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10cc -The average man ejaculates around 10cc of sperm.
10,000 MANIACS -Inspired by an old horror movie called '2000 Maniacs'.
ABBA -An acronym for the first names of the band members: Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn 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 it was also slang for bi-sexual, which caused a few awkward moments in their early days. A silly rumour claims the acronym 'Anti-Christ Devil's Children'.
A CERTAIN RATIO- A line in a Brian Eno song (On Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy).
A&M RECORDS - This huge record label was started by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. Their initials made the name.
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.
A-HA - Band members were originally in various Norwegian bands including SPIDER EMPIRE, SOLDIER BLUE and BRIDGESHE. They liked A-HA because it meant basically the same thing in several languages.
Alice Cooper -Got their name when they were bored on a tour and played with a ouija board - Vincent Furniers turn spelt the name Alice Cooper, previously they called the Earwigs, Spiders & Nazz.
ALICE IN CHAINS - A masochistic parody of Alice in Wonderland. The original idea (which evidently never happened) was they would do Slayer covers wearing dresses.
ALIEN ANT FARM- The Guitarist had a theory that we were being kept in a giant cage and we had been cultivated by Aliens.
AMBOY DUKES - Ted Nugent's original band - taken from the title of a 1940's book about street gangs by Irving Shulman.
Amen Corner - Took its name from a book by James Baldwin
ANTHRAX- A dangerous bacteria that used to infect many cattle in Europe & could be used for terrorism
ART OF NOISE -Named after the 1913 manifesto called 'The Art of Noises' by Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo. Russolo made noise machines, wrote music for them, and also recorded sounds from the environment for musical pleasure.
Aswad -Means ‘Black’ in Arabic.
AVERAGE WHITE BAND - In the '70's, the popular slang phrase in Scotland, when describing something, was to end it was to end it with: "for the average white man".
Axl Rose - It's an acronymn for Oral Sex.
B-52's -The beehive hairstyle popular in the 1950's was called a B-52. Also a type of U.S. Air Force bomber.
BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE -A combination of band members' last names and the trucker's magazine 'Overdrive'. They were originally called Brave Belt, then Bachman-Turner, then the final name.
BACKSTREET BOYS - The Backstreet Market was a store in Florida where the guys used to hang out.
BAD COMPANY -A 1972 movie starring Jeff Bridges.
BAD ENGLISH - One day the band members were playing pool and thinking about a name for the band. John Waite went to take a shot and missed. Someone made a comment on how bad his "English" was - English referring to the spin you put on a ball according to where on the ball your stick hits.
BADFINGER - (formerly The Iveys) 'Bad Finger Boogie' was the original title of The Beatles' 'With a little help from my friends', John Lennon wanted to call them Glass Onion
BAUHAUS -Named after the style of graphic design and famous school of architecture
BAY CITY ROLLERS -They blindly stuck a pin on a map. It landed on Bay City, Michigan.
BEACH BOYS - Originally the Pendletons, they were renamed by their record company, only one of them could surf though.
BEASTIE BOYS -'Beastie' is an acronym for 'Boys Entering Anarchistic States Toward Internal Excellence'.
BEATLES -A few stories floating around about this one. Stuart Sutcliffe came up with the Beetles in 1960, which was evidently a play on Buddy Holly's Crickets. They went by the Quarrymen and the Silver Beetles a while later, then shortened and mutated that to the Beatles.
BEE GEES -Their name was not derived from 'Brothers Gibb' as most people assume. Two friends that helped them out early on were Bill Goode and a disc jockey named Bill Gates.... ('B. G.'s)
BELLE and SEBASTIAN - was a French T.V. series in the early seventies about a little boy and his dog, a Saint Bernard named Belle. Belle was put to sleep after she injured another child.
BIRTHDAY PARTY -The name of a play by Harold Pinter.
BLACK CROWES -Originally named Uncle Crowe's Garden after a children's fairy tale.
BLACK FLAG -The flag flown by pirates and the brand name of a bug killer. When Adam Ant first played in California, Black Flag gave out buttons that read: 'Black Flag kills Ants'
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB - They got their name from the movie "The Wild One" starring Marlon Brando. It was the name of his biker gang in the movie
BLACK SABBATH -Named after a 1963 horror movie starring Boris Karloff. They released an album as Earth before changing their name to Black Sabbath.
