Heroic Eric: Great Musicians Called Eric Quiz

Answer: Dead Kennedys

Jello Biafra was born in Colorado in 1957, but by 1977 had moved to San Francisco, ostensibly to go to university. He formed the Dead Kennedys with East Bay Ray, and quickly found his own idiosyncratic lyrical and vocal style that set the band apart from the pack. His brand of sarcastic, pranksome humour appealed to audiences worldwide and made them one of the most influential punk rock bands of all time.

The band split up in 1986, partly due to an obscenity court case brought against the band's label Alternative Tentacles, run by Biafra, prompted by the P.M.R.C. The issue was the inclusion of a poster of internationally renowned artist H. R. Giger's piece "Landscape XX (Penis Landscape)" that came with the Dead Kennedys' album "Frankenchrist". The action led to the formation of the No More Censorship Defense Fund to help the label face huge legal costs. The case was thrown out of court.

Jello went on to a hugely successful (artistically) career in spoken-word performances, and he has also collaborated with a wide range of artists, such as The Melvins, Ministry, Nomeansno, Sepultura, Brujeria, Mojo Nixon, and Body Count.

All the other options were also formed in 1978.

Answer: Eric Burdon

Eric Victor Burdon is one of those bloke's who you want to shout "Go on, Eric, get stuck in!" whenever you hear of something he's been involved in. Eric was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne in the north east of England in 1941. He joined local band The Alan Price Combo in 1962 and the act became The Animals shortly afterwards.

The Animals were one of the leading lights of the British Invasion in the USA, although on the surface there was less Britishness about them than bands like The Kinks or The Beatles as The Animals were firmly rooted in the American blues tradition, shown through their versions of "House Of The Rising Sun", "Boom Boom" and "Don't Let Me Be Understood". Price left in 1966, and they split up in 1969.

Eric went on to form the formidable War, who pumped out two great albums, "Eric Burdon Declares "War"", and the brilliantly titled "White Man's Burdon", both 1970.

He's since kept his hand in playing with all and sundry, and received accolades and flattery from some of the biggest names in rock music, taking it all in his stride.

Answer: Kiss

Eric Carr's real name was Paul Charles Caravello, and why he chose the stage name Eric is part of the Kiss mystique. He joined in 1980 when original drummer Peter Criss (real name George) left. Criss had developed the "catman" persona, mainly through make-up, but Eric Carr went for the more aggressive "fox", in keeping with the more turbulent times.

The first album he played on was "Music from "The Elder"", which was greeted by a spectacular lack of fanfare. The album made no sense, apparently a concept album but with no concept, and misleadingly sounding like the soundtrack to a film that was never filmed.

It was followed by "Creatures Of The Night", which was a much stronger effort and yielded the classic "I Love It Loud" which boasted a brilliant video, featuring Eric quite prominently due to the songs pounding rhythm. Carr carried on with the band through the 1980s and just into the 1990s, but fell ill in 1991 when he was diagnosed as having heart cancer. He died November 24th 1991, but his death was overshadowed by Freddie Mercury cashing in his chips the same day.

He was replaced by another Eric, Eric Singer, who went back to the "catman" alter-ego, much to the disgust of Peter Criss, who has since rejoined / left / rejoined ad infinitum.

Answer: Compton

Eric Lynn Wright, born 1963 in Compton, California, didn't excel at school, and was on the slippery slope to a life of petty crime when he got into rap and founded his own label, Reckless Records, and began associating with some of the biggest names (to be) in rap, most notably Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. The first fruit of this partnership was the single "Boyz-n-the-Hood", released under the name Eazy E, the b-side being credited to N.W.A.

The debut N.W.A. album, "Straight Outta Compton", kicked off with the holy trinity of gangsta rap as the opening tracks, starting with the title track and ending in "Gangsta Gangsta". Although the album flagged later on, those three tracks cemented the band's reputation forever, and the appeal wasn't just amongst the hip-hop audience either, as the blazing expression of disgruntlement caught the attention of many a listener.

Unfortunately it was downhill from there on, and our Eric ended up falling out with Dr. Dre, caused by/leading to contractual hassle and lots of nasty name-calling. Dr. Dre went on to super-stardom with Eminen and others. Eazy Eric carried on and had a relatively decent solo career, but he'd missed the big-time he had seemed destined to enjoy.

Eric Wright was diagnosed as suffering from AIDS in February 1995, and he died just one month later.

Answer: Lux Interior

The Cramps kept rockabilly alive in an age when synths and drum machines ruled the roost (1980s), and always managed to draw a more than respectable crowd, partly because there was nobody quite like them, the only alternative being the testosterone-fuelled psychobilly bands who lacked the sleaze and creepiness of The Cramps.

They formed in 1976 in Ohio, moved to New York, were an intrinsic part of the rise of punk rock, but then drifted away to their own niche when many of the so-called C.B.G.B. bands veered towards artiness.

In 1978 they really took the music to the people and performed in a Californian mental hospital, echoing earlier blues and rockabilly acts such as John Lee Hooker and Johnny Cash's penchant for performing in prisons. The fabulous performance was caught on hand-held camera and is worth seeking out.

Lux was fundamental to the image, and sound. His overblown crooning, and questionable sexual intent was the crux of the band, backed by a distant and super-cool, sun-glassed drummer, and the aloof sexual muse Poison Ivy (Lux's wife). Thus, when he died in 2009 (aged just 62), the band folded.

