# Musical groups named after literary characters. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726 "2003-09-25T12:53:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/1 "2003-09-25T12:53:59Z")
There’s got to be loads, right? But my mind is feeble and I could only think of two. So I’ve come here in search of more. **Veruca Salt** , the I Want It Now! girl from Roald Dahl’s _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory._ **Tom Sawyer** – _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_ by Mark Twain. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/2 "2003-09-25T12:56:20Z")
The Boo Radleys ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/3 "2003-09-25T13:25:56Z")
Does [this](http://www.steelydan.com/faq.html) count? > [@](#): > > Since both of them were avid readers of 1950’s “Beat” literature, they decided to name the band “Steely Dan” after a dildo in William Burrough’s “Naked Lunch.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/4 "2003-09-25T13:33:47Z")
Oh, and [Uriah Heep](http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bio.asp?oid=2547). ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/5 "2003-09-25T13:41:59Z")
Mott the Hoople is a Willard Manus novel ( so I’ve heard, I have no familiarity with the book). And I believe Arrowsmith is a Sinclair Lewis book, but I recall reading something from Aerosmith where they state there was no connection. ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/6 "2003-09-25T13:50:29Z")
**Narnia** - not a character but a literary place. Same with **Opeth**. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/7 "2003-09-25T13:53:36Z")
Oh yeah, not sure if this counts, But **Moby** is supposedly a distant relative of Herman Melville. ---
**Author:** ![WhiteyFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@WhiteyFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhiteyFoo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/8 "2003-09-25T14:37:49Z")
Local band here in Houston (think they have since disbanded thought) that went by the name of Atticus Finch. Good band. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/9 "2003-09-25T14:51:16Z")
Does Steely Dan count? (William S. Burroughs reference) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/10 "2003-09-25T14:57:51Z")
Duh, I don’t read no good, do I? Okay, how about Marillion, who took their name from Tolkein? ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/11 "2003-09-25T15:02:43Z")
When I lived in Roath, Cardiff, there was a local blues band called ‘The Grapes of Roath’ Genesis? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/12 "2003-09-25T15:11:51Z")
The Boo Radley’s and Atticus Finch are good. Steely Dan is great-- close enough to a character. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/13 "2003-09-25T15:27:31Z")
A friend of mine used to be in a band called “Grow like Topsy”. Grow like Topsy was a line in, I want to say _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_, but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/14 "2003-09-25T15:45:58Z")
The Grateful Dead are named for a type of folk-tale, but not a specific literary character. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/15 "2003-09-25T16:40:11Z")
One of my favorite obscure bands is Grace Darling. THe original Grace Darling was a real person, though; she was peripherally involved in some massive loss of life in a storm on the Irish Coast in the 19th Century, or something. They Might Be Giants is a novel my mom used to have around the house. And Steppenwolf is a novel. My username is a literary reference too. The Be Good Tanyas took their name from a song called Be Good, Tanya. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/16 "2003-09-25T16:55:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biggirl \* > \*\*The Boo Radley’s and Atticus Finch are good. \*\* They’d make a great triple bill with [Tom Robinson](http://www.tomrobinson.com/). ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/17 "2003-09-25T16:56:39Z")
**Grace Pool** slightly modified the name of a character in the book **Jane Eyre** for their band’s name. (The original was a Grace Poole.) ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/18 "2003-09-25T18:42:13Z")
**Mordred** - from the legends of King Arthur **Nevermore** - not a character, but Poe’s “Raven” said it a lot. 😉 Not literary, but historical: **Jethro Tull** - 18th century horticulturalist who invented the “seed drill” (which can be quite a dirty euphemism if you’re mind’s as twisted as Ian Anderson!) **Bathory** - named after Countess Bathory, the blood-bathing babe. And I always thought that “Opeth” was really supposed to be **Opus** (Bloom County) but spoken with a lisp?? (And speaking of comic strips…would **Blondie** count?) ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/19 "2003-09-25T18:58:04Z")
Not a character but a writer… _Oscar Wilde_ is a local band in Calgary. I don’t know if their still together but I babysat the lead’s daughter for a couple of years… ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726/20 "2003-09-25T20:36:36Z")
The horticulturalist Jethro Tull also wrote an agricultural book caleed _The New Horse Husbandry_ which is supposedly where Ian Anderson first encountered the name. Not important, but the former religion editor of my local paper wrote some articles about the preacher and former rock singer Jeff Fenholt when he came to our area. Whenever she’d list some of the groups he had shared bills with she always misspelled “Aerosmith” as “Arrowsmith”. I always figured she was confusing the group’s name with the novel. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-groups-named-after-literary-characters/203726.md?page=2)