|
A
Phil Brodie Band Info Page
MAIN
MUSO PAGE
BIRTHS & DEATHS
/ No.1. HITS singles / No.1
HITS albums
ONE
HIT WONDERS / PAST
CHARTS / XMAS
No.1s
Enjoy
our CD ~ ALIVE
& KICKING
BAND NAMES
"ORIGINS"
: Maybe?!?
AND
A FEW MUSICIAN NAME ORIGINS
IF
YOU KNOW ANY MORE PLEASE EMAIL
ME
| NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
_______________________________________
- Numbers
10cc
Manager Jonathan King chose the name after having a dream in which he
was standing in front of the Hammersmith Odeon in London where the boarding
read "10cc The Best Band in the World". A widely repeated
claim, disputed by King and Godley, but confirmed in a 1988 interview
by Creme, and also on the webpage of Gouldman's current line-up, is
that the band name represented a volume of semen that was more than
the average amount ejaculated by men, thus emphasising their potency
or prowess.
10 SECONDS OF FOREVERS
named after Hawkwind's "10 Seconds of Forever"
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)
_____________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
A
A DAY IN THE LIFE
named after
the Beatles song "A Day in the Life".
They are now known as Hawthorne Heights.
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."
A-HA
"a-ha" comes from a title that member Pål Waaktaar
thought giving to a song. Morten Harket was looking through Waaktaar's
notebook and came across the name "a-ha". He liked it and
said, "That's a great name. That's what we should call ourselves".
After checking dictionaries in several languages, they found out that
a-ha was an international way of expressing recognition, with positive
connotations.
A-TEENS
The 'A' stands for ABBA since they started as a cover band for the group,
but the name was changed upon the request from Björn Ulvaeus and
Benny Andersson to avoid confusion.
ABC
named after the 1970
number-one hit song by The Jackson 5, "ABC"
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 time it 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.
ADIEMUS
Creator Karl Jenkins invented the word, unaware at the time that it
means "We will draw near" in Latin
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.
AFTER FOREVER
named after Black Sabbath's "After Forever", a track from
their third album Master of Reality recorded in 1972
AIDEN
named after a character from the 2002 film The Ring
AIR SUPPLY
5 years prior to the band's signing, Graham Russell saw the name in
a dream.
AKB48
Named after Tokyo's area Akihabara (colloquially shortened to Akiba),
a mecca for electronics shopping and geeks. The group was formed as
theatre-based, to perform at its own theatre at Akihabara on a daily
basis, so that fans could always go and see them live.
ALEXISONFIRE
from contortionist stripper, Alexis Fire, which nearly resulted in a
lawsuit from the stripper's representatives.
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!!
ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS
(The)
The names "All-Americans" and "the Rejects" (after
the Green Day song Reject), were both suggested to the band as names,
so they were merged.
ALL CROWS ARE BLACK
Steve Townend took the name from a problem in the logic of confirmation
proposed by the German logician Carl Gustav Hempel in the 1940s and
known as the Paradox of the Ravens.
ALL TIME LOW
was taken from the lyrics 'and it feels like I'm at an all-time low'
from New Found Glory song, "Head on Collision"
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.
AMAZULU
The name "Amazulu" is taken from the Zulu language word for
the Zulu people.
ANBERLIN
band member Stephen Christian has offered the explanations that he planned
naming his first daughter Anberlin and that the name was a modification
of the phrase "and Berlin" from a list of cities Christian
wanted to visit. 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".
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.
AQUALUNG
named after Jethro Tull's "Aqualung"
ART OF NOISE
Named after the 1913 manifesto called The Art of Noises by Italian Futurist
Luigi Russolo.
AS I LAY DYING
Named after the 1930 novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
ASWAD
the British reggae group, called themselves 'Aswad' knowing it means
"Black" in Arabic
at17
named after Janis Ian's song "At Seventeen"
released in 1975 from
her 7th studio album,
Between the Lines
AUDIOSLAVE
according to lead guitarist Tom Morello the name supposedly came to
singer Chris Cornell in a vision.
AUTOMATIC PILOT
from psychiatric testimony characterizing Dan White's state of mind
while killing George Moscone and Harvey Milk
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
AZTEC TWO-STEP
Took their name from a line in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's
poem 'See It Was Like This When'
_____________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
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'.
BACKSTREET BOYS
named after a flea market in Orlando, Florida.
BAD BRAINS
named after The Ramones' song "Bad Brain"
BAD COMPANY
A 1972 movie starring Jeff Bridges.
BADFINGER
was derived from "Bad Finger Boogie," the working title of
The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends"
BAND (THE)
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'.
BEAUTIFUL SOUTH (The)
an English alternative rock group formed at the end of the 1980s by
two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave
Hemingway. Heaton explained at the time that the name was partly a sarcastic
reflection of his own dislike of southern England, and partly an attempt
to force macho men to utter the word 'beautiful'
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 to 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.
BELLE & SEBASTIAN
from Belle et Sébastien, a children's book by French writer Cécile
Aubry.
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"
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME
The band name was derived from a phrase in Counting Crows' song "Ghost
Train".
The lyrics say "Fifty Million feet of earth between the buried
and me"
BIFFY CLYRO
there are many rumours of the origin of Biffy Clyro's name... one time
lead singer, Simon Neil bought a Cliff Richard pen therefore it was
a Cliffy Biro, they then changed this to Biffy Clyro. Another theory
is that 'Biffy Clyro' were a Welsh tribe. The third rumour is that Biffy
Clyro was a former player of the band's football team, Ayr United. They
have never confirmed any of these.