Sickie Wifebeater is also an Eric, Eric Carlson, who plays guitar with the highly controversial, but also highly entertaining, Mentors.

Answer: Captain Beefheart

Eric featured on The Captain's last three albums, and they were arguably the Don's best. Although critics always focus on "Trout Mask Replica" due to its unheralded weirdness, the full spectrum of Don Van Vliet's genius was probably better expressed on his later albums.

Eric seemed to have taken The Captain's rather abrasive approach to musicians with a pinch of salt, and he delivered every time, the true pro that he is. He was then drafted in to the equally off the wall band Pere Ubu, which is how he met Frank Black of The Pixies, who toured with the Ohian window-lickers. He performed on The Pixies' adieu, "Trompe le Monde", and then hooked up with Frank Black for his solo outings.

Our man's meandering career then took him to PJ Harvey and beyond, constantly meeting folk on each new project who lead him to another.

Answer: Rio Bravo

Eric Hilliard Nelson was born in 1940 into a musical family, his dad being a big band leader and his mam a vocalist, and he was thrown into the maelstrom of celebrity at a very young age "thanks" to his parents' celebrity. By 1952 he was already starring in films, and his first single as a solo artist was recorded in 1957. By the age of 19 he'd already received an award for his role in the film "Rio Bravo".

In the film, one of John Wayne's best, Eric plays Colorado Ryan. The film has been remade and ripped off many times. John Carpenter's equally brilliant "Assault on Precinct 13" is a homage.

Although the nepotism might push one to discard Eric as a privileged brat, all one has to do is listen to his recordings for Imperial records from the late 1950s , when he was giving Elvis a run for his money, to realize he was something special.

In later years he turned towards a more country sound, which lost him some old fans, but gained him as many new ones.

Ricky Nelson died in a plane crash in 1985 whilst on tour.

Answer: Cream

Trouble formed in 1979, and our Eric was a founding member alongside guitarists Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin, bassist Tim Ian Brown and drummer Jeff Olson. They stuck out from the crowd of heavy metal bands as they shirked devil worship and were even perceived as being "white metal" due to their biblical references, veering towards the side of good rather than bad, although in-depth readings of other doom laden bands, such as the Sabbath, reveal a similar tendency.

The debut was "Psalm 9", followed by "The Skull", both albums laying down a blue-print for latter-day saints following the same path musically, if not always lyrically.

Then came "Run To The Light" which didn't set the world aflame despite becoming an underground classic as the previous albums had. This was followed by a hiatus until they were rejuvenated by the interest of maverick producer Rick Rubin in 1990, for whom they recorded the brilliant "Trouble". Despite positive press reviews, the album didn't hit the heights expected and after the equally brilliant follow up, "Manic Frustration", the band were dropped.

They had shifted towards a slightly more psychedelic Beatlesque sound that seemed to be judged as kosher by the fans, but was out of step with the current trend.

Since then, the band have struggled on with and without Eric Wagner and their albums, never awful, are bought by the faithful, who dream of a return to form, but enjoy the meandering too.

Answer: Samhain

Eerie Von went to high school with punk pioneers Misfits' guitarist Doyle and was involved with the band from the early days, becoming their official photographer. He played bass on a couple of tracks, and was actually asked to join the band but preferred to stick with his own band, Rosemary's Baby.

When the Misfits broke up in 1983, he hooked up with Glenn Danzig and they formed Samhain, a project Glenn Danzig had had on the cards for a while. They recorded a string of great albums that nurtured the horror punk of the Misfits, but brought in the gothic brooding that would later mature as the leitmotif in the band Danzig.

Eerie Von was also a member of the hugely successful band Danzig, who he left in 1995. Since then he's managed to eke out a career as a solo artist, producing some intriguing dark, oppressive blues. He has also recently had a fascinating book of his photography of the early Misfits days published, and continues to exhibit his paintings.

Answer: (Don't Fear) The Reaper

Stun guitarist Eric Bloom is one of my all-time heroes, and without a doubt my favourite Eric.

Eric was born in New York City in 1944. He joined Soft White Underbelly in 1969, and by 1971 the band had changed names to Blue Öyster Cult. A year later they released their eponymous debut album, a fair stab, but nothing compared to the follow-up, "Tyranny and Mutation" (1973) that blew the debut out of the water. The BOC were on a roll as the next album, "Secret Treaties" (1974), wiped the floor again, and remains one of the greatest rock albums of all time in my book.

The song in question came from the next studio album, "Agents Of Fortune" (1976), which despite yielding a couple of outstanding tracks such as "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and garnering widespread acclaim, had some tracks that lacked the haunting, creepy weirdness of earlier releases, and set the band onto a lapse of overproduced, radio-friendly pap. They've frequently raised their ugly head from that mire since then, and have always had something interesting to say.

Handsome Dick Manitoba from the Dictators once sang "you can bring on Haystack Calhoun, Eric Bloom, I don't care who you bring here, daddy", which when I was ten years old was the funniest thing I'd ever heard, but I'm not sure I why.

The film "Halloween" was a huge success, despite director John Carpenter's shoe-string budget. It brought the slasher horror film into the mainstream, launched John Carpenter into the big-time, and spawned a whole series of sequels.