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BAND
NAMES
"ORIGINS"
: Maybe?!?
AND
A FEW MUSICIAN NAME ORIGINS
IF YOU KNOW ANY MORE
PLEASE EMAIL ME
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Numbers
10CC
Manager Jonathan King had a dream including a band called 10CC. The average
man ejaculates around 10cc of sperm ..I wonder what else he was dreaming
of?
10,000 MANIACS
Inspired by the old horror movie called '2000 Maniacs'
2Be3
French band using English language as a pun ~ meaning To Be Free
23rd TURNOFF (THE)
They took their name from the motorway sign indicating the nearby M6 exit.
3rd STRIKE
Lead singer named his band after the "three strikes, you're out"
law.
311
311 is an Omaha police code for indecent exposure. P-Nut and some friends
went skinny dipping in a public pool. They were apprehended by police.
P-Nut's friendwas arrested, cuffed (naked) and taken home to his parents.
He was issued a citation for a code 311 (indecent exposure).
702
Pronounced "Seven-Oh-Two", named after the area code of their
hometown of Las Vegas.
801 / THE 801
Taken from the Eno song "The True Wheel", which appears on his
1974 solo album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). The refrain of the
song - "We are the 801, we are the central shaft"
808 STATE
Took their name from their Roland TR-808 drum machine. ("the 808
state" is a nickname for Hawaii, due to 808 being the telephone area
code)
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A
A PERFECT CIRCLE aka APC
when asked at a news conference, frontman
Maynard
Keenan stated that the name " A Perfect Circle" originates from
the friendships of the band members, all of them met one another in a
way resembling "a perfect circle of friendship."
ABBA
An acronym for the first names of the band members: Agnetha Fältskog,
Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Anderson and Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad.
AC/DC
A band member saw AC/DC on a sewing machine and figured it has something
to do with power. He was right, it means 'Alternating Current / Direct
Current'. The band didn't realise at the timeit was also slang for bi-sexual.
ACE OF BASE
Their first practice studio was in the basement of a car repair shop,
and they were the greats of their own basement studio.
AEROSMITH
It was evidently a word Joey Kramer wrote all over his notebooks in high
school. Some think they were inspired by the 1925 book "Arrowsmith"
by Sinclair Lewis.
ALICE COOPER
The band were inspired while talking to a spirit named Alice Cooper who
came to them when they were using their Ouija Board. . After the band
split up, Vincent Furnier their lead singer kept the name for his solo
act.
ALICE IN CHAINS
Layne Staley formed a glam metal band Alice N' Chainz (Alice AND Chains)
where he used to dress in drag on stage, taking the micky of glam rockers
with their big hair etc. When he met up with Jerry Cantrell they formed
a new band and eventually after not being able to think of a name decided
to call it after Laynes old band but spelt differently .. So
the name comes from Layne Staley who once said that "ALICE"
represented the frail person, and the "CHAINS" represented the
drug addiction. and the music was about "ALICE" breaking free
of her "CHAINS", a.k.a. drugs.
BUT inbetween Alice N Chainz and "Alice in Chains" .. Layne
used to mock glam rock bands calling them Alice and Chains and Alice In
Chains .. so I do think originally it may have been mockery of glam rock
or was Alice himself, weak and chained in Wonderland .. his drugs!!
ALTER BRIDGE
The name comes from a long-standing bridge near Mark Tremonti’s childhood
home in Detroit, which was often regarded as a boundary to the children
in surrounding neighborhoods; beyond it was uncharted territory.
ANTHRAX
Scott Ian learnt about the virulent bacteria anthrax in biology class
at high school, and thought it an awesome name for a band.
ANTIETAM
A Civil War battle.
ASWAD
Means "Black" in Arabic
AVENGED SEVENFOLD
The band's name is a reference to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, where
Cain is sentenced to live in exile for murdering his brother. God marked
him so that none would kill him on account of his sin; the man who dared
to kill Cain would suffer "vengeance seven times over"
AXL ROSE
Guns N Roses singer's name is an anagram of oral sex
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B
B-52's
The beehive hairstyle popular in the 1950's was called a B-52.
BACHMAN-TURNER
OVERDRIVE
A combination of band members' last names and the trucker's magazine 'Overdrive'.
BAD COMPANY
A 1972 movie starring Jeff Bridges.
BADFINGER
The working title of the Beatles song "A Little Help From My Friends".
THE BAND
According to guitarist Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan's backup band resisted
all conformity, even naming their ensemble. After landing their own recording
contract, record company executives pressed them for a group name, but
had to settle for simply "The Band".
BAUHAUS
Named after German 'Bauhaus' style architecture of the 20th century evolved
from the Bauhaus School in Weimar and Dessau, Germany.
BAY CITY ROLLERS
They blindly stuck a pin on a map. It landed on Bay City, Michigan.
BEASTIE BOYS
According to the documentary, American Punk, Beastie Boys, named their
band with two words beginning with B because they were inspired by Bad
Brains, also a "BB" band. Also ''Beastie' is an acronym for
'Boys Entering Anarchistic States Toward Internal Excellence'.
BEATLES
They went by the names Quarrymen and the Silver Beetles a while later,
then shortened and mutated that to the Beatles. The original bassist,
Stuart Sutcliffe came up with the Beetles in 1960, he was a fan huge of
Buddy Holly & the Crickets (crickets-beetles). After which John Lennon
is credited with combining Beetles and Beat to come up with the Beatles
spelling.
BEE GEES
Although often refers t as the 'Brothers Gibb' therefore the Bee Gees,
the band say they took their name from the initials of two friends that
helped them out in their early days, Bill Goode and a disc jockey named
Bill Gates.
BETTER THAN EZRA
Better Than Ezra got their name when they were starting out in clubs.
It is rumoured, they were going on after a band called "Ezra"
and when the MC was about to announce them he asked their name... they
responded "...we're Better than Ezra"
BIG BOPPER
Jiles Perry Richardson a disc jockey, called himself 'The Big Bopper'
because of his 240 pound frame and a 'bopper' was someone who was really
into rock and roll back in the 1950s,
BLACK, CILLA
A reporter for the local paper, while writing a favorable review accidentley
called her Cilla Black instead of Cilla White.
BLACK CROWES
Originally named Uncle Crowe's Garden after a children's fairy tale.
BLACK FAG
a wind-up of the band name "Black Flag"
BLACK FLAG
Originally called Panic; their new name was reminiscent of the anarchist
symbol, the insect spray of the same name, and of the British heavy metal
group Black Sabbath, one of Geg Ginn's favorite bands. When Adam Ant first
played in California, the band Black Flag gave out button badges that
read: 'Black Flag kills Ants'.
BLACK METAL
took its name from Venom's second album "Black Metal" released
in 1982.
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
took their name from Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in the 1953 film
"The Wild One".
BLACK SABBATH
The band Earth were inspired to call their first original song "Black
Sabbath" after seeing the 1963 Boris Karloff's horror movie "Black
Sabbath" After which they changed their name to Black Sabbath.
BLINK 182
Blink was the original name decided for the band, however an
Irish band of the same name objected after they released demos and an
album, so the 3 digit suffix was added; the numbers stand for nothing
at all. An internet rumour suggests the 182 is a miscount of how many
times Tony Montana (Al Pacino) says the word 'fuck' in the film Scarface.
BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS
Al Kooper (founder) came up with the name when on the phone
with a promoter, while gazing at a Johnny Cash album cover, Cash's "Blood
Sweat & Tears" album.
BLUE OYSTER CULT
The name is an anagram of 'Cully's Stout Beer'. But it is said to be combination
of a recipe the band's manager read in a book and the band's fascination
with the occult.
BOB DYLAN
Robert Zimmerman changed his surname to Dylan in honor of Dylan Thomas
BONDS,
GARY U.S.
For his first hit, "New Orleans", attention was brought to the
record by having promotional copies sent to radio stations in sleeves
inscribed "Buy U.S. Bonds" - hence at age 19, Gary Anderson
became Gary U.S. Bonds.
BONO
(Paul Hewson)
Paul Hewson of U2, was inspired by a hearing aid store in Dublin, Ireland
called 'Bono Vox'.
BOO RADLEYS
Their name is taken from the character of Boo Radley in Harper Lee's 1960
novel, To Kill A Mockingbird.
BOOKER T. & THE M.G.'s
M.G. stands for Memphis Group, a band led by keyboard player Booker T.
Jones.
BOOMTOWN RATS
Taken from the gang in Woody Guthrie's 'Bound for Glory' novel.
BOWIE, DAVID
He took his last name from the Bowie knife, which he had a love of as
a child. He first used his given name 'David Jones' but changed it so
as not to be confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees
BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD
The band took their name from a brand of heavy asphalt roller they saw
while stuck in Los Angeles traffic.
BUZZCOCKS
Came from a term "bus cock". Men drivimg a bus or truck with
heavy diesel engines sometimes get an erection because of the vibrations.
BZN
This is short for Band zonder Naam or "Band Without a Name"
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C
CANNED HEAT
Alan Wilson and Bob Hite took the name from
Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a song about an alcoholic
who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno, often called "canned
heat".
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART
Don Van Vliet had a strange Uncle of who would expose himself, squeeze
his penis until the head turned purple, then comment about it looking
"like a big ole' beef heart"
CHAKA KHAN
Yvette Stevens' African name, Chaka, means "fire".
CHARLES, RAY
His actual name is Ray Charles Robinson, but he did not want to be confused
with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, so dropped the Rosinson.
CHEAP TRICK
They consulted a Ouija board what they should call their band.
CHEMICAL BROTHERS
This name was derived from a song of theirs (while being The Dust Brothers)
called "Chemical Beat", which was allegedly inspired by all
the drugs in the clubs they played. They had to change names as there
was already a "The Dust Brothers" in US.
CHICAGO
They called the band 'Chicago Transit Authority' on their first album,
but after the city of Chicago threatened to sue them, they shortened it
to Chicago.
CHILDREN OF BODOM.
Named after Lake Bodom in Finland, the location where a triple murder
took place, when four teenagers were on a camping trip. 3 were slaughtered,
one escaped.
CHRISTIAN DEATH
The name "Christian Death" was a play on words of the fashion
designer Christian Dior.
CHUBBY CHECKER
Dick Clark's wife thought up the name as a take off on Fats Domino.
CHUMBAWAMBA
a band member had a dream.. in which the public toilet signs were labelled
"Chumba" and "Wamba" instead of "Men" and
"Women" and he didn't know which door to use.
CILLA
BLACK
A reporter for the local paper, while writing a favorable review accidentley
called her Cilla Black instead of Cilla White.
CLANNAD
The band members were all from a family living in Gweedore in the county
of Donegal (N. Ireland). Clannad is an abbreviation of "Clann as
Dobhar", which means "the family from Gweedore".
CLASH
Taken from a newspaper headline stating 'A Clash With Police'
COLONIA
The name of the group comes from the ancient Latin name of the Croatian
town Vinkovci which was "Colonia Aurelia Cibalae".
COCTEAU TWINS
They took their name from the Simple Minds song "Cocteau Twins",
then they renamed to "No Cure". This was inspired by a set of
twins who spoke a language they had created themselves, but sounded to
everyone else just gibber jabber.
COMMODORES
It is reported that one of the group members tossed a dictionary into
the air, and when it landed, randomly pointed to a word on the page it
opened to. The word was "Commodores".
CONWAY TWITTY
Looking at a road map, he spotted Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas.
Thus, he went with the professional name of "Conway Twitty".
COOPER,
ALICE
The band were inspired while talking to a spirit named Alice Cooper who
came to them when they were using their Ouija Board. . After the band
split up, Vincent Furnier their lead singer kept the name for his solo
act.
COSTELLO, ELVIS
Declan Patrick McManus combined Elvis Presley's first name with his great
grandmother's last name Costello, which his father also performed under
as Day Costello.
CREEDANCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
It is reported the band took their name from Norvel Creedence, a friend
of band leader John Fogerty, plus John's favorite beer was called Clearwater,
which, after it disappeared from the market for a time, was revived by
another brewery.
CROWDED HOUSE
This Australian / New Zealand trio chose the name from their cramped living
conditions at North Sycamore Street in Los Angeles while working on their
debut album.
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D
D.
BOON
As a teenager, singer, guitarist Dennes Dale Boon began painting
and signed his works "D. Boon", partly because "D"
was his slang for cannabis, partly after the American pioneer and hunter
Daniel Boone, but mostly because it was similar to E. Bloom, Blue Öyster
Cult's vocalist and guitarist.
DAVID BOWIE
He took his last name from the Bowie knife, which he had a love of, as
a child. He first used his given name 'David Jones' but changed it so
as not to be confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees
DEAD
CAN DANCE
Brendan Perry was allegedly inspired by the idea of making "animacy
out of inanimacy" .. such as making lively music out of the dead
wood of instruments.
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
Took its name from a satirical song of the same name, performed by the
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band on their 1967 album Gorilla and in The Beatles
experimental movie, Magical Mystery Tour.
DECEMBERISTS
With reference to the Russian Decembrist Revolt (Explaining
their use of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union as an introduction
at each concert) and to the atmosphere associated with the month of December
DEEP PURPLE
Taken from the Bing Crosby song "Deep Purple", a favourite of
Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother.
DEF LEPPARD
Supposedly inspired by a drawing Joe Elliot made of a leopard with no
ears.
DENVER, JOHN
A tribute to the Rocky Mountain area, an area John Henry Deutschendorf
cherished.
DEPECHE MODE
The name was taken from a French fashion magazine, "Dépêche
mode", which translates to "Fashion Update" or "Fashion
News Dispatch" (dépêche = dispatch) though it has commonly
been mistranslated as "Fast Fashion", due to the confusion with
the French verb "se dépêcher" ("to hurry up").
DEREK AND THE DOMINOS
The name "Derek and the Dominos" was a fluke. It occurred when
the band's provisional name of "Del and the Dynamos" was misread
as Derek and the Dominos. Eric Clapton's biography also states that Tony
Ashton told Eric to call the band "Del and the Dominos", since
"Del" was his nickname for Eric Clapton. Del and Eric were combined
and the final name became "Derek and the Dominos"
DESTINY'S CHILD
Started as Destiny, that name was taken. Beyonce's mother found a picture
of the four girls in a family bible. The picture had "Child"
written on it.
DEXIE'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
A drug the band was reputedly fond of ... Dexedrim.
DIAMOND HEAD
The name "Diamond Head" came from a Phil Manzanera album, that
Brian Tatler had a poster of in his room.
