ROCK BANDS   -   Name

Origins
Bands often have unusual names and here are the origins of some
popular bands
both past and present. One thing that you will discover if you look into
this area is
that RUMORS abound!  If we cannot confirm an origin, we have given
alternatives
found in other sources. Some entries contain links to useful band
information. 

Also try the Ultimate Band List at http://ubl.artistdirect.com/ 

and Bands at MTV http://www.mtv.com/nav/intro_bands.html
to continue your own research.

Listings are alphabetical

DO YOU KNOW AN INTERESTING ORIGIN STORY OF A BAND? 

GOT SOME CONFLICTING INFORMATION ON A BAND NAME ORIGIN?
SEND US THE INFORMATION, including an Internet source if possible
AND WE'LL CONSIDER IT IN OUR NEXT UPDATE...

ABBA - Abba is "father" in Hebrew but the band claims that to be unintentional - rather it
is an acronym for the first names of the band members: Agnetha, Björn, Benny and
Anni-Frid (Frida).

AC/DC - 1)  It is said that one of the band member saw it on an appliance and thought it
had something to do with power. (It does mean "alternating current / direct current".) 
The band used it not realizing it was also slang for a bisexual- the band claims NOT to
be bisexual.   
2)  In the vogue of other anti-everything bands it stands for Against Christ/Devil's
Children.
ALICE IN CHAINS - a funny rumor is that they were named after a lost episode from
The Brady Bunch series!

AMBOY DUKES - Ted Nugent's original band - taken from the title of a 1940's book
about street gangs by Irving Shulman.

ANTHRAX - A dangerous bacteria that used to infect many cattle in Europe & could be
used for terrorism.

ASPHALT BALLET - The name came from a motorcycle accident Julius was in where
the motion of the bike rolling over on the asphalt road  was termed an "Asphalt Ballet."

AQUA - suggested by a Danish AQUArium poster that was hanging in their recording
studio.

BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY - this neo-swing band takes its name from what legendary
bluesman Albert King wrote as an autograph for the band's leader, Scotty Morris... "To
the big bad voodoo daddy."

B-52's - The beehive hairstyle popular in the 1950's (worn by band members) was
called a B-52 after a type of large US Air Force bomber plane with that designation.

BACKSTREET BOYS - The Backstreet Market was a store in Florida where the guys
used to hang out.

BAD COMPANY - A 1972 modern cowboy movie starring Jeff Bridges.

BAD ENGLISH - One day the band members were playing pool and thinking about a
name for the
band.  John Waite went to take a shot and missed. Someone made a comment on how
bad his "English" was - English referring to the spin you put on a ball according to where
on the ball your stick hits.

BAUHAUS - an artsy name, after a style of graphic design and famous school of
architecture.

BEASTIE BOYS -  According to Michael Diamond, BEASTIE stands for Boys Entering
Anarchistic
Stages Towards Internal Excellence.

THE BEATLES - 1) original member Stuart Sutcliffe came up with THE BEETLES , as a
play on Buddy Holly's group THE CRICKETS who they loved. They were using the
name THE QUARRYMEN and sometimes THE SILVER BEETLES - later it became
THE BEATLES emphasizing the BEAT aspect of music (and poetry?). 2)  Lennon lists
the influence of the film "The Wild One", which featured a motorcycle gang called the
Beetles (unconfirmed). John Lennon is generally credited with combining Beetles and
Beat to come up with THE BEATLES spelling. Lennon was also fond of saying he had a
vision as a child of a flaming pie in the sky that said "You are Beatles with an "A"

JOHN CAFFERTY and the BEAVER BROWN BAND - did the classic soundtrack to the
movie Eddie and the Cruisers.  The band from the Cranston Rhode Island area was
practicing in one of
the band member's garages when they saw a Dutch Boy paint can that was called
Beaver Brown.

THE BEE GEES - the 60's soft-rockers now best known for disco. "Saturday Night
Fever" - some say the BG comes from "Brothers Gibb" since they were brothers named
Gibb... however an article on the group suggests that they used the names of 2 friends
that helped them get started: Bill Goode and a DJ named Bill Gates... I'll go with the first
version.

BELLE and SEBASTIAN - was a French T.V. series in the early seventies about a little
boy and his dog, a Saint Bernard named Belle. Belle was put to sleep after she injured
another child.

THE BLACK CROWES - it was originally named Mr. Crowe's Garden, after a favorite
children's book. They sang under that name until they signed with Def American
Records in 1989. They renamed themselves at the suggestion of a producer.

BLACK SABBATH - from a 1960's cheap horror movie starring Boris Karloff ,
suggesting a holy day of witchcraft.

BLACK UHURU - Uhuru is Swahili for freedom, therefore "Black Freedom".

BLIND MELON - slang for an out-of-work hippie (Weren't they all?) - they were called
that by Shannon H's dad - also recalls an old blues singer, Blind Lemon - Melon being
an anagram for Lemon.

BLINK 182 - Blink 182 supposedly has NO meaning at all but the band fosters stories
on origins.  Sample: used to be just "Blink" but was threatened by a lawsuit from a little
known Irish band with the same name, so they added the 182 which is the number of
times the f-word was said in one of the members favorite movies.

THE BLOODHOUND GANG - was a segment on the PBS kid's show 3-2-1 Contact! in
the 80's
about 3 kids who were detectives, solving mysteries and fighting crime and such.

BLOTTO - source: http://www.blotto.net/ - "Blotto actually began as the Star Spangled

Washboard Band, a bluegrass combo with plenty of country corn. With their live show, "
Radar Beans " and tracks like "I Get a Charge Out of You" and the medley "The Battle
of New Orleans / Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor," the Washboard Band
received enough acclaim to appear twice on the televised Mike Douglas Show. Then
the group folded. Four alumni from the Washboard Band continued their musical
careers by performing monthly at the Saratoga club "17 Maple Avenue". They later
added a bass player, a drummer and a female vocalist, and renamed their band Blotto,
after the dog in the 1930's novel Nightlife of the Gods."   2) the word is also slang for
being totally drunk.

BLUE CHEER - 60's nickname for high-quality LSD, and coincidentally a brand of
laundry detergent (the band used the detergent idea on their album cover with "New,
Improved, Blue Cheer" - surprised they didn't get sued for it.

BON JOVI - from the New Jersey bandleader Jon Bon Jovi, whose real name is John
Bongiovi, Jr.

BOOKER T. & THE M.G.'S - Booker T. led the band and M.G. stands for Memphis
Group not the once-popular car.

DAVID BOWIE - born David Jones, he changed his name to avoid confusion with David
(Davy) Jones of THE MONKEES.

BUCK CHERRY - possibly a goof on the often heard speaking disorder wherein the
speaker will interchange the first letter{s} in two successive words i.e. "I have just
received a Blushing Crow
{crushing blow}  Metallica uses such a device in their album entitled "Cunning Stunts." 
Buck Cherry would then equal Chuck Berry, famous classic rocker.

CHERRY POPPIN' DADDIES - the leader of this modern big band, Steve Perry, says it
comes from an old R&B record and that it "sounded sexy."

WENDY / WALTER CARLOS - Walter Carlos was a synthesizer composer who had a
big hit with "Switched on Bach", after getting a sex change operation, he became she
and goes under the name Wendy.  http://www.wendycarlos.com/

CASSANDRA COMPLEX - an allusion to Greek mythology; Cassandra had the gift of

prophecy with the curse of no one ever believing her

CHEAP TRICK - they say the band members asked a Ouija Board what they should call
themselves.

CHICAGO - Their first album was released as "Chicago Transit Authority", but the city of
Chicago sued them because Chicago Transit Authority is the name of Chicago's public
transportation department so they shortened it. Don't record companies check these
things before they release them?

CHUBBY CHECKER - the host of American Bandstand (once the most popular
American music TV show) Dick Clark's wife thought up the name as a take off on singer
Fats Domino. Chubby "invented" the dance called "the twist"
CHUMBAWAMBA - In a band member's dream, he didn't know which door to use in a
public toilet because the signs said "Chumba" and "Wamba" instead of "Men" and
"Women"

COLLECTIVE SOUL - a term used in the popular novel "The Fountainhead", by Ayn
Rand.

