Ongoing History Daily: One band, two names. The world of pseudonyms.
There have been plenty of occasions when a band has released material (or even played live) under an alias. Why? Sometimes just for fun. Or they might want to try something that’s a little off-brand from who they regularly are. That’s where pseudonyms come in.
Devo, for example, who sometimes opened their own shows using the name Dove, The Band of Love. When David Johansen left the New York Dolls, he adopted the name Buster Poindexter. If you’re a fan of Green Day, you might know of their side experiment Foxboro Hot Tubs—and they might have (well, probably did) recorded anonymously under the name The Network.
U2 released an album under the name The Passengers, which featured opera star Luciano Pavarotti. The Foo Fighters were once booked under the name The Chumps. And this is my favourite. In 1985, REM performed a secret gig using the name Hornets Attack Victor mature.