DIRE STRAITS
It describes the financial situation the band in the early days.
DOOBIE BROTHERS
Original band name was Pud, changing it to Doobie which is slang for a
marijuana joint.
DOORS
Originally called the Psychedelic Rangers, the Doors were inspired from
a William Blake quote 'If the doors of perception were to be cleansed
evry thing would appear to man as it is, infinite'.
DURAN DURAN
A villan in the 1967 Jane Fonda movie 'Barbarella'.
DYLAN, BOB
Robert Zimmerman changed his surname to Dylan in honor of Dylan Thomas
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E
EAGLES
The band
was hugely influences by the Byrds, they
all wanted an American sounding name, Henley wanted something Native American,
Eagles was born fitting all 3 needs.
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
Widely thought Echo was
the name of the drum machine used in their early demos. They must have
made this story up or used it as a nickname for the DM, as there is no
such drum machine.
EDSELS
The name of the group
was originally The Essos, after the oil company, but was changed to match
the then-new Ford automobile, the Edsel.
ELVIS
COSTELLO
Declan Patrick McManus
combined Elvis Presley's first name with his great grandmother's last
name Costello, which his father also performed under as Day Costello.
ELTON
HERCULES JOHN
Reginald Dwight took his stage name from two other British musicians,
saxophone player Elton Dean and Long John Baldry. His middle name is from
the horse out of the British TV series "Steptoe & Son" which
he enjoyed.
EMERSON DRIVE
Originally 12-Gauge, renamed itself Emerson Drive, after the Emerson Trail,
which crosses western Alberta and joins the Alaskan Highway.
EMF
The initials officially stood for "Epsom Mad Funkers", but it
is widely speculated that the initials instead represented "Ecstasy
Mind Fuckers", some say "Ecstasy Mother Fuckers",
"English Mother Fuckers," and
even "Every Mother's Favourite"!
EMINEM
His real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, he took the "M-and-M"
and rewrote it as Eminem.
ENGELBERT
HUMPERDINCK
Manager, Gordon Mills, convinced Gerry Dorsey that an audience would never
forget the name "Englebert Humperdinck", the name of the Austrian
composer who wrote "Hansel and Gretel".
EURYTHMICS
a method of music instruction from the 1890's which emphasizes physical
response to the music.
EVERYTHING
BUT THE GIRL
an advert slogan for a British bedroom furniture store that could sell
you "Everything but the Girl"
EXTREME
Originally Dream, but this name was taken. They thought of ex-Dream, then
settled for Extreme.
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F
FAIR
TO MIDLAND
According to the band's official website, their name comes
from "...an old Texan play on the term 'fair to middling'."
FAITH NO MORE
The band was originally called Sharp Young Men, but changed to Faith No
Man when their front man was Mike 'The Man' Morris. After he left, 'The
Man' was no more, so they switched to Faith No More.
FALL
Inspired by a novel by Albert Camus.
FALLOUT BOY
The band was nameless for their first two shows. At the end of their second
show, they asked the audience to yell out their ideas for a name. One
audience member suggested "Fallout Boy", a reference to the
sidekick of the Simpsons cartoon character Radioactive Man.
FEEDBACK
Later to become known as U2. As very young teenagers they called their
band "Feedback" as that was the only technical term they knew
back in those days (and maybe there was plenty of it at that young age
when learning their skills!!)
FLEETWOOD MAC
Taken from Mick Fleetwood's surname, with the 'Mac' coming from John McVie.
FLOWERPOT MEN (THE)
Psychedelic-era puns on flower power and "pot" (cannabis).
FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS
Inspired by the movie "All The Fine Young Cannibals"
FOGHAT
Singer Dave Peverett and his brother invented the word in a game of Scrabble.
FONTANA, WAYNE
& THE MINDBENDERS
Glyn Geoffrey Ellis rechristened himself Wayne Fontana after
Elvis Presley's drummer, DJ Fontana. The band took its name from Dirk
Boarded's 1962 British horror movie, The Mindbenders.
FOO FIGHTERS
David Grohl was fascinated by sci-fi and the Roswell incident. He named
his new project after a slang expression used in World War II by US pilots
to describe the alien-looking fireballs they sometimes saw over Germany.
Foo is a mutation of the French word for fire, "fue".
FOREIGNER
British guitarist Mick Jones started the band in New York, US. Being a
foreigner over there, that became the band name.
FOUNDATIONS
Taken from the surroundings where the band first started practicing, down
in the basement of a large business building.
FOUR SEASONS
Originally the Varietones, when they got turned at an auditioned to appear
at a local bowling alley, they adopted the name of the place "The
Four Seasons"
FUGEES
Three band members' parents were refugees. Their label is called Refugee
Camp.
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G
GANG OR FOUR
"Gang of Four" refers to the "big
four" Structuralist theorists: Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roland
Barthes, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Lacan,
not to be confused with the Maoist Gang of Four in China.
GARBAGE
Friends and relatives thought their
demo was too loud and the music garbage.
GARY U.S. BONDS
For his first hit, "New Orleans", attention was brought to the
record by having promotional copies sent to radio stations in sleeves
inscribed "Buy U.S. Bonds" - hence at age 19, Gary Anderson
became Gary U.S. Bonds.
GENESIS
From the first book in the Bible, their first album's title was "From
Genesis to Revelation"
GILBERT O'SULLIVAN
Manager Gordon Mills found a clever name for his
newfound talent. Playing off Ray O'Sullivan's last name and the playwriting
team of Gilbert and Sullivan, the name Gilbert O'Sullivan seemed a natural
choice.
GIN BLOSSOMS
The band got the idea from the famous old photograph of Fields and his
big ol’ gin-blossomed nose that appears in Kenneth Anger’s book,
"Hollywood Babylon II," with a caption describing Fields’
"terminal case of gin blossoms."
GODSMACK
With Alice in Chains being a primary influence upon Godsmack, it is speculated
that the band got their name from Alice in Chains song of the same name.
Lead singer Sully
Erna, stated "Where we picked the name from, I was making fun of
somebody who had a cold sore on his lip, the next day I had one myself
and somebody said, 'It's a godsmack.' and the name stuck". However,
bassist Robbie
Merril, in the home video DVD 'Smack This' stated "we stole it from
Alice in Chains".
GOLDEN EARRING
Inpired by a film called Golden Earring, after they had to change their
original Tornadoes name
GOLDFINGER
naturally
after the James Bond movie.
GOOD CHARLOTTE
They
took their name from a children's book, which the identical twin brothers
Joel (lead vocals and guitar) and Benji Madden (lead guitar and backing
vocals) used to read when little, called "Good Charlotte: The Girls
of Good Day Orphanage" by Carol Beach York.
GRATEFUL DEAD
Refers to a variety of themed Old English folk tales;
eg. a traveler enters a village and finds the villagers refusing to bury
the body of a dead man because he died owing creditors money. The traveler
pays the dead man's debts and sees to a decent burial. Later in his travels,
the man is saved by a mysterious event, which is credited to the dead
man's grateful spirit.
GREEN DAY
A few of probabilities: 1)
When the band members dropped out of school to work on the band, their
principal said "it'll be a green day in hell before you make anything
of yourselves". 2) When you smoked pot and chilled all day,
that is a "Green Day". The lads used to skip school and do this.
3) A there was a sign in the movie "Soilent Green" stating
Green Day.
