Behind the Band Name: The Animals

The Animals were the bad boys of the British Invasion. They were tough, but alluring, with their snarling blues and bewitching intensity – a far cry from the boyish charms of the Beatles, and at the time, more rough-and-tumble than the young Rolling Stones.

While the Animals haven’t endured today the way their counterparts have, the band still made history alongside them with songs like “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “It’s My Life,” and their haunting rendition of the standard, “House of the Rising Sun.”

Behind the Name

The band that would become the Animals formed in the early 1960s when a young vocalist Eric Burdon joined keyboardist Alan Price, drummer John Steel, bassist Chas Chandler, and guitarist Hilton Valentine in the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo.

They would soon change their name to the Animals, a moniker that was for years attributed to their wild onstage antics. However, Burdon has since set the record straight as to the origins of the band’s name.

“We did behave wild on stage, but I don’t think that’s why we got the name the Animals,” Burdon admitted in an interview, explaining the moniker rather came by way of his friend group at the time.

“We were part of a gang on weekends,” the frontman shared. “We’d go out to the countryside and hang out and sit around bonfires and tell stories. One of the most engaging characters in that gang was a guy called ‘Animal’ Hogg and I wanted to pay homage to him.”

The band’s drummer Steel went on to later say the name was actually given to them at random by a musician they had opened for, Graham Bond.

Whichever tale is true, the name stuck. By the late 1960s, the band had shifted its lineup, only slightly altering its name to Eric Burdon and the Animals, or sometimes Eric Burdon and the New Animals; but by 1968, the band called it quits.

Several reunions and various incarnations later, the Animals name has been resurrected and continues to live on today thanks to Burdon with guitarist Johnzo West, keyboardist Davey Allen, drummer Dustin Koester, bassist Justin Andres, and a horn section consisting of Ruben Salinas and Evan Mackey.

(Photo: Courtesy of abkco Records & Music)