what was the first rock 'n' roll band not to be called "the something(s)"?

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(Not counting Jan and Dean.)

Pink Floyd and Buffalo Springfield both in '67 - anyone sooner?

― Sam Jeffries (samjeff), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:41 (twenty-three years ago)

the crickets

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:43 (twenty-three years ago)

chiz chirp

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:44 (twenty-three years ago)

and I guess it was "The" Buffalo Springfield, wasn't it...

― Sam Jeffries (samjeff), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Jan and Dean

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Serious answer: Them

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Why must you mock me so?

― Sam Jeffries (samjeff), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:50 (twenty-three years ago)

ah - nice

― Sam Jeffries (samjeff), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:50 (twenty-three years ago)

manfred mann (62-63?)

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Manfred Mann is a person!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:55 (twenty-three years ago)

dude i was totally serious about the crickets!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:58 (twenty-three years ago)

je ne get it pas

― Sam Jeffries (samjeff), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 00:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Manfred Mann is a person!

so is Van Halen!!!

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Love?

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:05 (twenty-three years ago)

(I suppose Them should count but isn't it just a variation on "The", sort of?)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:06 (twenty-three years ago)

i have somehow been missing the "not" in this thread title the whole time

plz continue to go about your business

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:09 (twenty-three years ago)

The = [Middle English, from Old English the, alteration (influenced by th-, oblique case stem of demonstrative pron.), of se, masculine demonstrative pron.; see so- in Indo-European Roots.]

Them = [Middle English, from Old Norse theim, and Old English thm; see to- in Indo-European Roots]

Get thee to a linguistics course m'boy!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:13 (twenty-three years ago)

According to AMG, Manfred Mann were originally called "The Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers," which rules.

― Sam Jeffries (samjeff), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:19 (twenty-three years ago)

On the *Back From the Grave, Vol. 4* (recorded 1963-66): Bunker Hill, Botumless Pit, Aztex. Ohter garage comps would have more, I presume.

― chuck, Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Most of the bands on Pebbles Vol 1. aren't (the)something, all mid-60s.

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:43 (twenty-three years ago)

pink floyd were called the pink floyd first yeh? or did a joke just sail past my head?

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:45 (twenty-three years ago)

From the master, Meltzer in Aesthetics of Rock:

"And spelling and the names of groups: Beatles, Byrds, Cyrkle, Crome Syrcus, Surfaris. And the Fugs, with 'fug' itself being Norman Mailer's original concession to censorship (in The Naked and the Dead). And Them, taken from the movie where the little kid could describe the giant ants she had seen only by means of a pronoun. And the Lovin' Spoonful as the first step away from straight collective nouns (Association, Syndicate of Sound) and plurals and the like (We Five) on the way to singular concrete nouns (Jefferson Airplane, Soft White Underbelly, First Edition), abstract nouns (Love, Influence, Spirit), adjectival stuff (the Lost) and After The Third World Raspberry. And the Doors' insistence on being doors that open inward/outward rather than revolving doors or sliding doors or any of that by being harshly plural (and not even Doors without the) in the face of all this."

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, Pink Floyd was initially known as "the Pink Floyd Sound."

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 02:06 (twenty-three years ago)

But the awesome thing is (and I SWEAR TO GOD I am not making this up), before that they were known, among other things, as The Meggadeaths.

THE MEGGADEATHS!!!

Do you have ANY idea how cool that is?!?! THE FUCKING MEGGADEATHS!!!

― Evan (Evan), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 02:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Bill Haley and His Comets

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 25 March 2003 02:17 (twenty-three years ago)

it's true. PF were the Megadeaths for awhile. They also called themselves the T-Set, The Architectural Abdabs, The Abdabs, and The Pink Floyd Sound before going with Pink Floyd.

― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 06:13 (twenty-three years ago)

The Architectural Abdabs

I adore this bandname

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 06:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Weren't the T Set a Dutch or Swedish group the did the song "Ma Belle Amie?"

