Harley (Nice), Bolan (Feld), Bowie (Jones), Sylvian (Batt), Jansen (Batt), Numan (Webb), Ant (Goddard), Starr (Starkey), et al. Most artists don't choose this route.

Perhaps this was just a fashion thing but perhaps not, because this hasn't gone away (particularly, musically, in the rap genre) and some of course, just use one name, whether (a) birth name or a performance (created) name.

Members of Split Enz, in contrast, kept their names, but most band members used their middle names in preference to their first names, and retained their surnames (also) as their performing names.

A matter of choice and individual personality, including the workings of the individual ego, I guess. Language, influence, culture and identity, must play some part. Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Geronimo, all spring to mind. Perhaps a desire to be...Perhaps (today) even something as mundane as accounting and or legal clarity, a separation from the private person's domestic activity.

Whatever, a system that is unique to homo sapiens, the human menagerie, as far as is known...and more than one name only became common post the Norman Conquest, after 1066, with the SLOW development of land law (the really modern system with which we are all familiar, is barely a century old, circa 1925). Widespread property ownership - land, and eventually, intellectual property, which is really what (we) are talking about here, is still really, not that old in the context of about 200,000 years of homo sapiens history (until recently it was thought that we've 'been around' as a species about half that of the new possibility).

I didn't visit London before 1972. Only in the mid 1990's, did I get to know it much better. When I lived in the North of England, about that (1972) time, one address that was familiar to me was 'HARLEY STREET', famous for the 'preservation' (health) of the individual, or even, to some extent, the 'remodelling' of the individual. I think that Steve chose well. Cockney Rebel's original delivery, was pure, confident, LONDON...

('Reply') PART 2 - from a different angle:

For me (a slight obsessive, admittedly), the most interesting groups that emerged in the 1970's (the time when it would have the most effect on me, as a record buying teenager), the most interesting triptych of groups, all shared a double name - COCKNEY REBEL, ROXY MUSIC and SPLIT ENZ. (There were others T REX and BEBOP DELUXE, for instance, that were also important to me).

All three of my favourites reveal (again, to me, maybe to others), a greater DEPTH of substance, in their names alone. These guys were really trying to shake things up, musically, visually, culturally. Cockney Rebel may have wanted to convey a style, that wasn't the norm for a pop-group prior to their emergence, they had a violinist (in the very same year as Roxy Music), for instance. Split Ends (as they were originally) had a violinist even earlier, in 1972 (but they were yet to become known, at least generally, in Europe and elsewhere outside of New Zealand and Australia). They also had a percussionist and spoon-player (Noel Crombie), who also did their hair and designed some of his own fellow members costumes. All three of my favourite bands were in essence, giftedly CREATIVE.

What does the name Cockney Rebel, instantaneously convey? - a LONDON band. Roxy Music - like Split Enz, this wasn't their first name choice - it emerged that there was another 'Roxy', in the USA, so they had to add 'Music', but this was advantageous - it implied a new field of music, in the same way that Cockney Rebel were standing slightly aloof of what went on before.

I think Split Enz (my view), changed the name of their band, at the time they were breaking through, because at that point, the band had both New Zealand and English nationals, within their musicians. It's also arguable that 'z' is cooler than 'ds', within a band name, perhaps.

These three bands have made my own and hundreds of thousands of others cultural lives, more interesting, so thanx to them. Roxy Music went out again in 2022 (when I saw'heard Cockney Rebel most recently), there is no sign that Split Enz may be coming out in the foreseeable and it's highly likely that I will be seeing and hearing Harley et al (again) next! All the Best. J.

('Reply') PART 3 - from yet a third angle:

That of, the album title;

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (Harley, 1975) EMI-

The third album and my second favourite, of Rebel's. Harley is intelligent and shrewd. He tapped into his own thoughts and feelings of the time (why wouldn't he?) This period represents the zenith(?) of Harley and Cockney Rebel's (commercial) success, popularity (in my view).

For me, it is littered, lyrically, with movie world, historical culture and literary references. Harley and Cockney Rebel are now stars (beyond initial cult status). Teddy boys and gang culture pervaded the first three albums (in my view). Europe is also important (as always), in the story so far...

The (air-raid) siren at the start of the title track (a decade before Frankie Goes To Hollywood used the same opening sound effect to one of their own massive singles), together with the title of the track, reminds me of one of my favourite (1940's) films written by Noel Coward, THIS HAPPY BREED (1944, directed by David Lean). It encapsulates the past and points to the future (?)


ADDENDA

Of course, there is the (more direct) 1946 film of the same name. I feel a greater connection however, to the British film.


I can't help it but the track, '49th Parallel' (Harley, 1975), reminds me of THE 39 STEPS (the play and the Hitchcock directed 1935 film). A quick name drop - my late Dad was standing (in the former) Arden Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon once, when he turned around and Robert Donat (the star of the 1935 film) was behind him. Another name drop - Sasha, my partner's, best later childhood friend's family, knew Noel Coward (THIS HAPPY BREED etc. etc.)


ADDENDA

(A name drop of my own experience. In either summer 1972 or 1973 (I think the former), I spent an afternoon with Dora Bryan and her children - with my best friend of the time (his family knew her) - the British comedy and noir actress. The land that we played on, has now been developed (sadly - especially given the pre-existing profusion of development in that part of the Fylde).

There is also a 1941 film called 49th Parallel.



Come Up and See Me, from the GREAT 1975 Harley & Cockney Rebel single, maybe taps into Mae West's famous sentiment 'Come up and see me sometime' (?) with maybe a harder edge, given Harley's unique narrative (?) Later (Love's A Prima Donna, 1976) Harley would reference Rita Hayworth, amongst others. Which reminds me, of another Harley and Ferry parallel (my separate thread refers) - their references (also) to Marilyn Monroe.

In any case, I loved the album, still do. And what of MR RAFFLES? This thread has come full circle. The most ethereal track of the third album, perhaps...

Stay your way. I very much hope that matters are progressing well for Steve...and he is feeling stronger...continuing to respond well to treatment...