# What other band/group just up and changed their name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313 "2011-10-30T21:15:00Z")\ **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:** [October 30, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/1 "2011-10-30T21:15:00Z")
Listening to The Rhythm Revue (geezersoul) on the radio and and [Special Lady](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcS0alN5bHo&feature=colike) came on. “Moments!” “Ray, Goodman and Brown!” Me and my husband yelled. Because that’s what we do when we listen to geezer music-- see who can shout out the artist first. We were both right. The Moments are Ray, Goodman and Brown. They just changed their name. I’m sure they had a good reason. How common is this? A group with a pretty large following in their genre changing their name? All the incarnations of the band with the word “Jefferson” in the name comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/2 "2011-10-30T21:36:56Z")
Supernova \> Rockstar Supernova The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo \> Oingo Boingo \> Boingo Prince \> … \> Prince Joy Division \> New Order ---
**Author:** ![Trick\_Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Trick\_Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trick_Rider)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/3 "2011-10-30T21:42:00Z")
Fear of Flying —\> White Lies The Villains —\> Worship Warship ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/4 "2011-10-30T21:51:00Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Joy Division \> New Order Well in fairness they had lost a key member and added another member. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/5 "2011-10-30T22:01:22Z")
Chicago Transit Authority --\> Chicago I think this was because the real Chicago Transit Authority (you know, the one that runs trains and els) objected. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/6 "2011-10-30T22:12:37Z")
Jefferson Airplane -\> Jefferson Starship -\> Starship Wham! was formerly Wham U.K. because there was already an American group called Wham! When the US group disbanded they dropped the “UK”. Whoops, the op already mentioned Starship. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/7 "2011-10-30T22:42:24Z")
**Cryptic Warning** was so disappointed by the recording sessions for (and final product of) their first album that after it was released, they changed the band name to **Revocation**. It’s the same 3 guys, but they decided that the album was so bad, they needed to revoke it and make a clean start. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/8 "2011-10-30T22:44:19Z")
Much of “The Move” became ELO. I’m not sure how much of a personnel change there was, but there was a definite change in musical style, so they wanted a name that went along with their new direction. I read somewhere that Jethro Tull, in their early, pre-recording days, were so bad that they had to change their name after every gig if they ever wanted to get a return engagement. They just happened to be using the name Jethro Tull the first time someone asked them back, so they kept it. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/9 "2011-10-30T22:53:02Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Much of “The Move” became ELO. I’m not sure how much of a personnel change there was, but there was a definite change in musical style, so they wanted a name that went along with their new direction. > > I read somewhere that Jethro Tull, in their early, pre-recording days, were so bad that they had to change their name after every gig if they ever wanted to get a return engagement. They just happened to be using the name Jethro Tull the first time someone asked them back, so they kept it. I’m sure bands played with names early in but The Moments and all the Jeffersons had hits with the old name. I’m gonna start calling them Wham U.K.That’s what they were called before they sold out. I’m gonna pronounce it ‘Whamook’. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/10 "2011-10-30T23:07:24Z")
The Australian band Flowers were successful here before changing their name to [Icehouse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icehouse_%28band%29) and becoming even more popular. According to Wikipedia the name change was “due to legal restrictions and to prevent confusion with a Scottish group The Flowers.” I’m guessing The Quarrymen -\> Silver Beatles -\> The Beatles doesn’t count because they never recorded under their old names. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/11 "2011-10-30T23:32:18Z")
Elevator To Hell -\> Elevator Through Hell -\> Elevator (Elevator Through) Rick White promised to change his band’s name with every album, and he did until he got to “Elevator” and stuck with it. Unfortunately for him, some band in the US already had rights to Elevator, so his band had to be known as Elevator Through in the States. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/12 "2011-10-31T00:23:25Z")
Hotlegs \> 10cc ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/13 "2011-10-31T00:59:55Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > Wham! was formerly Wham U.K. because there was already an American group called Wham! When the US group disbanded they dropped the “UK”. That happens fairly frequently. The British band Bush was, for a time, Bush X in Canada, because there was already a band called Bush here - they made a donation to charities chosen the Canadian Bush, and thus got the right to drop the X. The British band the Beat are called The English Beat in North America because there was already a band named the Beat in the US. The Japanese band X Japan was originally named X, until they started getting some international success, and thus changed their name to avoid confusion with the American band of that name. The Japanese duo Puffy is known as Puffy Ami Yumi outside of Japan because of Sean Combs going by the name Puffy, for about 5 minutes, that happened to coincide when they decided to try selling records in NA. (Ami and Yumi are the two singers in the group.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/14 "2011-10-31T01:14:28Z")
Just about all the name changes mentioned here correspond to pretty significant changes in personnel (in many cases the front-person or “main creative force” of the band left or was replaced), and often of sound. Perhaps what is more noteworthy is when bands continue with the same name even when their sound and one or more key personnel have changed. There are many examples of this too, of course, but the most blatant is probably _Fleetwood Mac_, who, by the late '70s were a very different band indeed, with a very different sound, from the rootsy blues band fronted by Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer that they started out as. I am pretty sure that in the U.K., _Wham_ were never known as _Wham U.K._, they were always just known as _Wham_ (or as George Michael and that other guy). This was not so much a name change as a re-branding for the American market (or, rather, to comply with American trademark laws). The British band _The Drifters,_ originally Cliff Richard’s backing band, changed to _[The Shadows](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadows#History)_, for similar reasons, i.e.to avoid being conflated with the already existing American band _The Drifters_, (although they had also undergone major personnel changes), but this was very early in their careers, so they are much better known as _The Shadows_. (They are probably very little known in America, but had many, many hits in Britain, and were absolutely seminal in the early development of British rock music: if there had been no _Shadows_ there would have been no _Beatles_ or _Stones_, or …) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/15 "2011-10-31T01:34:33Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Much of “The Move” became ELO. I’m not sure how much of a personnel change there was, but there was a definite change in musical style, so they wanted a name that went along with their new direction. By the time the final The Move album, “Message from the Country”, was released, The Move was down to three members: Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan. All three of them (as well as a violinist and a horn player) appeared on the first ELO album, “The Electric Light Orchestra”; both were recorded at more-or-less the same time (“Message from the Country” was released in October 1971; “The Electric Light Orchestra” was released in December 1971). The original plan seems to have been that ELO was going to be a side project of The Move, but it wound up that the band’s interest in The Move had waned by that point, and they simply went on as ELO. (Note that Wood then left the band soon after the initial album was released.) ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/16 "2011-10-31T02:04:24Z")
I Hate Kate --\> Darling Thieves. Apparently the Kate that inspired the band name threatened to sue. Although I’m not sure on what grounds. So the band chose the new name to avoid drama and potential legal action. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/17 "2011-10-31T02:04:51Z")
I was going to mention the Emerson, Lake & Powell/Emerson, Lake & Palmer dichotomy, then realized I’d have to pad it with so many disclaimers that it didn’t really count. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/18 "2011-10-31T02:37:18Z")
Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds \> Hamilton, Joe Frank and Dennison John Cougar \> John Cougar Mellencamp \> John Mellencamp ---
**Author:** ![Khadro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Khadro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadro)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/19 "2011-10-31T03:01:18Z")
New Zealand band **Shihad** up and changed their name between records to **Pacifier** (I heard because they wanted US success, and Shihad sounded like Jihad). They then changed it back reasonably soon after that. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313/20 "2011-10-31T03:40:40Z")
Wrathchild America \>\> Souls at Zero [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-band-group-just-up-and-changed-their-name/601313.md?page=2)