Third Eye Blind

 

Third Eye Blind (sometimes abbreviated 3eb) is an American alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. They are best known for their songs, "Semi-Charmed Life,"  "Jumper" and "How's It Going to Be" which all reached the Top 10 of the US Billboard Hot 100, and "Never Let You Go" reaching the Top 20. Third Eye Blind has sold around 12 million records worldwide.

Their Wikimedia entry has a very long list of lineup changes but nothing about the name. Their AllMusic entry says, "Formed in 1993, Third Eye Blind hail from San Francisco, where singer Stephan Jenkins made his name as a solo musician after earning an English degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Jenkins soon decided to piece a band together. After several lineups failed to gel, former Fungo Mungo bassist Arion Salazar joined the group, which Jenkins had named Third Eye Blind (in reference to the metaphysical concept of a mind's eye). At one of the band's early shows, guitarist Kevin Cadogan -- a former student of Joe Satriani who later became involved in the northern California ska and punk scenes -- introduced himself to Jenkins. Cadogan subsequently joined Third Eye Blind in late 1995, bringing along former Counting Crows drummer Brad Hargreaves as well."

The third eye (also known as the inner eye) is a mystical and esoteric concept referring in part to the ajna (brow) chakra in certain Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. It is a representation of mystical intuition and insight—an inner vision and enlightenment beyond what the physical eyes can see. It is traditionally depicted as being located in the middle of the forehead. It is also spoken of as the gate that leads within to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness.

The third eye - to which most of us are "blind" - is often associated with visions, clairvoyance, precognition, telepathy, ESP, and out-of-body experiences. People who have allegedly developed the capacity to utilize their third eyes are sometimes known as seers.

There is also a symbolic third eye (all-knowing eye) that appears on the back of the U.S. dollar bill.

Third Eye Blind

Ursa Major

Third Eye Blind: A Collection (The Best of)

Blue

 

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Toad the Wet Sprocket, House of Blues, Downtown Disney 2014.

Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986. They didn't have a band name and their first gig was approaching. They chose the name "Toad the Wet Sprocket" as a joke and temporarily, but vocalist Glen Phillips later called it "a joke that went on too long." 

The name had been used once before, by a short-lived British blues band of the late 1970s whose track "Blues in A" appeared on the 1980 Metal for Muthas compilation. The earlier band had split up when the American band was formed and they were unaware that the name had ever been used by another band.

The name comes from a Monty Python comedy sketch. The bit was called "Rock Notes" and was about a newscaster delivering a nonsensical music news report. Python member Eric Idle, the sketch's original performer, said in 1999 that when he wrote the sketch about rock musicians, he tried to think of a name that would be so silly nobody would ever use it. He was shocked when he was driving in Los Angeles and heard a DJ say that a song was performed by Toad the Wet Sprocket.

The band is comprised of Glen Phillips (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, mandolin), Todd Nichols (lead guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Dean Dinning (bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), and Randy Guss (drums, percussion).

They had chart success in the 1990s with singles that included "Walk on the Ocean", "All I Want", "Something's Always Wrong", "Fall Down", and "Good Intentions". 

The band broke up in 1998 to pursue other projects; however, they began touring the United States again in 2006 for short-run tours each summer in small venues. In December 2010, the band announced their official reunion as a full-time working band and started writing songs for their first studio album of new material since 1997.

   

Updated April 2020

Toto

Toto (stylized as TOTO) was formed in 1977 in Los Angeles.  Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock, R&B, blues and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. The group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009. 

Toto by W. W. Denslow
from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

In the early 1980s, band members told the press that the band was named after the dog in The Wizard of Oz. The other origin story is that Jeff Porcaro had written TOTO on one of their demos just to be a marker on the tapes. Bassist David Hungate saw it and said that “in toto” was Latin for “in all, totally, entirely, or all-encompassing.” That might have been a secondary reason to stick with it. It was also easy to remember.

Toto from the Falling in Between Tour (Milan, 2006)

David Paich and Jeff Porcaro were session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band. They put together the group produced the band's eponymous debut album in 1978. It had a Top 5 single "Hold the Line." But their more global fame came with Toto IV (1982) with hits "Africa" and "Rosanna" which reached number 2. Band members played on many other bands' albums as session players throughout the 80s.

 

The Turtles, Flo and Eddie and The Crossfires

 

Once upon a time, there was a high school band called "The Nightriders" with Mark Volman, Don Murray and Dale Walton. Like most high school, garage bands, they went through changes in members. In 1963, they changed the band name to The Crossfires and began performing guitar-driven surf instrumentals.  The band now included other Los Angeles high school students - Howard Kaplan (changed in 1965 to Kaylan), Al Nichol, and Chuck Portz. The Crossfires as a surf-rock group was active from 1963 to 1965.

When the rock and folk-rock sound became the most popular genres, they rebranded themselves as a folk-rock group under the name The Tyrtles. The stylized misspelling follows that of The Byrds and The Beatles but soon opted to correct the spelling.

Kaylan and Volman dropped the saxophones and became the band's vocalists with Kaylan as lead singer, and one of the keyboardists. Meanwhile, Volman began to harmonize with Kaylan's lead and became the third guitarist and percussionist in what was now a sextet.

They were now The Turtles on White Whale records. Their breakthrough hit was a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" which reached the Billboard Top Ten in the late summer of 1965.

Their biggest hit is "Happy Together" which knocked the Beatles' "Penny Lane" out of number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1967. It was The Turtles' only #1 single and it remained there for three weeks.

In 1968, they released a concept album called The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands. They recorded 11 songs in 11 different styles and pretended to be 11 different bands with names like "Nature's Children" and "The Fabulous Dawgs." They got two hits from the album:  "Elenore" and "You Showed Me" which h both made it into the top 10.

Their 1969 single "You Showed Me" (written by Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds) was their last top 10 single.

The Turtles released a second compilation album, More Golden Hits, and a B-sides and rarities album, Wooden Head in 1970 and disbanded.

Kaylan and Volman made an unlikely move and joined the Mothers of Invention. They used the name The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie. Their contract with White Whale Records prohibited them from using the name The Turtles or even their own names in billings! Eventually, the name was shortened to Flo & Eddie. They recorded with the Mothers, appeared in Zappa's film 200 Motels in 1971, and later released records on their own.

Starting in 2010, the Turtles Featuring Flo & Eddie toured throughout the United States as part of the "Happy Together" tour that has continued and has included other acts from the 60s and 70s such as Gary Puckett, Mitch Ryder, Mark Lindsay, Mark Farner, Gary Lewis, Micky Dolenz, the Buckinghams, the Cowsills, the Grass Roots, and the Association.

Two box sets, The Complete Original Album Collection and All the Singles. 

 

Three Dog Night

From left: Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, Danny Hutton, 1969

Three Dog Night is an American rock band, best known for their music recorded between 1968 and 1975.

They formed in 1968 with a line-up of three lead singer consisting of Danny Hutton, Cory Wells and Chuck Negron.

The band registered 21 Billboard Top 40 hits (with three hitting number one) between 1969 and 1975. The hits helped introduce mainstream audiences to the work of many songwriters, including Paul Williams, Hoyt Axton, Laura Nyro, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, and Leo Sayer.

According to their official site, from 1969-1974, nobody had more Top 10 hits, moved more records, or sold more concert tickets.

As of 2013, they are still recording and making live appearances.

The band's name was explained in the commentary included in the CD set Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story, 1965-1975.  Danny Hutton's girlfriend suggested the name after reading a magazine article about indigenous Australians, in which it was explained that on cold nights they would customarily sleep in a hole in the ground using a dingo (a native species of wild dog) to stay warm. On colder nights they would sleep with two dogs and if the night were freezing, it was a "three dog night." They wanted to include the "3" in the band's name to play off the idea that the band had 3 lead singers.

Some of their hit singles include: Joy To The World, One, Easy To Be Hard, Old Fashion Love Song, Mama Told Me (Not To Come), Out In The Country, Eli's Coming, and Celebrate.

     

Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy at the Manchester Apollo, 1983

L to R: Sykes, Lynott, Gorham, Wharton; Downey not visible.

Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott, met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of twelve studio albums.

Thin Lizzy are best known for their songs "Whiskey in the Jar", "Jailbreak" and "The Boys Are Back In Town" from the album Jailbreak.

After Lynott's death in 1986, various incarnations of the band have emerged over the years based around guitarists Scott Gorham and John Sykes (Sykes left the band in 2009).

Thin Lizzy original lead guitarist, Eric Bell, came up with the band's name.  He was a fan of  John Mayall's Bluesbreakers band and noted that Eric Clapton was reading the comic "The Beano" on the cover of the  1966 album Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. In a sister comic, The Dandy, there is a robot character named Tin Lizzie (like the Ford Model T car). Bell suggested it and a change from "Tin" to "Thin" to play on the Irish accent's propensity to drop the 'h'.

30 Seconds To Mars

           


30 SECONDS TO MARS was started in 1998 by actor Jared Leto and his brother Shannon. Matt Wachter later joined the band as bassist and keyboard player. After working with guitarists kevin Drake and Solon Bixler, Tomo Miličević eventually came in to be the fourth memeber.

A reader, Mike Driscoll, alerted us to info on Wikpedia about the band's name origin.

Former member Matt Wachter has said that the band's name "actually comes from a thesis that the band found online that was written by a former Harvard professor. And one of the subsections of the thesis was titled 'thirty seconds to mars' and he goes on to talk about the exponential growth of technology that relates to humans and saying that we are quite literally thirty seconds to mars. What it means to us is, we thought it best described our music, in short."

Then again, Jared Leto said in an interview that "the name 30 Seconds To Mars has little to do with space, the universe or anything like that. It is a name that works on several different levels. Most importantly, it is a good representation of our sound. It's a phrase that is lyrical, suggestive, cinematic, and filled with immediacy. It has some sense of otherness to it. The concept of space is so overwhelming and all encompassing I doubt there is a song written that doesn't fall within it."

To further clear (or muddy) the origin waters, Shannon Leto, supporting the Wachter explanation said that the name "represents a lot of things. This professor had a thesis. It was talking about where technology was going; the evolution of man and how that plays a role. A sub-category was 30 Seconds to Mars. It was like the exponential growth of humans. We are literally 30 seconds away from Mars. Everything is right here and right now; everything is just so crazy and fast."

As of this posting, the band has 14 albums available.

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants (TMBG) are an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell.

In the early years, the band was just Flansburgh, Linnell and a drum machine. In the early nineties, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are Flansburgh, Linnell, Marty Beller, Dan Miller, and Danny Weinkauf.

They make unconventional, experimental, alternative music and in the past few years have also found success with children's music and in theme music for television programs and films.

TMBG have released 14 studio albums including the platinum Flood and the gold children's music album Here Come the ABCs. They have won two Grammy Awards including one for their song "Boss of Me", which served as the theme to Malcolm in the Middle.

 


The band's name comes from a great cult film favorite also called They Might Be Giants, which starred George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, about a "crazy" man who imagines himself to be Sherlock Holmes.

The film's title is a reference to Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes. In that book, Quixote says the windmills he attempts to fight "might be giants."

 

The documentary Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) is the story of the band.



Here Comes Science
Here Come The 123s
Here Come the ABCs 


No!
Flood
Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants
Apollo 18
Factory Showroom
The Else
They Might Be Giants