The A-Z of Names in Rock

Front Cover
Robson Books, 1998 - Biography & Autobiography - 250 pages
From A to Z, Abba and Adam Ant to the Zantees and ZZ Top, Mark Beech has interviewed thousands of stars from the music world to find the answer to one of the great questions in music: "Why are they called that?" Why did the Quarrymen become the Beatles? Were Oasis named after a cab company, a nightclub, a curry house or a song? Why did Nirvana move away from Skid Row? Which world-famous groups were originally called the Screaming Abdabs? The Miraculously Majestic Masters of the Universe? The High Numbers?

It's all here, the bands who stumbled upon their names by chance, those who found their names through random stabs in a dictionary or mishearings, along with tales of the groups named after dinosaurs, dogs, dolls, and drugs...

Sometimes controversial and often hilarious, The A-Z of Names in Rock provides a fascinating look behind some of the biggest names in the music industry, as well as revealing many of the names that were discarded by stars along the way.

About the author (1998)

Mark Beech is the author of A Dictionary of Rock and Pop Names: The Rock and Pop Names Encyclopedia from Aaliyah to ZZ Top and The A-Z of Names in Rock.
Mark Beech is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his two books on rock music names and for his Bloomberg column about music and the arts. He is also the author of Passionfruit (poems), Outposts books, 1979.

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