Belle and Sebastian kind of did:
Link:
Styx, the underworld river from Greek myth.
H.P Lovecraft, named after the writer.
Poco was originally named “Pogo,” after the comic strip character, but Walt Kelly sued, so they changed one letter.
If we include songs as literature, the list expands:
Death Cab for Cutie
The Rolling Stones
Deep Purple
Lots of allusions but not too many characters. Now I don’t feel so feeble-minded.
Does Tom Jones count?
Duran Duran was named after a character in Barbarella.
Not a character, but Bal-Sagoth comes from a Robert E. Howard story.
Pennywise The clown in It.
Thin Lizzy Altered version of comic Tin Lizzy.
Mott the Hoople from the novel with the same name.
Pere Ubu main character from the play Ubu Roi.
Tomte from a Swedish chidren’s book Tomte Tummetott
Son Goku from a character in Dragonball
Fantomas a character in a series of French novels.
Boss Hog from The Dukes of Hazard.
Good Charlotte came from a book of the same name.
The Amboy Dukes of Ted Nugent fame was a gang in an Irving Schulman novel.
Boomtown Rats from a gang in a Woodie Guthrie song.
Mungo Jerry a cat in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats the source for Cats.
Supertramp from a book Autobiography Of A Supertramp
The Australian group The Triffids!
There is (or at least there used to be) a band named Poor Old Lu, after Lucy in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
I think the band Travis got their name from a Character from the film Paris, Texas.
The Thompson Twins were characters in the Tin-tin comics.
Not a character, but there’s The Grapes of Wrath.
Aslan, the Irish rock band; and there was a French band named Yog-Sothoth (I’m shaky on the spelling). And there’s a band called Becky Sharpe.
And He Who Reads Over My Shoulder is amazed that no one listed:
TOTO!
Actually, I’ve read from a number of different sources that the members of the dead just opened a dictionary at random and picked 2 words, grateful and dead and put 'em together.
So it’s sort of a literary reference, justa different one.:rolleyes:
Chris W
I’m told there’s a band called Catch-22.
As for the Dead, in the Funk & Wagnall’s dictionary they looked through, “Grateful Dead” was a single entry.
And here’s Cecil on the Dead.
Another that’s more an allusion to a character than a direct naming, but Judas Priest refers to a guy in some old book, I’ve heard.
And speaking of 80s metal, there was a band called 'emselves Cinderella, once upon a time.
savage garden is an anne rice reference, again, not a character