Meaning
What does Fair to Midland mean?
Fair to Midland refers to the name of a popular American alternative metal band, which is a modified version of a widely known Southern colloquial expression, “Fair to middling”, which itself is used for expressing that something is of a mediocre, middling quality.
Origin
What's the origin of Fair to Midland?
The origin of “Fair to Midland” comes from the aforementioned phrase, which is highly popular in the Southern regions of the United States.
Quite Frankly, the phrase “Fair to middling” has been around for a significant time, with the earliest documentation of the expression dating back to 1800, when it was included in The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer, a weekly newspaper.
During the 1800’s, the expression gained a significant ground in the Southern states, being exclusive to them.
During the 1950’s, its popularity dwindled, however it was brought back to prominence in 1998, when a Texas based alternative metal band adopted the name “Fair to Midland”.
Spread & Usage
How did Fair to Midland spread?
The popularity of “Fair to Midland” rose significantly in the 2000’s, with various independent releases appearing and achieving success among fans.
The band was signed to the label Serjical Strike and released their album “Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True”, which achieved even greater success.
“Fair to Midland” was the topic of many-a discussion on the web, with even an IGN review being published on the album on July 26th, 2007.
Despite this, the next time the band was most talked about was in 2012, when news of members scattering and the band itself being in debt and breaking up shook the internet, leading to the decline of “Fair to Midland”.
Since then, the expression has been mostly sought after by mistake, with the intention of finding the original phrase “Fair to middling”.