Bands forced to change their name

[sadchild]

A thread about bands that have been forced to change their name.

The group Easy Life formed in 2017. I discovered them in 2019 via their song "Sunday".



In October 2023, the company EasyGroup suddenly decided the band was infringing on their copyright.

The owner of budget airline easyJet has launched into a contentious legal fight with a U.K. pop band to force it to change its name, after accusing its members of being brand thieves.

The Times of London first reported that the group accused the band of borrowing its name from the home and garden retailer Easylife, a company for whose name easyGroup charges a licensing fee but has no financial interest in.

“They’re forcing us to change our name or take up a costly legal battle which we could never afford. Although we find the whole situation hilarious, we are virtually powerless against such a massive corporation,” the band wrote, “We simply don’t have the funds to access a fair trial in the high court. Not to mention the fact that this would likely rattle on through to 2025, and with this hanging over us we wouldn’t be able to release any music in the meantime. Our careers, and indeed our lives, would be on hold.”

In a statement to several outlets including The Guardian and the BBC, EasyGroup said: “With reference to the brand thief Mr Matravers and his fellow band members who have decided to use our brand, easyLife, without permission. We have a long established record of legally stopping thieves from using our brands and I am confident we will stop Mr Matravers.”

Well, they succeeded.

Now the band is known as Hard Life:

 

[scotchandcigar]

I can't see the video, but I think I get the idea. Stupid lawsuit. Anyway, I know of a few bands who had to change their name.
EDIT: I can see the video on my phone, it's just a work block thing.

The first was Chicago Transit Authority, who became Chicago for their 2nd album.


And then there's FKA twigs (Tahliah Debrett Barnett)


She became known as Twigs for the way her joints crack. She added the initialism FKA to her name when another act called the Twigs – twin sisters active and recording since 1994 – asked her to change her stage name. It was believed or assumed that the "FKA" stood for the business abbreviation "formerly known as", but Barnett has said in multiple interviews that the letters do not stand for anything in particular.

There's Squeeze

In the United States and Canada, the band and album were dubbed UK Squeeze owing to legal conflicts arising from a contemporary American band called "Tight Squeeze". The "UK" was dropped for all subsequent releases. In Australia, the same name change was used due to legal conflicts arising from an existing Sydney-based band also called "Squeeze".

And then most recently, I learned that Fontaines D.C. is the product of a name change. Originally they were called The Fontaines, but they added the initials "D.C." when a band in Los Angeles had the same name. The initials D.C. stand for "Dublin City" despite only one band member being from Dublin.

 

[scotchandcigar]

More:


Immediately following the release of You're Living All Over Me, a supergroup called Dinosaurs (featuring ex-members of Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Hot Tuna, Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane) sued Dinosaur over the use of the name, prompting the addition of "Jr."


JR JR (pronounced "junior junior"; originally named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.) is an American indie-pop band from Detroit, Michigan, founded by Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein. The band announced that they were renaming themselves to JR JR to end confusion with the NASCAR driver: "We've had people drive long distances to shows only to be disappointed when they realize it's a neurotic Jew and wild haired gentile from Detroit they've paid to see."

 

[Channel98]

Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Randy Meisner, Rusty Young and George Grantham formed Pogo in 1968. (Timothy B. Schmit replaced Meisner in 1969.) They changed their name to Poco after Pogo comic-strip cartoonist Walt Kelly threatened to sue. Young wrote and sang lead on the band's biggest hit, Crazy Love, which reached #17 on the Hot 100 in March 1979.

 

[semipenguin]

Does Blink 182 count?

The Raconteurs have to be called The Saboteurs in Australia because another band has the name

 

[kingchuck69]

Green Jelly of "Three Little Pigs" fame was originally Green Jello after General Foods threatened to sue.

Here in America, the British synth-pop duo Yazoo simply became Yaz after keyboardist Vince Clarke admitted that they were named for an old blues label. That label sued and the group simply became Yaz in America.

Another 80s new wave group, The Mission was made up of former members of The Sisters of Mercy. When the band fired lead singer Andrew Eldritch in 1985, they kept the name. However, Andrew sued and won, so the band changed their name to The Mission. However, an R&B band claimed the name was theirs, so here in the States, they became The Mission UK.

In England, The Spinners are called The Detroit Spinners because there's a folk group also known as The Spinners.

 

[HecticArt]

My bass player used to be in a cover band called The Spazmatics.
They got a cease and desist letter from a lawyer in California.
They didn't realize that there is (was?) a popular band in Cali with the same name......and a lawyer......
They changed their name to Numatics, which I thought was better. They weren't very....spazzy, anyway.

 

[sadchild]

Green Jelly of "Three Little Pigs" fame was originally Green Jello after General Foods threatened to sue.

The best part is they became Green Jellÿ - ÿ is pronounced like a long o. So when you say their name, it's pronounced Green Jello!

 

[scotchandcigar]

Here's one I didn't know:

Queens Of The Stone Age​

Josh Homme, originally in Kyuss, formed a band that went under the name Gamma Ray. However, after releasing a single under the moniker, Homme received a legal letter from a German speed metal act also called Gamma Ray.


And more:

Death From Above 1979​

The Canadian duo of Sebastian Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler quickly found themselves on the end of a cease and desist letter from LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, who had been running Death From Above Records since 2001. The 1979 was apparently the least amount of characters required to make the name significantly different and was also the year Grainger was born.

