GREEN JELLÖ
Green Jellÿ (pronounced “green jello”) is an American comedy rock band formed in 1981. Originally named Green Jellö, the band changed its name due to legal pressure from the owners of the Jell-O trademark, Kraft Foods, who claimed that it was an infringement of their trademark. Despite the spelling difference, the new name and the old are pronounced identically. (More from Wikipedia)
Even at the time, the brand name “Jell-O” didn’t seem cool enough for a punk rock artiste like front man Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys, though the name turned up once again in the comic-punk band Green Jellö. After the band had an unexpected hit on MTV with “Three Little Pigs”, a retelling of the nursery rhyme The Three Little Pigs (despite bargain-basement production values), General Foods threatened a copyright infringement lawsuit, so the band changed its name to Green Jellÿ (though they kept the umlaut and maintained that the pronunciation is the same).
Unlike, say, Green Jellö, the Dead Milkmen was quite accomplished, if good-naturedly goofy; and they released several good albums – three of them earned four stars or better on Allmusic.
(July 2012)
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Items: Green Jellö
