Trigger's Broom

There is a memorable scene in the TV show Only Fools And Horses where the character Trigger boasts about using the same broom to sweep the road for 20 years. He says:

Trigger: This old broom's had seventeen new heads and fourteen new handles in its time.
Sid: Well how the hell can it be the same bloody broom then?
Trigger: There's a picture of it. Whaat more proof do you need?

Its actually an adaptation of an old philosophical question I think, but I might be wrong.

Anyway, I was reminded of this when I saw an advert for a concert featuring Dr Feelgood the other day. I have a DVD of Dr Feelgood in concert, filmed a year or so before Lee Brilleaux died. It was OK, but the only person from the original line-up was Lee Brilleaux. And now he is dead, so who is in Dr Feelgood now? Take a four-person band, change every person in the band and what you are left with is actually a different band isn't it?

I wondered how it was they could be called Dr Feelgood and thought it would be more appropriate if they were called Trigger's Broom. Then I thought... hang on... thats a great name for a band.

Its funny how some bands can survive any number of personnel changes and it doesn't seem to matter. Yes is an example, or Deep Purple. Other bands just don't seem right if even one person leaves and is replaced. Would anyone have accepted the Beatles if George Harrison had been replaced with Eric Clapton?

We all know that the Beatles did actually have a different line-up in the beginning, but its the one that was there when they became famous which matters. If, before half of them died, they had done a re-union with Pete Best instead of Ringo it would not have been what everyone wanted.

Obviously this does not apply to classical orchestras. You would not get someone complaining that the London Philharmonic is not the real LPO because none of the original members are in it.

And let's not even start with those legal battles when a band splits into two halves and each half wants to keep the name. (Again, this happened with Yes. It got to the point where only Chris Squire from the original band was left. Meanwhile four people who used to be in the band got back together but could not use the name)

Although Trigger's Broom would be a great name for any band, it should be reserved for a band where the last remaining original member leaves or dies and the survivors should do the decent thing and not keep the original name if they recruit a replacement.