GREEN JELLY
They were originally called Green Jello, but
were sued by makers of Jello gelatine for
using their brand name.
GUESS WHO?
When the musician's producer hear their
rendition of "Shakin' All Over", he feared that it would be
lost in the flood of British records and came up with a plan .. A number
of promotional copies were pressed with just a plain white label, the
song title and the words 'Guess Who?', implying that the disc may have
been cut someone famous.
GUNS 'N' ROSES
Combination of Axl Rose and Tracii Guns' names,
also it's a combination of LA Guns and Hollywood Roses when they merged.
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H
H-TOWN
They
took the name of the group, "H-Town," from the local nickname
for the city of Houston, Texas.
HANSON BROTHERS
The goofy and rough hockey playing brothers in the Paul Newman movie "Slapshot"
HAWKWIND
Nik Turner looked like a hawk and farted a lot
HERMAN'S HERMITS
Peter Noone resemblance to the character Sherman in the TV cartoon 'The
Bullwinkle Show', but he misheard the name as Herman. Soon after, the
band changed their name to Herman and The Hermits, very soon became abbreviated
to Herman's Hermits.
HEAVEN 17
Took their name from a fictional pop group mentioned in Anthony Burgess's
novel A Clockwork Orange, where 'The Heaven Seventeen' are at number 4
in the charts with "Inside".
THE
HOLLIES
Not in homage to Buddy Holly, as rumored. They chose the name from some
Christmas holly decorating Graham Nash's house.
HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH
Chosen from school friends' nicknames; Hootie had owl like eyes. The other
had puffed up cheeks that they called Blowfish.
THE HUES CORPORATION
Inspired by Howard Hughes and his empire, but when their manager Wally
Holmes went to a lawyer, he said 'you can't spell it that way'. So Holmes
came up with "Hues".
HUMPERDINCK, ENGELBERT
Manager, Gordon Mills, convinced Gerry Dorsey that an audience would never
forget the name "Englebert Humperdinck", the name of the Austrian
composer who wrote "Hansel and Gretel".
HUSKER DU
Inspired by Husker Du?, a Scandinavian young children's memory
game. The name of the game is spelled with macrons (-
over the U's). The Minneapolis punk rock band Hüsker
Dü, replaced the macrons with umlauts
(maybe inspired by heavy metal umlauts).
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I
IGGY POP & THE STOOGES
Iguana and Iggy were nicknames since childhood. Pop was inspired by Jim
Popp, a local junkie. The Stooges were originally the PSYCHEDELIC STOOGES..
which combined their love of drugs with "The Three Stooges".
INSANE
CLOWN POSSE
Joe
Bruce and Joey Utsler aka Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope originally part
of "Inner City Posse" despite being from Oak Part, MI. a wannabe
gang and rap group. The official story is that Violent J had a dream where
the Dark Carnival visited him and thus the 2 became clowns and changed
their name. Rumor has it that they were targets for their tagging from
other real gangs and they changed it to avoid getting beaten up or killed.
INTERPOL
There is confusion about origin of the name Interpol. An article in SPIN
magazine said one of Paul Banks' classmates was fond of teasing him by
saying "Paul, Paul, Interpol." Yet guitarist Kessler has said
the band "...had played shows with no name, and then I got to the
point where I was like, 'Guys, we're getting decent crowds, but like...
we don't have a name so no one knows who to go see again.'"
They
considered Las Armas and The French Letters as names before adopting Interpol.
They also famously performed a little publicized show at the Luna Lounge
in New York under the pseudonym Cuddleworthy. (Interpol
is an acronym for International Police Force, the world police organization)
INXS
The 3
Farriss brothers
hoped their music would be "In Excess", and spelt it INXS
IRON MAIDEN
Steve Harris got the band name from a film of The
Man in the Iron Mask. The "Iron Maiden" was a metal coffin with
spikes running outside it that could be inserted inside. The occupant
was than impaled and presumably killed..
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J
JACK
OFF JILL
Originally Jack & Jill, Marilyn Manson inspired the name change to
Jack off Jill.
THE JAGGERZ
While on location for a photo shoot in the woods, the
band noticed that little briars were sticking to their clothing. They
found out these briars were locally (Pittsburgh area) known as "jaggerz".
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
Inspired by the blues player Blind Lemon Jefferson and the name of
a friend's dog. A jefferson airplane is a split matchstick end or other
device to hold your splif in to get that last drag.
JETHRO TULL
Jethro Tull was a 1800's British farmer in the who invented a type of
plough. The band used to change their name frequently, found Jethro Tull
luckier than the rest.
JOHN DENVER
A tribute to the Rocky Mountain area, an area John Henry Deutschendorf
cherished.
JOHN, ELTON HERCULES
Reginald Dwight took his stage name from two other British musicians,
Elton Dean and Long John Baldry. His middle name is from the horse out
of the TV series "Steptoe & Son" which he enjoyed
JOHNNY CHRIST
Jonathan Lewis Seward used to write only Johnny on his autographs until
Zacky came up with the name 'Johnny Christ', and in All Excess he said
'It sounded kind of ballsy and it would piss some people off....so everyone's
going to hate that'.
JOHNNY
ROTTEN
Named after his rotten teeth
JOY
DIVISION
From a sado-masochistic novel 'The House of Dolls' by Karol Cetinsky.
Joy Divisions were lines of huts in which deported women were forced to
prostitute themselves to Nazi officers on leave.
JUDAS PRIEST
Originally a mild curse said to avoid saying "Jesus Christ",
also Bob Dylan mentions it in his tune "The ballad of Frankie Lee
and Judas Priest".
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K
KAT-TUN
The Jananese boy band formed their by
taking the initial from each of their surnames... Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin
Akanishi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Tatsuya Ueda and Yuichi Nakamaru.
KILLERS (THE)
Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning took
the name which was on the bass drum of a fictional
band in a New Order video for New Order's
song "Crystal".
KING CRIMSON
Their original lyricist, Peter Sinfield, thought of it as a synonym for
Beelzebub, which is Hebrew for 'Lord of the Flies'. In John Milton's 'Paradise
Lost', Beelzebub was Satan's chief lieutenant among the fallen angels.
Often seen as a red (crimson) figure, he is King of the underworld.
KIRBYS (THE)
Original
called The Panthers, but while on Radio Luxembourg
show,
they were introduced as The Kirkbys, the presenter confused their name
with their home town. The name stuck.
KISS
Kiss denies the fundamentalist rumour that the name stands for 'Knights
In Satan's Service'. According to Paul Stanley, Kiss was a momentary inspiration
that sounded dangerous and sexy at the same time.
K.L.F.
An acronym for 'Kopyright Liberation Front', which sums up their attitude
towards using samples from other artists.
KRAFTWERK
German for 'power plant'
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L
LADYTRON
The band takes their name from the song "Ladytron"
by Roxy Music, from their eponymous debut album of 1972.
