Does anyone know why the band Level 42, called themselves Level 42?
The origin of the band’s name has been variously described as being inspired by a sign in a lift in a very tall building in the US; the top level of the biggest car-park in the world, in Japan; the floor on which Jonathan Pryce’s character resides in the film Brazil (which was released long after the band gained international recognition); or after Tower 42 (also known as the NatWest Tower) the tallest building in the City of London. King and Boon Gould decided the band should be called simply by a number, and they both favoured ’88’ – the number of the bus they used to catch to the recording studio. However, Lindup and Phil Gould saw a poster for a band called Rocket 88 so their idea was abandoned (although ’88’ was later used as a song title). King and Gould both claim to have been reading Douglas Adams’ comical science fiction novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy wherein the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, is ’42’. Therefore ’42’ was suggested as a name for the