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,
BIG
COUNTRY
named after Talking Heads'
"The Big Country";
a track from their second album,
More Songs About Buildings and Food released in 1978's
BIG DRILL CAR
the band members have claimed in interviews that their name was inspired
by the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth.
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").
BLACK,
CILLA
A reporter for the local paper, while writing a favorable review accidentley
called her Cilla Black instead of Cilla White.
BLACK
ANGELS [The]
named after Velvet Underground's "The Black Angel's Death Song"
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.
BLIND MELON
Bass player Brad Smith's father used this term to refer to some hippies
who lived in a commune near his house.
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.
BLONDE REDHEAD
Named themselves "Blonde Redhead" after a song by the New
York no wave band DNA.
BLOOD DUSTER
named after Naked City's "Blood Duster" track on 1999
'Naked City' album
BLOOD ON THE FLOOR
originally called 'Love the Fashion', but while creating their first
album vocalist Dahvie Christopher Mongillo came up with the name Blood
On The Dance Floor. It is possible he was inspired Michael Jackson's
song, "Blood On The Dance Floor".
BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS
Founder Al Kooper 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. Another version is, the title was chosen
by Al Kooper, inspired after a late-night gig in which Kooper played
with a bloody hand.
BLUE OCTOBER
The front man of Blue October, Justin Furstenfeld, spent a brief
stint in a mental hospital in October 1997. Furstenfeld stated that
afterwards he wrote songs to keep depression away which led to the forming
of the band
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.
BLUR
The band had been known as "Seymour" until they were signed
to Food Records in 1990. The label disliked the band name, the group
selected a new one from a provided list, from which they eventually
chose "Blur" .
BOB DYLAN
Robert Zimmerman changed his surname to Dylan in honor of Dylan Thomas
BONDED BY BLOOD
took thier name from Exodus' "Bonded by Blood" a track on
their debut album Bonded by Blood released in 1984.
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.
BOOM BOOM SATELLITES
after Sigue Sigue Sputnik's "Boom Boom Satellite" from their
album Dress for Excess
BOOMTOWN RATS
Taken from the gang in Woody Guthrie's 'Bound for Glory' novel.
BOREDOMS
named
themselves after Buzzcocks' "Boredom" from the Buzzcocks'
1976/77 "Spiral
Scratch" EP.
BORIS
this Japanese experimental rock named themselves after Melvins' "Boris"
from their 1991 album Bullhead.
BRAINERD
Original guitarist, Knife, names band after home-town (Brainerd, Minnesota).
BRING ME THE HORIZON
Took their name from a line said by Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates
of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, "Now... bring me
that horizon".
BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD
The band took their name from a brand of heavy asphalt roller they saw
while stuck in Los Angeles traffic.
BURNING AIRLINES
named after Brian Eno's "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More"
BURY YOUR DEAD
took their name from The Haunted's "Bury Your Dead"
BUTTS BAND
In an early interview ex-Doors member Robby Krieger explained the origin
of his band name: "'Butts Band' equalled a bunch of losers desperate
for a gig, hence the tattered speaker on the album front cover"
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"
______________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
C
CANDLEBOX
named after a line from Midnight Oil's "Tin Legs and Tin
Mines"... the line 'boxed in like candles'
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".
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.
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".
CHARLIE BROWN JR
The band performed shows in the city without an official name until
Chorão crashed his car into a coconut shack that was named "Charlie
Brown".
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
Allegally 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.
CHEROKEES
Formed in Melbourne, Australia, they named themselves after a popular
icecream of the early 60s.
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.
CHIEFTAINS
(The)
The band's name came from the book Death of a Chieftain by Irish author
John Montague.
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.
CHROME WAVES
named after Ride's "Chrome Waves"
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'
COBRA MOVEMENT (The)
Named after a short-lived post-WW II art movement that drew together
artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, which used a cobra
as its symbol with each of the respective cities representing the head,
body and tail of the cobra.
COCO ROBICHEAUX
Curtis Arceneaux took his stage name from a Louisiana legend, in which
a naughty child called Coco Robicheaux, is abducted by a werewolf or
wendigo.
COCTEAU TWINS
The band was named after the song "The Cocteau Twins" by fellow
Scotsmen 'Johnny and the Self-Abusers', who later renamed themselves
Simple Minds; the song "The Cocteau Twins" was also re-penned
as "No Cure.
COLDPLAY
Chris, Jonny, Will & Guy were called "Starfish" originally
and a friend's group was 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.
COLONIA
The name of the group comes from the ancient Latin name of the Croatian
town Vinkovci which was "Colonia Aurelia Cibalae".
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".
CON FUNK SHUN
named after New Birth's "Con-Funk-Shun"
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.
CRASS
A reference to the David Bowie song "Ziggy Stardust"... the
line "The kids was just crass".
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.
CRINGER
Hawaiin band named after a talking cat from the cartoon He-Man.
CROSS-EYED MARY
taken from track 2, "Cross-Eyed Mary" on Jethro Tull's 1971
album Aqualung.
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.
CURE (The)
The band's original name was Easy Cure, 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".
CURVED AIR
named
after Terry Riley's "A Rainbow in Curved Air"
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
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.
DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL
Derived from the line in the band's song "The Sharp Hint of New
Tears" which is "on the way home, this car hears my confessions/I
think tonight I'll take the long way home...".
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
DEACON BLUE
named after Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues" on their album Aja
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.
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".
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 (The)
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
song of Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother.