COLOR ME BADD - Sam Watters said the name was an attempt to remove racial,
sexual and musical overtones - "If you want to color us as anything, color us as badd." 
Originally called TAKE 1 (but another group was using the name), Jon Bon Jovi asked
them to open a Bon Jovi / Skid Row concert with "Daddy's Home" sung a capella. Jon
said, "You guys think you're pretty bad. Let's see how bad you are in front of 15,000
people."

COUNTING CROWS - Comes from old English nursery rhyme which had to do with
predicting the future from the numbers of birds seen.  Originally the rhyme was about
magpies, but as people came over to America, crows were used instead.  From the
song "A Murder of One"  one of the versions of the rhyme goes "one for sorrow, two for
joy, three for girls, four for boys, five for
silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told..."  Adam Duritz liked the rhyme...

THE CRANBERRIES - originally called Cranberries Saw Us ( a joke on Cranberries

SAUCE) they changed it to the shorter form later.

CREED - This popular Florida band was named after former bassist Brian Marshall's
earlier band Mattox Creed.   www.creednet.com

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL - unconfirmed origin: after Norvel Creedence,

a friend of John Fogerty's .  His favorite beer was called Clearwater, after a brief
absence from the marketplace it was re-introduced by another brewery - hence
Creedence Clearwater Revival.

THE CULT - Goth/Rock band 'The Cult' were once known as 'The Sudden Death Cult',
then
shortened to 'Death Cult', then finally just 'The Cult'.

DEACON BLUE -  took their name from a song of the same name by STEELY DAN.

DEF LEPPARD - Joe Elliot, lead singer, wanted to use the idea provided by the band
Led Zeppelin's logo and transformed what he originally had as deaf leopard.

THE DEFTONES - Because when they started out, people thought they were so bad
that they called them tone deaf - transposed to def tones.

DEPECHE MODE - from the name of a fashion magazine, meaning hurry up fashion
DEVO - shortened form of "de-evolution" - the opposite of evolution - expressing the
band's opinion on what the planet is going through.

DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS - named themselves after the slang term for a pep pill
called DEXEDRINE even though the band themselves had a policy of no drink or drugs!

DION AND THE BELMONTS - BELMONTS after a street in their Bronx, New York
neighborhood where they would hang out & sing street corner harmonies.

DMX - Dark Man X

DOOBIE BROTHERS - a doobie was 60's slang for a marijuana joint.

THE DOORS - Jim Morrison read poet William Blake who said "if the doors of
perception are cleansed, everything would appear to man as it truly is, infinite. "He was
also influenced by author Aldous Huxley who referred to the same line when he titled
his book on drug experimentation The Doors of Perception.  "There are things known
and things unknown and in between are the doors"  Official Doors web site is at
http://www.thedoors.com/

DURAN DURAN - named after a character in the Jane Fonda movie Barbarella.

BOB DYLAN - His real name is Robert Zimmerman - he liked the poet Dylan Thomas.

DYNAMITE HACK- A line in the movie Caddyshack describing marijuana.

THE EAGLES - originally called TEEN KING AND THE EMERGENCIES , they liked the
American sound of Eagles and the way it was aligned with THE BYRDS who had a
great influence on them.

ELTON JOHN - Real name: Reginald Dwight. Created from two other British musicians:
Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

EMINEM - from his real name Marshall Mathers he took M&M and rewrote it
phonetically as Eminem.

EVERCLEAR - Named after the "Everclear" brand of 190 proof grain alcohol used to
make dangerous alcoholic drinks.

EURYTHMICS - a method of music instruction from the 1890's that emphasizes

physical response to the music..

EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL - from an ad for a British clothing store that would sell
you "Everything but the Girl" that you saw in the ad.

EVE 6 - a phrase they heard in an X FILES episode.

FASTBALL - from a porno film the band saw - Mike Zuniga says it was "a typical porno
movie but about baseball. It's like a really raunchy Bull Durham."

FOO FIGHTERS - a term used by World War II pilots to describe strange flying fireballs
they sometimes saw.

FLEETWOOD MAC - a simple one. They just took the last name of drummer Mick
Fleetwood and a form of bassist John McVie's last name.

FAITH NO MORE - named after a race horse they saw listed on a racing form.

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE - the name of a garden center on Route 46 in Wayne, New

Jersey. http://home.earthlink.net/~johncw/fow/html/gen_info.html

GARBAGE - Either lead singer Shirley Manson's father yelled down to the band at one
of their basement practice sessions, "Play more quietly - you sound like garbage." or
from a friend of Butch Vig (the drummer of Garbage), who said "This stuff sounds like
garbage!"  check their site at http://www.garbage.com/
 

GENESIS - The first book in the Bible - their first album's title was "From Genesis to
Revelation"

GIN BLOSSOMS - slang for the "blossoms" (burst blood capillaries) on the face
particularly the nose from drinking too much alcohol - in the late 1800's gin was a
popular cheap alcoholic drink.

GODSMACK - The metal band "Godsmack" was much thought to be named after the
Alice in
Chains song of the same name. But according to the band they arrived at the name
after one band member made a particularly inappropriate comment and another
remarked "God will smack you for that one".  Hence forth one would receive a
"Godsmack" for bad behavior.

GO BETWEENS - from a film directed by Joseph Losey.

GOO GOO DOLLS - used to be called the Sex Maggots, and when they were told that
local newspapers wouldn't print that name, Jonny Rzeznik picked up a magazine from
the early 60's with an ad for a doll that cried Goo Goo when you turned it upside down.

GOLDFINGER - after the James Bond movie.

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD - a version of "The Grand Trunk Railroad" ; a Michigan

landmark.
THE GRATEFUL DEAD - originally called The Warlocks, Jerry Garcia found out that
another band had the same name. Supposedly, he looked in a reference book at
random and found a folk tale about a troubled soul who is put to rest by a traveler. The
spirit then helps the traveler with his own quest.

GREEN DAY -  1)  It may have come from the sci-fi movie Soylent Green when they
said "Tuesday is soylent green day."  Soylent green was a food produced by a
corporation to feed the way overpopulated masses; turns out they were also making it
from the masses!   2) Another story is that when they dropped out of school to be
musicians, their principal said "It'll be a green day in hell before you make anything of
yourselves".    3) Some say that in drug slang - if you smoked pot and goofed off all day,
it was a "Green Day."

GUNS 'N' ROSES - originally two bands L.A. GUNNS and HOLLYWOOD  ROSES.
Hollywood Roses was headed by Axl Rose, Tracii Guns headed the other band which
also featured Slash. The two frequented clubs and played there and were friends.

HEAVEN 17 -  took their name from a group mentioned in the novel A CLOCKWORK
ORANGE by Anthony Burgess that was made into a popular film by Stanley Kubrick. 
In  a scene in Kubrick's film Alex is browsing in a futuristic record shop and checks out
an album by the 'Heavenly 17'.

HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH - from the nicknames of two friends of singer/guitarist
Darius Rucker - one with owl-like eyes (Hootie), another with the puffy "Blowfish"
cheeks.

JANE"S ADDICTION - The band got it's name from a girl (Jane) that Perry Farrell knew
back in L.A who was a prostitute and called it her addiction.

JETHRO TULL - popular 70's band that is named after the rather obscure inventor of
the farmer's seed drill.

JUDAS PRIEST - originally a mild curse said to avoid saying "Jesus Christ" - also from
the Bob Dylan song "The ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest".

KMFDM - KEIN MEHRHEIT FÜR DIE MITLEID, loosely translates as "no sympathy for
the majority." Founded by SASCHA KONIETZKO from Germany. When Englishman
RAYMOND "PIG" WATTS joined the band he never pronounce the name so he just
started calling it by the initials.

KING CRIMSON - from the official website http://www.elephant-talk.com  The band's

original lyricist, Peter Sinfield, created it as a synonym for Beelzebub, which is derived
from the Arabic phrase "B'il Sabab", meaning "the man with an aim." (Another, more
common etymology of "Beelzebub" is that it 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.
KING MISSILE - is a popular Japanese comic book character.

KISS - According to Paul Stanley, Kiss just sounded dangerous (kiss of death) and sexy
at the same time. Kiss denies the rumors that the name stands for "Kids In Service of
Satan" or the saying "Keep It Simple Stupid."

