Stiv Bators (born Steven John Bator; October 22, 1949 – June 4, 1990) was an American punk rock vocalist and guitarist from Youngstown, Ohio. He is best remembered for his bands, The Dead Boys and The Lords of the New Church. (More from Wikipedia)
(February 2010)
Many of the seminal bands in these rock movements released albums on the Bomp!, Voxx, Alive or Total Energy labels; most of them are not household names by any means, but they are recognized by those in the know as being important bands that shaped the history of rock and roll. Some of these better-known bands and artists are the Romantics, the Modern Lovers, the Dead Boys (and Stiv Bators individually), the Plimsouls (and Peter Case individually), the Beat (and Paul Collins individually), the Stooges (and Iggy Pop individually), Devo, Nikki Sudden, the Black Keys, and Soledad Brothers.
In my dealings over the years with the Bomp! mailorder service, I have gotten to know Suzy Shaw. I was flattered that, in the advertising copy for some of the albums Bomp! was advertising, she was using some of the articles that I had written in Wikipedia on the Pebbles albums and on the Stiv Bators compilation album, L.A. L.A.; and I told her so once when I was making one of my many orders. She wrote back that she had wondered who had done those great write-ups, and she even sent me an autographed copy of the Bomp 2 - Born in the Garage book in appreciation. We have swapped emails many times over the years.
(May 2013)
Another band that comes to mind that is not mentioned in the Best Theological Band Names list is the Stiv Bators/Dave Tregunna punk rock band Lords of the New Church; they had first performed together as part of past UARB the Wanderers. The British alternative/dance band Jesus Jones had a 1990 hit called “Right Here, Right Now”.
I have several others in my collection that include the truly strange 700 Club (with the name taken from the long-lived TV religious program 700 Club) and the classically trained musician who calls himself MC 900 Ft. Jesus (named for the vision by Oral Roberts that led to the construction of a controversial hospital tower on the campus of Oral Roberts University).
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Danny Nordahl also played with Stiv Bator and His Evil Boys, one of the last bands founded by the Dead Boys front man, Stiv Bators. An album by this band called Live at the Limelight was released in Germany in 1988.
(October 2014)
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Marilyn Records was a European label that was founded by French musician Patrick Boissel in the mid-1980’s. After a number of French and Spanish releases, Marilyn began handling the sort of musicians and bands that gravitate to Bomp! Records. Suzy Shaw of Bomp! Records met Boissel at a record convention, and Marilyn Records became their distributor in Europe. One result was a great compilation album that I have of previous Bomp! Records releases called From L.A. with Love (1992) that features the Plimsouls, the Flamin’ Groovies, Stiv Bators, Jeff Dahl, the Stooges, and the Zeros.
(March 2015)
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