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Metal umlaut

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Mötley Crüe's Hollywood Walk of Fame star, which shows the two metal umlauts used in the band's name

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

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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

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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

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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

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English-speaking countries

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Other countries

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Other examples

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Video games

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Other

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  • 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

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References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ "BÖC Retrospectively: Stalk Forrest Group 1969–1970". blueoystercult.com. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
  4. ^ Lisa Gidley (2000). "Hell Holes: Spin̈al Tap's main man explains the importance of the umlaut". CMJ. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
  5. ^ Eric Spitznagel (November 27, 2009). "Motley Crue's Vince Neil is Finally Bored With Boobs". Vanity Fair.
  6. ^ "CMJ New Music Monthly". CMJ Network, Inc. Oct 29, 2000. Retrieved Oct 29, 2020 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ "Gwar - Hell-O!". Discogs. 1988.
  8. ^ "Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Umlauts". The Onion. 30 April 1997.
  9. ^ "Booklet CD Eros" (in English and French). Soleil Zeuhl. 2000. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  10. ^ "2022, Djerbä Francophonie summit 1v". PostBeeld. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
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