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The Rules

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Prime Directive
It is the intent of this website to include as many unique bands as possible into our family tree. While the concept may be simple there are some very strict guidelines that govern a band's eligibility to join the party.

Conjunction Junction
1.	Two bands connect to one another if they both share a band member.
2.	A band member is defined as an individual who intentionally joined the collective whole of the band and whose association can be documented by the member's audible participation on an official band recording.
3.	An official recording is defined as a production of a unique artistic performance released publicly under the band's name or featured on a compilation.
4.	Bands whose name is also the full name of a member are considered solo artists and are treated as single member bands.
5.	Bands changing names or reforming under a different name result in two distinct bands.
6.	Bands collaborating together do not count as sharing members.
7.	Supergroups and jam bands are represented only by their core membership.

Rule 2: Who's Who?
For our purposes the documentation of a member and their relationship with a band comes in the form of the artist's audible participation on a band's recording. We offer these clarifications as to meaning of a band member's participation.
2.	A band member is defined as an individual who intentionally joined the collective whole of the band and whose association can be documented by the member's audible participation on an official band recording.
2a.	A member need not have played on an entire recording, so long as the artist was a recognized member of the band at the time and is credited for participation on a release.
2b.	In the case where two members performed the same duties on a recording, one member for one part of the recording, the other member for other part, the members are credited to different line-ups for the release as they were not in the band at the same time. Example: The Jealous Sound's "Kill Them With Kindness" was recorded with two different drummers.
2c.	Anyone who is associated with the recording but is not a member of the band such as studio musicians, guest appearances, producers, and managers are not considered band members.
2d.	Automated instruments such as drum machines are not considered members even if credited as such. Example: Centinex credited drum machine, "Kalimaa," is not included.

Rule 3: I Know It When I See It
An official band recording must adhere to the standard of being an artistic performance.
3.	An official recording is defined as a production of a unique artistic performance released publicly under the band's name or featured on a compilation.
3a.	We accept as legitimate artistic performances materials such as musical, spoken word, and comedy recordings.
3b.	When an official band recording may not clearly meet the standard of an artistic performance we reserve the right to judge each release on a case by case basis under the standard set by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964) (Stewart, J., concurring): "I know it when I see it."

Rule 4: What's In A Name
There are certain circumstances revolving around solo artists which require clarifications.
4.	Bands whose name is also the full name of a member are considered solo artists and are treated as single member bands.
4a.	Exceptions to Rule 4 will be allowed only if a band's history clearly indicates it to be the case. Example: Brinsley Schwarz is a band, not a solo artist.
4b.	While full names denote a solo artists, we consider a group of musicians a band if they perform under a subset of a single member's name. Example: Example: Glenn Danzig is a solo artist, Danzig is a band.
4c.	Subsets of a single member's name, along with well established stage names, in certain cases are still considered solo artists. Example: Madonna, Eno, and Moby are all solo artists.
4d.	A nickname or stage name may count as a band if its use identifies the collective whole of the band to the same degree as the individual to whom the nickname is assigned. Example: CIV is a band. Civ is also the nickname for the singer of CIV.
4e.	A band name may contain the full name of an individual member so long as there are additional words contained therein. Example: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Paul Di'anno's Battlezone.

Rule 4f: The Cooper Effect

There is a very special situation pertaining to the use of a stage name as a band name and whether that name counts as a solo artist or as a band name. This sticky situation is particularly apparent in the case of Alice Cooper. The individual Alice Cooper, born Vincent Furnier, assumed the stage name Alice Cooper in 1968 and at the same time formed a band under the same name. This would clearly fall under Rule 4(d) as both the individual as well as the band were recognized to the same degree by the same name. However in 1974 the band Alice Cooper disbanded and Vincent Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper. From this point on Alice Cooper was no longer a stage name and therefore we must then regard all further releases by Alice Cooper as releases by the solo artist, not the band. To that end releases included in our family tree under the name of Alice Cooper containing more members than Cooper himself are only those releases recorded by the band Alice Cooper before the 1974 name rearrangement.

Rule 5: Changing Room
5.	The following criteria determine whether a name change results in a new band entry.
5a.	Trivial changes in a band name are not considered two distinct bands. "Trivial" is considered on a case by case basis but normally does not extend past punctuation changes, alternate numerical spellings, interchangeable conjunctions, or the use of an article. Example: Electric Light Orchestra Part Two is not distinct from Electric Light Orchestra Part II. Example: Thin Lizzie is distinct from Thin Lizzy. Example: Jackson Five is not distinct from the alternate numerical spelling Jackson 5ive.
5b.	Band names changed in a foreign market do not result in two distinct bands. Example: The UK band Yazoo appears as Yaz in the US. Only Yazoo is recognized.
5c.	When an album is re-released under a different band name in the home market, the album is credited to both bands. Example: Dinosaur's "s/t" was later released as "Dinosaur" under the band name Dinosaur Jr.
5d.	When a recording is re-released under a different band name in the home market and the original material or the re-release is credited to a solo artist, Rule 4, mandating that the solo artist be considered a single member band, will be enforced despite leading to the possible inconsistency of different line-ups for identical recordings. Example: Janis Joplin solo material was later credited to the Full Tilt Boogie Band, both are included but with different line-ups.
5e.	A band's material will be eligible for inclusion if it is found on a release by a different band so long as that material is credited to the original band on a per track level. Example: Wicked Lester appears on Kiss' "The Box Set."

Rule 6: With Or Without You
In order to discern between two bands collaborating and a band whose name creates the appearance of a collaboration we adhere to the following guidelines.
6.	Bands collaborating together do not count as sharing members.
6a.	A collaboration is defined as two independent parties performing in conjunction and whose subsequent recorded material is released under the billing of their current band names joined by a collaboration keyword such as "And." Example: Sutherland Brothers & Quiver is considered a collaboration between independent bands.
6b.	Independent parties within a collaboration are defined as bands who have released material independently of one another prior to the release of the collaborative effort. Example: Slayer & Ice-T is a collaboration as both parties had released material independently of one another prior to their work together. Example: Neil Young & Crazy Horse is not considered a collaboration as Crazy Horse had not released prior independent material.
6c.	If all parties of a potential collaboration had released prior independent material, we still do not consider it a collaboration if one party of the collaboration was a member of the other party prior to billing change. Example: Bob Marley & The Wailers is not a collaboration as Bob Marley was a member of the Wailers prior to the billing change.

Rule 7: To The Core
Supergroups, charity or otherwise, and jam bands are by nature populated with guest musicians yet still deserve our attention. To properly document these bands we handle them on a case by case basis and apply the following parameters.
7.	Supergroups and jam bands are represented only by their core membership.
7a.	Core membership is determined by identifying the founders and organizers of a band. Example: Band Aid was the work of Bob Geldof and Midge Ure.

Formatting: What You See Is What You Get
There are numerous issues regarding the proper crediting and formatting of bands' and artists' names. We will first establish the What You See Is What You Get paradigm of name formatting with The "The" Rule which will then be expanded upon to address various other situations that may arise.

The "The"
...and we're not talking about the band. A point of contention is the use of the word "The" in a band name. Why is the word "The" included in some band names but not others? Why is "The Haunted" listed as such but the "Rolling Stones" fails to carry the "The"? For our purposes we cannot arbitrarily include or exclude "The" and instead must defer to how the band itself uses its own name. In order to do so we refer to the one place where the band's use of their name is readily available for all to study, the band's album artwork. With that as our guide we formulate the following set of rules:
1.	We include the word "The" in a band's name if the band uses it intentionally along with the other words in their name on their album artwork.
2.	We do not include the word "The" in a band's name if on any piece official album artwork "The" fails to appear regardless of its appearance on any other piece of artwork. If "The" ever fails to appear we no longer accept it as part of the band's name.
3.	This rule does not apply to band names appearing on multi-band compilations, splits, or shared releases.
As an example of our first rule let's take a look that the artwork for The Haunted whom we have already mentioned:

As we can see in every instance the "The" is displayed as prominently on the artwork as the word "Haunted" and therefore it can be inferred that the band feels that "The" is an integral part of the band's name. On the other hand if the reverse ever occurs, where the band fails to include the word "The" in their artwork it can be inferred that the band does not feel "The" is an integral part of their name and therefore is not included in our band listing. To demonstrate our second rule let us refer to our other example, the Rolling Stones: