Where do band names come from? I always wonder how they choose their names, what is their inspiration, how do they come up with these things?
In my stupid habit to try to make sense in the chaotic world of band names, this is the beginning of an undergoing classification.
Bands whose names are acronyms:
ABBA: I actually never bother try to understand what it means, but it is so simple, just the initials of the 4 members, a no brainer!
TLC: Same idea, the initials of the members of the band
CAN: Communism Anarchism Nihilism,… a real program
REM: ‘Remember Every Moment’ or ‘Rapid Eye Movement’
XTC: not really an acronym, just an abbreviation of Ecstasy
AC/DC: ‘Alternating Current / Direct Current’, electric like the band.
“N*E*R*D: For No One Ever Really Dies.
MC5: Motor City Five, I don’t know why they chose this though
O.M.D.: ‘Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark’
O.A.R.: ‘Of A Revolution’
Stone Temple Pilots: A reverse acronym, they wanted something that could go with STP and came up with this.
NSYNC: Another weird one, using the last letter of each band member’s name: justiN, chriS, joeY, lanstoN and jC.
Wilco: ‘Will Comply’?
AFI: ‘A Fire Inside’
Bee Gees: B and G, Brothers Gibbs, not completely an acronym, but close enough.
Bands with numbers in their names:
U2: Does it mean ‘You too’? So basic!
10, 000 Maniacs: Apparently it is after an old horror movie called 2000 Maniacs
Blink-182: I will not go into the different explanations why they chose this number, it is way too complex and pointless since I could not care less about this band
B-52’s: After a hairdo or a bomb? I’m not sure
UB 40: Could also be in acronym, that’s the problem with classification! It would mean ‘Unemployment Benefit Form 40’
Level 42: 42 has some kind of deep meaning in the book ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’.
Bands with female names:
Blondie: it sounds like a street slang name
Marilyn Manson: The love child of Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson
Alice Cooper: an all-American girl from the outside
Ramona: Either the Ramones or the Dylan song.
Bands with drug names
Cowboy Junkies: A strange combination
Jane’s Addiction: Although it is kind of vague, what addiction?
Motörhead: Some English slang for a drug user who uses a lot of speed
Procol Harum: It is a stretch but it was named after a Blue Burmese male cat owned by the band’s drug dealer
My Chemical Romance: There is some connection with the guy who wrote Trainspotting.
Green Day: After a slang term for spending a day smoking marijuana.
XTC: Ecstasy
Gorilla Biscuits: After ‘ape shit’, a very large pill.
Morcheeba: After a New York expression for weed.
Speedball: A killer mix of heroin and cocaine
Smack: A slang word for heroin.
Placebo: To make fun of the cliche of naming a band after a drug.
<
strong>
Nirvana: If you think you can reach it when taking drugs
Bands with names way too long:
…And you will know us by the trail of dead: They say it comes from a Mayan prayer or something that seems made up like this. It is just too long!
Someone Still loves you Boris Yeltsin: How do you come up with a name like this?
Southern Culture on the Skids: Better but still too long
Bands with dirty names:
10cc: After the average amount of male ejaculation
Circle Jerk: A group of men performing mutual masturbation
Limp Biscuit: What happens to the biscuit in the middle of a circle jerk.
Buzzcocks: I don’t know if it is really dirty, but it looks dirty enough (Editors Note: (A contraction of ther term, “Give us a buzz, cock”)
Sex Pistols: not really dirty, there is just sex in it….
The Velvet Underground: After a dirty book!
The Breeders: A homosexual slang for heterosexuals, does not really qualify for dirty.
Hot Tuna; A reference to cunnilingus. I had no idea!
Joy Division: After the sado-masochistic novel ‘The House of Dolls’ by Karol Cetinsky. (Ediotrs Note: Which itself is based upon the section of German Concentration camps where prostitutes wer kept)
Arab Strap: After some kind of sexual device…
The Strokes: Nikolai Fraiture said in an interview that the name was a double reference to guitar strokes and sexual petting.