BLACK UHURU - Uhuru is Swahili for freedom, therefore "Black Freedom".
BLIND MELON - slang for an out-of-work hippie (Weren't they all?) - they were called that by Shannon H's dad - also recalls an old blues singer, Blind Lemon - Melon being an anagram for Lemon.
BLINK 182 - Blink 182 supposedly has NO meaning at all but the band fosters stories on origins. Sample: used to be just "Blink" but was threatened by a lawsuit from a little known Irish band with the same name, so they added the 182 which is the number of times the f-word was said in one of the members favorite movies.
THE BLOODHOUND GANG - was a segment on the PBS kid's show 3-2-1 Contact! in the 80's about 3 kids who were detectives, solving mysteries and fighting crime and such.
BLUE CHEER - 60's nickname for high-quality LSD, and coincidentally a brand of laundry detergent (the band used the detergent idea on their album cover with "New, Improved, Blue Cheer" - surprised they didn't get sued for it.
BLUE OYSTER CULT -A combination of a recipe the band's manager read in a book and the band's fascination with the occult. The name is also an anagram of 'Cully's Stout Beer'.
BLUES TRAVELER - They were inspired by Gozer the Traveler in Ghostbusters .
BLUR -The band was originally called "Seymour", but a condition of their record deal was they had to pick a new name from a list that the label supplied. "Blur" was on the list.
BON JOVI - from the New Jersey bandleader Jon Bon Jovi, whose real name is John Bongiovi, Jr.
BONO -The singer with U2, Paul Hewson was inspired by a hearing aidstore in Dublin, Ireland called 'Bono Vox'.
BONZO DOG DOO DAH BAND - Viv Stanshall was a big fan of Bonzo Dog, a British cartoon character, and the whole band was into the concept of "Dada" art. They changed it from "Dada" to "Doo-Dah"
THE BOO RADLEYS - After the character Boo Radley in the book and movie "To Kill A Mockingbird".
BOOKER T. & THE M.G.'S -Booker T. led the band and M.G. stands for Memphis Group.
BOOMTOWN RATS -From a gang in Woody Guthrie's 'Bound for Glory' novel.
DAVID BOWIE -He took his last name from the Bowie knife (which he adored as a young lad). He didn't go by his given name 'David Jones' because he didn't want to be confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees.
BUCK CHERRY - possibly a goof on the often heard speaking disorder wherein the speaker will interchange the first letter{s} in two successive words i.e. "I have just received a Blushing Crow {crushing blow}Buck Cherry would then equal Chuck Berry, famous classic rocker.
BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD - after a steam traction engine - none of them came from Buffalo or Springfield
BUZZCOCKS -From a line in 'Time Out' magazine.... ('Can you feel a buzz, cocks?')
CAN - This was a great German band from the 70's. Keyboard player Irmin Schmidt once defined CAN as an acronym for "Communist, Anarchism, Nihilism
THE CARS - Pretty simple actually. Elliott Easton, the guitarist, once said that they picked that name because a car is a symbol of teenage spirit and nightlife, which was the image the band wanted to convey.
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - Not sure about this one... NICK CAVE was frontman for THE BIRTHDAY PARTY before this band. That band released an album called "The Bad Seed" in 1982. One rumored inspiration is the 1956 movie "The Bad Seed".
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART -Inspired by a strange Uncle of Don Van Vliet's who would expose himself, squeeze his penis until the head turned purple, then comment about it looking "like a big ole' beef heart"
RAY CHARLES- His real name is Ray Charles Robinson, but he wanted no confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. Ray Charles didn't go blind until 7 years old, and would ride his bicycle around his home town AFTER going blind.
CHEAP TRICK -They asked a Ouiji board what they should call their band.
CHICAGO -Their first album was released as Chicago Transit Authority, then the city of Chicago sued them. Chicago Transit Authority is the name of Chicago's public transportation department.