(The song was more notably performed by Nino Tempo & April Stevens)
DEF LEPPARD
Supposedly inspired by a drawing Joe Elliot made of a leopard with no
ears.
DEFTONES
The name "Deftones" was created by Stephen Carpenter, who
wanted to pick "something that would just stand out but you know,
not be all cheese-ball at the same time". He combined the hip hop
slang term "def," which was used by artists such as LL Cool
J and Public Enemy, with the suffix "-tones," which was a
popular suffix among 1950s bands such as Dick Dale and the Del-Tones,
The Quin-Tones, The Monotones, The Cleftones and The Harptones. Carpenter
said the name is intentionally vague to reflect the band's tendency
to not focus on just one style of music.
DEL-SATINS
They chose the name Del-Satins as a tribute to the groups, The Dells
and The Five Satins.
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.
DIZZY
MIZZ LIZZY
named after Larry Williams' "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"
DOBIE GRAY
In
the early 1960s, Stripe Records in L.A. suggested to Lawrence Brown
he should record under the name "Dobie Gray", an allusion
to the then-popular sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
DOOBIE BROTHERS
Original band name was Pud, changing it to Doobie which is slang for
a marijuana joint.
DOORS [The]
Originally called the Psychedelic Rangers, the Doors were inspired from
a William Blake quote 'If the doors of perception were to be cleansed
every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite'.
DOVETAIL
JOINT
named after a line in The Beatles' "Glass Onion"... the line
'Trying to make a dovetail joint, yeah'
DREAM THEATRE
Named after a movie house in Monterey, California. The name was suggested
by drummer Mike Portnoy's father, who lived in Monterey
DUMDUM BOYS
named themselves after Iggy Pop's "Dum Dum Boys"
DUM DUM GIRLS
after Iggy Pop's "Dum Dum Boys" as well as The Vaselines album
"Dum Dum"
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
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
E
E
STREET BAND
Bruce Springsteen's band was named after E Street (not East) in Belmar,
New Jersey, because the band used to practice at the E Street home of
pianist David Sancious' mother
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.
ELLA GURU
named after Captain Beefheart's "Ella Guru"
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.
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.
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".
ERIC'S TRIP
named after Sonic Youth's "Eric's Trip"
EURYTHMICS
a method of music instruction from the 1890's which emphasizes physical
response to the music.
EVANESCENCE
When asked where they got their name, they responded, "The dictionary".
They apparently disliked their previous names Childish Intentions and
Stricken, 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 of Evanescence, likening it to the temporal
nature of life.
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.
____________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
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'."
FAIRPORT CONVENTION
As young musicians in the mid 60s, they used to 'convene' for rehearsals
at a house named Fairport, the family home of rhythm guitarist Simon
Nicol, in Muswell Hill; thus, was born the name of the band.
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. (Some have
said the name came from a horse or dog on a betting slip).
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.
FASTBALL
Originally called "Magneto" until learning of a Mexican Boy
Band of the same name, they first attempted to use the name "Magneto
USA," but were ultimately advised against it. The band eventually
settled on "Fastball" in reference to a "baseball-themed
porn movie".
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"
FIREHOUSE
named after Kiss's "Firehouse"
FIVE IRON FRENZY
According to bassist Keith Hoerig: "We got the name from a roommate
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."
FLORENCE & THE MACHINE
The name of Florence and the Machine is attributed to front-woman Florence
Welch's teenage collaboration with keyboardist and co-writer Isabella
"Machine" Summers. Welch and Summers performed together for
a time under the name Florence Robot/Isa Machine. Later, this was shortened
to Florence and the Machine as it was felt to be too cumbersome.
FOGHAT
Singer Dave Peverett and his brother invented the word in a game of
Scrabble.
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.
FOSTER THE PEOPLE
Originally called "Foster & the People" by frontman Mark
Foster, but changed when many of his friends misunderstood the name
as "Foster the People". In a 2011 interview, Foster also recalled,
"'Foster the People' — that's like 'Take Care of the People'.
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"
FREE
"The Founding Father of British Blues",
Alexis
Korner,
gave the band their name; maybe named after his early blues band "
Free At Last".
FUCK THE FACTS
named after Naked City's "Fuck the Facts" track on their 1999
'Naked City' album
FUGEES
Three band members' parents were refugees; also their label is called
Refugee Camp.
FULL DEVIL JACKET
There are two stories on how the band got its name. One is that the
band was named after a song written by lead singer Josh Brown, called
“Full Devil Jacket”, and the other story is that the band
simply pulled the name from a magazine article.
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND
named after Planes Mistaken for Stars's "Funeral for a Friend",
although some believe it's after Elton John's "Love Lies Bleeding
(Funeral for a Friend).
WE'VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND
WE'RE GONNA USE IT
The band's name was shortened to Fuzzbox for the
U.S. release of their first album. Their name was chosen after they
bought a distortion pedal for their guitars and Maggie Dunne stated
"We've got a fuzzbox and we're gonna use it!".
__________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
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
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." and a friend of drummer Butch Vig, said "This
stuff sounds like 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"
GEORGIA WONDER
This 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.
GET
UP KIDS [The]
name came from the lyric "Suburban Get Up Kids" by The Cure.
Singer
Matt Pryor's previous bands all had names that began with S, so they
dropped the 'Suburban.' More important, they thought they'd sell more
albums in the "G" section of the record store than the overcrowded
"S"'s.
GIGOLO
AUNTS
named after Syd Barrett's "Gigolo Aunt"
from his 1970 album, Barrett.
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 1992 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.
