Why Warsaw ?

Why was the band called Warsaw ?

Originally posted by Now and Forever Why was the band called Warsaw ?

Nae fooker could say Gdansk !

Two reasons really - Bowie had just released an album called Low that featured a track called Warszawa, and Curtis was obsessed with WW2 (rather than Naziism), and Warsaw featured quite heavily towards the end of that.

They were only called that for about ten minutes weren't they.

That's what I thought. They weren't officially called Stiff Kittens; just that they sounded like stiff kittens...

That was a name Pete Shelley gave them, wasn't it ? Don't think it was ever meant to be taken seriously, even it it was a better name than Warsaw. Joy Division was a top name though.

I believe Richard Boon suggested the name Stiff Kittens. And yeah, it was on the handbill for their debut show, but only because it was too late to change it to Warsaw.

"Berlin" was already taken :D

Barney's explanation was that they didn't want to be called The something-or-other (as most punk bands were at the time!)...

Lucky they didn't call themselves Sczeczin or Wroclaw. And yes, my parents are Polish!