CHUBBY CHECKER - the host of American Bandstand (once the most popular American music TV show) Dick Clark's wife thought up the name as a take off on singer Fats Domino.Â
CHUMBAWAMBA -Based on a band member's dream. He didn't know which door to use in a public toilet because the signs said 'Chumba' and 'Wamba' instead of 'Men' and 'Women' 0r Ever hear the saying 'if you give a chimpanzee a typewriter it will eventually write Shakespeare ? Well some scientist type blokes decided to give it a try.Chumbawumba is one of the 'words' the chimps typed !
CINDERELLA - Named after a porn movie and deliberately chosen for its utter lack of heavy-metal connotations.
CLANNAD - Gaelic for "Family"
CLASH -Taken from a newspaper headline describing 'A Clash With Police'
COCK ROBIN -From Disney's Who Killed Cock Robin?
COCTEAU TWINS -They were named after an old Simple Minds song first called "Cocteau Twins", then renamed to "No Cure". All this was inspired by a set of twins that spoke a language they created that sounded like gibberish to everyone else.
ELVIS COSTELLO (Declan Patrick McManus) -He combined Elvis Presley and Lou Costello. Originally went out in band called "Flip City' then called himself D.P.Costello (His grand mothers maiden name)
THE CRANBERRIES - originally called Cranberries Saw Us ( a joke on Cranberries SAUCE) they changed it to the shorter form later.
CRASS - Summed up their opinion of the culture and governments around them. The "A" looked nifty turned into an anarchy sign as well. They released one single as Creative Recordings And Sound Services.
CREED - This popular Florida band was named after former bassist Brian Marshall's earlier band Mattox Creed.
CREEDANCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL - Originally called "The Golliwogs" they got there name from "Creedence Nuball" a friend of Tom's, Clearwater from a beer advert & Revival as a statement of intent.‚
CURE -They were originally called Easy Cure.
CURVED AIR - from the avant-garde minimalist composer Terry Riley's composition called "A Rainbow in Curved Air
DEACON BLUE - took their name from a song of the same name by STEELY DAN.
DEEP PURPLE -Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother liked the Bing Crosby song "Deep Purple"
DEF LEPPARD -Inspired by a drawing Joe Elliot made of a leopard with no ears, a 'Deaf Leopard'.
THE DEFTONES - Because when they started out, people thought they were so bad that they called them tone deaf - transposed to def tones.
DEL AMITRI -For those of you who didn't neglect there schools lessons it's Greek for "from the womb"
DEPECHE MODE -It roughly translates to 'Fashion News', which was the name of a fashion magazine.
DEVO -Short for 'de-evolution', which the band think the human race is experiencing.
Dido - Dido was the queen of Carthage in the Aeneid, by Vergil, an ancient Roman writer/poet. According to the story, Dido, the queen of Carthage fellin love with Aeneas as he came to her city, and comitted suicide when he left her to go to Italy.
DOOBIE BROTHERS - Doobie is slang for marijuana joint. Their first name was Pud.
DOORS -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 Doors were originally called the Psychedelic Rangers.
Dr. FEELGOOD - Named after the song recorded by the Pirates, it was written by piano red also known as Dr Feelgood.
DURAN DURAN -A villain in the 1967 Jane Fonda movie 'Barbarella'.
DURUTTI COLUMN -A Spanish Civil War brigade led by libertarian anarchist Buenaventura Durruti.
BOB DYLAN -His real name Robert Zimmerman was too long and he was a big fan of Dylan Thomas.
DYNAMITE HACK- A line in the movie Caddyshack describing marijuana.
EAGLES -Inspired by the Byrds, who were a big influence on the Eagles. Their first name was Teen King and the Emergencies.
EARTH WIND & FIRE - The group's founder and leader, Maurice White picked the name from his astrological chart. Earth, fire, and air (which he changed to wind).
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN -Echo was the name of the drum machine used in their early demos.
ELTON JOHN -His real name is Reginald Dwight. He took his stage name from two other British musicians, Elton Dean and John Baldry.
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK - Named himself after the composer of "Hansel and Gretel".
EMINEM - from his real name Marshall Mathers he took M&M and rewrote it phonetically as Eminem.
EURYTHMICS -a system of music instruction from the 1890s that emphasises physical response.
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL - Inspired by an advertisement for a British clothing store that would sell you 'Everything but the Girl'. The implication was that everything was for sale except the sales girl.
FALCO - named after East German ski jumper Falko Weissflogg.
FAITH NO MORE - named after a race horse they saw listed on a racing form.
THE FALL - A novel by Albert Camus.
FLEETWOOD MAC - a simple one. They just took the last name of drummer Mick Fleetwood and a form of bassist John McVie's last name.
FOGHAT- "Lonesome" Dave Peverett's (founding member and singer) and his brother invented the word in a Scrabble game.
FOO FIGHTERS - a term used by World War II pilots to describe strange flying fireballs they sometimes saw.
FOREIGNER -British guitarist Mick Jones started the band in New York. Since he was a foreigner that became the name.
GANG OF FOUR -Group of old-style Chinese rulers who all ended up dead or in prison
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." or from a friend of Butch Vig (the drummer of Garbage), who said "This stuff sounds like garbage!
GENESIS -The first book in the Bible. The name was part of their first album title From Genesis to Revelation which was suggested by their original manager Jonathan King.
GENTLE GIANT - Pantagruel and Panurge were two "gentle giants" in the satiric writing of Francois Rabelais.
GIN BLOSSOMS - slang for the "blossoms" (burst blood capillaries) on the face particularly the nose from drinking too much alcohol - in the late 1800's gin was a popular cheap alcoholic drink.
GOLDEN EARRING -They were originally the Tornadoes, but there was a British band with that name. A movie called 'Golden Earrings' was the inspiration.
GO BETWEENS - from a film directed by Joseph Losey.
GOO GOO DOLLS - used to be called the Sex Maggots, and when they were told that local newspapers wouldn't print that name, Jonny Rzeznik picked up a magazine from the early 60's with an ad for a doll that cried Goo Goo when you turned it upside down.
GRATEFUL DEAD -Refers to a series of Old English folk tales with the same basic theme. A traveler enters a village and finds the villagers desecrating, or 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. Hence, the Grateful Dead. (Garcia found the name in the Oxford Dictionary whilst smoking pot at a party)
GREEN DAY -If you smoked pot and goofed off all day, you just had a 'Green Day'.
HAPPY MONDAYS -A response to New Order's "Blue Monday"
HEAVEN 17 -A fictitious band mentioned in the movie 'A Clockwork Orange'
THE HIVES -The lead singer Howlin Pete found the word Hives in an English dictionary and thought it was a deadly disease.
HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH -There was a kid in Darius Rucker's high school who looked like an owl. They called him Hootie. There was another kid with puffed up cheeks that they called Blowfish. Hootie is also the nickname of the legendary Kansas City jazz pianist Jay McShann.
HUMAN LEAGUE - From the UK Comic 2000AD featuring Judge Dredd
HUSKER DU -An old boardgame, it's Swedish for 'Do you Remember?'.
ICICLE WORKS - From Frederick Pohl's short story "The Day the Icicle Works Closed"
IRON MAIDEN -Named after a medieval torture device.
JAMES -Named after James Joyce.
JANE’S ADDICTION - The band got it's name from a girl (Jane) that Perry Farrell knew back in L.A who was a prostitute and called it her addiction.
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE -Inspired by the blues player Blind Lemon Jefferson and the name of a friend's dog.
JETHRO TULL -Jethro Tull was a British inventor / farmer in the 1800's who invented the precurser to the modern plow. The band used to change their name to get gigs, and Jethro Tull proved to be a lucky one.
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 -From the Bob Dylan tune "The ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest". Also a mild curse.
Kasbian -Linda Kasbian was Charle Mansons getaway driver
KING CRIMSON -Their original lyricist, Peter Sinfield, thought of it as a synonym for Beelzebub, which is Hebrew for 'Lord of the Flies'. Beelzebub was Satan's chief lieutenant among the fallen angels.
Killing Joke - From an old comic book that featured Batman and the joker
KISS -According to Paul Stanley, Kiss was a momentary inspiration that sounded dangerous and sexy at the same time. Kiss denies the fundamentalist rumour that the name stands for 'Knights In Satan's Service'
KLF - Copyright liberation front
KORN - There are many stories as to how the name originated, however the most believable is that Korn starts with Kern County which is where Jonathan worked as a Coroner.
