6.11.2008

Bands Named After Actresses


Eve’s Plum
Named for the actress that played the middle Brady sister, the New York band made two records for Sony in the mid-90s before calling it quits after failing to make a dent in the charts. The band’s singer, Colleen Fitzpatrick, took a stab at a solo career under the name Vitamin C, but she too, came up short in terms of chart success.

The Gena Rowlands Band
Bob Massey is at the center of this Washington, D.C. post-punk outfit whose rotating cast includes members of Fugazi, Tsunami and Dismemberment Plan. As one might expect from a band named after an indie movie icon, Massey loves the fairer sex: “I find women and God to be metaphors for each other on a certain level.” The band also name drops another famous actress in a song title from a 2005 LP: “Garofalo, C’est Moi”
Mp3: Gena Rowlands Band – “Flesh and Spirits”

Jodie Foster’s Army
Formed in 1981 and named for a song that would later become their band name, JFA, short for Jodie Foster’s Army, played their first show opening for Black Flag before going on to become an influential Southern California skate punk act. The name is a reference to John Hinkley Jr.’s attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, who he wanted to kill in order to impress a young Jodie Foster.
Mp3: JFA – “Jodie Foster’s Army”

Kathleen Turner Overdrive
There are at least four bands and one comic troupe with this name, which rivals GG Allin Parsons Project and Brian Jonestown Massacre in the pantheon of great band name mash-ups. It was also the name of a fictional band from the film “High Fidelity.” Barry (Jack Black) says: “We’re no longer called Sonic Death Monkey. We’re on the verge of becoming Kathleen Turner Overdrive, but just for tonight, we are Barry Jive and his Uptown Five.”

Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head
Seattle Times says of the new band, who’s moniker comes from the haircut Natalie Portman donned for “V Is For Vendetta”: “…might be the most up and coming band in all of Seattle. There are other groups who definitely have a spark, but none can compare to the fast and furious popularity they have gained.”
Mp3: Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head – “Me + Yr Daughter”

The Real Tuesday Weld
Led by Brit Stephen Coates, the jazzy electronica band’s name came from a dream Coates had involving the Oscar-winning actress and 1930s vocalist Al Bowlly.
Mp3: Real Tuesday Weld – “Blood Sugar Love”

Sandy Duncan’s Eye
Thanks to a tumor behind her left eye which damaged the optic nerve, the actress who played Sandy Hogan on the sitcom “The Hogan Family” is the inspiration behind this L.A. via Seattle punk rock band who recorded a single for Sub Pop before disbanding.
Mp3: Sandy Duncan’s Eye – “525NTSC”

Wynona Riders
Signed to influential punk label Lookout!, this East Bay pop punk band broke up onstage at 924 Gilman St, a venerable punk co-op, during the farewell performance from another East Bay band, Fifteen. Singer Ron “Skip” Greer would later run for mayor of Alameda, California.
Mp3: Wynona Riders – “Pack Rat”

RELATED:
Podcast#4: Bands Named After Cities | Rage in a Direction Contrary to the Machine

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