Recycled band names. Specifically ones where the bands are all kinda important.

There are several situations where different bands will have the same name. Sometimes a genre will monopolize a name and nobody will care, which is why at least 32 metal bands decided that Legion would be a swell name.

Sometimes it's a case of bands starting around the same time but one breaks through while the other fades away.

In a lot of cases, however, some youngsters name their crappy go-nowhere band with a moniker they didn't even know was in use before. But once in a while, that second band actually does go somewhere.

For this thread we will NOT be discussing bands that make some silly modification to stand out (or avoid a law suit). So American post-thrashers Wrathchild America who released several albums on Atlantic in the early '90s and '80s British glamsters Wrathchild don't count. Neither does Ghost/Ghost BC and other acronym addendum.

In this thread, the song retains the name. And somehow managed to keep it while gaining some levels of importance from the critical or commercial masses along the way.

Wasted Youth was a post-punk outfit from the early '80s who hit the UK indie charts had a member who subsequently went on to form Flesh For Lulu.

Wasted Youth was a Los Angeles hardcore punk group from the early '80s who later assimilated thrash metal and had a member who subsequently went on to join Velvet Revolver.

Death was a protopunk Detroit act who, despite not releasing an album when they were around, experienced belated fame when their proposed 1974 album was finally reissued way after it's time.

Death was a pioneering death metal band who, despite reverence while active, experienced even more belated fame when their guitarist Chuck Schuldiner passed away before his time.

Circle was an early-70s group with Chick Corea (pre-crapulence), Dave Holland, Barry Altschul, and Anthony Braxton. No relation to the Finnish band.

Formed around the same time (1971), Air consisted of Henry Threadgill, Steve McCall, and Fred Hopkins. No idea if the French band was aware of them, but this Air recorded 12 albums through the early 80s, some on major labels; the least the other Air coulda done was called themselves New French Air or something.

good thread idea. i guess Nirvana/Nirvana is a good example of this?

Didn't LA's Wasted Youth formally change their name to "LA's Wasted Youth" because of the UK band?

also, New French Air is a good name for a band......

I remember seeing Air CDs in stores where the sticker along the top of the jewel case often said "Air (French Band)"

Think I've seen reviews of releases by unrelated bands called Love, Screaming Trees and Minuteman (think they were Ultrasound related)

There were Amboy Dukes on both sides of the Atlantic at about the same time, think the UK ones were Harmony Pop.

I have a great single by a Psychedelic revival band called High Tide that would be concurrent with the Paisley Underground and might have abot fit with it if they weren't from the wrong side of the Atlantic. Classic band of the name is the meeting point between the Misunderstood and Hawkwind. Sea Shanties is pretty essential.

I once treked to Birmingham to see Big Dipper only to find out they were a local band not the bunch from Boston.

Outcasts is a name that has been heavily used as is the Outsiders, I think both have been several bands in the mid 60s in various countries as well as again unrelated bands during punk.

Englebert Humperdinck really is too good a name for just one guy.....

Neither does Ghost/Ghost BC

But Ghost does count, there are at least three notable acts who are just 'Ghost', and probably way more than that.

Englebert Humperdinck really is too good a name for just one guy.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGmMO0zbJo

...but also....

Engelbert Humperdinck (German pronunciation: [ˈɛŋl̩bɛʁt ˈhʊmpɐdɪŋk]; 1 September 1854 – 27 September 1921) was a German composer, best known for his opera Hänsel und Gretel. Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province and died at the age of 67 in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania......

Didn't LA's Wasted Youth formally change their name to "LA's Wasted Youth" because of the UK band?

I remember seeing Air CDs in stores where the sticker along the top of the jewel case often said "Air (French Band)"

Not only stickers: the album cover of Moon Safari actually has "French band" next to "Air", so apparently they were aware they could be mixed up with the other Air...

http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2010-06/1275664155_cover.jpg

When I was promoting local shows, a young band who'd just got together were due to play but had no name. A couple of days before flyers were due to go to print, they told me they'd decided to call themselves Ride. When I pointed out there was already a very famous band called Ride, they replied 'But they split up AGES ago'. Luckily I convinced them to change it.

Embrace, Ian Mackaye's pre-Fugazi hardcore band, and Embrace, the post-Britpop Brighouse balladeers; the latter contacted the former and asked them if it was OK to use the name, and the former said yes.

I'm just writing a piece about a guy who's used the same band name twice for two completely different bands he's been in, actually (the name is derived from his surname).

http://991.com/NewGallery/Oasis-feat-Mary-Hopkin-Oasis-488319.jpg

I was just wondering if there was a pre-Oasis Oasis. Figured there must be.

I'm just writing a piece about a guy who's used the same band name twice for two completely different bands he's been in, actually (the name is derived from his surname).

Yeah, I did this myself, one was us kids round the doors on acoustics and bongos, the other a 'proper' band about 10 years later.

xpost the lead singers were Mary Hopkin and Peter Skellern, the album made the UK chart...

Apparently, there were loads of school bands called "Emil and the Detectives", and "Surrender Dorothy"

I was briefly in a band called "Surrender Dorothy". Our name was a reference to this perennial piece of graffiti outside the mormon temple on the DC beltway.

http://www.baltimoreorless.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SurrenderDorothy.jpg

Back in 1989 Revelation Records released an EP from a band from Connecticut whose thrashy style similar to Septic Death and The Accused was at odds with the label's usual hardcore output. This is that EP:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5455/skbj1.jpg

It was just reissued as a part of Record Store Day, ironically enough.