KRAFTWERK -German for 'power plant'
KuLA SHAKER - They met a guy who called himself Kula Sekhara, and he told them about the original Kula Sekhara, who was a 9th century mystic and emperor who was into God, poetry and music.
LED ZEPPELIN -Stories vary, but basically Keith Moon told Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones that their new project would go over like a lead balloon, hence, Led Zeppelin. The 'Led' spelling was to make sure people pronounced the name right.
LEMONHEADS -A type of candy sweet.
LEVEL 42 -A supercomputer in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' novel gave the answer to life, the universe and everything as "42". There were copyright problems with actually calling the band 42, so they tacked on 'Level'. The rumour that they are named after a sign in the movie 'Brazil' is wrong.
LIMP BIZKIT -Got the idea from Fred Durst's dog Biscuit who has a limp.
LOVIN' SPOONFUL -1) from the lyrics of the old song John Hurt's"Coffee Blues". Possibly a drug reference to the spoon used to heat & melt drugs such as heroin for use. 2) Also that the amount of the sperm ejaculated by the average male is about a spoonful
LYNYRD SKYNYRD -Named after Leonard Skinerd, who was an annoying gym coach some band members had in high school
MANIC STREET PREACHERS -James Dean Bradfield was inspired by a manic street preaching tramp one day.
MANOWAR- A huge famous battle ship.
MARILLION -Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein's 'Silmarillion' and probably modified to avoid copyright problems.
MARILYN MANSON - Combination of Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson.. two of America's favorite celebrities.
MC5 -The band liked the name for some reason before thinking up the acronym 'Motor City Five' (they were five loud motherfuckers from Detriot!)
MEATLOAF - got his name after he stepped on his football coach's foot
MEGADETH -Dave Mustane was inspired by a government pamphlet after getting kicked out of Metallica. A Megadeath is a military term for one million dead people, so World War II was responsible for 80 Megadeaths. Megadeth is the phonetic spelling for Megadeath.
MEKONS -Sci-fi villans in the 'Dan Dare' cartoon strip in the 'Eagle' comic.
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.
MIND BENDERS - This 60's band that appeared as themselves in the film "To Sir, With Love" was named after a 1962 British horror movie.
MISFITS - A 1961 movie starring Clarke Gable and Marilyn Monroe.
MOBY - he is a relative of Herman Melville, who wrote MOBY DICK.
MOLLY HATCHET -Named after a famous 17th Century axe murderess who had a habit of beheading her lovers.
MOODY BLUES -They were originally M&B 5 because they wanted to perform in a Birmingham brewery called 'Mitchell's Bottlery.' The building had a big 'MB'. It didn't work so they changed names.Duke Ellington's 'Mood Indigo' was one member's favourite song.
JELLY ROLL MORTON - "Jelly Roll" is slang for penis. This New Orleans piano player and pimp was one of the first Jazz musicians ever.
MOTHERS OF INVENTION -Originally just called the Mothers (polite for 'Motherfuckers'.) Their label asked them to add 'of Invention'.
MOTLEY CRUE -An observant friend said "What a Motley looking Crue."
MOTORHEAD -Slang for a speed freak (which Lemmy evidently was).
MOTT THE HOOPLE - Named after a book by Willard Manus - Formerly 'Silence'
MR. BUNGLE - named after an old 1950's sketch about a boy who didn't fit in, featured on an early episode of Pee Wee's Playhouse.
MR. MISTER - From a T-REX song on the Tanx album.
Mr Mojo Rising - Jim Morrison acronym.
MUDDY WATERS- His grandmother started calling him that after watching him play in a creek as a child
MUNGO JERRY- the name of a cat in one of T S Elliot's poems
MY BLOODY VALENTINE - This Irish / English band was named after a horror film they never even saw.
NASHVILLE PUSSY - On Ted Nugent's "Double Live Gonzo" album he dedicates his song "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" to "All that Nashville Pussy.."
NAZARETH -It's that old city in the Bible. It also pops up in the first line of the Band's song "The Weight".
NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN -The title for an episode of "The Goon Show", which was an old show featuring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.