LED ZEPPELIN
Originally the New Yardbirds", "Led Zeppelin" was chosen
as their new name after Keith Moon predicted they would go down like a
lead zeppelin. The account which has become legendary, has it that Keith
Moon and John Entwistle suggested that a possible supergroup containing
themselves, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck would go down like a lead balloon,
a term Entwistle used to describe a bad gig. The group deliberately dropped
the 'a' in Lead at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant, to prevent
"thick Americans" from pronouncing it as "leed"
LED ZEPPELIN
(the ALBUM) + THE NOBS
Led Zeppelin's debut album cover met with protest at a February 28, 1970
gig in Copenhagen, the band was billed as "The Nobs"
because of a threat of legal action from aristocrat Eva von Zeppelin,
a relative of the namesake creator of the Zeppelin aircraft, who, upon
seeing the logo of the Hindenburg crashing in flames, threatened to have
the show pulled off the air.
LEMONHEADS
A type of sweet/sour boiled candy sweet.
LEVEL 42
In the novel 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', a supercomputer gave
the answer to life, the universe and everything as "42". Because
of copyright problems with actually calling the band '42', they tacked
on 'Level'.
LIMP BIZKIT
They got the the idea from Fred Durst's dog "Biscuit", who walks
with a limp.
LINK 80
The name came from the interstate highway I-80 which the band members
used to get to the drummer's garage for band practice and connected the
band members' homes.
LIZZIE BORDEN
The band is named after the notorious Lizzie Borden, a woman accused and
acquitted of murder in the late 19th century.
LIVI
Took their name from a Latvian tribe "Livi" living in the vicinity
of Liepaja and making their living by pirating and fighting with foreign
oppressors.
LL
COOL J
Short for "Ladies Love Cool James".
LOS LOBOS
Spanish for "The Wolves"
LOVIN' SPOONFUL
It's slang for sperm, but the name is from the lyrics of John Hurt's "Coffee
Blues".
LYNYRD SKYNYRD
Earlier band names were 'Noble Five' and 'One Percent', but Lynyrd Skynyrd
is a play on Leonard Skinner, the gym coach, at Robert E. Lee High school.
He punished founding members Gary Rossington and Bob Burns on numerous
occasions for breaking the school's strict dress code which did not allow
boys to have long hair touching the collar or sideburns below the ears.
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M
M.
SHADOWS
Matthew Charles Sanders said that he got his
name because when he attended El Modena High School, he was a darker kid
and they nicknamed him "Shadows", but he also wanted to incorporate
his name, Matt, into his stage name, so he reduced
Matt to M.
MADNESS
Originally The North London Invaders in 1976,
often shortened to The Invaders. After briefly changing their name to
Morris and the Minors and securing a record deal, guitarist
Chrissy Boy, suggested the
band renamed itself as Madness; paying homage to one of their favourite
songs by ska/reggae artist Prince Buster.
MANIC STREET PREACHERS
Guitarist/vocalist James Dean Bradfield was inspired by a manic street-preaching
tramp.
MARILLION
Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein's 'Silmarillion' modified to avoid copyright
problems.
MC5
An acronym 'Motor City Five' honouring Detriot.
MIND GARAGE
The Reverend Michael Paine's wife Tori Paine, thought up this name and
suggested to this psychedelic rock band to put Christian words with rock
music and play in church. In 1967 The Mind Garage invented the concept
of Electric Liturgy, the forerunner of today’s popular Christian
Rock.
MEATLOAF
Marvin Lee Aday stepped on the foot of his high school football coach,
who shouted 'Meat Loaf' instead of swearing
MEGADETH
Dave Mustane was inspired by a government pamphlet (A Megadeath is a military
term for one million dead people, so World War II was responsible for
80 Megadeaths) after getting kicked out of Metallica. Megadeth is a phonetical
spelling for Megadeath.
MEKONS
Inspired the sci-fi alien villan in the 'Dan Dare' cartoon strip in the
'Eagle' comic. The Mekon was Dan Dare's arch enemy.
METALLICA
Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fanzine.
The magazine went with 'Metal Mania' and Lars kept Metallica, which was
one of the suggestions.
MINDBENDERS
Named after a 1962 British horror movie. (appeared as themselves in the
film "To Sir, With Love")
MISFITS
Taken from the 1961 movie starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.
MODEST MOUSE
Named after line from a speech exercise that lead singer (a lisper) Isaac
Brock learned in grade school.
MOGWAI
Named after the cute creatures from Gremlins, that turn into the evil
Gremlin creatures when fed after midnight or when they get wet. Stuart
Braithwaite commented that "it has no significant meaning, and we
always intended on getting a better one, but like a lot of other things
we never got 'round to it."
MOLLY HATCHET
The band, founded by Dave Hlubek, Steve Holland and
Duane
Roland in
1971, took its name from a prostitute who allegedly mutilated and decapitated
her clients.
MOODY BLUES
They were originally called "M & B 5" because they wanted
to perform in a Birmingham brewery called 'Mitchell's and Butlers.' The
building had a big 'MB' on it. It never happened so they changed name
to 'Moody Blues' an Elvis hit, which was one Justin Hayward's favourite
songs. (he later wrote is own Moody Blues song)
MOOKIE BLAYLOCK
The name taken from the former All-Star basketball player for the Atlanta
Hawks, the band later became Pearl Jam.
MOTHERS OF INVENTION
Their label asked them to add 'of Invention' to their original The Mothers
which was an abbriviation for 'Motherfuckers'.
MOTLEY CRUE
When seeing the band, a friend of theirs commented "What a Motley
looking Crue." motley meaning "of great variety"
MOTORHEAD
When forming his new band, Lemmy concurred and decided to call the band
'Motörhead', inspired by the final song he had written for Hawkwind.
The name of the song "Motorhead" is an American slang term for
a speed freak.. A Motorhead in American slang is more commonly someone
who loves to work on cars or motorcycles.
MOTT THE HOOPLE
A Willard Manus novel of the same name. The book is about an eccentric
that works in a circus freak show.
MR. MISTER
From a T-Rex song on the Tanx album.
MSI
This is an abbreviation of Mindless Self Indulgence
MUDDY WATERS
His grandmother started calling him that after watching him play in a
creek as a child.
MUTO
When guitarist George M, bassist Joe and drummer Lee decided to form an
instrumental guitar driven metal trio they chose the italian/latin word
Muto, an adjective meaning 'without words', 'unspoken', ‘mute’,
‘unable to speak’.
MY BLOODY VALENTINE
The band named themselves after the same name horror film, but known of
them had ever actually seen the film.
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N
NAZARETH
The group took their name from the first line
of The Band's song "The Weight" ("I pulled into Nazareth
/ Was feelin' 'bout half past dead.")
NEW FOUND GLORY
Singer
Jordan and guitarist Steve thought up "A New Found Glory" while
working at Red Lobster, but dropped the "A" after confusion
from fans on where to find their CD's at record stores.
NEW ORDER
The band's original name was Joy Division until
Ian Curtis, the lead singer, lyricist killed himself. The remaining members
reformed the band, thus it was the New Order. "New Order" was
also a famous expression used by Hitler.
NEW YORK DOLLS
Named themselves after the New York Dolls Hospital.
NICKELBACK
Some say it derived from the American Football term,, but according to
most sources the name is derived from the nickel (money), which Mike Kroeger
frequently had to give customers back in change when he was working at
a Starbucks coffee shop and would frequently say "Here's your nickel
back".
THE
NICE
The band name comes from a Small Faces song
about drugs called "Here Comes the Nice"
NIRVANA
In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness
attained through the annihilation of the self.
NO CURE
This was inspired by a set of twins who spoke a language they had created
themselves, but sounded gibberish to everyone else. Originally the band
were called Cocteau Twins, a name taken from the Simple Minds song "Cocteau
Twins".
