From Easy Life to Blink-182, here are the notable artists who were forced to change their name
There’s probably nothing more frustrating for an artist than being forced to change the name they’ve spent so long building up. And when the company forcing you to do so is easyJet, it just makes it all the worse (are endless delayed flights not enough?!). So, when UK band Easy Life received notification that the airline company would be suing them over their name, it must’ve hit like a tonne of bricks. In fact, the whole situation is so absurd that many online thought the band were playing an elaborate prank on their fanbase. Sadly, though, the lawsuit was real, and the band will be changing their name from Friday after a “whirlwind” 10 days, stating the process would be too much of a “financial burden”.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time high-profile artists have been forced to change their name, and it certainly won’t be the last. Here, we run you through the prominent artists who have suffered the same fate, although, sometimes, it does work out for the better.
Blink-182
The trio of Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and then-drummer Scott Raynor came unstuck just before the release of their debut album Cheshire Cat in 1995 – they were performing under the name of just plain “Blink”, but there was already a Dublin-based band already with that title, signed to the rather well-known label Parlophone.
Given the rest of the week to come up with an alternative, the group added the number “182”, claiming that was the number of times that Al Pacino says the word “f**k” in the film Scarface.
The Chemical Brothers
When Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons started out as a DJing duo, they operated under the name of The Dust Brothers after the LA production team of EZ Mike and King Gizmo, who did the business for Beastie Boys and Beck among many others. Once the British Dust Brothers started to become popular and booked some US gigs, the inevitable trademark issue came into play and Ed and Tom renamed themselves The Chemical Brothers after their tune Chemical Beats.
The Verve
More legal spoilsport shenanigans: Richard Ashcroft and crew were originally known under the very shoegazey single word name “Verve”. That was, until after their 1993 debut album A Storm In Heaven, when they came to the attention of the veteran jazz label also called Verve. To avoid legal issues, they added “the definite article”, but that wouldn’t be the end of The Verve’s legal problems…
Linkin Park
The Californian rockers were known for a time as Xero, then became Hybrid Theory after a line-up reshuffle that saw the arrival of singer Chester Bennington. A self-titled EP under that name brought them to the attention of Warner Bros, who would only sign them if they changed their moniker to avoid confusion with the British trip-hop duo called Hybrid, whose tune Kid 2000 appears in the film Kevin And Perry Go Large. Linkin Park were named after Lincoln Park in Santa Monica, but tweaked the spelling to get hold of the website domain name!
Santigold
Philadelphian singer-songwriter Santi White released her self-titled 2008 debut album under the name Santogold, but the 2012 follow-up Master Of My Make Believe revealed a subtle change in moniker.
Change the graffiti on the bathroom wall, get your tattoo fixed, get your T-shirt airbrushed and change the name on your year-end list,” she announced in February 2009. “Santogold is now Santigold. She’s not telling you why, that’s just how it is.” The boring truth was that there was already a Santo Gold, a jewellery business owned by Baltimore film-maker Santo Victor Rigatuso.
Snow Patrol
Gary Lightbody and friends formed a band under the name Shrug in 1994, but soon discovered there were a number of artists with that name. They changed it to Polarbear and released an EP, titled Starfighter Pilot, in June 1997. However, Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery had also set up a band called Polar Bear and issued a self-titled EP in 1996. Result: Lightbody’s team became Snow Patrol.
Black Sabbath
Formed in Birmingham, England in 1968, Black Sabbath initially called themselves The Polka Tulk Blues Band, then Polka Tulk. By the time they started recording together, they were called Earth.
Performing as Earth, the band also recorded several demos, including ‘Song for Jim’, ‘The Rebel’, and ‘When I Came Down’. Shortly after recording, the band realised they were being mistaken for another psychedelic band in England, also called Earth, and revisited a song they had written in 1969 as inspiration for their new band name.