NEW ORDER -"The New World Order" and "New Order" were famous expressions used by Hitler (and George Bush during the Gulf War).
NEW YORK DOLLS -Ironic name for five trashy junkies in New York that dressed as women on stage. Maybe Named themselves after the New York Dolls Hospital, a place in New York that repairs children's toys.
THE NICE -Keith Emerson was in this band before Emerson Lake & Palmer. The band name comes from a SMALL FACES song about amphetamines called "Here Comes the Nice"
NIRVANA -In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained through the annihilation of the self.
NO DOUBT - a favorite phrase of John Spence, it became the name of the band prior to his suicide.
GARY NUMAN -His real name is Gary Webb. He took 'Neuman' from a Yellow Pages listing for a plumbing company and modified the spelling.
OASIS -Oasis is the name of a Sports Centre in Swindon. Noel Gallacher was a groupie for a band that played there once.
PANTERA- Spanish for Panther and also a pretty cool car.
PAPA ROACH - It seems Buckner had a CD by jazz musician Pancho Sanchez called Papa Gato. The title struck a chord with Dick, whose grandfather's last name was Roatch - he was "Papa Roatch" to his family.
PEARL JAM - 1) Eddie's grandma supposedly made a peyote (hallucinogenic drug) jelly/jam , which as kids they called pearl jam. 2) I've heard a couple of times that "Pearl Jam" comes from NBA player Mookie Blaylock -- it's his nickname. Band members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were huge fans of Blaylock, loved his peculiar name and wished to just call their band "Mookie Blaylock" but Blaylock protested, so they used his nickname "Pearl Jam" instead.
PET SHOP BOYS -Inspired by friends who worked in a pet shop.
PINK FLOYD - taken from the names of two Georgia bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council - from the early days when the band saw itself as a blues band.
POGUES -Shortened from 'Pogue Mahone', which is Irish Gaelic for 'kiss my ass'.
POLICE -For some reason they enjoy using themes related to law enforcement. Consider Sting's name and the Stuart Copeland side project Klark Kent. One of Stuart Copeland's brothers used to head I.R.S. Records and another brother ran the FBI Tour Agency.
IGGY POP -Iggy has been his nickname 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".
PORTISHEAD - The name of their home town in England.
THE PRETENDERS - Named after the PLATTERS song "The Great Pretender".
PRETTY THINGS -After the Bo Diddley song "Pretty Thing".
PRIMAL SCREAM - A psychological best seller by Arthur Janov.
PROCOL HARUM -Named after Keith Reid's cat. A term he also thought to be Arabic for "beyond that which is"
PULP -Originally known as 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.
QUEEN -Freddie Mercury liked the name for the transvestite connotation and the glamorous image of Queens in royalty.
RADIOHEAD -Named after a Talking Heads song called "Radio Head".
RAMONES -Early in his career, Paul McCartney used to call himself Paul Ramone. (Produced the Bonzo Dog Band under this alias)
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - They were originally called "Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem". Anthony Kiedis says he was inspired to change the name after seeing "a psychedelic bush with band's name on it". It may be a coincidence, but the famous pimp and piano player Jelly Roll Morton had a band called RED HOT PEPPERS in the 1920's.
REEF - They were heavily influenced by Free, so came up with an anagram as an homage to their heroes.
R.E.M -'Rapid Eye Movement' is a state of sleep.
REO SPEEDWAGON -It was the name of a pick-up truck made by Oldsmobile in the 1930's. 'R.E.O.' is the initials of Ransom Elliot Olds, who was the founder of the Oldsmobile Car Company.
THE RIGHEOUS BROTHERS - The Righteous Brothers supposedly changed their name when a fan at one of their appearances yelled "That's righteous, brothers." I don't know what they called themselves before. Righteous being a late 1950's slang for great, cool etc.
ROLLING STONES -From the Muddy Waters song "Rolling Stone". The name was suggested by Brian Jones.
RUN DMC - Originally called Orange Crush - they combined names of DJ Run (Joe Simmons) & DMC (Darryl Mcdaniel)
SAVAGE GARDEN -From an Ann Rice book 'Interview with a Vampire',
SCRITTI POLITTI -The title of political writings by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist.