KORN - There are many stories as to how the name originated, however the most
believable is that Korn starts with Kern County which is where Jonathan worked as a
Coroner. From that came "KoRn". It was then decided that it would be written like a
child would write it, hence the K
instead of a C, and the backwards R.

LED ZEPPELIN - Jimmy Page was drinking with Moon and Entwhistle, who were
bitching about their band mates Daltrey and Townshend. They joked about the two of
them starting a band with Jimmy, and one of them said "Yeah, that will go over like a
lead balloon". When Jimmy formed his own band, he remembered this and thought
"Lead Zeppelin" would be good, both from that conversation and the heavy/light
contradiction similar to the band named IRON BUTTERFLY. They decided to drop the
"a" so Americans wouldn't mispronounce it.

LEMONHEADS - a type of candy.

LEVEL 42 - 1) From the supercomputer in the great & hilarious novel The Restaurant at
the end of the Universe, (part of the "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" series)
computed the meaning of life to be 42   2) Also a possible reference to a sign in the
strange film Brazil that says "Level 41".

LIMP BIZKIT - Got the idea from Fred Durst's dog Biscuit who has a limp.

LL COOL J - for "Ladies Love Cool James".

LOVE AND ROCKETS - a popular comic book title.

LOVIN' SPOONFUL - 1) from the lyrics of the old song "Coffee Blues". Possibly a drug
reference to the spoon used to heat & melt drugs such as heroin for use.  2) Also that
the amount of the sperm ejaculated by the average male is about a spoonful (see also
the band 10cc

LOS LOBOS - Spanish for "The Wolves"

LYNYRD SKYNYRD - Named after Leonard Skinner, an annoying gym teacher/coach

some of the members had in high school. Leonard is said to have moved on to sell real
estate in Jacksonville, Florida.

MARCY PLAYGROUND - frontman John Wozniak would look out the window of his
third grade classroom and see that playground and wish he could play there - but he
didn't because there were bullies there that would beat him up... must have been
traumatic.

MEGADETH - Dave Mustane was inspired by a government pamphlet he saw after

leaving METALLICA. A Megadeath is a military term for one million dead (making World
War II an 80 Megadeath)

MELVINS - You give someone a melvin by approaching from behind, and yanking up on
the waistband of their underwear as hard as you can (also popularized on SEINFELD
as a "wedgie" A "Melvin" was also a nerd synonym.

METALLICA - Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fanzine. The
choices were Metal Mania and Metallica. Metal Mania was chosen for the magazine &
he used Metallica for his band.

THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES - This ska/punk band from Boston originally
called themselves the BOSSTONES in tribute to their hometown. An ad for one of their
gigs called them "The Mighty Mighty Bosstones" and it stuck.

MIND BENDERS - This 60's band that appeared as themselves in the film "To Sir, With
Love" was named after a 1962 British horror movie.

MISFITS - A 1961 movie starring Clarke Gable and Marilyn Monroe.

MONSTER MAGNET -  1) Dave Wyndorf, lead man in Monster Magnet, collects sci-
fi/Horror collectibles, one is a model called "The Monster Magnet"   2) The Mothers of
Invention's first LP Freak Out has that title as its first track.

MOTHERS OF INVENTION - Frank Zappa's highly experimental band was originally

just called the Mothers, their record label asked them to change it (because it could be
taken as an obscenity) and out of necessity they added "of Invention" since "Necessity
is the mother of invention."

MÖTLEY CRÜE - A friend said "What a Motley looking Crew" - motley meaning "of
great variety" and once describing the appearance of a court jester. The re-spelling was
their own invention using the umlauts (those funny dots over letters) came to them while
they were partying & drinking Lowenbrau beer.

MOTORHEAD - British slang for a drug user who uses a lot of speed

NIRVANA - In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained through the
annihilation of the self.

'NSYNC- Justin's mother came up with the name. N is the last letter in Justin, S is the
last letter in Chris, Y is the last letter in Joey.  N is actually from James Lance Bass
because Chris gave him the nickname 'Lansten'. Since Lance doesn't end with a N, they
used his nick name,
Lansten.  C is from J.C.  That's how they came up  with 'NSYNC. (info from T.J.
Gernon, Illinois & Andrea in San Diego) The whole thing is, of course, a play on In Sync
- a term which comes from the movie industry - meaning when the picture & soundtrack
are properly aligned or synchronized.

NO DOUBT - a favorite phrase of John Spence, it became the name of the band prior to
his suicide.

NOBODY'S ANGELS - inspired by the U.S, TV series and later film Charlie's Angels.

OASIS - local British origins: a Manchester cab company, a chain of women's clothing
stores, a local Indian restaurant and more likely a local club that The Beatles played in
during their early years (the band are avowed Beatles fans)

OUR LADY PEACE - The band took their unusual name from a 1943 poem by
American poet Mark Van Doren.   link to information

PANTERA - Spanish for Panther and also a pretty cool car.

PEARL JAM - 1) Eddie's grandma supposedly made a peyote (hallucinogenic drug)

jelly/jam , which as kids they called pearl jam.  2) I've heard a couple of times that "Pearl
Jam" comes from NBA player Mookie Blaylock -- it's his nickname.  Band members
Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament
were huge fans of Blaylock, loved his peculiar name and wished to just call their band
"Mookie Blaylock" but Blaylock protested, so they used his nickname "Pearl Jam"
instead.

PHISH - A play on drummer John Fishman's last name... altered spelling as in THE
BEATLES.

PINK FLOYD - taken from the names of two Georgia bluesmen Pink Anderson and
Floyd Council - from the early days when the band saw itself as a blues band.

PORNO FOR PYROS - 1)  Perry Farrell was reading a fireworks catalog on tour when a
friend said the magazine looked like "porno for a pyro(maniac)" - a pyromaniac being
one who loves fire.   2)  Perry Farrel was up one night late watching the TV coverage of
the LA riots and the fires and
couldn't take his eyes off the screen.  He said it was like "porno for pyros".

PORTISHEAD - The name of their home town in England.

PROCOL HARUM - terrific art rock band was named by lyricist Keith Reid - a term he
thought to be Arabic for "beyond that which is" - also the name of his cat.
QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE - Some of the band members were into
astrology,
and noted that one or more of them were born under the House of Mercury.  As Mercury

is the name for both the messenger of the gods and the liquid metal, the latter of which
is also called quicksilver, Quicksilver Messenger Service was born.

RADIOHEAD - Named after a Talking Heads' song called "Radio Head."

RAMONES - Paul McCartney used to call himself Paul Ramone. The Ramones all use
the last name Ramone even though it's not their given name.

REO SPEEDWAGON - the name of a fire engine made by Oldsmobile in the 1930's.
"R.E.O." was the initials of Ransom Elliot Olds, the founder of the Oldsmobile Car
Company.

THE REPLACEMENTS - Legend has it that they were given a gig after another band
failed to show - when asked who they were they replied "We're the Replacements".

R.E.M. - in the study of dreams, the abbreviation refers to rapid eye movement or that
time during sleep when an observable movement of the eyeball occurs indicating that
the person is in a dream state. Band member Michael Stipe has said that this is not why
the band picked the name.

THE RIGHEOUS BROTHERS - The Righteous Brothers supposedly changed their

name when a fan at one of their appearances yelled  "That's righteous, brothers." I don't
know what they called themselves before. Righteous being a late 1950's slang for great,
cool etc.

THE ROLLING STONES - from the Howlin' Wolf blues song "Rolling Stone" - Keith
Richards was a fan of the version recorded by Muddy Waters.

SAMHAIN - The Celtic New Year, which has evolved into Halloween - the spirit of
Halloween sometimes Americanized to Sam Haines.

SAVAGE GARDEN - a phrase from an Anne Rice novel "Interview With The Vampire"

SAVE FERRIS - a sign you'll see if you watch the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

SEPULTURA - the Brazilian death metal band Sepultura name is the

Portugese/Spanish word for a grave or burial tomb.

