Abilene paradox management expert Jerry B. Harvey in his 1974 article "The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement". The name of the phenomenon comes from an anecdote that Harvey uses in the article to elucidate the paradox: Ronald Sims writes that the Abilene paradox is similar to groupthink, but differs in significant ways, including that in groupthink individuals are not acting contrary to their conscious wishes and generally feel good about the decisions the group has reached. According to Sims, in the Abilene paradox, the individuals acting contrary to their own wishes are more likely to have negative feelings about the outcome.
Harvey and the Wallbangers that Nick invited Harvey to form a new group to perform with them at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (August 1981). That group was named Harvey and the Wallbangers, and included singers (male and female) from Harvey's Cambridge singing group – The University of Cambridge Consort of Voices who performed Harvey's arrangements of American Songbook classics. The following year the group also supported TBSO at the ADC Theatre Cambridge, which was followed by further gigs in Battersea and Buxton. The Wallbangers now included the long term personnel Jonny Griffiths (who had been studying at Clare college with Harvey) and Jeremy Taylor