although without the big white beard).

Shagrat was a British combo featuring Twink (Tomorrow) and John 'Peregrine' Took (Tyrannosaurus Rex).

The Riders of the Mark released one single on ABC.

There may have been more, but these are the ones I happen to know.

On a related note, there were a couple of British psych-prog groups that used characters from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books for their names. Peake's books are excellent, eccentric and moody. I don't think they had an audience in the US, but were pretty popular in the UK.

The two groups were Fuchsia and Titus Groan.
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One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz.

Astrakhan · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 135 Location: nowhere, man

There were the New Riders of the Purple Sage, who got their name from a Zane Grey novel.
_________________
What a shame Mary Jane caught a pain at the party!

Astrakhan · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 135 Location: nowhere, man

I just thought of The Wind In The Willows, a band who got their name from a children's book by Kenneth Grahame.

They released one album on the Capitol label in 1968, which peaked at 195 on the Billboard chart.

Most notably, one of the vocalists was Deborah Harry, who would go on to global success in Blondie!
_________________
What a shame Mary Jane caught a pain at the party!

Joe_Stax · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject:

The Wind in the Willows was also an inspiration for Pink Floyd. Their first album is named for one of the book's chapter titles, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.
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One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz.

Astrakhan · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 135 Location: nowhere, man

Frumious Bandersnatch was inspired by a line from Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll.

_________________
What a shame Mary Jane caught a pain at the party!