SEVEN MARY THREE - a police radio code for 7M3, it was also one of the motorcycle
cops radio name on the old TV show C.H.I.P.S. (California Highway Patrol ) mid-70's.
SILVERCHAIR -   1)  The Silver Chair  is one of the titles in C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of
Narnia"  in which Prince Rilian of Narnia is held captive under the spell of the witch who
killed his mother.
During brief moments of returning sanity he is restrained in a silver chair. He is rescued
when two children magically transported from earth, and a dour resident of Narnia find
him and destroy the chair thereby lifting the curse. 2)  A combination of "Sliver" by
Nirvana and "Berlin Chair" by You Am I. They were requesting the songs from a radio
station and the name was inspired by notes a band member made to himself to
remember the song titles while he was calling the station.  * Original name of band:
Innocent Criminals.

SIMPLE MINDS - taken from a line in the David Bowie song "Jean Genie".

SISTERS OF MERCY - A tribute to the Leonard Cohen song of same name; also an
order of nuns.

SKID ROW - Slang for a rundown inner city neighborhoods where alcoholics, junkies,
street people can afford to live.

THE SMITHEREENS - Inspired by the cartoon character Yosemite Sam's classic line,
"I'll blow you varmints to smithereens".

SOFT MACHINE - The name of a William Burroughs novel.

SOUNDGARDEN - A garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when wind blows
through them... a sculpture in Seattle called "Sound Garden".

SPEEDBALL - A deadly drug cocktail mix of heroin and cocaine.

SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS - an oddly titled type of candy.

SMASH MOUTH - football players use this slang term in any game with a lot of blocking
or tackling.

STEELY DAN - taken from William Burrough's book Naked Lunch. In it Steely Dan is
the nickname given to a giant steam-powered dildo (see cover photo on their first
album)

STEPPENWOLF - in the words of band leader John Kay  "Steppenwolf was originally a
book written by Herman Hesse, (a German author) and it was a book I was totally
unfamiliar with when the band that became Steppenwolf was in its infancy. The young
man who lived next door to where Steppenwolf started to rehearse (by the name of
Gabriel Mekler, born and raised in Israel) he had read the book. When it came time to
put a name on the demo box that was going to go to the first label, he said "Well, what
is the band called?" and aside from the obvious joke names and other obscene
suggestions which were not marketable, he finally said, "Well look, how about
Steppenwolf'? I think it's a word that looks good in print, and it denotes a certain degree
of mystery and power and you guys are kind of rough and ready types." Everybody said
that sounds pretty interesting and if we don't get a deal we can always scrawl another
name on the box and send it to somebody else, so let's go with that for now. Well, that's
what it's been now for many years and, to be honest, it's been a very good name."   
source John Kay & Steppenwolf

STYX - named after the river of death found in Greek mythology and in Dante's Inferno.

10,000 MANIACS - extension of an old horror movie called "2000 Maniacs".

10 CC - the average amount of ejaculate from a healthy male.

TALKING HEADS - probably from the video jargon for a camera shot showing only the
head & shoulders of a person. Newscasters are usually shown this way and it makes for
boring TV. Another story says they were inspired by a military experiment involving
talking mannequin heads.

TESLA - from the largely unknown but important inventor Nikola Tesla who did
important research in alternating current, radio, fluorescent lights, X-rays, microwaves...

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - named after the cult film favorite starring George C. Scott
about "loonies."  The film is also referencing Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes. In the
book, the title character says "they might be giants" when referring to the windmills he
attempts to fight.

THIRD EYE BLIND -  Our third eye is the imagined one that gives us a kind of sixth
sense (telepathy, ESP, etc.) and the band felt that most of us are blind in that sense. 
There is also a symbolic third eye (all knowing eye) that appears on the back of a U.S.
dollar bill.

THOMSON TWINS - two characters in the Tintin comics by the late Belgium artist
Herge.

THREE DOG NIGHT - Inspired by an Australian Aboriginal custom of sleeping with a

dog for warmth on a cold night - a three dog night would be very cold, plus the band had
3 lead singers.

TLC - nicknames of band members: Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez and
Rozonda is "Chilli"   Actually Crystal was going to be the C of TLC, but when they
auditioned for Laface, an exec didn't like Crystal's voice, so they replaced her with
"Chilli". TLC was going to originally stand for Tionne, Left Eye and Crystal.  The idea of
"Tender Loving Care" must have worked for them too.

TOAD THE WET SPROCKET - A skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus which is about
a weird rock band.
311  -    "One of P-Nut's friends (Jim Watson) was arrested, cuffed (naked) and taken
home to his parents.  He was issued a citation for a code 311 (indecent exposure). We
thought this was funny, so we took it as our band name. After the humor of the name
wore off - we still kept it because we liked that it was just abstract and that it did not
define us in anyway. The name did not describe our sound or our politics, it just let the
music speak for itself. Since most interviewers always ask us "What does 311 mean?",
we have come up with lots of different answers over the years. Some include.... Nick -
"five friends making music", Tim - "a number dictated to me by a higher intelligence", P-
Nut - "knowing a little numerology and studying a little magic,  which I do; in some
factions, three is man and 11 is magic. So 311 is like male magic."    from their official
site   http://www.311music.com

T PAU  - after a high priestess from the planet VULCAN in the American TV series
STAR TREK

U2 - Three possibilities: 1) A type of spy plane used by the United States in the 1960's -
made famous when Gary Powers' U2 plane was shot down over Russia and he was
taken as a
prisoner during the Cold War.   2)  U2 as in "you too" referring to the audience and its
role in the musical experience   3)  a U2 is an unemployment form in Ireland (see UB40)

UB40 - Code number of a form people in Britain have to fill out to receive public
assistance or welfare. Known in the UK as a signing-off form when you get a job. 
Hence the title of their first album Signing Off.

ULTRAVOX - Latin for "the greatest amount of voice"

URGE OVERKILL - The name of a Parliaments' funk song.

VAN HALEN - after Alex and Eddie Van Halen - suggested by David Lee Roth as being
better than their original name "Mammoth."  They might have been called  'Daddy
Longlegs' if Gene Simmons of KISS had gotten his way - he partially financed and
produced one of their original demo records and suggested names and artwork.

VERUCA SALT - from a female character in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory ( AKA Willy Wonka) played by Julie Dawn Cole (who is not in the band)

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - 60's experimental band associated with pop artist
Andy Warhol, they took their name from a paperback book they found on the street - the
book was about sex in America.

WEEZER - Band member Rivers Cuomo had the nickname Weezer in school because
of a breathing problem.

WHITE SNAKE - from a white albino ball python snake owned by David Coverdale
while in DEEP PURPLE.
WHITE ZOMBIE - An old horror "B" movie.

WINGS - Paul McCartney's  band - 1) in the Paul/Beatles song "Blackbird" you'll hear
"Take these broken wings and learn to fly" which is what he did in his next album - a
solo effort.   2) When Linda McCartney was giving birth to their daughter Stella, Paul
was pacing around hoping everything was going well and he was praying and started
thinking of angels and wings.  Wings just stuck in his mind.

YO LA TENGO -translates to "I have it" from Spanish - said to be the phrase called out
by Hispanic baseball players when fielding a pop fly ball. Singer/guitar player Ira Kaplan
got the expression from a book he was reading about baseball called The Five
Seasons.

 ZZ TOP - taken from the name of a Texas Blues man ZZ Hill.  Though a rumor is that
they got their name by combining Zig Zag and Top, two well known brands of "cigarette"
rolling papers. 

