Among English speakers, the use of umlaut marks and other diacritics with a blacklettertypeface is a form of foreign branding, which has been attributed to a desire for a "gothic horror" feel.[2] The metal umlaut is not generally intended to affect the pronunciation of the band's name, unlike the umlaut in German (where the letters u and ü, a and ä, as well as o and ö, represent distinct vowels) and the Scandinavian languages (where å/ä and a, ö/ø and o are distinct letters).
History
The first gratuitous use of the umlaut in the name of a hard rock or metal band appears to have been by Blue Öyster Cult in 1970. Blue Öyster Cult's website states it was added by guitarist and keyboardist Allen Lanier,[3] but rock critic Richard Meltzer claims to have suggested it to their producer and manager Sandy Pearlman just after Pearlman came up with the name: "I said, 'How about an umlaut over the O?' Metal had a Wagnerian aspect anyway."[4]
Reactions
Speakers of languages which use an umlaut to designate a pronunciation change may understand the intended effect, but perceive the result differently. When Mötley Crüe visited Germany, singer Vince Neil said the band couldn't figure out why "the crowds were chanting, 'Mutley Cruh! Mutley Cruh!'"[5]
These decorative umlauts have been parodied in film and fiction; in an interview about the mockumentary film This Is Spın̈al Tap, fictional rocker David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) says, "It's like a pair of eyes. You're looking at the umlaut, and it's looking at you."[6] The heavy metal band Gwar parodied the use of metal umlauts in a lyric insert included with its first record, stylizing the song names with gratuitous diacritics.[7] In 1997, the satirical newspaper The Onion published an article titled "Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Umlauts."[8]
Death in June – British dark folk/experimental band used umlauts and accented "e"s in their name and titles on the original releases of their albums The Wörld Thät Sümmer (1985) and Thé Wäll Öf Säcrificé (1989), spelling their name, Deäth In Jüne and Déäth In Jüné, respectively on each.
Night on Bröcken – debut album by American progressive metal band Fates Warning. Apparently a reference to the German mountain Brocken, which is not spelled with an umlaut.
Rrröööaaarrr and Dimension Hatröss – albums by Canadian thrash metal band Voivod. They also used it for their songs "Korgüll the Exterminator" and "Chaosmöngers", which appear on Rrröööaaarrr and Dimension Hatröss respectively. The band's name is also occasionally spelled “Voïvod” such as on the cover of the album Phobos.
In a series 8 episode of Taskmaster, Joe Thomas and Sian Gibson created the fictional 1980s band "Shoë" (pronounced "show") in a task to design an iconic album cover. Thomas's description of using a "rock 'n' roll umlaut" coined the episode's title.
Djerba - a Tunisian island which hosted the 28th Francophonie (OIF) summit from 19th to 20th November 2022 stylised its event as "Djerbä - XVIIIe Sommet de la Francophonie" on its event logo.[10]
^Gray, R. (2014). Great Brand Blunders: The Worst Marketing and Social Media Meltdowns of All Time...and How to Avoid Your Own. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-78059-230-5. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
^Garofalo, Rebee (1997). Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA. Allyn & Bacon. p. 292. ISBN 0-205-13703-2. Some groups, for example Blue Öyster Cult and Motörhead, added gratuitous umlauts to their names to conjure up a more generic gothic horror, a practice that continued into the 1980s with Mötley Crüe and others.
^"BÖC Retrospectively: Stalk Forrest Group 1969–1970". blueoystercult.com. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
^Lisa Gidley (2000). "Hell Holes: Spin̈al Tap's main man explains the importance of the umlaut". CMJ. Retrieved September 12, 2006.
^Eric Spitznagel (November 27, 2009). "Motley Crue's Vince Neil is Finally Bored With Boobs". Vanity Fair.
^"CMJ New Music Monthly". CMJ Network, Inc. Oct 29, 2000. Retrieved Oct 29, 2020 – via Google Books.
^"Gwar - Hell-O!". Discogs. 1988.
^"Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Umlauts". The Onion. 30 April 1997.
^"Booklet CD Eros" (in English and French). Soleil Zeuhl. 2000. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
^"2022, Djerbä Francophonie summit 1v". PostBeeld. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
External links
Listen to this article (29 minutes)
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 13 June 2006 (2006-06-13), and does not reflect subsequent edits.
My Life in Heavy Metal by Steve Almond (excerpt)
The Döts (Dave Krinsky)
Would you like umlauts with that? (PDF) by Bruce Campbell
The Metal Umlaut in the Liff Dictionary
Early history of this page (screencast) by Jon Udell