Where did Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother get its name?
Pink Floyd’s symphonic fourth album remained untitled until the band was debuting some of the material on the BBC’s Radio One–and the announcer needed to call it something. Album producer Bob Geesin told bassist Roger Waters to search through a copy of the Evening Standard, a London newspaper that was lying around the studio. Waters spotted an article about a pregnant woman with an atomic-powered pacemaker, and borrowed its “Atom Heart Mother” headline.
(Excerpted from the 2006 book Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton’s Little John?: Music’s Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed, published by Three Rivers Press, written by Gavin Edwards.)