Behind the Self-Deprecating Band Name Average White Band

Fans of the 1996 film, Swingers, know the song, “Pick Up The Pieces,” well—whether they realize it or not. The comedy, which was made on a shoestring budget, is full of references to other films, including one scene which cribs from the Quentin Tarantino movie, Reservoir Dogs.

While Tarantino used the song “Little Green Bag” by George Baker Selection in his slow-motion bit, Swingers director John Favreau used the funky disco song, “Pick Up The Pieces,” by the Scottish group, Average White Band. But while the song has become iconic and numinous all at the same time, one might wonder: how the heck did the band take on its very funny and very specific moniker? Outside of the songs it released and the movies they were featured in, how did the band land its name: Average White Band?

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Bonnie Bramlett

When it comes to the band’s funny name, it starts with Bonnie Bramlett. But the singer has her own history with race relations and pioneering. A longtime fan of Tina Turner, it was Turner who inspired Bramlett to sing. Later, Bramlett became the first white Ikette—meaning, she was the first white singer to back up Ike and Tina in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.

“I was 17 and I was white and my mother wouldn’t let me stay any longer than that,” Bramlett previously said of those years. “I could only help them out, she said. So I just put on a dark wig because I’m blonde and Man Tan because I’m white and helped them out.”

Later, as a solo artist, she released her debut LP in 1973. She also recorded with the Average White Band, whose name she suggested.

Formation

The funk and soul group Average White Band (or AWB) started in 1972 in London, co-founded by Alan Gorrie and Malcolm Duncan. Prior, the members who would comprise the group had played together in Scotland but later independently moved to the U.K. When they reconnected, they decided to play together.

And it was around this time that the members heard a listener say of their music, “This is too much for the average white man.” That stopped them in their tracks and the sentence was quickly adapted into the moniker Average White Band, thanks to Bramlett’s suggestion.

The band later got its big break when Eric Clapton’s manager at the time decided to manage them, too. Average White Band played a Clapton comeback show in 1973 and was a hit.

James Brown

Average White Band was inspired by funk, soul and R&B music, especially that of American artist James Brown. “People were always asking us, ‘How on earth did a bunch of white Scotsmen end up playing Black American funk in the 1970s?’ Duncan told the Guardian. “Well, we were all into James Brown—but a lot of it was down to our drummer, Robbie McIntosh. If the music wasn’t funky, he wouldn’t play. He was an absolute groove master.”

In 1975, “Pick Up The Pieces” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group has since gone on to influence many in its wake, from rappers and DJs who sampled the group to burgeoning filmmakers like Favreau. Today, some five decades since their formation, Average White Band continues to tour.

(Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns)