OK, with our last festival (that'd be Bestival) nearly upon us, we thought it'd be fun to have a look at the story behind some of the names of bands we've been enjoying this summer. The official title of such musical (or non-musical for that matter) mulling is 'etymology'. There, now you know. Anyway, here's a few near-legendary stories behind the names: 'Faith No More' (named after a horse they saw on a betting form); 'Duran Duran' (from the villain in the cult Sci-fi film, Barbarella, Dr. Durand-Durand); 'ZZ Top' (a combination of wanting to sound like their hero, BB King...and borrowing the 'ZZ' from another Texan Bluesman, ZZ Hill); 'Radiohead' (after what they called the 'least annoying' song on Talking Heads' album, True Stories!); and, finally, what must be our favourite of the summer...'The Rumblestrips' ("one of a series of rough or slightly raised strips of pavement on a highway, intended to slow down the speed of vehicles, as before a toll booth" - ahem! and thank-you, Leicestershire County Council for that eloquent description). Aside from these, the No. 1 etymology-ism (is that a word?) in our book is that of the classic and often wayward US rock band, The Replacements. According to musical legend, the nascent group were given a gig after one band failed to show; when asked who they were, they said...you guessed it..."We're the Replacements"...ah, pure class!
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