Everyone's a Diacritic
At work today, the topic of the heavy metal umlaut came up. Excerpt from the page my coworkers showed me:
The first gratuitous use appears to have been by the Blue Öyster Cult in 1970. The band's website states it was added by guitarist and keyboardist Allen Lanier[2] , but rock critic Richard Meltzer claims to have suggested it to their producer and manager Sandy Pearlman just after Pearlman came up with the name: "I said, 'How about an umlaut over the O?' Metal had a Wagnerian aspect anyway." [3]
(BTW - The Blue Öyster Cult?)
Discussion of the "frighteningly meticulous" Rocklopedia Fakebandica naturally followed. Sample RF entry:
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem - Extremely groovy rock band from The Muppet Show, various muppet movies and random muppet TV specials. Lineup: Laid back Dr. Teeth (keyboards), valley girl Janice (guitar), man of few words Zoot (tenor sax), the comically violent Animal (drums) and scruffy Floyd Pepper (bass). I'll bet you didn't know Floyd had a last name, did you? I'll also bet you didn't know that both Janet and Floyd play left-handed, didja? Didja didja didja? The band was created for the 1975 Muppet Show pilot, Sex and Violence. Jim Henson based Dr. Teeth on New Orleans ivory tickler Dr. John. The rest of the band were designed by muppeteer Michael Frith. This fan page is far superior to most real bands' pages. I bow before it. (See also Miss Piggy, Rowlf the Dog)
Having quoted all that about the Muppets, let me also mention the Kermitage.
The first gratuitous use appears to have been by the Blue Öyster Cult in 1970. The band's website states it was added by guitarist and keyboardist Allen Lanier[2] , but rock critic Richard Meltzer claims to have suggested it to their producer and manager Sandy Pearlman just after Pearlman came up with the name: "I said, 'How about an umlaut over the O?' Metal had a Wagnerian aspect anyway." [3]
(BTW - The Blue Öyster Cult?)
Discussion of the "frighteningly meticulous" Rocklopedia Fakebandica naturally followed. Sample RF entry:
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem - Extremely groovy rock band from The Muppet Show, various muppet movies and random muppet TV specials. Lineup: Laid back Dr. Teeth (keyboards), valley girl Janice (guitar), man of few words Zoot (tenor sax), the comically violent Animal (drums) and scruffy Floyd Pepper (bass). I'll bet you didn't know Floyd had a last name, did you? I'll also bet you didn't know that both Janet and Floyd play left-handed, didja? Didja didja didja? The band was created for the 1975 Muppet Show pilot, Sex and Violence. Jim Henson based Dr. Teeth on New Orleans ivory tickler Dr. John. The rest of the band were designed by muppeteer Michael Frith. This fan page is far superior to most real bands' pages. I bow before it. (See also Miss Piggy, Rowlf the Dog)
Having quoted all that about the Muppets, let me also mention the Kermitage.
posted by KaneCitizen at 9:06 PM
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