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, Hüsker Dü, 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 1971. Blue Öyster Cult's website states the umlaut was added by guitarist and keyboardist Allen Lanier,[3] as does Blue Öyster Cult chronicler[4] Bolle Gregmar,[5] but rock critic Richard Meltzer claims to have suggested it[6] 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."[7] Meltzer's claim is supported by an anecdote of Pearlman's.[8]

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!'"[9]

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."[10] 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.[11] In 1997, the satirical newspaper The Onion published an article titled "Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Umlauts."[12]

Examples in music

English-speaking countries

Other countries

Other examples

Video games

Other

  • Deathtöngue – the original name of a metal band in the comic Bloom County (changed, after media publicity, to "Billy and the Boingers")
  • Häagen-Dazs – an ice cream brand introduced in 1961.
  • Löded Diper – the name of the fictional band that Rodrick Heffley plays in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series.
  • Scäb – the name of a fictional band in the 1999 animated sitcom Home Movies.
  • Shoë – the name of a fictional band created by Joe Thomas and Sian Gibson in a series 8 episode of Taskmaster. Thomas's description of using a "rock 'n' roll umlaut" coined the episode's title.

See also

References

  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 10 May 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. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2006. It was at this time that the band was named, by Sandy Pearlman, 'Blue Oyster Cult.' (The umlaut being added later by Allen Lanier).
  4. ^ https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/13/5/138#fn006-humanities-13-00138
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Meltzer, Richard (2000). A whore just like the rest : the music writings of Richard Meltzer. [New York] : Da Capo Press. p. 358. ISBN 978-0-306-80953-8. Retrieved 14 January 2026. I'm the dummy, by the way, responsible for the umlaut over the 'O' ... before Motörhead, before Mötley Crüe, before Queensrÿche. Inotherwords, in addition to my many National League batting titles, I also (in all likelihood) introduced GRATUITOUS USE OF THE UMLAUT to U.S. (possibly even Anglo-U.S.) rock and roll. Love me or leave me!{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  7. ^ Lisa Gidley (2000). "Hell Holes: Spin̈al Tap's main man explains the importance of the umlaut". CMJ. Retrieved 12 September 2006. An alternate archive of this article can be found at https://books.google.com/books?id=zioEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11. This article dates the event to 1970, but most other sources tentatively agree that Blue Öyster Cult picked its name in 1971.
  8. ^ B[rowne], D[avid] (16 August 1991). "A Heavy Metal Obsession: Umlauts Über Alles". Entertainment Weekly. No. 79. p. 62. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
  9. ^ Eric Spitznagel (27 November 2009). "Motley Crue's Vince Neil is Finally Bored With Boobs". Vanity Fair.
  10. ^ "CMJ New Music Monthly". CMJ Network, Inc. 29 October 2000. Retrieved 29 October 2020 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ "Gwar – Hell-O!". Discogs. 1988.
  12. ^ "Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Umlauts". The Onion. 30 April 1997.
  13. ^ "Booklet CD Eros" (in English and French). Soleil Zeuhl. 2000. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
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