SELECTOR -The Selectors in Jamaican and British dancehall culture are the disc jockeys that play records for dancehall rappers.
SEPULTURA - The singer was inspired when translating the Motorhead song "Dancing on your Grave", which is "Dancando Na Sepultura" in Portuguese..
SEX PISTOLS -Malcolm Mclaren came up with the name. It was partially inspired by his punk clothing shop called 'Sex'.
SHAM 69 -after a bit of faded graffiti (referring to their home town) saying 'Hersham 69' - they liked the connotation that the 'Love and Peace' movement of the late 60s was a sham
SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK -Once the name of a Russian street gang, it means 'burn burn Sputnik'. Sputnik is the name of a satellite.
SIMPLE MINDS -Taken from a line in the David Bowie song "Jean Genie".
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - named after a 1970 Vincent price film "cry of the banshee'
SISTERS OF MERCY - A tribute to the Leonard Cohen song of same name; also an order of nuns.
SKID ROW - Slang for a rundown inner city neighborhoods where alcoholics, junkies, street people can afford to live.
SKUNK ANANSIE -Anansie is a creature in Jamaican folklore who is half man, half spider, and always a prankster. Skunk refers to either good marijuana or the smelly little black and white animals.
SLEEPER - The title of a Woody Allen movie.
SMALL FACES -They were inspired by the Who song "I'm The Face". 'Face' is Mod slang for 'stylish guy'. The band members were all short men!
SMASH MOUTH - football players use this slang term in any game with a lot of blocking or tackling.
SMITHS -They wanted a generic name void of any preconceptions about their style of music.
SOFT MACHINE - along with Matching Mole (the cleverest pun in rock) - the French for Soft Machine is Machine Molle. (Robert Wyatts band after leaving Soft Machine)
SONIC YOUTH - A combination of SONIC RENDEZVOUS ORCHESTRA and BIG YOUTH.. they were local New York bands in the late 70's.
SOUNDGARDEN - A garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when wind blows through them... a sculpture in Seattle called "Sound Garden".
SPANDAU BALLET -This was a Nazi guard term for the contortions of Jewish prisoners being gassed to death. There was a large gas chamber in the city of Spandau.
SPEEDBALL - A mix of heroin and cocaine.. John Belushi's fatal drug cocktail.
SPIRIT -Their original name was SPIRITS REBELLIOUS .. the name of a book by Kahlil Gibran.
STEELY DAN -A dildo in the William Burroughs novel 'Naked Lunch'. According to Burroughs, the first Steely Dan was a metal dildo that an evil German bulldyke prostitute crushed using her pussy, and the second Steely Dan is still in use.
STEPPENWOLF -The title of a Herman Hesse novel.
STEREOPHONICS - They got the name Stereophonics, because, when they were younger, Kelly and Stuart were sat in Kelly front room,and Kelly saw the name 'Phoenix Stereophonic' on one of the speakers
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS -This classic late 70's band called themselves THE FAST until they heard about the New York band with the same name. Band member Jake Burns had to think of a name fast for the sake of a newspaper ad. He was looking at the new (in 1977) LONDON GIRLS single by the VIBRATORS and saw the song STIFF LITTLE FINGERS on the B-Side.
STONE ROSES -Similar to their original name, English Rose (which was inspired by a Rolling Stones song.)
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS - They were originally called Mighty Joe Young, but that's the name of a blues singer. They were fond of STP oil stickers, and thought up Shirley Temple's Pussy, Stereo Temple Pirates, and finally Stone Temple Pilots.
STRANGLERS - Originally named "The Guilford Stranglers" after a notorious early 70's South London multiple murderer
STYX -After the mythical river Styx that people crossed over to go into Hell.
SUPERGRASS -a British term for "a police informer who implicates a large number of people"
SUPERTRAMP -Named after a book called 'Autobiography Of A Supertramp', written by R.E. Davies in 1910.
SYSTEM OF A DOWN - Guitarist Daren Malakian wrote a poem called "Victims of a Down" .. the band liked it and decided "System" sounded stronger.
TALKING HEADS -Media jargon for a camera shot showing only the top of someone's shoulders and their head. One of the band members saw this term in a newspaper's T.V. programme guide.