N.R.B.Q.
Stands for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet (originally Quintet), although
a 1982 article in Creem magazine suggested a different meaning: "Nothing
Really Beats Quality".
'N SYNC
From the last letter of each band member's name: justiN, chriS, joeY,
lanstoN and jC.
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O
OASIS
Oasis is the name of a Sports Centre in Swindon, England. Noel Gallacher
was the roadie for a band that played there once.
THE O'JAYS
Originally called the Mascots. They named themselves
after the Cleveland disc jockey Eddie O'Jay, who helped the band out in
their early days.
OMD
Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark
O'SULLIVAN, GILBERT
Manager Gordon Mills found a clever name for his
newfound talent. Playing off Ray O'Sullivan's last name and the playwriting
team of Gilbert and Sullivan, the name Gilbert O'Sullivan seemed a natural
choice.
OZZY OSBOURNE
Ozzy was his childhood nickname.
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P
PANIC AT THE DISCO
The band has stated, on their DVD and in interviews,
that the name "Panic! at the Disco" comes from the song "Panic"
by The Smiths, which includes the line "burn down the disco,"
although a more popular belief is that the name has its origins in the
song "Panic" by Name Taken, which includes the line "Panic
at the disco."
PARAMORE
When the group learned the meaning of the homonym, paramour "secret
lover", they decided to adopt the name, using the Paramore spelling.
PEARL JAM
Eddie Vedder says "The name is in reference to the pearl itself,...
and the natural process from which a pearl comes from. Basically, taking
excrement or waste and turning it into something beautiful" and Jam,
came later after seeing Neil Young play Nassau Coliseum. "He played,
like, nine songs over three hours. Every song was like a fifteen- or twenty-minute
jam," says Jeff Ament, "So that's how 'jam' got added on to
the name. Or at least that's how I remember it". Eddie Vedder originally
claimed that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother
Pearl, who was married to a Native American man and had a special recipe
for peyote-laced jam. but now admits he invented it as a joke; BUT his
great-grandmother was called Pearl. It may have no reference but pearl
jam is sexual slang for semen.
PET SHOP BOYS
In the underground gay disco scene they have/had darkrooms, pet shops,
where you don't know who it is you're doing it with.
PHISH
A play on drummer John Fishman's last name.
PINBACK
The name Pinback is a reference to the whiny janitor in the film 'Dark
Star' (played by Dan O'Bannon, who also co-wrote the film) by John Carpenter.
Samples from this film are used frequently in the band's early works.
PINK FLOYD
Named after blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
PJ
HARVEY
Polly Jean Harvey
PLATINUM BLONDE
The name of the band
was inspired by the 1931 Jean Harlow movie Platinum Blonde.
PM DAWN
Inspired by a Bible quote, "In the darkest hour comes the light."
POCO
Originally Pogo, until the creater of the comic strip Pogo sued them.
POGUES
Shortened from 'Pogue Mahone', which is a distorted version of Póg
Mo hón, which is Irish Gaelic for 'kiss my ass'.
POISON
Originally called Paris,
the name Poison was picked by the band after a group of concerned parents
protested to say that rock music was "poisoning" the lives of
their children.
POP,
IGGY
& THE STOOGES
Iguana and the shortened
Iggy were nicknames since childhood. Pop was inspired by Jim Popp, a local
junkie. The Stooges were originally the Psychedelic Stooges was a combination
of their love of drugs and "The Three Stooges".
PORTISHEAD
Named themselves after their home town in the UK.
THE
PRETENDERS
Named after the Platter's song "The Great Pretender".
PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
Named after The Smiths song, which itself was
named after a quote from Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums.
PRETTY THINGS
Named after the Bo Diddley song "Pretty Thing".
PRIMAL SCREAM
A psychological best seller by Arthur Janov.
PROCOL HARUM
Inspired by the name or pedigree of a cat owned by Guy Stevens, or
Keith Reid's cat??
THE PRODIGY
Named after the Moog Prodigy, Liam Howlett first synthesizer.
PROPELLERHEAD
Is slang for a nerd, and when Gifford and White heard a friend from California
drop this into conversation, they thought it the perfect name for their
band.
PULP
Originally called Arabacus Pulp, after a commodity Jarvis Cocker learned
about during economics. This was shortened to Pulp because nobody else
knew what the full name meant.
PUSCIFER
Orignal
name was "Umlaut", the name was changed to Puscifer, a play
on Pussy and Lucifer combined. The name "Puscifer" was first
publicized as a fictional band in the first episode of Mr. Show, after
which front man Maynard James Keenan transformed it into a real band.
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Q
QUEEN
Freddie Mercury liked the name for the transvestite connotation and the
glamorous image of Queens in royalty.
QUESTION MARK AND THE MYSTERIANS
Bassist Larry Borjas came up with the name after
watching a Japanese sci-fi film "The
Mysterians" on television.
QUIET RIOT
Kevin DuBrow said the band's name was born of a
conversation with Rick Parfitt of British band Status Quo in which Rick
Parfitt said he'd like to name a band "Quite Right.
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R
RADIOHEAD
Named after a Talking Head song called Radio
Head.They
were originally named On A Friday.
RAMONES (THE)
Douglas Colvin was the first to use the name Ramone, calling himself Dee
Dee Ramone. He was inspired by the fact that Paul McCartney used the pseudonym
Paul Ramone (sometimes Ramon) prior to the success of the Beatles. The
other members followed suit and adopted new stage names; Jeffry Hyman
became Joey Ramone, reportedly after pop music vocalist Joey Levine, John
Cummings became Johnny Ramone, and the group itself became known as the
Ramones.
Soon after this, their manager Thomas Erdelyi took over on drums, as Tommy
Ramone. Each new member since, has always
taken a stage name ending with Ramone.
RAY CHARLES
His actual name is Ray Charles Robinson, but he did not want to be confused
with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, so dropped the Robinson.
R.E.M
Michael Stipe shut his eyes and stuck
his finger in a dictionary and came up with REM, 'Rapid Eye Movement'
is a state of sleep.
REO SPEEDWAGON
took its name from the REO Speed Wagon, a truck manufactured by the REO
Motor Car Company (the predecessor to today's Nucor). ("R.E.O."
are initials of the company's founder, Ransom Eli Olds, who also founded
the Oldsmobile division of General Motors.) .
REPLACEMENTS
It that the the band were given a gig after another band failed to show.
When asked who they were, Paul Westerberg said "We're the Replacements".
RICK RO$$
American
rapper, William Leonard Roberts II,
took his stage name from the drug trafficker "Freeway" Ricky
Ross, to whom he has no connection.
RINGO STARR
Ringo, because Richard
Starkey liked to wear lots of rings, Starr is taken from his last name.
ROB TYNER
Robert
Derminer, frontman for MC5
(Motor City 5) adopted
surname was in tribute to the jazz pianist McCoy Tyner.
ROSE,
AXL
Guns 'n' Roses singer's name is an anagram of oral sex
ROLLING STONES
The name was suggested by Brian Jones taken
from the Muddy Waters song "Rolling Stone".
ROTTEN,
JOHNNY
Named after his rotten teeth
RUSH
They were rushing to think up a name before their first gig, when John
Rustey's brother said "Why don't you call your band Rush?".
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S
SAVAGE GARDEN
From an Ann Rice novel.
SCRITTI POLITTI
Comes from an Americanization of the
book SCRITTI POLITICI, the political writings by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian
Marxist.
SEX PISTOLS
It was partially inspired by Malcom
Mclaren wive's punk clothing shop called
"Sex".
SHADOW GALLERY
Originally went under the name Sorcerer; they changed their name to Shadow
Gallery, taken from the graphic novel 'V for Vendetta' by Alan Moore
SHeDAISY
The group's name is derived from a Navajo
term meaning "my (little) sister".
SHADOWFAX
The group takes its name from Gandalf's
horse Shadowfax in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
SILVERCHAIR
'Innocent Criminals'
wanted to change thier name to "Sliverchair"
~ "Sliver" by Nirvana, and "The Berlin Chair" by the
Australian band, but Chris Joannou mis-spelled it, some say on the copyright
form, others say when he wrote it down as not to forget the name. Another
story is they
changed their name from to Silverchair,
supposedly
after visiting a psychic!
SIMPLE MINDS
Taken from a line in the David Bowie
song "Jean Genie".
SIOUXIE SIOUX (not
a band but interesting)
Susan Janet Ballion named herself after
The Sioux Indians because she "hates cowboys".
SISTERS OF MERCY
A tribute to the Leonard Cohen song
SKID ROW
Sabo originally liked the name Skip Rope,
but Jon Bon Jovi convinced him Skid Row would sound more professional.
Skid Row is slang for run down inner city neighborhoods.
SKYCLAD
The term "skyclad" comes from
a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed
with the participants metaphorically clad only by the sky, as a sign of
equality.
SLEEPER
The title of a Woody Allen film.
SMALL FACES
Inspired by The Who song "I'm the Face".
Face is Mod talk for a "stylish guy" and the band were all short
lads.
SNOW PATROL
Paul Wilson (bass player) once joked about the origin of their name in
an interview he gave to Rolling Stone magazine; saying it stemmed from
an encounter with police in Telluride, Colorado. The band members apparently
were caught trying to cut down a Christmas tree from the skiing hotspot.
The band successfully eluded the police when they hid in a cave for over
five hours.. Poor Jonny Quinn (drummer) suffered from a bout of pneumonia
after their ordeal.
SOFT BOYS
Combination of two William Burroughs novels,
'Soft Machine' and 'Wild Boys'.
SOFT MACHINE
The name of a William Burroughs novel
SONIC YOUTH
A combination of 2 local New York bands Sonic Rendezvous Orchestra and
Big Youth
SOUNDGARDEN
A garden of kinetic sculptures that make music when wind blows through
them
SPANDAU BALLET
Inspired after a visit to a club in Spandau where one of their roadies
saw some graffiti on the toilet walls refering to Spandau Prison. Spandau
Ballet is an aweful Nazi guard term for the
spasms of prisoners as they danced at the end of the rope, when they were
hanged at Spandau Prison, according
to others, it refers to lines of enemies being gunned down by the infamous
WW2 German machine gun MG42 "Spandau"
SPIDER MURPHY GANG
A
combination of Barny Murphy's last name, and the reference of Elvis Presley's
song, "Jailhouse Rock" to a 'Spider Murphy' that played the
tenor saxophone.
ST. ETIENNE
They are named after the famous French
football team, AS Saint-Étienne, European Cup runners-up in the
1970s.
STARR, RINGO
Ringo, because
Richard Starkey liked to wear lots of rings,
Starr is taken from his last name.
STEELY DAN
A steel dildo in the 1964 William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.
STEPPENWOLF
Originally called the Sparrows, they took the
name Steppenwolf from the Herman Hesse novel.
STING
Gordon Sumner used to wear a yellow/black striped
shirt when in a jazz band, people said he looked like a bee.. The STING
nickname grew from that.
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
Originally called Mighty Joe Young, but their lawyer told them this name
was already being used by a local blues musician. They changed the band's
name to Shirley Temple's Pussy, but then changed the name again due to
record label pressure. They liked the initials STP (from the STP Motor
Oil Company logo) and eventually settled on the name Stereo Temple Pirates,
but just prior to their first record it was suggested to change Stereo
to Stone, and Pirates (which sounded imposing) to Pilots, and they became
officially the Stone Temple Pilots in 1990.
STYX
After the mythical river, Styx, that people crossed over to go into Hell.
SUGARCUBES
Dripping liquid LSD on Sugarcubes is a time honored way to "package"
LSD.
SUPERTRAMP
Named after a book called 'Autobiography Of A Supertramp', written by
R.E. Davies in 1910.
Synyster stated that his name was thought of on a drunken drive through
the park with The Rev. His exact words were, "I am Synyster Gates,
and I am awesome!"
SWAN
SILVERSTONES
The
Four Harmony Kings soon renamed to the Silvertone Singers. After the group
was hired by a radio program based in Knoxville, Tennessee that was sponsored
by the local Swan Bakery, they were renamed as the Swan Silvertones.
SYNYSTER GATES
Guitarist Brian Elwin Haner Jr, stated that his name was thought of on
a drunken drive through the park with The Rev. His exact words were, "I
am Synyster Gates, and I am awesome!".
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TEMPLE OF THE DOG
Their name was taken from one of the late Andrew Wood's
of Mother Love Bone
lyrics
TERRORVISION
Named
after a cult B-movie; original name Spoilt Bratz
TEXAS
Inpired by the film 'Paris, Texas'
THE BAND
According to guitarist Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan's backup band resisted
all conformity, even naming their ensemble. After landing their own recording
contract, record company executives pressed them for a group name, but
had to settle for simply "The Band".
THE CURE
Origianally called Malice in 1976,
they took the new name Easy Cure in January 1977 from a song written by
their drummer Laurence Tolhurst. After several line-up changes, they dropped
the 'Easy' to became The Cure in 1978.
THE FLOWERPOT MEN
Psychedelic-era puns on flower power and "pot" (cannabis).
THE FUGS
The band was named by Tuli Kupferberg, from a euphemism for "fuck"
used in Norman Mailer's novel, The Naked and the Dead.
THE
KILLERS
Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning took
the name which was on the bass drum of a fictional
band in a New Order video for New Order's
song "Crystal".
THE RAMONES
Douglas Colvin was the first to use the name Ramone, calling himself Dee
Dee Ramone. He was inspired by the fact that Paul McCartney used the pseudonym
Paul Ramone (sometimes Ramon) prior to the success of the Beatles. The
other members followed suit and adopted new stage names; Jeffry Hyman
became Joey Ramone, reportedly after pop music vocalist Joey Levine, John
Cummings became Johnny Ramone, and the group itself became known as the
Ramones. Soon after this, their manager Thomas Erdelyi took over on drums,
as Tommy Ramone. Each new member since, has always
taken a stage name ending with Ramone.
THE REV
James Sullivan of the band Avenged Sevenfold
who attended a catholic school, attained his name via a shortened version
of The Reverend Tholomew Plague.
THE SMITHS
In a 1984 interview Morrissey stated, "I decided to call ourselves
"The Smiths" because it was the most ordinary name, and I think
it's time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces."
Also the band have stated that it was a reaction against names they considered
fancy and pompous such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Another theory
regarding the origin of the band's name suggests that it was an ironic
joke to give the band a quintessentially English name when all of the
band members were of Irish descent.
theSTART
Originally called Hero, they were forced to
change their name as it was already taken. Aimee Echo's mother suggested
"theSTART".
THE TURTLES
Originally the Crossfires, but changed their name to the Tyrtles as an
unveiled homage to the Byrds, but soon amended the spelling.
THE
YOUNG TRADITION
named after a London Club The Young Tradition, which gave Peter Bellamy,
Royston Wood and Heather Wood a regular gig when Peter Bellamy was a starving
musician in the 60's.
THENEWNO2
The name "thenewno2" is a reference to the 1960s British television
show, The Prisoner.
THIN LIZZY
When original quitarist Eric Bell saw Eric Clapton reading a copy of the
BEANO comic on a John Mayall album cover he bought a copy. One of the
characters in the comic was Tin Lizzy. Phil Lynott thought that was a
horrible name for a band and suggested Thin Lizzy instead.
THOMSON TWINS
After two characters in the 'Tintin' comics by the Belgium artist Herge.
THREE
DOG NIGHT
Inspired by an Australian Aborigine custom of sleeping with three dogs
on extremely cold nights.
TLC
Nicknames of band members: Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left
Eye" Lopez and Rozonda is "Chilli"
TON STEINE SCHERBEN
Ton Steine Scherben's literal English translation is "Clay Stones
Shards"; in German, "Ton" can mean "sound" as
well, so the band's name may be considered to be an amphibology. Singer
Rio Reiser usually told journalists the name was taken from a description
by pioneer archeologist Heinrich Schliemann of what he saw when he first
came to the site of ancient Troy. Other members of the band claim in the
biography "Keine Macht für Niemand - Die Geschichte der Ton
Steine Scherben" (No power for nobody - the story of Clay Stone Shards")
that it is a play on the name of the West German labor union Bau-Steine-Erden
(Construction-Stones-Earths). The band name is also a tribute to The Rolling
Stones and to "Die roten Steine" (The red stones), a trainee
theatre group from Berlin.
TOOL
Maynard James Keenan gave a direct explanation of his band's name in an
interview in 1994: "Tool
is exactly what it sounds like: It's a big dick. It's a wrench. It's also
what it sounds like: It's a verb, it's a digging factor. It's an active
process of searching, as in use us, we are a shovel, we are the match,
we're the blotter of acid, your tool; use us as a catalyst in your process
of finding out whatever it is you need to find out, or whatever it is
you're trying to achieve. Tool drummer Danny Carey alleged that the name
"Tool" means that the band served its fans as a tool through
which they would come to understand the concept of lachrymology.
TOTO
After watching The Wizard of Oz on TV, they named the band not after the
dog, but because the name was easy to pronounce and remember.
T PAU
Named after a high priestess from the planet Vulcan in the American TV
series Star Trek.
TRAVIS
Inspired by the film "Paris, Texas".
Travis is the lead character.
TROGGS
From the term 'troglodyte'.
TWITTY,
CONWAY
Looking at a road map, he spotted Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas.
Thus, he went with the professional name of "Conway Twitty".
TYGERS OF PAN TANG
The band is named after an elite group of chaos-worshiping warriors, called
the Tigers of Pan Tang, in Michael Moorcock's Elric stories.
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U
U2
The origin of the name 'U2' is not clear. It
is the name of a famous 1960s surveillance plane, the Lockheed U-2; however,
the Dublin punk rock guru Steve Averill (better known as Steve Rapid of
The Radiators From Space) claimed it was chosen by the band from a list
of six or so names created by him and Adam Clayton. Some say it grew out
of interactivity with their audiences in their "Hype" days getting
them to join in saying 'you too.', others say it comes from an Irish tax
or gvernment form a W2.
UB40
Named after the paper form issued by the UK government's Department of
Employment at the time of the band's formation for claiming unemployment
benefit. UB40 = Unemployment Benefit, Form 40.
A few of the band members met at the dole office every week while signing
on for their weekly benifits. The title of
their first album was called 'Signing Off'!
UGLY KID JOE
A parody of Pretty Boy Floyd, a band they once played a show with.
ULTRAVOX
Latin for "the greatest amount of voice"
URIAH HEEP
Manager Gerry Bron suggested Uriah Heep, based
on the 'horrible little character from Charles Dickens' novel, 'David
Copperfield'.
UTAH SAINTS
The name "Utah Saints" as told by
Willis is a play on the fact that when the American basketball team New
Orleans Jazz moved to Utah they kept their name "the Jazz".
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V
VELVET UNDERGROUND
This is the name of an S&M magazine that a band member found on a
sidewalk in New York
VILLAGE PEOPLE
All of the members of
the group came from Greenwich Village, their
manager, Jacques Morali, decided to call them "The Village People".
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W
WAR
Eric Burdon wanted
to attract attention because at
this the hippies were so anti-war.
WAYNE FONTANA & THE MINDBENDERS
Glyn Geoffrey Ellis rechristened himself Wayne Fontana after
Elvis Presley's drummer, DJ Fontana. The band took its name from Dirk
Boarded's 1962 British horror movie, The Mindbenders.
WEEZER
Rivers Cuomo was nicknamed Weezer in school for being a geek
and made weezing sounds caused by his asthma.
WET WET WET
They took their name from a Scritti Politti song.
WHAM!
After meeting in a band called "Executive", George Michael and
Andrew Ridgeley said they named their duo Wham! because wanted to make
a loud impact in the music business.
WHITESNAKE
David Coverdale was inspired by his dick, as that simple! He did have
a white albino ball python snake too!
WHITE ZOMBIE
An old B-movie starring Bela Lugosi.
WHO
The band members were already so hard of hearing or sometime and while
suggestions for a new name were being discussed , someone noticed they
kept saying, "The who?"
WINGS
Paul McCartney thought of this name while waiting in a hospital wing for
Linda to give birth
WINTERSUN
In an interview Jari Maenpaa says "Winter" reflects the cold
& stormy side of the music and also the Finnish melancholy & magic.
"Sun" is related to the "universe, space & stars"
feel of the music.
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XTC
Looking for a new name, Andy Partridge was inspried by a Jimmy Durante
clip when he said "'dats it, I'm in ecstasy!" Also he liked
how well XTC looked on posters
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Y
YELLOMAN
A nickname somewhat describing the hair
and skin color of this albino from Jamaica.
YOUNG RASCALS
Inspired by the 1920's "Our Gang" films,
later known on
television as The Little Rascals.
YOUNG TRADITION
named after a London Club, The Young Tradition, which gave Peter Bellamy,
Royston Wood and Heather Wood a regular gig when Peter Bellamy was a starving
musician in the 60's.
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Z
ZACKY
VENGEANCE
Zachary James
Baker took the name Zacky Vengeance, stating that he had grudges against
many people who doubted his success.
ZZ TOP
Billy Gibbons, in his book 'Rock + Roll Gearhead',
tells us the name is derived from their
legendary blues
hero, B.B. King. They wanted to call themselves
Z.Z. King, but that sounded too similar; as 'King' was at the 'top', they
decided on ZZ Top. Other rumours say it is inspired by ZIG ZAG rolling
papers and TOPS rolling papers; they wanted to pay tribute to the Texas
Blues man ZZ HILL.
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IF
YOU KNOW ANY MORE BAND NAME ORIGINS OR
DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS FOR THE ABOVE
PLEASE EMAIL ME
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