Santigold​

Philadelphian singer-songwriter Santi White released her self-titled 2008 debut album under the name Santogold. But for the 2012 follow-up, "Santogold is now Santigold". There was already a Santo Gold, a jewellery business owned by Baltimore film-maker Santo Victor Rigatuso.

 

[sadchild]

I posted this elsewhere but the original singer of Pantera Terry Glaze next fronted The Tracy Lords, but were forced to change it. So they became Lord Tracy.

FIBM: Originally, the band was called Tracy Lords, did she make you change it and have you ever met her?
Terry: she wanted us to pay her, we changed the name so we wouldn't have to. never met her, but would have liked to.

 

[sadchild]

The Swedish metal band Ghost, consisting of a frontman who dresses like an evil Pope while the rest of the band are simply referred to as 'nameless ghouls', was forced to change their name for releases in the US because a Japanese psych-rock band named Ghost already existed.

Swedish metal band Ghost must henceforth be referred to as Ghost B.C. in the U.S. because of “legal reasons.”

Here's how they felt about it

"B.C. is obviously a pun on 'Before Christ', but it's just an amendment. In our world, we're just gonna be called Ghost, and when we refer to our records, it's gonna be the Scandinavian version, saying Ghost only, and we are never ever ever ever ever ever gonna call ourselves Ghost B.C. in any way. It's like saying 'I'm going out and buy a Ferrari STE' — you don't do that, you just say, 'I'm gonna buy a Ferrari.' The B.C. is silent, and as soon as we can, it's gonna be taken away forever."

It didn't last long. They dropped the BC two years later.

Ghost have finally rid themselves of the “BC” suffix they’d been forced to use as part of their name in the US. The change was made in 2013 after label officials got worried about potential rights claims over the Swedish band’s original title – even though one of the Nameless Ghouls says none were ever raised. The Ghoul tells Loudwire: “There was never a lawsuit. Unfortunately, in the legal world in general – and it’s not an anti-American thing – people are so conscious about being sued.

Before:

After:

 

[sadchild]

When their friend/bassist quit their band The Colours, sisters Debbi & Vicki Peterson’s newspaper ad was answered by Susanna Hoffs. They renamed themselves The Bangs and released “Getting Out Of Hand” on their own record label in 1981.

Airplay on KROQ FM attracted Miles Copeland (IRS Records / Go Go’s) who signed them to his short-lived label Faulty Products and became their manager. When a New Jersey band claimed ownership of the name The Bangs, they changed their named to The Bangles - and scored 8 top 40 hits within a five year span, including 2 chart-toppers and 2 number two hits!

 

[Channel98]

Yes, the Bangs released Getting Out Of Hand/Call On Me on their own label, Los Angeles-based DownKiddie Records (#001), in December 1981. The first pressings had a yellow label. Later pressings had a blue label or a green label. Copies with the green label are the rarest. Good luck trying to find one!

 

[HecticArt]

 

[scotchandcigar]

well I guess it's time to repost this, and take a cold shower after

 

[sadchild]

Two British DJs called themselves The Dust Brothers, naming themselves after the US production duo known for working with Tone Loc, Young MC, Beastie Boys and Beck. Once they gained international attention and went to tour the US, they had to change their name to Chemical Brothers.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Two British DJs called themselves The Dust Brothers, naming themselves after the US production duo known for working with Tone Loc, Young MC, Beastie Boys and Beck. Once they gained international attention and went to tour the US, they had to change their name to Chemical Brothers.

Didn't know that. The old and new names leave very different impressions.

 

[Channel98]

It was a hard-knock life for Easy Life. The British alt-rock band was forced to change its name after easyGroup filed a lawsuit claiming the name infringes on the trademark of easyLife, a British online retailer of clothing, household goods, tools, garden supplies and healthcare products. (easyGroup owns more than 200 "easy"-branded products including easyBus and London-based easyJet.) In October 2023, Easy Life became Hard Life.

Pop group Easy Life forced to change name after objection from easyGroup

Leicester-formed band decide not to defend lawsuit due to financial burden, after easyJet brand owner calls them ‘brand thieves’

www.theguardian.com

The band spells its name, and the titles of most of its singles and albums, with small letters.Here is hard life's current single, tears.

 

[scotchandcigar]

It was a hard-knock life for Easy Life. The British alt-rock band was forced to change its name after easyGroup filed a lawsuit claiming the name infringes on the trademark of easyLife, a British online retailer of clothing, household goods, tools, garden supplies and healthcare products. (easyGroup owns more than 200 "easy"-branded products including easyBus and London-based easyJet.) In October 2023, Easy Life became Hard Life.

Pop group Easy Life forced to change name after objection from easyGroup

Leicester-formed band decide not to defend lawsuit due to financial burden, after easyJet brand owner calls them ‘brand thieves’

www.theguardian.com

The band spells its name, and the titles of most of its singles and albums, with small letters.Here is hard life's current single, tears.

So they changed it to the opposite of the original. That makes sense.

 

[kingchuck69]

Two British DJs called themselves The Dust Brothers, naming themselves after the US production duo known for working with Tone Loc, Young MC, Beastie Boys and Beck. Once they gained international attention and went to tour the US, they had to change their name to Chemical Brothers.

The American Dust Brothers gave us this: