LOOK INSIDE ROCK FORMATIONS Below and on the following pages is a sample of the entries featured in ROCK FORMATIONS (approximately 1,000 of them!). This page is excerpted from the chapter entitled "LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!", featuring bands whose names were inspired by movies. ? & The Mysterians Group leader “?” used the name Rudy Martinez to collect royalties, although there is some doubt that it is his real name. “Mysterians” came from the low-budget Japanese sci-fi movie The Mysterians (1957), directed by Ishiro Honda (sometimes referenced as Inoshiro Honda), who achieved fame as director of the original Godzilla movies. 10,000 Maniacs Originally formed as Still Life, the new name was inspired by the title of a B-movie directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, and starring Jeffrey Allen, Connie Mason and Thomas Wood. The movie was actually titled 2,000 Maniacs (1965), a cult film based on the play Brigadoon (about the Scottish village that only appears once each century) and was originally to have been titled “5,000 Maniacs”. The band name was suggested by John Lombardo (guitars) on joining the band. Everyone accepted that “10,000 Maniacs” was the actual title of the movie when in fact no one in the band had seen it. Bad Company Bad Company was the title of a 1972 Robert Benton-directed Civil War western starring Jeff Bridges, and was suggested by vocalist Paul Rodgers. It was initially the title of a song he had written with Simon Kirke, prior to the band choosing a name. Led Zeppelin’s label Swan Song tried to get them to change the name on signing them, considering it to be too dangerous-sounding, but the band refused. Blues Traveler The name Blues Traveler has two sources of inspiration, both involving movies starring Dan Aykroyd, of whom the group are big fans (Aykroyd has appeared on stage with the band several times). One source is The Blues Brothers (1980), directed by John Landis, and the other is Gozer the Traveler, a character mentioned in Ghostbusters (1984), directed by Ivan Reitman. Counting Crows Counting Crows took their name from an old English divination rhyme, comparing the pointlessness of life with the act of counting crows. The poem was quoted in one of vocalist Adam Duritz’s girlfriend Mary-Louise Parker’s films Signs Of Life (1989), directed by John David Coles. Actually, the original poem (which is an old English folk poem) refers to counting magpies rather than crows (it was also adapted in the title song of ’70s UK children’s TV series Magpie), and is supposed to tell the future of someone who sees a flock of magpies, depending on how many birds make up the flock: One for sorrow, two for mirth, Three for a wedding, four for a birth, Five for silver, six for gold, Seven for a secret not to be told Eight for heaven, nine for hell And ten for the devil's own sel'. (Trad.) NEXT