# More famous George Martin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515 "2016-03-10T03:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/21 "2016-03-10T13:10:13Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I remember when I first bought the first “Game of Thrones” book back in the 90s, the guy at the comic shop told me that the “R R” part of his name stood for “Rail Road” and that’s why he wore the engine driver’s hat. Except that GRRM’s cap is a fisherman’s cap, quite different to a train driver’s cap. To a headwear fan, that’s like calling a helicopter a jet. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/22 "2016-03-10T13:15:42Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > I didn’t think it was GRRM, but I didn’t know who George Martin was. I was around back in the day but to me the Beatles were just an early version of what we now call a boy band. Even worse, to me, is they became a pretentious boy band. That’s utter tripe. Boy bands do not typically play instruments, compose their own songs, and they certainly don’t spend years earning a living playing tiny clubs before hitting it big. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/23 "2016-03-10T13:20:24Z")
No initials, so I automatically thought of the producer. I’ve never confused the two in any way. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/24 "2016-03-10T13:39:27Z")
I knew it was the record producer, but George R.R. Martin is by far better known today. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/25 "2016-03-10T13:42:25Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > “George Martin” is (was) the record producer. “George R R Martin” is the author. I’ve never heard the author referred to without the middle initials, so I would automatically assume anyone talking about “George Martin” was talking about the Beatles guy. This. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/26 "2016-03-10T14:40:56Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Except that GRRM’s cap is a fisherman’s cap, quite different to a train driver’s cap. > > To a headwear fan, that’s like calling a helicopter a jet. I know. I was going to explain that in my post, but then I got distracted and forgot. I also didn’t really believe him when he told me, but filed it away to check one day (for all I knew he read it in an interview). But nope, I have found no substantiation for it to even be misconstrued as truth, so I think he made it all up. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/27 "2016-03-10T14:55:10Z")
George Martin has died. Coudn’t care less about this _Game of Thrones_ guy. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/28 "2016-03-10T14:57:13Z")
I think the media normally refer to George R.R. Martin as … George R.R. Martin, not George Martin. ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/29 "2016-03-10T15:03:38Z")
I grew up in the 1980s as a football fan, so when I read the title of the thread my first thought was neither the author nor the producer but the excellent New York Giants defensive end of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/30 "2016-03-10T15:21:36Z")
> [@Subterraneanus](#): > > George Martin has died. > > Coudn’t care less about this _Game of Thrones_ guy. That is not what the poll is asking. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/31 "2016-03-10T15:50:45Z")
I’m not a big fan of Swords and Sorcery, so I never once even thought about RR until I saw this thread. But I was a big fan of the Beatles, so I knew exactly who George Martin was. )It also helped that the NPR story I heard described him as “Beatles record producer George Martin,” so there wasn’t any time to think of anyone else.) By virtue of having been a Beatles fan, just the name alone would have led me to think of the record producer. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/32 "2016-03-10T15:52:25Z")
Never heard of George Martin the producer, and i’ve never heard of the author being called anything beside George R.R. Martin. So neither i guess? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/33 "2016-03-10T15:59:27Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Never heard of George Martin the producer, and i’ve never heard of the author being called anything beside George R.R. Martin. So neither i guess? Same. But I went with George R.R. Martin as being more famous since I knew of him. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/34 "2016-03-10T16:01:32Z")
The Beatles are before my time and I don’t like their music much anyway (ah! blasphemy!) but I am a huge fan of sword and sorcery and even read some of George RR martin’s stuff in college before I came to my senses. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/35 "2016-03-10T16:09:04Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > “George Martin” is (was) the record producer. “George R R Martin” is the author. I’ve never heard the author referred to without the middle initials, so I would automatically assume anyone talking about “George Martin” was talking about the Beatles guy. Yes, me too. When I saw this thread title, I first tried to think “which other George Martin might they be talking about?” I never flashed on GRRM - there’s an RR in there 😉 Instead, I flashed on the old Mad Magazine artist, but immediately remembered it was **Don Martin.** Lord I loved Captain Klutz. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/36 "2016-03-10T16:41:13Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > That’s utter tripe. Boy bands do not typically play instruments, compose their own songs, and they certainly don’t spend years earning a living playing tiny clubs before hitting it big. That’s the case now, but it was not the case then. See the Monkees. Or Hanson, for that matter. I agree, the Beatles paid their dues for years in German bars, but when a pop band full of teenagers gets famous overnight, people are going to assume, at least at first, that they’re a manufactured boy band. Obviously, the Beatles proved those people wrong, but I wouldn’t blame anybody who thought the Beatles were a “boy band” in 1963 if all you heard was such deep, sophisticated tracks as “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “Please Please Me”, accompanied by the constant roar of screaming girls. I wasn’t around in the Beatles’ heyday, but I can imagine it took a while to realize these guys weren’t a fluke. As to the OP, I was a Beatles fan before I was a Song of Ice and Fire fan, so I knew who George Martin was. The author specifically goes by George RR Martin partly to avoid confusion with other famous George Martins out there, the Beatles’ producer especially. The author never goes by “George Martin”, so if you’re even vaguely familiar with both men, you wouldn’t be confused. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/37 "2016-03-10T16:44:54Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I remember when I first bought the first “Game of Thrones” book back in the 90s, the guy at the comic shop told me that the “R R” part of his name stood for “Rail Road” and that’s why he wore the engine driver’s hat. > > I have no idea where he came up with that nonsense, but I’ve never forgotten, and think of it every time I see his full name. > > And for that reason I also distinguish them both quite clearly in my mind. The hat part is nonsense, but he definitely was known as George Railroad Martin in fandom in the [early days](http://georgerrmartin.com/life/life-images/gm-legal-t.jpg), long before he had his current look. And yes, I thought the thread title referred to him but simply his name is always in the news and you don’t hear the producer’s name much any more. Though I suppose that’s the modern definition of fame. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/38 "2016-03-10T17:02:27Z")
I’ve only heard of the record producer. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/39 "2016-03-10T17:41:58Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > The author specifically goes by George RR Martin partly to avoid confusion with other famous George Martins out there… Sort of like how David Jones changed his name to David Bowie, eh? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515/40 "2016-03-10T17:50:17Z")
Certainly the producer is more famous. I think there are music nerds than fantasy nerds, and GRRM isn’t nearly as mainstream as somebody that is into the books or show would realize. Even those that watch the show, just know it as “That Fantasy Show on HBO” and would have no idea who GRRM is unless they read an article on it. He is nowhere near as much a household name as say, Stephen King, or even J.K Rowling. In my experience, anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-famous-george-martin/748515.md?page=3)