RIP, R.A.W.

Sad news has filtered through the ether: Robert Anton Wilson — author, visionary, psychonaut, skeptic and cosmic prankster — has passed away.

Thanks to Max for the tip.

R.A.W. was one of my main dudes; hope his bardo-hopping goes smoothly.

Comments

[jay]

Sorry to hear about this, Casey. It's never easy to lose a hero. I was in a fog for about a week when Dr. Hunter Thompson blew his drug-addled brains out.

[Del]

Not only was he a fantastic writer and grey matter programmer, he is also respnsible for the greatest list of fake band names ever compiled:

Clark Kent and his Supermen
The Fillet of Soul
The Wrathful Visions
The Cockroaches
The Senate and the People of Rome
The Ultra-Violet Hippopotamus
The Thing on the Doorstep
Science and Health
Key to the Scriptures
The Glue Sniffers
King Kong and his Skull Island Dinosaurs
The Howard Johnson Hamburger
The Riot in Cell Block Ten
The House of Frankenstein
The Signifying Monkey
The Damned Thing
The Orange Moose
The Indigo Banana
The Pink Elephant
Frodo Baggins and his Ring
The Mouse That Roars
The Crew of the Flying Saucer
The Magnificent Ambersons
The House I Live In
The Sound Of One Hand
The Territorial Imperative
The Druids of Stonehenge
The Heads of Easter Island
The Lost Continent of Mu
Bugs Bunny and his Fourteen Carrots
The Gospel According to Marx
The Card-Carrying Members
The Sands Of Mars
The Erection
The Association
The Amalgamation
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
The Climax
The Broad Jumpers
The Pubic Heirs
The Freeks
The Windows
The Trashers (headed by Mick Jagger)
The Roofs
Moses and Monotheism
Steppenwolf
Civilization and its Discontents
Poor Richard and his Rosicrucian Secrets
The Wrist Watch
The Nova Express
The Father of Waters
The Human Beings
The Washington Monument
The Thalidomide Babies
The Strangers in a Strange Land
Dr. John the Night Tripper
Joan Baez
The Dead Man's Hand
Joker and the One-Eyed Jacks
Peyote Woman
The Heavenly Blues
The Golems
The Supreme Awakening
The Seven Types of Ambiguity
The Cold War
The Street Fighters
The Bank Burners
The Slaves of Satan
The Domino Theory
Maxwell and his Demons
The Acapulco Gold-Diggers
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Dracula and his Brides
The Iron Curtain
The Noisy Minority
The International Debt
Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex
The Cloud of Unknowing
The Birth of a Nation
The Zombies
Attila and his Huns
Nihilism
The Catatonics
The Thorndale Jag Offs
The Haymarket Bomb
The Head of a Dead Cat
The Shadow Out Of Time
The Sirens of Titan
The Player Piano
The Streets of Laredo
The Space Odyssey
The Blue Moonies
The Crabs
The Dose
The Grassy Knoll
The Latent Image
The Wheel of Karma
The Communion of Saints
The City of God
General Indefinite Wobble
The Left-Handed Monkey Wrench
The Thorn in the Flesh
The Rising Podge
SHAZAM
The Miniature Sled
The 23rd Appendix
The Other Cheek
The Occidental Ox
Ms. and the Chairperson
Cohen Cohen Cohen and Kahn
The Joint Phenomenon
The Wonders of the Invisible World
Maule's Curse
The Jesus Head Trip
Ahab and his Amputation
The Horseless Headsmen
The Leaves of Grass
The Gettysburg Address
The Rosy-Fingered Dawn
The Wine-Dark Sea
Nirvana
The Net of Jewels
Here Comes Everybody
The Pisan Cantos
The Snows of Yesteryear
The Pink Dimension
The Goose in the Bottle
The Incredible Hulk
The Third Bardo
Aversion Therapy
The Irresistible Force
MC Squared
The Enclosure Acts
Perpetual Emotion
The 99-Year Lease
The Immovable Object
Spaceship Earth
The Radiocarbon Method
The Rebel Yell
The Clenched Fist
The Doomsday Machine
The Rand Scenario
The United States Commitment
The Entwives
The Players of Null-A
The Prelude to Space
Thunder and Roses
Armageddon
The Time Machine
The Mason Word
Monkey Business
The Works
The Eight of Swords
Gorilla Warfare
The Box Lunch
The Primate Kingdom
The New Aeon
The Enola Gay
The Octet Truss
The Stochastic Process
The Fluxions
The Burning House
The Phantom Captain
The Decline of the West
The Duelists
The Call of the Wild
Consciousness III
The Reorganized Church of the Latter-Day Saints
Standard Oil Of Ohio
The Zig-Zag Men
The Rubble Risers
The Children of Ra
TNT
Acceptable Radiation
The Pollution Level
The Great Beast
The Whores of Babylon
The Waste Land
The Ugly Truth
The Final Diagnosis
Solution Unsatisfactory
The Heat Death of the Universe
Mere Noise
I Opening
The Nine Unknown Men
The Horse of Another Color
The Falling Rock Zone
The Ascent of the Serpent
Reddy Willing and Unable
The Civic Monster
Hercules and the Tortoise
The Middle Pillar
The Deleted Expletive
Deep Quote
LuCiFeR
The Dog Star
Nuthin' Sirius
Preparation H

