Metal umlaut
A metal umlaut (also known as röck döts)[1] is a diacritic that is sometimes used gratuitously or decoratively over letters in the names of mainly hard rock or heavy metal bands—for example, those of Blue Öyster Cult, Queensrÿche, Motörhead, the Accüsed, Mötley Crüe and the parody bands Spın̈al Tap and Green Jellÿ.
Usage
Among English speakers, the use of umlaut marks and other diacritics with a blackletter typeface is a form of foreign branding, which has been attributed to a desire for a "gothic horror" feel.[2] The metal umlaut is not generally intended to affect the pronunciation of the band's name, unlike the umlaut in German (where the letters u and ü, a and ä, as well as o and ö, represent distinct vowels) and the Scandinavian languages (where å/ä and a, ö/ø and o are distinct letters).
History
The first gratuitous use of the umlaut in the name of a hard rock or metal band appears to have been by Blue Öyster Cult in 1970. Blue Öyster Cult's website states it was added by guitarist and keyboardist Allen Lanier,[3] but rock critic Richard Meltzer claims to have suggested it to their producer and manager Sandy Pearlman just after Pearlman came up with the name: "I said, 'How about an umlaut over the O?' Metal had a Wagnerian aspect anyway."[4]
Reactions
Speakers of languages which use an umlaut to designate a pronunciation change may understand the intended effect, but perceive the result differently. When Mötley Crüe visited Germany, singer Vince Neil said the band couldn't figure out why "the crowds were chanting, 'Mutley Cruh! Mutley Cruh!'"[5]
These decorative umlauts have been parodied in film and fiction; in an interview about the mockumentary film This Is Spın̈al Tap, fictional rocker David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) says, "It's like a pair of eyes. You're looking at the umlaut, and it's looking at you."[6] The heavy metal band Gwar parodied the use of metal umlauts in a lyric insert included with its first record, stylizing the song names with gratuitous diacritics.[7] In 1997, the satirical newspaper The Onion published an article titled "Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Umlauts."[8]
Band or album name examples
English-speaking countries
- The Accüsed – American сrossover thrash band.
- Assück – American grindcore band.
- Barbariön – Australian metal band.
- Beowülf – California thrash metal band.
- Blue Öyster Cult – American hard rock band.
- The Crüxshadows – American alternative rock band.
- Dälek – American hip-hop band.
- Daniel Amos – American Christian alternative rock band released their ninth album in 1991 titled Kalhöun with band's name contracted to dä.
- Death in June – British dark folk/experimental band used umlauts and accented "e"s in their name and titles on the original releases of their albums The Wörld Thät Sümmer (1985) and Thé Wäll Öf Säcrificé (1989), spelling their name, Deäth In Jüne and Déäth In Jüné, respectively on each.
- Deströyer 666 – thrash metal/black metal band.
- Dethklok – fictional metal band from the cartoon Metalocalypse, sometimes spelled as "Dëthkløk" in the band's logo.
- Green Jellÿ – comedy metal band, originally spelled (and still pronounced) Green Jellö.
- G̈r̈oẗus̈ – Experimental band, their logo design has umlaut marks over only the consonants.
- Hüsker Dü – American punk band (the game "Hūsker Dū?" was published with macrons instead of umlauts).
- Infernäl Mäjesty – Canadian thrash metal band.
- Jack Ü – American EDM DJ duo, side group and collaborative project, consisting of Mad Decent founder Diplo and Owsla founder Skrillex.
- Kïll Cheerleadër – Canadian punk metal band.
- King Creosote – Scottish band sometimes used a three-dot "umlaut" in some of their artwork, over the "i."
- Lȧȧz Rockit – American thrash band. German pronunciation would roughly be "Let's rock it."
- Läther – album by Frank Zappa, used an umlaut in its title.
- Leftöver Crack – American anarcho punk band.
- Living Colour's stylized logo has an umlaut over the u.
- Løvë – Aaron Carter EP
- Maxïmo Park – British indie rock band.
- Mïngle Härde – British hardcore punk/noise rock band.
- Mötley Crüe – American glam metal band.
- Motörhead – English rock band.
- Moxy Früvous – Canadian political satire band.
- Night on Bröcken – debut album by American progressive metal band Fates Warning. Apparently a reference to the German mountain Brocken, which is not spelled with an umlaut.
- Queensrÿche – American progressive metal band.
- Rrröööaaarrr and Dimension Hatröss – albums by Canadian thrash metal band Voivod. They also used it for their songs "Korgüll the Exterminator" and "Chaosmöngers", which appear on Rrröööaaarrr and Dimension Hatröss respectively. The band's name is also occasionally spelled “Voïvod” such as on the cover of the album Phobos.
- Ruste⃛d Root – American jam band uses a three-dot umlaut over the "e" in its logo, as seen on its album covers.
- Spın̈al Tap – British semi-fictional band, with a dotless letter i and a metal umlaut over the n.
- Stöner – American stoner rock band.
- Toilet Böys – American laser punk band from New York City.