GOO GOO DOLLS
When they were told that local newspapers wouldn't print their original
name, Sex Maggots, it is said 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. Others have said a radio station held contest asking
listeners to pick a name for them. When nothing but goo goo was received,
so they just decided Goo Goo Dolls would be their name.
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.
GRAMERCY FIVE
Artie Shaw fashioned a small group from within his big band and
named it the Gramercy Five after his home telephone exchange
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.
_______________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
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"
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.
HAWKWIND
Nik Turner looked like a hawk and farted a lot
HEAD LIKE A HOLE
named after Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like A Hole", a 1990 hit
single from the group's debut album Pretty Hate Machine in 1989.
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".
HEDGEHOPPERS ANONYMOUS
Apart from Alan Laud, the band members were Royal Air Force personnel
based at RAF Wittering, near Peterborough, England; Hedgehoppers is
RAF slang for low-flying planes.
HELLO GOODBYE
named after The Beatles' 1967's ' "Hello, Goodbye"
HEPTONES [The]
The name was chosen by group member Earl Morgan after seeing a Heptones
Tonic bottle lying in a pile of refuse.
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.
HIGH INERGY
Fashioned after Martha and the Vandellas and The Supremes, Berry Gordy
named them after the 1976 Supremes High Energy album with just the 'e'
changed to an 'i' in "energy".
HIT THE LIGHTS
named after Metallica's "Hit the Lights" from their 1983 the
debut studio album Kill 'Em All.
HOLLIES [The]
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.
HUES CORPORATION [The]
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".
HUNTERS & COLLECTORS
named after German band Can's "Hunters and Collectors" from
their 1975 Landed album
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).
_______________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
I
I AGAINST I
comes from the American hardcore punk band, Bad Brains' album,
I Against I, released in November 1986
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.
IN FEAR AND FAITH
named after Circa Survive's "In Fear And Faith" released in
2006.
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..
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
J
J. BLACKFOOT
John Colbert was generally known as "J" or "Jay",
he acquired the nickname "Blackfoot" as a child, for his
habit of walking barefoot on the tarred sidewalks of Memphis.
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, in the 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.
JET
named after the Paul McCartney & Wings number "Jet"
on their 1974 album Band on the Run.
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.
JIMMY EAT WORLD
The band's name came from a crayon drawing made after an incident
between Linton's younger brothers, Jim and Ed, who fought frequently.
Jim usually won, but Ed sought revenge by drawing a picture of Jim
shoving the Earth into his mouth; the picture bore the caption "Jimmy
eat world".
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
named
after Bob Dylan's "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest",
also this was originally a mild curse said to avoid saying "Jesus
Christ"!
_______________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
K
K.L.F.
An acronym for 'Kopyright Liberation Front', which sums up their attitude
towards using samples from other artists.
KAISER CHIEFS
Named after the South African Kaizer Chiefs Football Club, the former
team of long-serving former Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe.
KASABIAN
Named after Linda Kasabian, a member of the Charles Manson cult aka
the Manson "family" famous for serving as his getaway driver.
KASHMIR
named after Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" a track on their 6th
album Physical Graffiti, released in 1975.
KASSIDY
Took their name from a play on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
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.
KJ-52
Hybrid name of this artist's first rap name "KJ" coupled
with the New Testament Miracle of the Feeding of the Multitude, Mark
8:1-9 & Matthew 15:32-39.
KLAXTONS
Originally known as "Klaxons (Not Centaurs)", a quote from
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's futurism text The Futurist Manifesto.
Also in an interview a band member stated Klaxons "is to toot
to be a loud intrusive noise to disrupt".
Kashmir after Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir"
KOOKS [The]
named after David Bowie's "Kooks" from his album Hunky Dory
KRAFTWERK
German for 'power plant'
KROKUS
Krokus is German for crocus, early in the spring of 1975, band founder
Chris von Rohr observed a field full of these flowers while traveling
by train. He was returning from L'Ecole des Chefs located in France
after an aborted career in the culinary arts, and it was around this
time the idea for the band was formed. The band members stated that
it was the perfect name, since it featured "rok" in the
middle.
______________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
L
LADY GAGA
she named herself after Queen's mega hit "Radio Ga Ga"
LADYTRON
The band takes their name from the song "Ladytron" by
Roxy Music, from their debut album of 1972.
LASGO
taken from the Scottish city Glasgow with the first and last letters
removed.
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.
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.
LITTLE BIRDY
named after Ween's "Little Birdy" from the 1992 album Pure
Guava
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.
LIVING COLOUR
They named the band after the NBC TV advertisement which said "Broadcasting
in Living Color."
LIVING END [The]
Chris
Cheney was a big fan of rockabilly group Stray Cats and this prompted
Scott Owen, who originally played piano, to switch to double bass.
The pair formed Runaway Boys, named after a song from the Stray Cats'
debut album. The band went on to become The Living End, a reference
to the film Rock Around the Clock.
LL COOL J
Short for "Ladies Love Cool James".
LOCKGROOVE
named after Stereolab's "Lock-Groove Lullaby"
LOS LOBOS
Spanish for "The Wolves"
LOTHAR & 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
LOVIN' SPOONFUL
It's slang for sperm, but the band name is inspired by the lyrics
of John Hurt's "Coffee Blues" .. Well, please, ma'am, just
a lovin' spoon, just a lovin' spoonful, I declare, I got to have my
lovin' spoonful
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.
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
M
M. PEOPLE
Is from the initials of Mike Pickering, who formed the group in
Manchester, UK in 1990.
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.
MAINE
[The]
their name was inspired by the song 'The
Coast of Maine' by
Ivory, the band shortened it to The Maine.