KNOW AN INTERESTING ORIGIN STORY FOR A

BAND?
GOT SOME CONFLICTING INFORMATION ON A
BAND?
SEND US THE INFORMATION and any Net source links
you can supply
WE'LL CONSIDER IT IN OUR NEXT UPDATE
 

Try the Ultimate Band List at http://ubl.artistdirect.com/ 

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Bands at MTV http://www.mtv.com/nav/intro_bands.html
to continue your own research.
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a-ha live. The band's name means the same thing in several languages

 a-ha — the band liked the name because it means the same thing in several languages.[1]
 ABBA — a palindromic acronym from the initials of the first names of the band
members: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
[2]

 AC/DC - Malcolm and Angus Young developed the idea for the band's name after seeing
the initialism "AC/DC" on an electric sewing machine.[3]
 Ace of Base — the band's first studio was in the basement of a car repair shop, and they
considered themselves to be the "masters" of the studio. "Ace of Base" was retrieved
from "masters of the basement".[1]
  Aerosmith — Joey Kramer came up with the name Aero. One day he and a friend were
just throwing out words to go at the end of Aero and his friend said smith. So that stuck.[4]
 Aiden — after a character from the 2002 film The Ring.[5]
 Air Supply — 5 years prior to the band's signing, Graham Russell saw the name in a
dream.[1]
 Alexisonfire — from contortionist stripper, Alexis Fire, which nearly resulted in a
lawsuit from the stripper's representatives.[6]
 The All-American Rejects — Taken from the Green Day song "Reject". The "All-
Americans" and "the Rejects", both suggested to the band as names, were merged.[7]
 Alice Cooper — Alice Cooper was a band before one of its members started a solo
career under the same name. Allegedly, Alice Cooper was the name of a spirit members
of the band came in contact with through a ouija.[1]
 Alice in Chains — A parody of Alice in Wonderland, implying sadomasochism.[1]
 Anberlin — band member Stephen Christian has offered the explanations that he
planned naming his first daughter Anberlin[8] and that the name was a modification of the
phrase "and Berlin" from a list of cities Christian wanted to visit.[9] The one story that
Christian asserts is true, however, is that he heard the word in the background noise of the
Radiohead song "Everything in Its Right Place".[10]
 …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead — initially claimed to be a line in a
Mayan ritual chant,[11] though lead singer Conrad Keely has since admitted the story was
a joke.[12]
 Arctic Monkeys — The name was made up by the guitarist, Jamie Cook, while at
school.[13]
 Art of Noise — Named after the 1913 manifesto called The Art of Noises by Italian
Futurist Luigi Russolo.[14]
 Audioslave — according to lead guitarist Tom Morello the name supposedly came to
singer Chris Cornell in a vision.[15]
 Automatic Pilot — from psychiatric testimony characterizing Dan White's state of mind
while killing George Moscone and Harvey Milk.[16]
 A Wilhelm Scream - The Wilhelm scream is a famous and frequently-used film and
television stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the film Distant Drums.[17] The band
were previously named 'Koen' and then 'Smackin Isaiah' before finally settling on the
current appellation.

[edit] B
Bauhaus in concert. The band are named after the German Bauhaus art movement

 The B-52's — from the name of a beehive hairstyle.[4] Itself named for the Boeing B-52
Stratofortress.
 Bachman-Turner Overdrive — a combination of band members last names and the
magazine Overdrive. The band's name had previously been "Bachman-Turner".[4]
 Backstreet Boys — named after a flea market in Orlando, Florida.[18]
 Bad Company — from the 1972 film Bad Company.[4]
 Badfinger — originally called "The Iveys" after a street in Swansea, Wales. Once the
band was signed to Apple Records by The Beatles the band took the opportunity to
change their name. The name "Badfinger" was derived from "Bad Finger Boogie," the
working title of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends".[19]
 The Band They were originally known as The Hawks, after their original lead singer
Ronnie Hawkins. While working with Bob Dylan in the 1960s, they decided to change
their name, but were unable to agree on a new name. They finally decided to simply call
themselves "The Band" after being derisively referred to as "the band" by critics of
Dylan's new electric direction on the 1966 tour.[20]
 Bauhaus — originally named "Bauhaus 1919" after the German Bauhaus art movement,
and shortened to "Bauhaus" in 1979.[21]
 Bay City Rollers — from Bay City, Michigan, which had been randomly selected by the
band from a map.[4]
 Beastie Boys - According to frontman Mike D., BEASTIE stands for Boys Entering
Anarchistic Stages Towards Internal Excellence.[22]
 The Beatles - The band was deciding on several different names to choose for the band,
including "Long John and the Beetles", inspired by Buddy Holly and The Crickets. They
later changed it to The Beatles to emphasize the 'beat' aspect of their music.[22]
 Bee Gees — not a contraction of "Brothers Gibb", which is a popular assumption, but
rather the initials of two men who helped the group in their early career, Bill Goode and
disc jockey Bill Gates.[4]
 Belle & Sebastian — from Belle et Sébastien, a children's book by French writer Cécile
Aubry.[23]
 Between the Buried and Me - The band name was derived from a phrase in Counting
Crows' song "Ghost Train"[24]
 Billy Talent - The band is named after a character in the film Hard Core Logo (although
the name in the film and the book by Michael Turner it was adapted from is spelled
"Billy Tallent").[25]
 The Black Crowes - The group originally called themselves Mr. Crowe's Garden, after a
favorite children's book. They sang under that name until they signed with Def American
Records in 1989. They renamed themselves in response to the suggestion of a producer.
[22][26]

 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — The film The Wild One featured two motorcycle gangs
- The Beetles, led by Lee Marvin's character, and Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, led by
Marlon Brando's characater. In a reference to the story that The Beatles took their name
from one motorcycle gang, Peter Hayes, guitarist, and bassist Robert Levon Been,
 originally named their band "The Other Gang", but switched to Black Rebel Motorcycle
Club when The Other Gang didn't catch on.[27][28]
 Black Sabbath The name comes from a 1960's cheap horror movie starring Boris
Karloff, suggesting a holy day of witchcraft.[22]
 Blind Melon Bass player Brad Smith's father used this term to refer to some hippies who
lived in a commune near his house.[29]
 Brainerd Original guitarist, Knife, names band after home-town (Brainerd, Minnesota).
[30]

[edit] C
 Cansei de Ser Sexy – Portuguese for "tired of being sexy", an alleged quote of Beyoncé
Knowles, one of the largest musical influences upon this Brazilian band.[31]
 Coldplay - Chris, Jonny, Will & Guy were called "Starfish" originally and their friends
were called "Coldplay". When they did not want the name anymore, "Starfish" asked if
they could use it instead. The original Coldplay took the name from a book of collected
poems.[32]
 Collective Soul - A term used in the popular novel The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand.[22]
 Counting Crows - Comes from old English nursery rhyme which had to do with
predicting the future from the numbers of birds seen. Lead singer Adam Duritz liked the
alliteration.[22]

Crass singer Eve Libertine

 Crass - A reference to the David Bowie song "Ziggy Stardust" (specifically the line "The
kids was just crass"[33]).

 Creedence Clearwater Revival - The band took the three elements from, firstly, Tom
Fogerty's friend Credence Newball, (to whose first name Credence they added an extra
'e', making it resemble a faith or creed); secondly, "clear water" from a TV commercial
for Olympia beer; and finally "revival", which spoke to the four members' renewed
commitment to their band.[34]
  The Cure — The band's original name was Easy Cure, which was taken from the name
of one of the group's early songs. The name was later shortened to The Cure because
frontman Robert Smith felt the name was too American and "too hippyish".[35]

[edit] D
 Dead Kennedys — the name was not meant to insult the assassinated Kennedy brothers,
but to quote vocalist Jello Biafra, "to bring attention to the end of the American Dream".
[36]

 Depeche Mode — inspired by a French fashion magazine of the same name.[37]

 Devo - Shortened form of "de-evolution" - the opposite of evolution - expressing the
band's opinion on what the human race is experiencing.[22]
 Dexys Midnight Runners — from the stimulant Dexedrine.[38]
 The Doors - From William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which read,
"If the doors of perception are cleansed, everything would appear to man as it truly is,
infinite." [22]
 Dream Theater — Named after a movie house in Monterey, California. The name was
suggested by drummer Mike Portnoy's father, who lived in Monterey.[39]
 Duran Duran — The band played at Birmingham's Barberella's nightclub [40] so took
their name from the villain of the cult science fiction film Barbarella, Dr. Durand-
Durand.[41]

