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Show May 20, 1997 The Dixie Sun Page 9 Rockmusik: So Many Different People What's in a name? There are so many different rock bands these days, one almost has to come up with something creative. After all, not everyone can be the Platters. A little research was done, and the inside jokes and hidden meanings of some band names are quite interesting to behold. R.E.M. Believe it or not, the name was not intended to be a reference to any scientific stage of sleep. The band reportedly made their selection from a list written in chalk on the side of an old church in Thens, Ga. Can you imagine if they had chosen one of the names from the list. Twisted Kites? Cream. The band chose this to signify they were the "cream of the crop" of Britain's blues musicians. Their first album, "Fresh Cream," took full advantage of their spiffy new name. INXS. An abbreviation for "in excess," the band finally settled for this after staging a short-live- d touring gimmick; the band would simply perform behind a wall of clothlights in funked-ou- t ing, without saying anything to the audience except to identify their songs with "ours." Sting. Well, his real name is Gordon. But, his stage name comes from a nickname his mother gave him as a child; he was called "Sting" because of his favorite yellow and d jersey he wore as a young musiblack-stripe- cian. Depeche Mode. Named by singer David Gahan, after a French fashion magazine. "Depeche Mode" in French means "fast fashion." The Sex Pistols. The legendary punk band was named by manager Malcolm McLaren, owner of Sex, a London boutique specializing in clothing. The band was previously known as the Swankers, before singer Johnny Rotten joined in 1975. David Bowie. David Robert Jones changed his name in 1961 to avoid being confused with the Monkee's Davey Jones. Strangely, he was a member of the band Davey Jones and the Lower Third before launching a anti-fash-i- letters, con- tinued ...and there is no place to put your name. The bookstore has a form to order name cards but it will take two to three weeks to send them back. The bookstore offered no name cards, nor the card stock to make my own, and I went to three copy places in town and could not find paper to match. They don't have the same color card stock available to do it. I suppose we are expected to write in our names, which in my opinion would be tacky. Another point is that we graduates are in the crunch of finals with no room for mistakes in our last quarter We don't need the added stress of trying to personalize our graduation invitations. What's the use of sending a blank invitation? I am really burned up that I spent two years of money and time here at Dixie and got stuck with no name invitations. I think the people in charge of the invitations should have done a little more planning and organization regarding the name cards. -- Candace Farthing solo career. Led Zeppelin. Page, Plant and the boys named their band Led Zeppelin because they said it would go down like a lead balloon. And so it did, leaving them one of the most listened to bands of our parents' generation. 10,000 Maniacs. The band based their name on the cult horror film, "2,000 x' Maniacs," which caused them to be confused for a punk-ban- d by some radio sta- tions. The name also confused a hired saxophone player, w ho appeared wearing nothing but pink slippers and a collander for a hat. le took the band name on-sta- 1 too seriously. Stone Temple Pilots. Scott Weiland's obsession with the Sd P oil logo was the basis for their new name, after finding out their original name choice, Mighty Joe Young, was taken. Green Jelly. Originally Green Jell-the band changed their name after corporate lawyers chased after them. Releases under the name Green Jell-- o are now collector's items. The Cranberries. Also going for the side-dis- h name theme, the band's first incarnation was "Cranberry Saw Us," or Cranberry sauce, for short. The band's name eventually shortened to the Cranberries after o, a typ-- o in a John Taylor was so taken the villain's name in the 1967 science fiction flick, "Barbarella," that he used it as the name of his new band. le commented that he liked the "out of this world" feeling, a feeling that he felt matched the band's sound at the time Everything But the Girl. 1 hey took their name from a sign in front of the local used furniture store, where everything but the staff was on sale. Lemonheads. named by 1 rejec- tion letter from the Rough Trade record company. Talking Heads. Seeking a name that didn't refer to any kind of music in particular, the band borrowed their name from a television broadcasting term, meaning, "head and shoulders shot." Duran Duran. Bassist after the candy, they were originally The Whelps. Evan Dando and crew took the advice of a classmate in high school in time to record their first album. They made it big with their cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. |