MANIC STREET PREACHERS
Guitarist/vocalist James Dean Bradfield was inspired by a manic street-preaching
tramp.
MARILLION
Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein's book 'Silmarillion' but modified it to
avoid copyright problems.
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
MAYHEM
inspired by English heavy metal band Venom's instrumental track "Mayhem
with Mercy"
from their 1981 debut studio album Welcome to Hell
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.
MERCILESS DEATH
Some have guessed that the name "Merciless Death" comes
from the song Merciless Death by Dark Angel. However, in an interview
with Andy Torres in 2007, Andy said the band's name originated from
a conversation with Dan Holder in which Dan came up with a possible
name for the band “Merciless Onslaught” and Andy asked him
about replacing the word 'Onslaught' with 'Death'. From that point
on they called themselves “Merciless Death”.
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.
MO-DO
The name Mo-Do is claimed to originate from the two first letters
of Fabio Frittelli's birth-town, Monfalcone, and the day of his birth,
Domenica (which is Sunday in Italian).
MOB RULES
named after UK rock band Black Sabbath's "The Mob Rules"
from their 1981 album, Mob Rules.
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 [The]
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. Wanting to keep the MB, their final
name had a subtle reference to the Duke Ellington song, "Mood
Indigo".
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.
MOUNTAIN GOATS [The]
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"
MR. BIG
named after UK rock band Free's, "Mr. Big", a track on their
third studio album Fire and Water, released June 1970.
MR. MISTER
The name came from an inside joke about a Weather Report song "Mr.
Gone" on the '78 album of the same name, where they referred
to each other as "Mister This" or "Mister That",
eventually they selected "Mr. Mister.
MUSICAL BOX [The]
named after the Genesis song "The Musical Box" on their
1971 album Nursery Cryme, their 3rd studio 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.
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
N
NAKED AND FAMOUS [The]
named after The Presidents of the United States
of America's "Naked and Famous" hit single of 1994.
NANCY WHISKY
Anne
Alexandra Young Wilson took her stage name from a Scottish folk song,
"Nancy Whisky".
NAZARETH
The
group took their name from the first line of The Band's 1968 song
"The Weight" .. "I pulled into Nazareth / Was feelin'
'bout half past dead"
NECROPHOBIC
It is believed that they named themselves after a Slayer song from
the 1986 seminal album Reign in Blood.
NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN
title of an episode of The Goon Show that the mother of vocalist Jonn
Penney would read to him.
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 MODEL ARMY
The band was named after the English revolutionary army of Oliver
Cromwell.
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
Sylvain had a job at "A Different Drummer", a men's boutique
that was across the street from the New York Doll Hospital, a doll
repair shop. Sylvain claimed that the shop inspired the name for their
future band.
NICKEL
CREEK
named after one of fiddle virtuoso Byron Berline's songs "Nickel
Creek". Byron Berline was Nickel Creek band member Sara Watkins'
fiddle instructor.
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".
NICE [The]
The band name was inspired by the Small Faces' hit song about
drugs "Here Comes the Nice"
NINE BELOW ZERO
named after the Sonny Boy Williamson II penned song "Nine Below
Zero"
NINE INCH NAILS
Trent Reznor said in 1994 that he coined the name "Nine Inch
Nails" because it "abbreviated easily", rather than
for "any literal meaning". Other rumored explanations have
circulated, alleging that Reznor chose to reference Jesus' crucifixion
with nine-inch spikes, or Freddy Krueger's nine-inch fingernails.
NIRVANA
In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained
through the annihilation of the self.
NO DOUBT
original singer John Spence formed an Orange County-based 2 Tone ska
group and it was named after Spence's favorite vocal expression "no
doubt" with keyboardist Eric Stefani. After Spence's death, the
name stuck.
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.
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.
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
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, and a place where
The Beatles played.
OCEANSIZE
The band named themselves after Jane's Addiction song, "Ocean
Size". According to guitarist Gambler, the band's then-bassist
Jon Ellis came up with the name: "I think, at the time, he was
thinking what we would sound like. Jane’s Nothing's Shocking
album, which has the track "Ocean Size" on it, was definitely
a big influence."
ORDINARY BOYS (The)
named themselves after the song "The Ordinary Boys" performed
by Morrissey on his 1988 album Viva Hate.
OF MICE & MEN
The Band is named after the novel by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck himself
took the name from a line in the poem "To A Mouse" by Robert
Burns, which reads "the best-laid schemes of mice and men/Go
often awry."
OFFSPRING [The]
Its members Dexter Holland and Greg K decided to form a band after
attending a Social Distortion concert. The band was called Manic Subsidal,
who suddenly changed their name to The Offspring in 1986.
OLD
97's
named themselves after Johnny Cash's rendition of the classic track
"The Wreck of the Old 97".
O'JAYS [The]
Originally called the Mascots, they named themselves after the Cleveland
disc jockey Eddie O'Jay, who helped the band out in their early days.
OPETH
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.
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.
OVERKILL
They named themselves after Motörhead's "Overkill"
released in 7" and 12" vinyl pressings in 1979.
OZZY OSBOURNE
Ozzy was his childhood nickname.
___________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
P
+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
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.
PENNY UNNIVERSITY
Members guitarist Michael Anthony Gagliardi, Ted Walker on bass, drummer
Craig Brown and percussionist Rene Almodovar, named themselves Penny
Unniversity, which comes from the 18th Century name given to the coffee
houses of London where, for a penny, you could sip coffee and listen
to the news of the day.