[edit] E
 Eagles - Originally named Teen King And The Emergencies; they liked the American
sound of Eagles and the way it was aligned with The Byrds who had a great influence on
them.[22]
 E Street Band — Bruce Springsteen's band was named after E Street (E, not East) in
Belmar, New Jersey, because the band used to practice at the E Street home of pianist
David Sancious' mother.[42]
 Eskimo Joe - Their name came about after they saw a t-shirt of Eskimo Joe's, the popular
restaurant in Stillwater, Oklahoma. At the time they were searching for a band name, so
they adopted the name for what was meant to be a temporary period, but the name ended
up sticking with them.[43]
 Evanescence - When asked where they got their name, they responded, "The dictionary."
The word "evanescence" means "a disappearance or dissipation, like vapor." They
apparently had a horrible name before and wanted something better. They also wanted to
do some artwork (with whatever name they chose) and decided to look under E. They
liked the word and definition, likening it to the temporal nature of life.[44]

[edit] F
 Fastball - From a baseball porno film the band saw.[22]
  Faith No More - Formed originally as Faith No Man. A year later, after some line-up
changes, the name was changed to Faith No More.[22]
 Five Iron Frenzy - According to bassist Keith Hoerig: "We got the name Five Iron
Frenzy from a roommate of most of ours. He was kind of paranoid, and afraid that if he
went outside on this particular night he was going to get jumped by some people. He had
a golf club to defend himself and he said something to the effect of it being like "putter
mayhem". Scott looked at the golf club he was holding, and noting that it was a five iron
said, "No, more like a Five Iron Frenzy." The name stuck."[45]
 Fleetwood Mac - They took the last name of drummer Mick Fleetwood and a form of
bassist John McVie's last name.[22]
 Foo Fighters - A term used by World War II pilots to describe UFOs seen in the skies
over both the European and Pacific Theater of Operations.[22]
 Fugazi - When the seminal punk band needed a name, lead singer/founder Ian MacKaye
chose the word 'fugazi' from Mark Baker's Nam, a compilation of stories of Vietnam War
veterans. The radio mayday slang stood for 'fucked up, got ambushed, zipped in'.[22]
 FireHouse - FireHouse is an American hard rock band formed in Charlotte, North
Carolina in 1989."[46]

[edit] G
 Garbage - Either lead singer Shirley Manson's father yelled down to the band at one of
their basement practice sessions, "Play more quietly - you sound like garbage." or from a
friend of drummer Butch Vig, who said "This stuff sounds like garbage!"[47]
 Georgia Wonder - Georgia Wonder was the stage name of Lulu Hurst, a 'magnetic
phenomenon' whose vaudeville act toured America in the late 19th Century. Stephanie
Grant and Julian Moore from the band chose the name after trying to duplicate these
powers from an exposé they discovered in a book about the period.[48]
 Gin Blossoms - Slang for the "blossoms" (burst blood capillaries) on the face particularly
the nose from drinking too much alcohol - in the late 1800s gin was a popular cheap
alcoholic drink.[22]
 Gnarls Barkley - Members Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse could not think of anything so
they just stole their name from someone's fantasy basketball team.[49]
 Godsmack - According to the band, they arrived at the name after one band member
made a particularly inappropriate comment and another remarked, "God will smack you
for that one." Henceforth one would receive a "Godsmack" for bad behavior. Also a nod
to the Alice in Chains song of the same name[22]
 Goldfinger - Named after the James Bond movie Starring Sean Connery.[22]
 Grateful Dead- The name Grateful Dead was chosen from a dictionary. According to
Phil Lesh, in his biography (pp. 62), "...Jer[ry Garcia] picked up an old Britannica World
Language Dictionary...[and]...In that silvery elf-voice he said to me, 'Hey, man, how
about the Grateful Dead?'" The definition there was "the soul of a dead person, or his
angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial."
According to Alan Trist, director of the Grateful Dead's music publisher company Ice
Nine, Garcia found the name in the Funk & Wagnalls Folklore Dictionary, when his
finger landed on that phrase while playing a game of "dictionary".[50] In the Garcia
 biography, Captain Trips, author Sandy Troy states that the band was smoking the
psychedelic DMT at the time. The term "Grateful Dead" appears in folktales of a variety
of cultures.
 Green Day — "green day" is a slang term for spending a day smoking marijuana. Billie
Joe Armstrong wrote a song called "Green Day" about his first experience with the drug,
and it soon replaced "Sweet Children" as the band's name.[51]
 Guns N' Roses - Originally two bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. Hollywood Rose
was headed by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin headed the other band which also featured Tracci
Guns & Ole Beich. The two frequented clubs and played there and were friends.[22]
 Gym Class Heroes - Drummer Matt McGinley was bullied in Gym Class as a kid and
Frontman Travis McCoy protected him from bullies. McCoy was his Gym Class Hero.[52]

[edit] H
 Hard-Fi - "Hard-Fi" is the name given to the sound produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry, a
Grammy award-winning reggae and dub artist, at his Black Ark recording studio. Being
admirers of Perry's work, the band decided to name themselves after his distinctive
sound.[53]
 Heaven 17 - from a line in Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange, a fictional
band mentioned by a young woman in the record store.[1]
 Hüsker Dü — is the name of a Scandinavian memory-based board game that means "Do
you remember?"[54]
 Hootie and The Blowfish - From the nicknames of two friends of singer/guitarist Darius
Rucker one of them had owl-like eyes so he called him "Hootie", the other friend had
puffy "Blowfish" cheeks.[22]
 Helmet - Picked simply because frontman Page Hamilton thought it sounded like a cool
band name. Originally created to be 'Helmut' however the band preferred the Anglo
spelling.[22]

[edit] I
 Iron Maiden — Steve Harris named the band after the iron maiden torture device as
shown in the film, The Man in the Iron Mask.[55]

[edit] J
 Jamiroquai - The band name is a combination of the word "jam" and the Native
American Iroquois tribe.
 Jane's Addiction - The band got its name from a girl Jane that Frontman Perry Farrell
knew back in L.A who was a prostitute and called it her addiction.[22]
 Jefferson Airplane - According to Jorma Kaukonen the name was coined by a friend as
a satire of blues pseudonyms such as "Blind Lemon" Jefferson.[56]
 Jethro Tull - Having trouble getting repeat bookings, the band took to changing their
name frequently to continue playing the London club circuit. Band names were often
 supplied by their booking agents' staff, one of whom, a history enthusiast, eventually
christened them "Jethro Tull" after the 18th-century agriculturist. The name stuck
because they were using it the first time a club manager liked their show enough to invite
them to return[57].
 Joy Division - In order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the
band renamed themselves Joy Division in late 1977, borrowing their new name from the
prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel The House
of Dolls.[58]
 Judas Priest - Originally a mild curse said to avoid saying "Jesus Christ" - also from the
Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest".[22]

[edit] K
 Kaiser Chiefs — Named after the South African Kaizer Chiefs Football Club, the former
team of long-serving former Leeds captain Lucas Radebe.[59]
 Kings of Leon - Three of the band members are brothers and one of their cousins joined
them. They chose the name "Kings of Leon" because their grandfather's name is Leon.[60]
 KISS - According to Paul Stanley, Kiss just sounded dangerous (kiss of death) and sexy
at the same time. Kiss denies the rumors that the name stands for "Kids In Service of
Satan", "Knights in Satan's Service" or the saying "Keep It Simple Stupid."[22]
 Klaxons - Klaxons is to toot to be a loud intrusive noise to disrupt.[61]
 The Killers - Name which comes from the bass drum of a fictional band in the music
video for the New Order song "Crystal".[62]

[edit] L
 Lasgo — from the Scottish city Glasgow with the first and last letters removed.[63]
 Led Zeppelin - Jimmy Page was drinking with The Who's Drummer Keith Moon and
Bassist John Entwistle, who were complaining about their band mates Roger Daltrey and
Pete Townshend. They joked about the two of them starting a band with Jimmy, and
Keith Moon said "Yeah, that will go over like a lead zeppelin". When Jimmy formed his
own band, he remembered this and thought "Lead Zeppelin" would be good, both from
that conversation and the heavy/light contradiction similar to the band named Iron
Butterfly. They decided to drop the "a" so Americans wouldn't mispronounce it.[22]
 The Lemonheads - Named after the candy.[22]
 Living Colour - They named the band after the NBC TV advertisement which said
"Broadcasting in Living Color."[64]
 Lothar and the Hand People — Band member Richard Willis had a dream in which an
enslaved race called the Hand People was saved by a hero named Lothar. Later, well after
the name had been chosen, they decided that Lothar was the name of the theremin used
by member John Emelin.[65]
 Lynyrd Skynyrd - They were named after Leonard Skinner, a gym teacher at Robert E.
Lee High School who was notorious for strictly enforcing the school's policy against boys
having long hair.[66]
  Linkin Park - Their name came from the lead singer, Chester Bennington, Because they
had to change their name due to copyright issues, and he drove past Lincoln Park on the
way home from band practice. However, the domain "lincolnpark.com" was more than
they could afford, so they changed the spelling to Linkin park. It has also been suggested
that the name 'Linkin Park' was suggested so that the band would appear right next to
Limp Bizkit at record stores.[67]

