Early Metal Bands that copied Secular Band Names & Styles

Early Barren Cross - Iron Maiden

Red Sea - Whitesnake

Ransom - Lita Ford/Pat Benatar

Rose - Danzig

Mad At The World - Bang Tango/Danzig

Rage Of Angels - Motley Crue/Ratt

alldatndensum wrote:

Pethead wrote:WhiteHeart was a conscious response to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

But they sound nothing alike.


As to the earlier mention of Whitecross sounding like Whitesnake, that is way off.  Whitecross sounded much more like Ratt in both guitar sound and style and Scott's voice sounding a lot like Stephen's.

I agree with both. But I remember Mark Gershmel saying that’s where WhiteHeart’s name came from.

Whitecross is definitely closer to Ratt, but the Triumphant Return cover is pretty close to WS’s s/t. I also think Attention Please is reminiscent of WS’s s/t.

As far as I understood the thread (and Seven can correct me), the point isn’t just sound-alikes, but similar names and imagery.

Pethead wrote:As far as I understood the thread (and Seven can correct me), the point isn’t just sound-alikes, but similar names and imagery.

That's right.

And, of course, it's more difficult to prove intent & motive than to compare & contrast names and songs. 

I was interested if there were interview or article sources where this was stated. Pethead's comment about Whiteheart is interesting as he had read/heard that their intention was to copy/imitate another band.

Pethead Wrote: But I remember Mark Gershmel saying that’s where WhiteHeart’s name came from.

It must have been when I was subscribed to HM magazine in the late 1990's that I read some interviews where some of the bands actually stated they were attempting to be the Christian version of a secular band, or had chosen their name to intentionally Christianize a secular band name. It's just a can't remember which bands they were and I have long since lost those magazines!

Sevenoneself wrote:

Pethead wrote:As far as I understood the thread (and Seven can correct me), the point isn’t just sound-alikes, but similar names and imagery.

That's right.

And, of course, it's more difficult to prove intent & motive than to compare & contrast names and songs. 

I was interested if there were interview or article sources where this was stated. Pethead's comment about Whiteheart is interesting as he had read/heard that their intention was to copy/imitate another band.

Pethead Wrote: But I remember Mark Gershmel saying that’s where WhiteHeart’s name came from.

It must have been when I was subscribed to HM magazine in the late 1990's that I read some interviews where some of the bands actually stated they were attempting to be the Christian version of a secular band, or had chosen their name to intentionally Christianize a secular band name. It's just a can't remember which bands they were and I have long since lost those magazines!

To be fair, I don’t think WhiteHeart were trying to imitate Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. What happened was that they thought a Christian band should have the opposite idea of “blackheart,” hence, WhiteHeart. It wasn’t about JJ’s music, but solely about the name.

Whiteheart, musically, reminds me of Toto. Like Whiteheart better though. Freaking talented band.

I found this band on the old nolifetilmetal page:

http://www.nolifetilmetal.com/corpse.html

Now, while some of the names on this list are likely coincidences, this one may be a little close to a certain Florida Death Metal band to be at least partially on purpose (using Metal Archives, they formed in 1992, but Cannibal Corpse's debut was from 1990).

I adore WhiteHeart. I put them just behind Petra in my favorites list.

Corpse is a tough one, because while it is similar to CC, it also just sounds like a typical old school death metal band name (e.g. Death, Obituary, Grave, etc.)