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. Samples from this film are used frequently
in the band's early works.
PINK FLOYD
Named after blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
PIXIES
selected randomly from a dictionary by guitarist Joey Santiago. The
band took a liking to the word's definition, "mischievous little
elves". The name was shortened from the original, "Pixies
In Panoply".
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 [The]
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.
PORNO FOR PYROS
inspired by the Los Angeles riots of 1992
PORTISHEAD
Named themselves after their home town in the UK.
POWDERFINGER
named after Neil Young's "Powderfinger" first released on
Neil's 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps.
POWER STATION
Named after The Power Station recording studio where their album was
conceived and recorded.
THE PRETENDERS
Named after the Platter's song "The Great Pretender".
PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
Named after The Smiths' song from their debut self titled album
released on February 20th 1984. The song itself was named after a
quote from Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums.
PRETTY THINGS [The]
Named after the Bo Diddley hit "Pretty Thing", released
in November 1955.
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??
PRODIGY [The]
The Prodigy's name was chosen by Liam Howlett as a tribute to his
first analogue synthesiser, the Moog Prodigy.
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.
___________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
Q
QNTAL
In a dream, vocalist Sigrid Hausen saw the letters in flames
QUEEN
originally called Smile, Freddie Mercury liked the name Queen for
the transvestite connotation and the glamorous image of Queens in
royalty.
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.
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.
___________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
R
RADIO
BIRDMAN
inspired
by a line in The Stooges' "1970" .. Radio burnin' up above
RADIOHEAD
Named after a Talking Head song called Radio Head on the album
True Stories, claiming it as the "least annoying song" from
the album. They
were originally named On A Friday.
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.
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.
RAVONETTES
named after Buddy Holly's "Rave On" song
RAZORLIGHT
The band took their name form the make of the padlock worn by
Sid Vicious.
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.
REGULAR JOHN
named after Queens of the Stone Age's "Regular John" from
their 1998 self-titled
debut album
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".
RESIDENTS (The)
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.
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.
RIDERS ON THE STORM
The
Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger named one of their many
new bands after an earlier hit they had with The Doors, "Riders
on the Storm"
RIGHT SAID FRED
named
themselves after Bernard Cribbins' very comical hit single "Right
Said Fred"
RINGO STARR
Ringo,
because Richard
Starkey
liked to wear lots of rings, Starr is taken from his last name
Starkey.
ROCKWELL
Kennedy William Gordy is the son of Motown founder and CEO Berry Gordy
and Margaret Norton. His father named him Kennedy William Gordy after
John F. Kennedy and William "Smokey" Robinson. To avoid
seeming nepotistic, he secured his record deal without his father's
knowledge. Motown actually came up with the name Rockwell and the
young Gordy agreed to the change because he believed he "rocked
well."
ROB
TYNER
Robert
Derminer, frontman for MC5 (Motor City 5) adopted surname was in tribute
to the jazz pianist McCoy Tyner.
ROLLING STONES [The]
The name was suggested by Brian Jones taken from the Muddy Waters
song "Rolling Stone".
ROXETTE
named themselves after Dr. Feelgood's 1974 track "Roxette"
ROXY MUSIC
In 1971 Brian Ferry
originally
named his band Roxy,
to pay tribute to the name of many old cinemas and dance halls, and
partly as a take on the word rock; however, after learning an American
band had the same name he changed the name to Roxy Music.
RUINS
named themselves after the uk 60/70 band, Henry Cow's track "Ruins"
RUNAWAY BOYS
Chris Cheney was a big fan of rockabilly group Stray Cats and this
prompted Scott Owen, who originally played piano, to switch to double
bass. The pair formed Runaway Boys, named after a song from the Stray
Cats' debut album. The band went on to become The Living End, a reference
to the film Rock Around the Clock.
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?".
RUSSIAN CIRCLES
Originally the title of their first composed piece in 2004, which
they later called "Carpe", although there name is taken
from a drill exercise 'russian circles' used in the game of ice hockey.
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
S
SANTA SABINA
The Mexican rock group honors the memory of Maria Sabina, the Mazatec
shaman who lived in the southern state of Oaxaca.
SAVAGE GARDEN
From an Ann Rice novel.
SAVING ABEL
The band title is from the ancient biblical story of Cain and
Abel, that is about a brother who killed his own brother. Band member
Jason Null thought up the band title saying “I Googled the story
of Cain and Abel and found a line about ‘there was no saving
Abel,’ which just jumped out at me."
SCARY KIDS SCARING KIDS
named themselves after Cap'n Jazz's "Scary Kids Scaring Kids"
released on 1998 Analphabetapolothology album
SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
A mythical South American pickpocket training academy
SCRITTI POLITTI
Comes from an Americanization of the book SCRITTI POLITICI, the
political writings by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist.
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".
SEPULTURA
Their name means "Grave" in Portuguese. The name was chosen
after co-founder Max Cavalera translated the lyrics to the Motörhead
song "Dancing on Your Grave".
SEVENDUST
After discovering their name Crawlspace was already taken, band bassist
Vinnie Hornsby renamed the band after a brand of plant pesticide he
found in his grandmother's garage named Sevin dust
SEX PISTOLS
It was partially inspired by Malcom Mclaren wive's punk clothing
shop called "Sex".
SHABUTIE
named from a word taken from African tribe chants that means "naked
prey" in the film The Naked Prey.
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
SHAKESPEARS SISTER
named themselves after The Smiths's "Shakespeare's Sister"
released in March 1985.
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.