[edit] M
 Marcy Playground — Frontman John Wozniak would look out the window of his third
grade classroom and see that playground and wish he could play there - but he didn't
because there were bullies there who would beat him up.[22]
 Marillion — The band was originally called "Silmarillion." The name was taken from
the title of a J.R.R. Tolkien novel. The name was eventually shortened to avoid possible
legal problems.[68]
 Matchbox Twenty — originally titled "Matchbox 20," the band took its name from a
softball jersey with a "20" on it and a patch that had "Matchbox" written on it. The band
altered its name to "Matchbox Twenty" after the release of its debut album Yourself or
Someone Like You.[69]
 Megadeth — While Dave Mustaine was traveling back to his home in the Bay Area on a
bus after getting kicked out of his former band, Metallica, he would write lyrics on the
back of a handbill to pass the time. The handbill itself quoted "The arsenal of megadeath
can't be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to," which inspired him to use
Megadeath as his band name. He later found out "The Megadeaths" was the former band
name for Pink Floyd and dropped the 'A' in 'Death' to keep the name.[70]
 Metallica — Drummer Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal
fanzine. The choices were Metal Mania and Metallica. Metal Mania was chosen for the
magazine and he used Metallica for his band.[22]
 Modest Mouse — Their name derives from a passage from the Virginia Woolf story
"The Mark on the Wall," which reads, "...and very frequent even in the minds of modest,
mouse-coloured people..."[71]
 Mötley Crüe — From a friend's comment, "What a motley-looking crew." Motley means
"of great variety" and once described the appearance of a court jester. The re-spelling was
their own invention; using the umlauts came to them while they were partying and
drinking Löwenbrau beer.[22]
 Motörhead — British slang for a drug user who uses a lot of speed. Originally, the band
wanted to be called "Bastard" but were convinced to rethink this decision when told that
their music would never gain mainstream publicity with such a band name.[22]
 the Mountain Goats — The name is taken from the Screamin' Jay Hawkins song
"Yellow Coat", which contains the line "50 million bulldogs, 20 mountain goats, all
gathered 'round at sundown to see my yellow coat." [72]
 Mr. Bungle — Named after a "Lunchroom manners" classroom film from 1950.[73]
 Muse — Matthew Bellamy thought it was a clean, abstract name for a band.[74]
  My Chemical Romance — Bassist Mikey Way adapted the title from Irvine Welsh's
"Three Tales of Chemical Romance," a book that caught his attention while working at
Barnes & Noble.[75]

[edit] N
 Ned's Atomic Dustbin — title of an episode of The Goon Show that the mother of
vocalist Jonn Penney would read to him.[76]
 Nine Inch Nails — sole constant member Trent Reznor chose the name because it "could
be abbreviated easily" and denied any "literal meaning" to the name.[77]
 Nirvana - guitarist Kurt Cobain heard it while watching a late night special on
Buddhism. Nirvana means to describe the perfect peace of the mind that is free from
craving, anger, and other afflicted states.[citation needed]
 No Doubt - A favorite phrase of John Spence, it became the name of the band prior to his
suicide.[22]
 NOFX — guitarist Eric Melvin says that he came up with the name, inspired by the
broken up punk band "Negative FX". The name is also meant to symbolize the band's
rejection of gimmickry that the band was seeing in music at the time.[78]

[edit] O
 Oasis - evolved from an earlier band called The Rain, composed of Paul "Guigsy"
McGuigan (bass guitar), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Tony McCarroll (drums) and
Chris Hutton (vocals). Unsatisfied with Hutton, Arthurs auditioned acquaintance Liam
Gallagher as a replacement. After Gallagher joined the group, the band's name was
changed to Oasis, which was inspired by an Inspiral Carpets tour poster which was in his
and his brother Noel's bedroom. One of the venues on it was the Oasis Leisure Centre in
Swindon.[79]
 Opeth - The band name was derived from the word "Opet", taken from the Wilbur Smith
novel Sunbird. In this novel, Opet is the name of a (fictional) Phoenician city in South
Africa whose name is translated as "City of the Moon" in the book.[80]

[edit] P
 Panic! at the Disco (formerly Panic at the Disco yet previously also known as Panic! at
the Disco) lifted the name from the lyrics of a song called "Panic," by Name Taken:
"Panic at the disco / Sat back and took it so slow."[81]
 Paint the silence band member and lead singer Roy Williamson was influenced from the
song by the populer american band, [[[South]]
 Pantera - Spanish for Panther.[22]
 Paramore - 'Paramour' is the maiden name of a friend of the band's. The band chose to
spell it 'Paramore'.
 Pearl Jam - The band's first name was "Mookie Blaylock" after the All-Star basketball
player, but the name was changed to "Pearl Jam" due to trademark concerns. Vocalist
 Eddie Vedder claimed in an early interview that the name was a reference to his great-
grandmother Pearl Brunner.[82] In 2006 guitarist Mike McCready said that bass player Jeff
Ament came up with "Pearl" and that "Jam" was added after seeing Neil Young live.[83]
 Pink Floyd - Playing under multiple names, including "Tea Set", when the band found
themselves on the same bill as another band with the same name, Syd Barrett came up
with the alternative name The Pink Floyd Sound, after two blues musicians, Pink
Anderson and Floyd Council.[84][85] For a time after this they oscillated between The Tea
Set and The Pink Floyd Sound, with the latter name eventually winning out. The Sound
was dropped fairly quickly, but the definite article was still used regularly until 1970. The
group's UK releases during the Syd Barrett era credited them as The Pink Floyd as did
their first two U.S. singles. 1969's More and Ummagumma albums credit the band as
Pink Floyd, produced by The Pink Floyd, while 1970's Atom Heart Mother credits the
band as The Pink Floyd, produced by Pink Floyd. David Gilmour is known to have
referred to the group as The Pink Floyd as late as 1984.[86]
 Phish - A play on drummer Jon Fishman's last name... altered spelling as in The Beatles.
[22]

 Pixies — selected randomly from a dictionary by guitarist Joey Santiago. The band took
a liking to the word's definition, "mischievous little elves".[87] The name was shortened
from the original, "Pixies In Panoply".[88]
 +44 — pronounced "plus forty four," a reference to the international dialing code of the
United Kingdom, where band members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker first discussed
the project.[89]
 The Pogues — Originally called Póg mo Thóin - Gaelic for "Kiss my ass". Shortened to
The Pogues after complaints received by the BBC.[90]
 Porno for Pyros — inspired by the Los Angeles riots of 1992.[91]
 Procol Harum — The band was named after the pedigree name of a Siamese cat that
belonged to a friend of Guy Stevens, the band's manager.[92] The name was Procul Harun,
which is Latin for "Beyond these things", but was written down incorrectly by Keith
Reid.[93] The band would say in interviews that the cat was a Burmese Blue, though all
cats with the name are the Devon Rex breed.[94]

[edit] Q
 Queen - Were originally called Smile. Singer Freddie Mercury came up with the new
name for the band, later saying: "Years ago I thought up the name 'Queen' … It's just a
name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid … It's a strong name, very
universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of
interpretations. I was certainly aware of gay connotations, but that was just one face of
it."[95]
 Queensrÿche - Were originally called "The Mob". The name is derived from a song on
their EP "Queen of the Reich", and is the only known use of the letter Y with an umlaut
in English. It was used to soften "Queensreich" and not confuse the band with Nazism.[96]

[edit] R
  Radiohead – originally known as "On a Friday", the band was given two weeks after
signing to Parlophone to change their name. The band renamed themselves after the 1986
Talking Heads song "Radio Head" on the album True Stories, claiming it as the "least
annoying song" from the album.[97]
 Rage Against the Machine - when the band formed in 1991, they chose the name of a
song Zack de la Rocha had written for his old band, Inside Out.[98]
 The Ramones – Paul McCartney used the alias Paul Ramone when booking hotel rooms.
So the band decided to use the last name Ramone even though it's not their given name.
[99]

 R.E.M. — vocalist Michael Stipe drew the acronym randomly out of the dictionary. The
term refers to the rapid eye movement phase of sleep.[100]
 REO Speedwagon - The name of an early pickup truck made by REO Motor Car
Company in the 1930s. "R.E.O." was the initials of Ransom E. Olds, the founder of the
Oldsmobile Car Company. REO was founded after he left Oldsmobile.[22]
 The Replacements - Legend has it that they were given a gig after another band failed to
show; when asked who they were, they replied, "We're the Replacements".[22]
 The Residents – In 1971 the group sent a reel-to-reel tape to Hal Halverstadt at Warner
Brothers. Because the band had not included any name in the return address, the rejection
slip was simply addressed to "The Residents". The members of the group then decided
that this would be the name they would use, first becoming Residents Unincorporated,
then shortening it to the current name.[101]
 The Rolling Stones – from the Muddy Waters song, "Rollin' Stone".[102]

[edit] S
 School of Seven Bells - A mythical South American pickpocket training academy[103].

 Seether - Originally Saron Gas. The band was asked to change their name due to Saron
Gas being a homophone of sarin gas, a deadly nerve agent. The band changed its name to
Seether in honor of Veruca Salt's song titled, "Seether".[104]

 Sepultura — Their name means "Grave" in Portuguese (and Spanish). The name was
chosen after co-founder Max Cavalera translated the lyrics to the Motörhead song
"Dancing on Your Grave".[105]

 Shai Hulud — Named after the gigantic Sandworms of Arrakis from the 1984 sci-fi film
Dune, based on the Frank Herbert sci-fi novel of the same name.[106]

 Sigur Rós — Sigur Rós was named after the band's vocalist, Jón Þór Birgisson (Jónsi)'s
little sister, whose name is Sigurrós (without a space). It translates to "victory rose." [107]

 Skid Row — Slang for a rundown inner city neighborhoods where alcoholics, junkies,
street people can afford to live.[22]
  Slipknot — Drummer Joey Jordison suggested renaming the band from "Meld" to
"Slipknot" after their song that eventually appeared on the band's demo Mate. Feed. Kill.
Repeat.[108]

 Sloan — According to band member Jay Ferguson, the band's name refers to a friend's
nickname. Their friend Jason Larsen was called "slow one" by his French-speaking boss,
which with the French accent sounded more like "Sloan." The original agreement was
that they could name the band after their friend's nickname as long as he was on the cover
of their first album. As a result, it is Larsen who appears on the cover of Sloan's
Peppermint EP.[109]

 Steely Dan — Named after a dildo in the novel Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs.
[110]

 Smash Mouth — Football players use this slang term in any game with a lot of blocking
or tackling.[22]

 Soundgarden — A garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when wind blows
through them... a sculpture in Seattle called "Sound Garden".[22]

 Stryper — Originally derived from the King James Version of Isaiah 53:5, drummer
Robert Sweet created the acronym: Salvation Through Redemption, Yielding Peace,
Encouragement, and Righteousness.[111]

 Sum 41 — The band started 41 days into the summer.[112] The band was originally a
NOFX cover band named Kaspir; they changed their name to Sum 41 for a Supernova
show on September 28, 1996.[112][113]

[edit] T
 Taking Back Sunday — The band is named after a song by Long Island band The
Waiting Process who were inspired by their grandmother, Tina, that they should take
back Sunday from the Christian people in Long Island.[114]
 Talking Heads - From the video jargon for a camera shot showing only the head and
shoulders of a person. Newscasters are usually shown this way. Another story says they
were inspired by a military experiment involving talking mannequin heads.[22]
 They Might Be Giants - Named after the cult film favorite starring George C. Scott
about "loonies." The film is also in reference to Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes. In
the book, the title character says "they might be giants" when referring to the windmills
he attempts to fight.[22]
 Third Eye Blind - Our third eye is the imagined one that gives us a kind of sixth sense
(telepathy, ESP, etc.) and the band felt that most of us are blind in that sense. There is
also a symbolic third eye (all knowing eye) that appears on the back of a U.S. dollar bill.
[22]
  Thompson Twins – From Thomson and Thompson, the bumbling detectives in Hergé's
comic strip series The Adventures of Tintin.[115]
 Three Dog Night- Inspired by an Australian Aboriginal custom of sleeping with a dog
for warmth on a cold night - a three dog night would be very cold, plus the band had 3
lead singers.[116]

[edit] U
 UB40 - A title of an unemployment form called Unemployment Benefit, Form 40.[117]

U2

[edit] V
 Van Halen - After Alex and Eddie Van Halen - Suggested by David Lee Roth as being
better than their original name "Mammoth.".[22]
 The Velvet Underground - Were named after a book about sadomasochism by Michael
Leigh.[118]
 The Villebillies - The word "Villebillies" [Vill-bill-eez] came from a lyric written by
vocalist Derek "Child" Monyhan shortly after joining the group. It is a combination of the
words Louisville, the band's hometown and largest urban center in Kentucky (often
locally nicknamed "The Ville"), and Hillbilly - In reference to Kentucky's rural mountain
culture. The name references the cross genre nature of the band's music.[119]

[edit] W
 Weezer - Band member Rivers Cuomo had the nickname "Weezer" in school because of
a breathing problem.[22]
 Whitesnake - From a white albino ball python snake owned by David Coverdale while in
Deep Purple.[22]
 The Who - Were originally called The Detours, then changed their name to The Who
after a suggestion by Townsend's friend Richard Barnes. Their first manager, Pete
Meaden, renamed them The High Numbers, and they released one unsuccessful single,
Zoot Suit, under that name. When EMI dropped them the band sacked Pete Meaden and
went back to being called The Who. Another possible reason was because of Peter
Townshend's grandmother, who would always refer to popular bands as "The Who?"
mainly because of hard hearing.[120]
 Wilco – The group named itself "Wilco" after the CB radio voice procedure for "Will
Comply",[121] a choice which Tweedy has called "fairly ironic for a rock band to name
themselves." [122]
 Wu Tang Clan - RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard adopted the name for the rap group after
seeing the Kung fu film Shaolin and Wu Tang, which features a school of warriors
trained in Wu-Tang style.[123]
  Widespread Panic - Due to anxiety problems, lead guitarist Mike Houser used to have
the nickname "Panic". One day he came home and announced that he didn't want to be
just "Panic", he wanted to be "Widespread Panic".[124]

[edit] X
 Xiu Xiu — from the 1998 Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl.[125]

[edit] Y
 The Yardbirds - Grew out of Keith Relf's The Metropolitan Blues Quartet. When the
band changed members in 1963 Relf changed the name to Yardbirds partly from the
nickname of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, "Bird", and partly from the American slang
for prisoner.[126]
 Yo La Tengo - Translates to "I have it" from Spanish - said to be the phrase called out by
Hispanic baseball players when fielding a pop fly ball. Singer/guitar player Ira Kaplan
got the expression from a book he was reading about baseball called The Five Seasons. In
particular, taken from a story where the Mets' Richie Ashburn called out "yo la tengo" to
call off a Spanish-speaking shortstop. English-speaking Frank Thomas, however, kept
running and hit his teammate, allowing the ball drop uncaught. After the collision,
Thomas proclaimed "what the fuck is a yellow tango??" [22]

[edit] Z
 ZZ Top - Named as such so their albums would appear at the front of CD racks. Taken
from the name of a Texas Blues man ZZ Hill, and to make their name along the lines of
legendary blues guitarist B.B. King, Replacing the ZZ from BB and Top instead of King
they became ZZ Top. Though a rumor is that they got their name by combining Zig Zag
and Top, two well known brands of "cigarette" rolling papers.[22]

 Zox - Name taken from the last name of drummer, John Zox.[127]

 Zao - Name translates to "alive" in Greek.