# Crickets\> Beatles\>Byrds\>Animals\> Monkees\> Eagles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376 "2025-12-03T22:39:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hideousidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/858c86/32.png) [@hideousidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hideousidiot)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/1 "2025-12-03T22:39:40Z")
I think the Crickets started the whole trend of naming your band after a (misspelled?) creature of some sort, but the trend seems to have caught fire after the Beatles made it big. Can you think of an earlier instance than the Crickets? Which other creature names am I not listing? Why did this not-very-clever naming process linger for so long, and have such wide-reaching effects? When did it stop? Did it stop? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/2 "2025-12-03T23:49:25Z")
Countless Doo-Wop groups in the 1950s were named after birds. The Orioles, the Ravens, the Crows, the Larks, the Penguins, the Flamingos, the Robins, the Wrens… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/3 "2025-12-03T23:54:21Z")
The Who?😀 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/4 "2025-12-04T00:06:34Z")
The Turtles! ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/5 "2025-12-04T00:22:57Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Countless Doo-Wop groups in the 1950s were named after birds. The Orioles, the Ravens, the Crows, the Larks, the Penguins, the Flamingos, the Robins, the Wrens… Were there any animal-named musical groups before them during the big band, swing, or early jazz eras? Bob Crosby (Bing’s younger brother) had a group called the Bob-Cats during the 1930s, which was the first one that came to my mind, but I’m sure there were others. > **[Bob Crosby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Crosby)** > > George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younger brother of famed singer and actor Bing Crosby. On TV, Bob Crosby guest-starred in The Gisele MacKenzie Show. He was also a regular cast member of The Jack Benny Program, on both radio and television, taking over the role of bandleader after Phil Harris' d ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/6 "2025-12-04T00:30:33Z")
For what it’s worth, I was in a surf band in the early 1980s called the Jag-wires. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/7 "2025-12-04T01:08:31Z")
I asked a similar question here, but I don’t think any bands earlier than The Crickets were mentioned in the discussion. > [@Band names containing misspelled animal names](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-containing-misspelled-animal-names/1018557): > > There was a fad for animal-themed band names in the 60s, which the Internet tells me was started by Buddy Holly and the Crickets. I think there was a sub-fad within it for misspelling the animal name. I can only think of The Beatles, The Byrds, and The Monkees, but I would have sworn there were more. Later examples are Def Leppard, Phish and Gorillaz. Can you think of any others? The rules are, there must be a homophone of an animal name in the band name, as a separate word, and the animal name… ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/8 "2025-12-04T01:18:17Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I asked a similar question here, but I don’t think any bands earlier than The Crickets were mentioned in the discussion. The Robins (originally the Bluebirds) for one predate the Crickets. > **[The Robins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Robins?wprov=sfti1)** > > The Robins were a successful and influential American R&B group of the late 1940s and 1950s, one of the earliest such vocal groups who established the basic pattern for the doo-wop sound. They were founded by Ty Terrell, and twin brothers Billy Richards and Roy Richards. Bobby Nunn soon joined the lineup. They began their career as the Bluebirds but switched to recording as the Robins in May 1949. In 1955, the group disagreed over whether to remain on the West Coast or sign with Atlantic Re R... ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/9 "2025-12-04T03:03:49Z")
The first two that came to mind were [Tame Impala](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tame_Impala) and [Blue Stingrays.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Stingrays) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/10 "2025-12-04T03:13:12Z")
Tommy Dorsey and his Clambake Seven from 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/11 "2025-12-04T03:18:09Z")
[Jerry Murad’s Harmonicats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Murad's_Harmonicats) started performing under that name in the 1940s. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/12 "2025-12-04T04:19:25Z")
Wasn’t there some ‘Penquins’? ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/13 "2025-12-04T12:51:27Z")
[The Wolverines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolverines_(jazz_band)) were around in the 1920s. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/14 "2025-12-04T15:12:31Z")
The Harvard Krokodiloes (1946). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/15 "2025-12-04T15:28:17Z")
The Whiffenpoofs (1909) were named for a mythical beast (of various origins). ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/16 "2025-12-05T13:56:29Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > The Who?😀 This triggered an Abbot & Costello ‘Who’s on First’ scenario in my mind where instead of baseball they’re discussing rock music. So Who’s the headliner at this concert? The Who Yes, that’s what I want to know They’re not the headliners they’re opening for them. Who? Yes ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/17 "2025-12-05T13:58:15Z")
You have to throw The Guess Who in there as well. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/18 "2025-12-05T14:10:54Z")
SCTV did it: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WToCce62BZw/hqdefault.jpg "midnight special who's on first.m4v") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WToCce62BZw) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/19 "2025-12-05T14:28:52Z")
I like the way they processed the dialog so it sounds like the bandwidth & frequency response curve of 1940s radio. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376/20 "2025-12-05T15:53:40Z")
I’m so disappointed that you’re all ignoring this seminal rock and roll band: [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/emY246u.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/emY246u) mmm [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crickets-beatles-byrds-animals-monkees-eagles/1025376.md?page=2)