TEARDROP EXPLODES -From a line in a 'Marvel' comic strip.
10,000 MANIACS - extension of an old horror movie called "2000 Maniacs".
TESLA - from the largely unknown but important inventor Nikola Tesla who did important research in alternating current, radio, fluorescent lights, X-rays, microwaves...
TEXAS -This Scottish band thought the movie 'Paris, Texas' was cool.
THE VERVE - "The" is in their name to avoid legal hassles with the record label VERVE. VERVE means talent.
THE VINES - Craig Nicholls (lead singer and guitarist for the Vines) named the band after a band his father had in the '60s, called the Vynes.
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS -named after the cult film favorite starring George C. Scott about "loonies." The film is also referencing Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes. In the book, the title character says "they might be giants" when referring to the windmills he attempts to fight.
THIN LIZZY - original quitarist Eric Bell was a huge Clapton fan. When he saw Clapton reading a copy of BEANO comics on a John Mayall album cover he bought a copy. One of thecharacters in the comic was TIN LIZZY. Phil Lynott thought that was a horrible name for a band and suggested THIN LIZZY instead. previously they were called 'Orphange' & 'Black Eagles'
THIRD EYE BLIND - Our third eye is the imagined one that gives us a kind of sixth sense (telepathy, ESP, etc.) and the band felt that most of us are blind in that sense. There is also a symbolic third eye (all knowing eye) that appears on the back of a U.S. dollar bill.
13th FLOOR ELEVATORS- US buildings have no 13th floor
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.
THROBBING GRISTLE -Yorkshire slang for erection.
T PAU - after a high priestess from the planet VULCAN in the American TV series STAR TREK
Travis- This Scottish band was inspired by the movie "Paris, Texas". TRAVIS is the lead character. Strangely, another Scottish band called themselves TEXAS because of the same movie.
TROGGS -From the term 'troglodyte'.
Tygers of Pan Tang - The band are named after a breed of monsters in "Stormbringer" by Michael Moorcock (the final novel in Moorcock's epic "Elric of Melnibone" sequence)
U2 -A type of spy plane used by the United States. Bono explained once that U2 grew out of thoughts of interactivity with the audience.... as in 'you too.'
UB40 -Title of the form people have to fill out to receive the dole.
UGLY KID JOE -A parody of Pretty Boy Floyd, a band they played a show with early on.
ULTRAVOX -Latin for 'the greatest amount of voice'
URIAH HEEP -From a character in the Dickens novel 'David Copperfield'.
VAN HALEN - after Alex and Eddie Van Halen - suggested by David Lee Roth as being better than their original name "Mammoth. They might have been called 'Daddy Longlegs' if Gene Simmons of KISS had gotten his way - he partially financed and produced one of their original demo records and suggested names and artwork.
VELVET UNDERGROUND -The name of an S&M book a band member found on a sidewalk in New York.
WAR- Eric Burdon called the band WAR just to attract attention because the hippies were so anti-war.
W.A.S.P. - An acronym for 'We Are Sex Perverts'.
WEEZER - Band member Rivers Cuomo had the nickname Weezer in school because of a breathing problem.
WHITESNAKE - from a white albino ball python snake owned by David Coverdale while in DEEP PURPLE.
WHITE STRIPES - They were named after the White Stripes in Peppermint Swirls, because Meg really likes them. An image of a Peppermint Swirl is printed on the artwork for their debut album, and often on Meg's drumkit.
WHITE ZOMBIE - An old horror "B" movie.
WHO -The legend goes like this: a bunch of people were brainstorming for names. The band members were already so deaf they kept saying, "The who?". Finally, someone suggested the Who as their name. Previously called the Detours.
WINGS - Paul McCartney thought of the name while waiting in a hospital wing for Linda to give birth to one of their children.
XTC -Andy Partridge was inspried by a Jimmy Durante clip when he said, "That's it, I'm in ecstasy!"
YARDBIRDS -They took the name from the book 'On The Road'.... The term referred to hobos.
ZZ Top - Billy Gibbons passed a open hay loft & saw the "Z" Beams & after rejecting the names ZZ Hill & ZZ Brown settles for ZZ top.
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