10CC

The line-up of these art rockers from Stockport (England) is impressive, with names as Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and, in particular, Graham Gouldman (the latter the spiritual father of such splendid songs as For Your Love, Bus Stop, Look Through Any Window and No Milk Today). 

Producer Jonathan King is supposed to have been the inventor of the name 10CC, convinced as he was that an average ejaculation yields about 9 cc semen and therefore that 10 cc is an enviable quantity. 

Two comments need to be made on this subject. One is that later King came back on his words and claimed the name 'had come to him in a dream' (can happen to any man of course), the other is that the '9 cc-story' is wrong from a biological viewpoint: the end shot of an average man - whoever he may be - actually can not be estimated very well; it varies from 0.1 cc to (yes!) 10 cc.

Volume-wise Premier League, this English band. 

Active: 1972-1983; 1991-1995; 1999-present, GBR

See also: Lovin' Spoonful

Zebra Three - Wake up guys!

Not to be confused with the just as American hard rock band Zebra from New Orleans, Louisiana, that - quite predictably - performs in vertically striped shirts. 

Contrastingly Zebra Three owes its reputation mainly to its most prominent band member, Troy Hess, who was promoted by his father, Bennie Hess, at the age of only two! When he was entitled to be called a veteran - Troy was seven years old by then - this child prodigy recorded the song Please Don't Go Topless, Mother. 

Later he formed the band Zebra Three, a kind of cover band that vents its herd instinct by playing mediocre songs performed much earlier and much better - or at least more professionally - by the original artists. 

The band name Zebra Three has been pinched as well, because with this name Troy and his colleagues in fact refer to the American Starsky & Hutch television series, degenerated to camp by now. In that series Zebra Three was the code name (radio call) the fictional Bay City Police Department used to wake the two Homicide Division detectives up or bring them into line. 

Active: ca. 1978-present, USA

XTC band name meaning

After a period of going through longer band names (such as The Dukes of Stratosphear, Terry and the Lovemen and The Three Wise Men), the new wave band from Swindon, England changed its ways and it became XTC.

It has been stated that the band name can not be a reference to the well known party drug XTC (with active ingredient MDMA or 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine) because the band came before the drug, but that theory is built on slippery ground, because German manufacturer Merck experimented with MDMA as early as the beginning of the twentieth century. 

E. Merck's patent for MDMA, 1914

XTC's singer/songwriter Andy Partridge once said that an old Jimmy Durante film gave him the idea. In that film Jimmy apparently spoke the immortal words ‘That's it - I'm In Ecs-T-Cy'.

Details about this movie however are nowhere to be found, although there are indications that This Time For Keeps from 1947 is meant. We will keep an eye out and will let you know as soon as it is shown at a cinema near us. 

Was (Not Was) band name meaning

There are always those bands who feel they can only exist if all members are willing to use one and the same last name. The Ramones are convincing evidence. That is also the case with Was (Not Was): the founders of this pop rock band originating from Detroit, Michigan, David Weiss and Don Fagenson, go through life musically as Don and David Was. 

Make sure to say the name correctly: say wââhs and not wos. To give the fans a helping hand a band name was conceived of that - for all we know - is unique in the sense that it includes a compact pronunciation guide. So in fact we need to read Was (Not Was) as Wââhs (Not Wos). 

Will you please keep this in mind from now on? Thank you.

Toto - Man's best friend

Musical omnivore from Los Angeles, California, with an appetite for all contemporary genres: pop, rock, soul, funk, R&B and jazz – the overall effect is soft rock according to some experts.

In an interview guitarist Steve Lukather once joked that Toto is derived from the real surname of the singer and frontman at that time, Bobby Kimball. It was a corny joke that would dog the band for many years to come.

Completely unfounded of course, because the real dog behind the band is the cute two-year-old female Cairn terrier that plays a role in the film The Wizard of Oz (1939, director Victor Fleming).

Pleasant side-effect of this name: toto is the Latin word for 'everything' – completely matching Toto’s repertoire.

Active: 1977-2008; 2010-present, USA
Site: http://www.toto99.com/blog2010/index.php?/categories/1-Hot-News

Quiet Riot band name meaning

Los Angeles, California is the home of this heavy metal/hard rock band. 

Little women

Thanks to a radio interview with the band in 1979, we know how the name Quiet Riot came about. Singer Kevin DuBrow was talking to Rick Parfitt of the British band Status Quo and told Parfitt that he intended to call the band Little Women. To which Parfitt replied that he himself would prefer a band with the name Quite Right. But because Londoner Rick pronounced the two words with a heavy Cockney-accent, the American thought Parfitt had said Quiet Riot.