― nickn (nickn), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 06:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I will use the Megadeaths fact weekly

― girl scout heroin (iamamonkey), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 14:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Steppenwolf?

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 14:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Creation?

― Charles McCain, Tuesday, 25 March 2003 20:55 (twenty-three years ago)

nineteen years pass...

On the *Back From the Grave, Vol. 4* (recorded 1963-66): Bunker Hill, Botumless Pit, Aztex.

Wikipedia lists these as The Botumless Pit and The Aztex. Bunker Hill is a person's name.

Most of the bands on Pebbles Vol 1. aren't (the)something, all mid-60s.

Wikipedia lists all the groups on this record as "The", except for Positively 13 O'Clock (AKA Mouse and the Traps), whose single is from 1967.

These seem to be the earliest examples, getting more abstract each passing year:

Manfred Mann 1963
Them / We Five 1964
Love 1965

― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 2 April 2022 00:23 (four years ago)

Manfred Mann is someone's name, so that doesn't count.

― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 April 2022 00:26 (four years ago)

Blues Incorporated, 1961.

― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 April 2022 00:28 (four years ago)

Usually called Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated though? If that matters.

― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 2 April 2022 00:35 (four years ago)

I don't know, the wiki page tends to call them Blues Incorporated and I always thought they were a Cyril Davies thing, I didn't even know Alexis Korner was involved with them.

― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 April 2022 00:59 (four years ago)

Love might be in the running?

― Mule, Saturday, 2 April 2022 11:59 (four years ago)

Japage 3, 1958. They soon changed their name back to the Quarrymen.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 2 April 2022 12:12 (four years ago)

Count Five

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 2 April 2022 13:37 (four years ago)

Actually Them might be the right answer to this.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 2 April 2022 13:43 (four years ago)

Gaz Coombes

― a spectre is haunting your mom (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 2 April 2022 13:44 (four years ago)

No wait.

Unit 4 + 2

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 2 April 2022 13:45 (four years ago)

Rocket 88

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 2 April 2022 13:49 (four years ago)

the something(s)

― Thus Sang Freud, Saturday, 2 April 2022 14:02 (four years ago)

oh *not* to be called.

― Thus Sang Freud, Saturday, 2 April 2022 14:03 (four years ago)

something(s)

― Thus Sang Freud, Saturday, 2 April 2022 14:03 (four years ago)

Bill Haley and His Comets

How was this not correct??

― And liberty she pirouette (Sund4r), Saturday, 2 April 2022 15:05 (four years ago)

I think, in the spirit of the question, it doesn't fit. It's a good candidate by technicality only.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 2 April 2022 15:06 (four years ago)

Love wins if the question is: "who were the first musical group to name themselves in a way that doesn't connote a group of people". It's an abstraction.

― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 2 April 2022 15:54 (four years ago)

XP They also weren't the first to have name like that, as it was a common thing in the pre-Rock'n'Roll eras (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys etc.).

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 2 April 2022 15:55 (four years ago)

quicksilver messenger service is a...service. did they come before love?

― Thus Sang Freud, Saturday, 2 April 2022 17:09 (four years ago)

Herman's Hermits, come on!

― fetter, Saturday, 2 April 2022 17:34 (four years ago)

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch.

― fetter, Saturday, 2 April 2022 17:35 (four years ago)

You mean like the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young?

― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 April 2022 17:41 (four years ago)

Which reminds me, has there ever been a band called The Peter, Paul & Mary Chain?

― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 April 2022 17:46 (four years ago)

them predates herman's hermits by a couple of months i think, esp as the latter were herman and his hermits for a short while

― mark s, Saturday, 2 April 2022 17:53 (four years ago)

more importantly i just discovered that peter noone was called "herman" bcz he looked like sherman out of rocky and bullwinkle

― mark s, Saturday, 2 April 2022 17:55 (four years ago)

No way!

― Never Mind the ILX, Here's the Blecch Pistols (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 2 April 2022 17:56 (four years ago)

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