SHAI HULUD
Named after the Sandworms of Arrakis from the 1984 science fiction
film Dune, based on the Frank Herbert science fiction novel of the
same name.
SHOOK ONES
named after Mobb Deep's 1994 promotional single "Shook Ones"
SIGUR RóS
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."
SILVER JEWS
some say that the name pays homage to Silver Apples and The Silver
Beatles, and others say it is named after the slang meanining for
blonde-haired Jewish people.
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
inspired by a line in the David Bowie song "Jean Genie"..
He's so simple minded he can't drive his module, he bites on the neon
and sleeps in the capsule.
SIOUXIE SIOUX
Susan
Janet Ballion named herself after The Sioux Indians because she "hates
cowboys".
SISTER MACHINE GUN
named after a line from Skinny Puppy's "Tin
Omen" ...they'll be coming down /altogether sister machine gun
/ automatic high what a ride...
SISTERS OF MERCY
A tribute to the Leonard Cohen song "Sisters Of Mercy"
from his 1967 debut album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen'
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.
SLIPKNOT
Drummer Joey Jordison suggested renaming the band from "Meld"
to "Slipknot" after their song of the same name that appeared
on the band's '95 demo album and 1st album Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
released in 1996
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.
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.
SMITHS [The]
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.
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 seen 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) allegedly
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.
SPIRAL ARCHITECT
named after UK rock band Black Sabbath's "Spiral Architect",
a track on the '73 album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
SPIRIT
The band was originally named The Spirits Rebellious, after a book
by Khalil Gibran.
SPOON
named themselves after the German experimental rock band Can's
song, "Spoon" released in 1972
ST. ETIENNE
They are named after the famous French football team, AS Saint-Étienne,
European Cup runners-up in the 1970s.
STARS OF TRACK AND FIELD
named themselves after Belle and Sebastian's "Stars of Track
and Field", a track on their 1996 album 'If You're Feeling
Sinister'
STARSAILOR
named themselves after Tim Buckley's "Starsailor" a track
from his 1970 album of the same 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.
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS
named themselves after UK punk band The Vibrators's number, "Stiff
Little Fingers" which appeared on the Vibrators' debut
album, Pure Mania in 1977.
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.
STRUNG SHORT
named after rock band Shabütie's "Strung Short", a
track on their 1999 EP, Plan to Take Over the World
STRYER
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
STYX
After the mythical river, Styx, that people crossed over to go into
Hell.
STUKAS OVER BEDROCK
name inspired by punk band's The Dickies song "Stukas Over Disneyland"
from the 1983 album of the same name.
SUBURBAN KIDS WITH BIBLICAL NAMES
after a line from The Silver Jews' "People", a track from
their third full-length studio album American Water .. I love the
city and the city rain, suburban kids with biblical names.
SUGARCUBES
Dripping liquid LSD on Sugarcubes is a time honored way to "package"
LSD.
SUGARLOAF
The band was originally known as Chocolate Hair. They changed their
name to Sugarloaf, named after a mountain outside of Boulder, Colorado,
when they received their first recording contract.
SUM 41
The band started 41 days into the summer. The band was originally
a NOFX cover band named Kaspir; they changed their name to Sum 41
for a Supernova show on September 28th 1996.
SUPERTRAMP
Named after a book called 'Autobiography Of A Supertramp', written
by W.H.Davies in 1910.
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.
SWEET THING
named after Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing", a track from his
1968 acclaimed second album Astral Weeks.
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!".
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
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.
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'
TEXAS IS THE REASON
named after a line from The Misfits' "Bullet" single
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 BOY LEAST
LIKEY TO
named after Morrissey's "The Girl Least
Likely To"
THE CHIEFTAINS
The band's name came from the book Death of a Chieftain by Irish author
John Montague.
THE
CURE
The band's original name was Easy Cure, 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".
THE DEL RUBIO TRIPLETS
Their stage name comes from the colour the triplets dyed their hair;
the word "rubio" means "blonde" in Spanish.
THE
DOORS
Originally called the Psychedelic Rangers, the Doors were inspired
from a William Blake quote 'If the doors of perception were to be
cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite'.
THE FLOWERPOT MEN
Psychedelic-era puns on flower power and "pot" (cannabis).
THE FOGGY RIVER BOYS
named after the nickname for the Cumberland River
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
GET UP KIDS
named after The Cure's "Suburban Get Up Kids"
THE HEPTONES
The name was chosen by group member Earl Morgan after seeing a Heptones
Tonic bottle lying in a pile of refuse.
THE
HOLLIES
Not in homage to Buddy Holly, as rumored. They chose the name from
some Christmas holly decorating Graham Nash's house.
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".
THE JORANAIRES
Named after Jordan Creek in Missouri, not the Jordan River, as many
have thought.
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
KIRBYS
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.
THE KOOKS
named after David Bowie's "Kooks" from his album Hunky Dory
THE
LIVING END
Chris
Cheney was a big fan of rockabilly group Stray Cats and this prompted
Scott Owen, who originally played piano, to switch to double bass.
The pair formed Runaway Boys, named after a song from the Stray Cats'
debut album. The band went on to become The Living End, a reference
to the film Rock Around the Clock.
THE
MAINE
their name was inspired by the song 'The
Coast of Maine' by
Ivory, the band shortened it to The Maine.
THE
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. Wanting to keep the MB, their final
name had a subtle reference to the Duke Ellington song, "Mood
Indigo".
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"
THE
MUSICAL BOX
named after the Genesis song "The Musical Box" on their
1971 album Nursery Cryme, their 3rd studio album.
