Places Everyone!

My brother writes to me with this thought: "Why do many American bands name themselves after the town or state they're from -- is this just an American thing or are there UK bands that do it too?"

A quick Google search reveals the sense that yes, this may be an American thing. The obvious examples are Boston, Chicago, Kansas (from Topeka), Alabama, even the MC5 (Motor City 5). And how about America, perhaps the most obvious one of all?

I tried to think of some UK bands that are named for their hometowns. Portishead are from Bristol but are named for a nearby town. Bush were named for the Shepherd's Bush section of London. Oasis took their name from a club in their hometown of Manchester. There's a punk band called London who came from -- you guessed it -- London. But the examples are far fewer. There's no Sunderland, Liverpool or Wolverhampton (although if there were, they'd probably sound like a cross between Wolf Parade and Peter Frampton.)

(More often, the English bands with place names only adopted the place names to differentiate themselves from American acts with the same name: The English Beat, The London Suede, The Charlatans UK. But those don't count -- they aren't the names the bands intended.)

Then there are the bands that take their names from places they're NOT from. The Manchester Orchestra aren't from Manchester but rather the Atlanta suburbs. And likewise the Bay City Rollers were from Scotland, not Michigan. Berlin came from Los Angeles.

So is this an American phenomenon? And what does it tell us? (Perhaps there's a shortage of creativity among these bands?) And what bands am I missing?

Song In My Head

It's hard to believe more than 30 years have passed since OMD's landmark "Electricity" was released. I heard it yesterday on Sirius and thought -- rather obviously -- that the content of the song is still relevant today, despite really sounding like it's from another time. Martin Hannett -- who did some of his best work with Joy Division -- produced the original version for Factory Records.

Songs That Interest Me.

I haven't been able to post much, but here's a newer song from my best of 2010 collection that I heard today - enjoy!

Well, They've Done It

They've brought the 80s back. Not the new wave 80s (where everything's reversible) and bouncy synth pop ruled the day. No, not the good 80s at all. But the yacht-rock 80s with lush production, bad drum machines and (gasp) saxophones. Destroyer's new album Kaputt is filled with all three. I'm a big fan of Dan Bejar's work with the New Pornographers, and I respect the fact that he just doesn't care what people like me think, but this is too much.

Listen for yourself on the title track "Kaputt", and enter a parallel universe where Christopher Cross, Level 42, and Toto are still cool.

Happy Birthday, William Shatner

Today is William Shatner's 80th Birthday. And in keeping with the recent Pulp theme, I am compelled to post Shatner's 2002 cover of Pulp's "Common People". It's just too good.

Pulp to Headline English Festivals

Pitchfork reports that Pulp is set to headline the Reading and Leeds festivals this summer.

It's worth digging into the archives to pay tribute to Pulp. At the 1996 Brit Awards, frontman Jarvis Cocker infamously disrupted a phony performance of Michael Jackson's "Earth Song." Jacko was trying to prove he wasn't a child molester by lip-synching the song posing as some sort of Christ figure while surrounded by children. Bad idea. Cocker called him on his delusional messianic act by invading the stage and - among other things - making a flatulent gesture in Jackson's direction. The police were called into investigate charges that Cocker bumped into some of the kids, but he was released without being charged. For a few days, the British tabloids made Cocker out to be the bad guy, but many in the British music industry called on the Pulp frontman to be knighted for his actions.

Below is the short version, but you can watch the whole performance here.

Alexander the Great

Anyone else loving the new solo album from Edward Sharpe frontman Alex Ebert? Last year's "Home" may have been my favorite single of the year. So far this year, it's "A Million Years." And between Alexander and the folk revival led by Mumford and Sons, 2011 sounds a whole lot like the late sixties.