Late arrivals: The Fernando Poo Incident
Headlining: The American Medical Association.

[casey]

HST was one of my other main guys, which probably goes without saying.

Robert Pollard is no slouch in the fake band name dept. And he's still alive.

Here's but a taste:

The Plague
Terror Of Living
Ragged Enzymes
Hey John, Bees
Wim Dials
Billy Ray Human
Milko Waif
Wig Stomper
Child Of Joe
7 Feet Of Sunshine
Bore Co.
Throne
Scott Joy
Ax
Devron Zones
The Bug-Eyed Mums
Seraphim Barf
Karma Yeah
Heavy River
Herkimer Mohawk
Apes In The Window
Yummy Ropes
Some Are Bullets In Dreams
Bleep Bleep F*ck
Timid Virus
Mutts U.K.
Brainbow
The One Too Many
The Pukes
Dale Frescamo
Stumpy In The Ocean
Ben Zing
Red Faced Rats
U B Hitler
Acid Ranch
The Bad Babies
Throne
Shoot'em
Modular Dance Units
Usually To Death
Wheels Pig Harvey
The Plexigrall Bee-hive
Wheels Pig Harvey
Christopher Lightship
The Fake Organisms
We Too Bark
Leon Lemans
Silent Knife
Howling Wolf Orchestra
The Needmores
Wavo
Lectricalroo
The Plague
The Needmores
The Accidental Texas Who
Peter Built Bombs
Burial Wind
Sucko
Wavo
Academy Of Crowsfeet
Alvin Haisles
7 Feet Of Sunshine
The Fun Punk 5
Peter Built Bombs
The Banana Show
Leon Lemans
Howling Wolf Orchestra
Carl Goffin
Alvin Haisles
Stumpy In The Ocean
Milko Waif
7 Dog 3
The One Too Many
Gene Autrey's Psychic
Manimal
God's Little Lightning Bolt
Hot Skin Apartment
Otim Grimes

[jay]

I really like "Filet of Soul".

The best I have been able to come up with are "Limp Basquiat" and a death-metal band called "Fuck Jesus".

I remember the day that my friend Ed came into the room screaming with excitement over inventing the band name "COSMOSIS", only to realize the pain of finding out via a Google search that it's already taken by some Australian trance group.

[Del]

I enjoy picturing the imaginary Band photos for each of these...not to mention the genres....oh the genres....

[casey]

I love "We Too Bark," for some reason. But it's hard to argue with "U.B. Hitler" and "Acid Ranch."

Say, I couldn't help notice the RAF list includes a band called "Steppenwolf." Did nobody tell him that's a real group?

[jay]

I was wondering the same thing about "Joan Baez", "Dr. John" and "Nirvana".

[Max]

There was also some real connection with Mick Jagger. Nirvana hadn't been "invented" yet, but I am sure that I am going to need to use Maxwell and His Demons for my band...that or Marshall and the Stacks.

[casey]

I was wondering the same thing about "Joan Baez", "Dr. John" and "Nirvana".

Huh. For some reason I missed those.

[jay]

I'm just wondering how long it will take before someone names their band "Barak Obama & The Mammas".

[brookezilla!]

Davezee will tell anyone who asks about his brilliant concept for a tribute band: Simon and Gwarfunkel.

I need to start keeping a fake-band-name list, dammit. I want to be remembered upon my demise for coming up with The Raging Whore Moans. (riot grrrl...)

[ben]

Here's mine:
The Steve Urkle Abortion Circle

It came to me in a dream. Maybe it's a support group for women who were impregnated by the "smooth" version of Urkle only to realize that it was really urkle.

[ben]

not a support group but rather an all-girl rock band.

[the le duo]

you mean Stefan Urquel? he was so smooth he popped my cherry...long story