Nazz

Nazz was an American rock band formed in Philadelphia in 1967 guitarist/songwriter Todd Rundgren and bassist Carson Van Osten. The drummer was Thom Mooney and the lead vocalist/keyboardist was Robert "Stewkey" Antoni. Their first gig was in 1967 opening for the Doors in 1967. 

Like the Doors, their name was just Nazz but people usually referred to them as The Nazz but it is just Nazz on their 3 albums. Their name comes from a track by The Yardbirds called "The Nazz Are Blue." That song doesn't explain the word's meaning (see lyrics below) but as far as I can find an earlier usage in 1952 was from American comedian Lord Buckley who had a monologue called "The Nazz" on one of his records. It that monologue, "Nazz" is a reference to Jesus of Nazareth. In later years, Todd Rundgren stated in an interview that they didn't know about the Lord Buckley or The Yardbirds' references. 

It turned out that another band in Phoenix, Arizona that formed around the same time also used The Nazz as their name but since the Philly band had a hit they changed their name to Alice Cooper.

Between 1968 and 1970, Nazz released three albums between 1968 - 1970 - Nazz, Nazz Nazz, and Nazz III but are best remembered for their first single "Open My Eyes" with the B side "Hello It's Me".

They actually broke up in 1969 but the third album came out the following year.

Todd Rundgren followed up with a string and continuing solo career and stints with his band Utopia. In 1972, Todd recorded a new version of "Hello It's Me" on his Something/Anything album and it reached number 5 on U.S. charts.

 

"Open Your Eyes" and the video released with it is a bit of psychedelic
with some Beatles' A Hard Day's Night as channeled through The Monkees.

The Yardbirds' "The Nazz Are Blue"

...But no matter what's done to me baby

I guess I'll always be blue

I got a hundred and fifty things

Now all I gotta find is you

I got a hundred and fifty things

Now all I gotta find is you

And if the Nazz don't help me baby

You better forget about me too

The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1999 in Vancouver, British Columbia.



The name of the band was chosen by member Carl Newman, who has said that he came up with it after watching a classic Japanese film called The Pornographers. (Not to be confused with several other films by that name - none of them "pornographic.")

A common assumption at the time of the band's first fame was that it was a reference to evangelist Jimmy Swaggart's claim that rock and roll was "the new pornography."

The band has released five albums to date: Mass Romantic (2000), Electric Version (2003), Twin Cinema (2005), Challengers (2007), and Together (2010). A live album recorded on their 2006 tour is available only at concerts and on the band's website.




Band Members:
Dan Bejar of Destroyer, Swan Lake, and Hello, Blue Roses
Kathryn Calder, solo artist and of Immaculate Machine
Neko Case, solo artist, also of Maow, The Corn Sisters, and Cub
John Collins of The Evaporators and Destroyer
Kurt Dahle of Limblifter and Age of Electric
Todd Fancey, solo artist (as Fancey) and of Limblifter
Carl Newman, solo artist (as A.C. Newman), also of Superconductor and Zumpano
Blaine Thurier, independent filmmaker

Nirvana

The 90s grunge rock band Nirvana is quite different from the Buddhist state of being they chose for a band name.

Nirvana was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.



They started out with names like Skid Row, Pen Cap Chew, Bliss, and Ted Ed Fred. According to a piece in Rolling Stone, Kurt Cobain said Nirvana was chosen because "I wanted a name that was kind of beautiful or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk rock name like the Angry Samoans."

In Buddhism, nirvana is the ethereal plane of enlightenment, reached when a soul has gained enough wisdom to free itself from the cycle of reincarnation.  Nirvana is that stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished.

The word comes from the Sanskrit nir and vati and literally translates to "a blowing out," as in a candle. In shramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is union with the Brahman (Supreme Being).

Though the band had only three studio albums, Amazon lists 72 Nirvana "albums" starting with the band's first single, "Love Buzz", in November 1988 on the Seattle independent record label Sub Pop, and its debut album, Bleach, followed by their breakout release, Nevermind and finally In Utero.

On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head at his Seattle home.