- Ünloco – American nu metal band.
- Up 2 Më – album of Yeat, used an umlaut in its title.
- Yächtley Crëw – Yacht-rock band from Los Angeles
- Znöwhite – American thrash band.
- 2 Alivë – album of Yeat, used an umlaut in its title.
Other countries
- Аквариум – Russian rock band, whose name is stylized as "Åквариум" on their logo, and they use "Å" as their symbol.
- Crashdïet – Swedish glam metal band.
- Dün – French progressive rock and zeuhl band.[9]
- Girugämesh – Japanese rock band often stylise their name with an umlaut over the a.
- Infernal – Danish electronic band, was stylized as Infërnal on their album Waiting for Daylight.
- Insidiöus Törment – Liechtenstein-based old school heavy metal band who use gratuitous umlauts, but pronounce them nonetheless.
- Kobaïan – French progressive rock band Magma sings in this constructed language, which has many diacritic symbols in its written form.
- Közi – Japanese rock musician.
- Mägo de Oz – Spanish folk metal band.
- Moottörin Jyrinä – Finnish heavy metal band, the umlaut in Moottörin is gratuitous, but the one in Jyrinä is not.
- Motör Militia – Bahraini thrash metal band.
- Mütiilation – French black metal band.
- Püdelsi – Polish rock band.
- Röyksopp - Norwegian electronic duo (the correct Norwegian would be "Røyksopp")
- Törr – Czech black metal band.
Other examples
Video games
- Brütal Legend – action-adventure video game
- Dynamite Düx – a beat 'em up video game
- Lars Ümlaüt – a character in the Guitar Hero series
- DieselStörmers – a crowdfunded in 2014 pre-released steampunk multiplayer platformer
- Crüe Ball – a Pinball game featuring the music of Mötley Crüe
Other
- Häagen-Dazs – an ice cream brand (introduced 1961)
- Stüssy - the skateboard / punk / streetware brand started by Shawn Stussy (introduced 1984)
- Cröonchy Stars – a discontinued breakfast cereal (introduced 1988)
- Tonfön – the Tongan telephone company (introduced 2002)
- Brüno – film by Sacha Baron Cohen (2009)
- Jason Derulo stylised his stage name as "Jason Derülo" on his 2010 debut album and its promotion
- Löded Diper – name of the fictional band that Rodrick Heffley plays in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series
- Deathtöngue – the original name of a metal band in the comic Bloom County (changed, after media publicity, to "Billy and the Boingers")
- Krëfel - Belgian chain of consumer electronics. In this case the intention is however not to project a 'gothic' quality but rather 'quality'.
- Asüna - Canadian automobile brand
- In a series 8 episode of Taskmaster, Joe Thomas and Sian Gibson created the fictional 1980s band "Shoë" (pronounced "show") in a task to design an iconic album cover. Thomas's description of using a "rock 'n' roll umlaut" coined the episode's title.
- Djerba - a Tunisian island which hosted the 28th Francophonie (OIF) summit from 19th to 20th November 2022 stylised its event as "Djerbä - XVIIIe Sommet de la Francophonie" on its event logo.[10]
See also
- Devil horns, heavy metal hand signal
- Disemvoweling in band names
- Faux Cyrillic (Faцx Cyяillic)
- Foreign branding (Häagen-Dazs, Fahrvergnügen)
- Nu metal, also stylized as nü-metal
- Sensational spelling
- Über
- Word play
References
- ^ Gray, R. (2014). Great Brand Blunders: The Worst Marketing and Social Media Meltdowns of All Time...and How to Avoid Your Own. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-78059-230-5. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
- ^ Garofalo, Rebee (1997). Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA. Allyn & Bacon. p. 292. ISBN 0-205-13703-2.
Some groups, for example Blue Öyster Cult and Motörhead, added gratuitous umlauts to their names to conjure up a more generic gothic horror, a practice that continued into the 1980s with Mötley Crüe and others.
- ^ "BÖC Retrospectively: Stalk Forrest Group 1969–1970". blueoystercult.com. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
- ^ Lisa Gidley (2000). "Hell Holes: Spin̈al Tap's main man explains the importance of the umlaut". CMJ. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
- ^ Eric Spitznagel (November 27, 2009). "Motley Crue's Vince Neil is Finally Bored With Boobs". Vanity Fair.
- ^ "CMJ New Music Monthly". CMJ Network, Inc. Oct 29, 2000. Retrieved Oct 29, 2020 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Gwar - Hell-O!". Discogs. 1988.
- ^ "Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Umlauts". The Onion. 30 April 1997.
- ^ "Booklet CD Eros" (in English and French). Soleil Zeuhl. 2000. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
- ^ "2022, Djerbä Francophonie summit 1v". PostBeeld. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
External links
- My Life in Heavy Metal by Steve Almond (excerpt)
- The Döts (Dave Krinsky)
- Would you like umlauts with that? (PDF) by Bruce Campbell
- The Metal Umlaut in the Liff Dictionary
- Early history of this page (screencast) by Jon Udell