THE
NAKED AND FAMOUS
named after The Presidents of the United States
of America's "Naked and Famous" hit single of 1994.
THE
NICE
The band name was inspired by the Small Faces' hit song about
drugs "Here Comes the Nice"
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.
THE
OFFSPRING
Its members Dexter Holland and Greg K decided to form a band after
attending a Social Distortion concert. The band was called Manic Subsidal,
who suddenly changed their name to The Offspring in 1986.
THE
ORDINARY BOYS
named themselves after the song "The Ordinary Boys" performed
by Morrissey on his 1988 album Viva Hate.
THE POGUES
Shortened from 'Pogue Mahone', which is a distorted version of Póg
Mo hón, which is Irish Gaelic for 'kiss my ass'.
THE
PRETTY THINGS
Named after the Bo Diddley hit "Pretty Thing", released
in November 1955.
THE
PRODIGY
The Prodigy's name was chosen by Liam Howlett as a tribute to his
first analogue synthesiser, the Moog Prodigy.
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 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
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.
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.
THE
SUNSHINE
UNDERGROUND
named after a song"The Sunshine Underground" from the 1999
album Surrender by The Chemical Brothers.
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, referring to eastern
Kentucky's rural mountain culture. The name references the cross genre
nature of the band's music.
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.
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.
theSTART
Originally called Hero, they were forced to change their name
as it was already taken. Aimee Echo's mother suggested "theSTART".
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.
THIS IS HELL
Named after the Elvis Costello 1994 song "This Is Hell"
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.
THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD
they named themselves after Cannibal Corpse's "Staring Through
The Eyes of The Dead"
TLC
Nicknames of band members: Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa
"Left Eye" Lopez and Rozonda is "Chilli"
TOKIO HOTEL
The band named themselves after "Tokio", the German spelling
of the Japanese city Tokyo, due to a love of the city, and "Hotel"
due to their constant touring and living in hotels.
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'.
TURTLES [The]
Originally the Crossfires, but changed their name to the Tyrtles as
an unveiled homage to the Byrds, but soon amended the spelling. .
TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB
The band's name came about after Member, Sam Halliday mispronounced
the name of the local cinema, Tudor Cinema, and this stuck
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.
____________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
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.
UH HUH HER
named after PJ Harvey's unreleased song "Uh Huh Her" that
was cut from the 2004 album Uh Huh Her
ULTRAVOX
Latin for "the greatest amount of voice"
UNIT 4+2
In 1962, Brian Parker formed a vocal harmony group with Buster Meikle,
Tommy Moeller, and Peter Moules, calling it Unit 4. They were later
joined by Russ Ballard on guitar and Bob Henrit on drums which formed
the + 2.
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".
____________________________________
V
VAN HALEN
"Van Halen" is the last name of the band's guitarist Eddie
Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen. Initially called Mammoth, the
band changed its name when it found out Mammoth was already taken
by another band.
VEIL
OF MAYA
named after Cynic's "Veil of Maya" a song from their album
Focus.
VELOCITY GIRL
named after Primal Scream's 1986 track "Velocity Girl"
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".
VILLEBILLIES (The)
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, referring to eastern
Kentucky's rural mountain culture. The name references the cross genre
nature of the band's music.
VIVA
HATE
named after Morrissey's debut solo album, Viva Hate, released 14 March
1988.
________________________________________
|
NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
W
WALK
THE MOON
named named after The Police song "Walking on the Moon"
WAR
Eric Burdon wanted to attract
attention because at this the
hippies were so anti-war.
WARSAW
named after David Bowie's "Warszawa".
Warsaw later became Joy Division
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?"
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".
WILCO
The group named itself "Wilco" after the CB radio voice
procedure for "Will Comply", a choice which Tweedy has called
"fairly ironic for a rock band to name themselves".
WINDS OF PLAGUE
named
after a song on Unearth's "Endless" album
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.
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.
________________________________________
| NO's| A
| B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I
| J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U
| V | W
| X |Y
| Z |
X
XIU XIU
from the 1998 Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl.
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
________________________________________
Y
YARDBIRDS (The)
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.
YELLOWMAN / KING YELLOWMAN
Nicknames of Winston Foster, describing the hair and skin color
of himself being a
Jamaica albino.
YOUNG RASCALS
Inspired by the 1920's "Our Gang" films, later known on
television as The Little Rascals.
THE YOUNG TRADITION (The)
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.
________________________________________
Z
ZACKY VENGEANCE
Zachary James Baker took the name Zacky Vengeance, stating that he
had grudges against many people who doubted his success.
ZAO
Original vocalist Eric Reeder came up with this name meaning "alive"
in Greek.
ZOX
Name taken from the last name of drummer, John Zox.
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. (Rumours have said it is
inspired by ZIG ZAG rolling papers and TOPS rolling papers; others
say they wanted to pay tribute to the Texas Blues man ZZ HILL).
________________________________________
| NO's|
A | B
| C | D
| E | F
| G | H
| I | J
| K | L
| M | N
| O | P
| Q | R
| S | T
| U | V
| W | X
|Y | Z
|
MORE
PAGES OF INTEREST
PAGES UPDATED REGULARY
BAND
& NAMES
BAND NAMES: ORIGINS . . . . .BAND
NAMES: SONGS
BAND
NAMES : PLANETS . . . .
BAND
NAMES : BIRTH SIGNS
BAND
NAMES: RELATIVES . . ..BAND
NAMES: RELIGION
BAND
NAMES:
ANIMALS
. . . BAND
NAMES: COLOURS
BAND
NAMES: NUMBERS . . . |