who came up with the group name the temptations
The Temptations The original name for the new lineup of Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Elbridge "Al" Bryant, Eddie Kendricks, and Paul Williams was the Elgins. Under that name, the group auditioned for Motown in March 1961. Already impressed with some of the members after hearing session work, Berry Gordy agreed to sign the group to the Motown imprint, Miracle. However, before signing, Gordy discovered another group was using the name of Elgins. The group began tossing about ideas for a new name on the steps of the Hitsville U.S.A. studio. On a suggestion from Miracle Records employee Billy Mitchell, songwriter Mickey Stevenson, and group members Otis Williams and Paul Williams, the Temptations became the group's new moniker. The "Elgins" name re-surfaced at Motown in 1965, when Gordy renamed a quartet called the Downbeats as the Elgins.
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead began their career as the Warlocks, a group formed in early 1965 from the remnants of a Palo Alto, California jug band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions.[20] The band's first show was at Magoo's Pizza located at 639 Santa Cruz Avenue in suburban Menlo Park, California, on May 5, 1965. They were initially known as the Warlocks; coincidentally, the Velvet Underground (similarly influenced by avant-garde music) was also using that name on the East Coast.[21][22] The show was not recorded but the set list has been preserved. Gigging as a bar band,[23] the group quickly changed its name after finding out that another band of the same name (not the Velvet Underground, who by then had also changed their name) had signed a recording contract. The first show under the new name Grateful Dead was in San Jose, California on December 4, 1965, at one of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests.[24][25][26] Earlier demo tapes have survived, but the first of over 2,000 concerts known to have been recorded by the band's fans was a show at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco on January 8, 1966.[27] Later that month, the Grateful Dead played at the Trips Festival, an early psychedelic rock concert.[28]