These musicians weren't necessarily bookworms, but they did find literary inspiration for their band names - including Steppenwolf.
Image: Imago/Brigani-Art
Advertisement
5 bands whose names you probably didn't know were inspired by literature
These musicians weren't necessarily bookworms, but they still found inspiration in literature for their band names - including Steppenwolf.
Image: Reuters/S. Nenov
Steppenwolf
When John Kay's band chose the name Steppenwolf, the singer had heard of Hermann Hesse's 1927 novel hadn't read it. He finally did years later. Maybe he's not a great literature fan, but the organizers of the Hermann Hesse Festival in the author's hometown, Calw, invited the band to perform there in 2002.
Image: Imago/Brigani-Art
Artful Dodger
Artful Dodger is a character from Charles Dickens' novel "Oliver Twist" (pictured is an illustration from the book). In it, Jack Dawkins has the nickname Artful Dodger because he's such a talented pickpocket. The band of the same name was founded in 1997 and earned money by honest means, famous through two-step hits such as "Re-Wind," which reached No. 2 on the British charts.
The Scottish indie pop band picked the name of the 1960s French children's book series "Belle et Sébastien." In it, actress and author Cécile Aubry wrote about the adventures of the six-year-old Sébastien and his dog Belle, who live in a village in the Pyrenees. The stories were popular in the UK - and apparently pleased the band members too.
Image: picture-alliance/Citypress24
The Libertines
Free of moral and sexual restrictions is a description that applies well to the band's tabloid-prominent lead singer Pete Doherty. The band name wasn't inspired by his lifestyle however, but by the French aristocrat Marquis de Sade. In "The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinage" of 1785, de Sade describes the sadistic sexual practices of four "Libertines."
Image: picture-alliance/empics/Yui Mok
Coldplay
The British pianist Tim Rice-Oxley initially chose this name for his band, but finding it too depressing, he passed the idea on to his friend Chris Martin, who was also establishing a new group. "Coldplay" derives from "Child's Reflection, Cold Play," a collection by US poet Philip Horky. Opting for the band name Keane, Rice-Oxley went on to success, as did Chris Martin's gang (pictured).
Image: Reuters/S. Nenov
5 images1 | 5
The voice of Joachim Fritz Kraudelat is legendary: raw, darkly aggressive and with a special smoky tone. Yet hardly anyone knows the name Kraudelat. The singer has a stage name, John Kay, and his band's name is even more famous: Steppenwolf.
Kraudelat was born in 1944 in East Prussia. After World War II, his family emigrated to Canada. Most Canadians were unable to pronounce his name in school, so that's where the nickname came from.
Lonely like a Steppenwolf
At age 21, he joined the band that would later become Steppenwolf.
The novel of that name by Hermann Hesse tells of a man who feels alienated from modern civilization and is going through an existential crisis.
The band's producer had just read the book and liked the title, so he proposed it as the name. John Kay hadn't read the book yet - nor had the other band members. But no one had a better idea, so the name stuck. In 1969 Steppenwolf conquered the charts with their first hit "Born to Be Wild."
Ever since, people associate the band with hippie bikers riding through the desert on their Harleys.
Not a rebel
John Kay never embodied that lifestyle himself. Born completely color blind, he wouldn't have gotten a motorcycle riding license. The sunglasses he wears at all times are not a rebellious fashion statement but rather a necessity.
Click through the gallery above to find out what other bands that got their names from books.
