Wednesday, May 16, 2007

i want to start a band here in colorado called "maine"

Back in the '70s and '80s, some honest, hardworking rock bands would name themselves after their home towns, states, or even continents. This phenomenon gave rise to Boston, Chicago, Kansas, America, and Europe. (I'm pretty sure Asia was a different deal.)

Then, sometime in the '90s, some meddling indie rocker had the harebrained idea of naming his band after a different place than the place they actually came from. If you ask me, this is just a recipe for disaster. Recently, this disturbing trend seems to be ramping up. Look at the situation they've gotten us into:

  • Illinois is from Pennsylvania.
  • I'm From Barcelona is from Sweden.
  • Beirut is from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
  • Calexico is from Tucson, Arizona.
  • Manitoba is from Ontario.
  • Of Montreal is from Georgia.

5 comments:

Richie Jay said...

Don't forget "Fountains of Wayne," named for a specific store in a specific town in New Jersey!

Unknown said...

I thought about that, too! But they are a fairly new band that's named for a place they ARE from (or close to it, at least), so it didn't fit in with my theory. :)

There is a pretty sweet list of "Bands named after places" on Wikipedia.

Unknown said...

Big Country was from Scotland, which, ironically, is only about the size of Maine.

Richie Jay said...

Great Big Sea is not from the ocean, as far as I know.

benderbro said...

There was a one hit wonder from the late '70's called New England, also, a band named Alabama.