Ok, this question got buried in my other thread and I’m dying to know what the proper style is for alphabetically ordering bands like this…
Most artists who just use their name are commonly filed under their last name, such as “Collins, Phil” and the same way if there’s an “& the” attached, such as “Petty, Tom & the Heartbreakers”. But what if it’s just the guys name followed by “Band”?
Well, since you asked for personal opinion, I’d just file everything alphabetically, except for “the” (I dislike “the” in bands’ names, anyway). I’d just ditch it and say
So:
Phil Collins
Pink Floyd
Police
Polly Pipper Band (made up example cos I can’t think of a real one)
Record stores seem to have really wacky ways of doing things (seeing Dream Theatre listed as “Dream Theatre” gets to me. Sure, we live in Australia, but the band’s still spelled how the band wants it to be spelled, eh?) making it impossible to find things.
In those cases, I’d file it under the last name of the artist. Hence, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers would be filed under “P” and The Steve Miller Band under “M”. Even groups like Wings, I file under “M” for Paul McCartney.
For me, solo artists go by last name. If Charlie Daniels released a CD with no credited band - that is to say, a studio band - then the CD goes under D for Daniels, Charlie.
But if there’s a CD by The Charlie Daniels Band, then it goes under C, because that’s the name of the musical group.
Use whatever system you like, as long as your consistent.
I’d personally use the last name of the artist if the band is named after them. So "Dave Matthews Band’ would be under M. The advantage is that if you have a solo album by Dave Matthews, it would be filed with the rest of the albums by the band.
In this particular instance, I file Paul’s solo stuff under “M”, but I file Wings under “W”, as it was Macca’s contention over the years that Wings was a band to be viewed and listened separately from his Beatles and other solo stuff. Several members of Wings(Denny Laine, et al.) had their own songs on Wings albums, making more of a group dynamic, and also supporting this theory.
I’m like Reality Chuck, I like to have my CDs by a certain artist grouped next to each other. Which is why I’ll never buy another John Cougar CD since he changed his name (back) to Mellencamp…
dwc1970, at least that’s not as bad as “Floyd, Pink” which I used to do…at least Jethro Tull was a real person! Back in the 19th Century, anyway.
“The Charlie Daniel’s Band” should be treated no differently that the “Boston Pops”. If he wanted it filed under “D” Daniels should have said screw the band and taken all the credit himself!
Tom Petty and the Heatrbreakers is a bit tougher. Clearly he is the featured performer and the title indicates they are more of a backup band.
I can’t imagine filing Charlie Daniels Band under “C” and Charlie Daniels solo under “D”.
This would cause confusion (== lost sales) if a customer comes in to buy his kid a Charlie CD . He now has to know if the album was the band or the solo act? Come on, they’d all be dumped in the same bin, under “D”.
But I’ll add my own quirk to alphabetization.
If a band is a “name” but that name is not a band member, I’d use the first letter of the first name.
So my favorite band “Frodo Baggins Trio” goes under F.
Ditto Jethro Tull goes under J.
I went off on a frothing fanatical tirade at some poor teenage kid at Tower Records once when I found all of their Jethro Tull’s were filed under “T”. Pissed off at their ignorance “C’mon, right there, that bearded guy, his name is Ian dammit! Where do you see any Jethro’s on here? Where?” I went and refiled all of their Def Leppard albums under “L”.
As for BwanaBob’s theory of filing together to encourage sales, if that is the case (and it should be for a business), why isn’t it filed by first letter?
That way there is no confusion. I thought Jethro Tull was a guy as well (Of course, I also thought Jefferson Airplane just had an unfortunate last name!).
So if we want to file to the lowest common denominator, Charlie Daniel AND Charlie Daniels Band would be filed under “C”.
Paul McCartney would be filed under “P”.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would be found under “T”.
If simplicity is you goal, there is no better way than going by first name or first word.
