Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia

Before The Beatles, group had a variety of names

by John Robinson

Q: Did The Beatles have any other group names before Beatles?
A: They started out as The Quarrymen, a group that was put together by John Lennon. Paul McCartney was eventually asked to join, who brought along George Harrison a while later. Other names were Johnny & The Moondogs, The Rainbows, The Nurk Twins (John and Paul only), The Beetles, The Silver Beetles, The Silver Beatles, Johnny & The Silver Beetles, Long John & The Silver Beatles, The Beatals, The Black Jacks Skiffle Group, The Beatmakers (with Gerry & The Pacemakers, for one night only), Japage 3 (John, Paul and George, using parts of their three first names) and The Beat Brothers. They settled on “Beatles” in 1960, as a nod to Buddy Holly’s “Crickets” and the current “beat” music.
Q: Why did Iggy of The Stooges change his name to Iggy Pop?
A: Iggy, whose real name is James Newell Osterberg, says the name “Iggy” came from one of his first bands, The Iguanas. When he fronted his new band, The Stooges, he was dubbed “Iggy Stooge” by his management. Iggy didn’t like the name so he changed the “Stooge” to “Pop” because he believed the word pop had more energy to it.
Q: I’ve always liked Peter Frampton. What has he been up to recently?
A: Frampton got his start at the age of 10, when he was in a band with schoolmates called The Little Ravens (Peter’s father, Owen Frampton, was an art teacher at Peter’s school and had a young David Bowie as a pupil). As Peter got older, he became a member of The Herd and Humble Pie, as well as working as a session musician for many performers, including George Harrison. His first solo album was 1972’s “Wind of Change.” He then reached superstar status with 1976’s “Frampton Comes Alive!”. Since then, his shining star slowly faded as he became pushed aside by the fickle public’s need for new, fresh acts, but Frampton continued releasing albums up through the 2010’s without much commercial success. He kicked off a tour on June 18, 2019, titled “Peter Frampton Finale—The Farewell Tour.” The reason he retired from the road was from his diagnosis of inclusion body myositis, a progressive muscle disorder. Frampton did one last performance just two months ago: Aug. 6, 2022, to perform at Buddy Holly’s 85th Birthday Celebration in Lubbock, Texas.
Q: No one but me seems to remember a song named “Yellow River.“ Can you prove me right?
A: “Yellow River” is one of those songs that may be unfamiliar by title but once it’s heard, some people say, “Oh yeah, I remember that!” It was a Top 40 hit in 1970 by a British trio named Christie, named after its leader, Jeff Christie. Jeff wrote the song and originally offered it to the British Invasion band The Tremeloes. (The Tremeloes had already had some hits in America in the ’60s, such as “Silence is Golden” and “Here Comes My Baby,” both in 1967.) They recorded “Yellow River” and were going to release it as a single but changed their minds. Christie’s group went ahead and took The Tremeloes musical backing track and put their vocals behind it. It went to No. 1 in England and No. 23 in America.
Q: If the TV show “The Partridge Family“ was based on The Cowsills, how come The Cowsills weren’t asked to play the parts?
A: The Cowsills were a pop group from Newport, Rhode Island, formed in 1965 by four of the Cowsill brothers: Barry, Bill, Bob and John. They were later joined by brother Paul, sister Susan and their mom Barbara. Another brother, Richard, acted as road manager. (They were produced by Artie Kornfeld, who later became the concert promoter for Woodstock.) Their string of late ’60s hits included “The Rain, The Park And Other Things,” “Indian Lake,” and “Hair.” Now, to answer your question: The group was asked to play the Partridge kids but they weren’t comfortable with Shirley Jones (or anyone, for that matter) playing the role of “mom”. They preferred to have their real mother in the role. The producers decided to take back the offer and hired different child actors. (While appearing on “The Joan Rivers Show,” Susan said she could never figure out which of the two girls on “The Partridge Family” was supposed to be portraying her.) The Cowsills did appear on TV however, as spokespeople for the American Dairy Association and singing the theme of the program “Love American Style” during its first season (1969). Some of the family has since passed away: 1) Barry Cowsill was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005; afterward, he couldn’t be found. On Dec. 28, his badly decomposed body was found and identified on Jan. 4, 2006. 2) Bill Cowsill died on Feb. 17, 2006, the eve of brother Barry’s memorial service. Bill died of complications from emphysema, osteoporosis, Cushing syndrome and effects from problems with drugs and alcohol. Bill had been previously kicked out of the group by his dad for smoking pot; since Bill hung out with The Beach Boys constantly at Brian Wilson’s house, Brian was considered responsible for Bill’s pot smoking. 3) Mom (Barbara) died in January 1985 of emphysema. 4) Dad (Bud) died of leukemia in September 1992. As for the others: a) John is a keyboardist for the touring Beach Boys band and sings lead on some Beach Boys songs. b) Paul went into construction but is now mainly a farmer in Oregon. c) Bob trains hospital emergency departments with the Emergency Department Information Tracking System software. d) Susan is the leader of The Susan Cowsill Band, who released the CD “Just Believe It” in 2005. The surviving members of the Cowsills toured as part of “The Original Idols Live” show, hosted by Greg Brady himself, Barry Williams.

John Robinson grew up in Stockbridge and graduated from Stockbridge High School in 1969.
He’s been an author, TV host, columnist, actor, producer, emcee and radio broadcaster.  Robinson’s favorite music of all time includes surf, psychedelia, garage bands, Motown and just plain ol’ good-time rock ‘n’ roll. To read more rock ‘n’ roll trivia, “Paranormal Michigan” stories, and lots more, check out Robinson’s books on his author page at facebook.com/johnrobinsonauthor.