The band came first: how you learned general knowledge

[Sits]

I knew Heaven 17 a few years before I watched a VHS of A Clockwork Orange and there was a scene in a record shop where someone asks for “the latest by the Heaven Seventeen” (or similar).

[Amor de Cosmos]

The 13th Floor Elevators [Doh!]

The Silkie, Made me rush to the college library to look it up.

[Gangster Octopus]

When I heard why The Fall were so named, I ended up with a longish period of reading Camus.

Incidentally, if you were an NME reader in the mid-seventies to early eighties, pretty much all band names were explained.

[Capybara]

I knew the band E17 before I knew the postcode. Given that I am now obsessed by postcodes, to the point I am researching writing a book about them, this seems very wrong.

Put me down for a copy.

[Jah Womble]

I’m assuming that it’s a book about postcodes rather than East 17.

[pebblethefish]

I’m assuming that it’s a book about postcodes rather than East 17.

Very much so. Working title of Mailed It!

I would, however, happily read a book about Jon or Terry from East 17. They were the two who didn't sing, write any music or play any music, but were mates of the other two. Must have been a great job.

[WOM]

I can't be the first one who heard Bono's wailing a decade before they knew of Lockheed's spying wonder

I posted an interview of Bono last year where he dispels the rocket connection and says it was meant to be like 'You, too'.

[caja-dglh]

Very much so. Working title of Mailed It!

I would, however, happily read a book about Jon or Terry from East 17. They were the two who didn't sing, write any music or play any music, but were mates of the other two. Must have been a great job.

Damn you Pebble. Terry and Jon still actually seem to be touring as E17, setting new heights such as support on B*Witched's Australia and New Zealand tour. Terry seems to spend his free time having children.

[Jah Womble]

Very much so. Working title of Mailed It!

I would, however, happily read a book about Jon or Terry from East 17. They were the two who didn't sing, write any music or play any music, but were mates of the other two. Must have been a great job.

From what I’ve heard, they weren’t the most pleasant pair of individuals in their earlier lives.

[San Bernardhinault]

I posted an interview of Bono last year where he dispels the rocket connection and says it was meant to be like 'You, too'.

Spyplane, not rocket. It wasn't even very fast.

How appropriate that their name is more ploddy and more prosaic and less interesting than people think

[Sits]

Seriously, a gang of angry 19-ish post-punks are going to name their band “you too”, or after a spy plane with a Cold War incident attached?

[Jah Womble]

Pretty sure Bono claimed that it derived from the spyplane, but they chose it mainly because it would stand out on promotional posters.

[treibeis]

I knew what a Sister Of Mercy was before I'd ever heard Andrew Eldritch growl, but it didn't stop a mate of mine and me from climbing over the wall of Bristol Crematorium after closing time in the early 1980s because he knew where there was a gravestone with "Pray for the souls of the sisters of mercy" on it and wanted to take a picture of it in the dark. Of course, we got caught by the nightwatchman, but he obviously thought our explanation was too pathetic to bother Plod with, and let us off with a warning.

At round about the same time, I was listening to the March Violets. This was a while before I knew what a March Violet was.

[Jah Womble]

By coincidence, the archaic term 'eldritch' came up on Countdown earlier - meaning 'strange or unnatural'.

My awareness of Andrew Taylor's stage moniker predated my knowledge of the word itself by several years.

[Felicity, I guess so]

By coincidence, spoony used it in the Scottish fitba thread, too

[tee rex]

The original Gang of Four (China) were very significant in Chinese history, but (at least in the UK) they were soon overtaken by a band, and then by former Labour politicians.

In 2024 I'd guess the recognition ranking (again, UK or West generally?) would be 1) Band 2) China 3) Roy Jenkins and co.

[DPDPDPDP]

Sting & Shaggy’s collaboration was called 44/876 which came from the dialling codes for the UK (44) and Jamaica (876)

[danielmak]

I know there are a lot of ideas/concepts/places that I learned via band names but the first one was a banshee. I probably discovered Siouxsie and the Banshees when I was 9 or 10.

[Jah Womble]

I recall a decades-old interview with top Irish politician Dana in which she admitted to thinking initially that ‘Sex Pistols’ were something one bought at a sex shop. (Which may tell us more, etc.)

As for the derivation of the band’s name being crafted from ‘sex pistils’, I’ve always thought that to be b*ll*cks. But, y’know, ‘never mind’…