The Pogues: I read it is a distorted version of ‘Kiss my ass’ in Irish Gaelic! Not too dirty though.
Tool: Dirty! And don’t try to deny it.
Hole: Some vaginal reference, although it has been denied; but it does not matter, everything about Courtney Love is dirty
Incubus: A demon who has intercourse with sleeping women.
Steely Dan: After a dildo in the William Burroughs’ novel ‘Naked Lunch’.
Bands with animals in their names
Pink Floyd: Although they did not have the bird in mind
The Beatles: a bug contaminated by a beat
The Byrds: Just like the Beatles, they changed a letter
Phish: Idem, but they changed two letters.
The Turtles: They did not bother changing a letter
The Eagles: Because the Byrds was already taken
T. Rex: After Tyrannosaurus Rex, one of the most powerful beasts that has ever existed
Dinosaur Jr.: Another dinosaur!
Buffalo Springfield: Again, they did not have the buffalo in mind
Vampire Weekend: After an amateur movie made by the band involving vampires. Vampires are bats, right?
Swans: I heard they are coming back
Modest Mouse: It seems redundant since a mouse is already modest, but it is also a Virginia Woolf’s story
Scorpions: Dangerous enough and sexy
Beastie Boys: Beasts are animals, although it could be an acronym too for ‘Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence’. Is it for real?
Also, Gorillaz, Artic monkeys, Stray Cats, Counting Crows…
Bands with black or white or red in their names:
Black Sabbath: It comes from a horror movie with Boris Karloff
Black Flag: Anarchia!
The Black Keys: like the piano keys?
There are tons of bands with black in their names: The Black Lips, Black Eyes Peas, The Black Lips, The Black Crowes, Black mountain, The Black Angels…
Plain Whi
te T’s: T for tee-shirt?
te T’s: T for tee-shirt?
Average White Band: Another white band
White Flag: Just because Black flag existed
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Bad boys, just like Marlon Brando
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Hot indeed
The White Stripes: These two care about the three colors, red, white and black, so why only white in their name?
Bands with intellectual names:
Styx: After the river of hell in Greek mythology
Tears for fears: After the book “Prisoners of Pain” by psychologist Dr Arthur Janov.
Bauhaus: After the German art movement
The Fall: After Albert Camus’ novel ‘The Fall’
Gogol Bordello: After Ukrainian-born Russian novelist, Nikolai Gogol.
Pere Ubu: After the main character in Alfred Jarry’s play, Ubu Roi.
Cabaret Voltaire: After the night club in Zurich which was the center of the Dada movement.
Les Savy Fav: After a group of French artists, Les Fauves.
Franz Ferdinand: After the Austrian Archduke whose 1914 assassination in Sarajevo triggered World War I
Bands named after another band’s album or song
Squeeze: After the last Velvet Underground album
Radiohead: After the Talking Heads song ‘Radio Head’
Ramones: After the fake name that Paul McCartney (Paul Ramone) used to check into hotels
The Rolling Stones: after the Muddy Waters song ‘Rolling Stone’
Cocteau Twins: After a Simple Minds song called ‘Cocteau Twins’
Under the influence of giants: They did not even bother to name a band, the giants are all the ones they have admired
The Kooks: After the David Bowie song ‘Kooks’
Jet: After the Wings’ song of the same name.
The Jets: After the Elton John’s song ‘Benny And The Jets’. Some bands have little imagination.
Panic! at the Disco: After the Smiths song, ‘Panic’
Death Cab for Cutie: After a sad song about a dead girl by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Rage Against the Machine: After a song that Zack de la Rocha had written for his former band Inside Out. Kind of an inside job.
The Magnetic Fields: After Jean Michel Jarre’s album Magnetic Fields, or it it after Andre Breton’s book?
Judas Priest: After the Bob Dylan’s song ‘The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest’
The Psychedelic Furs: After The Velvet Underground song ‘Venus in Furs’
Pretenders: After The Platters’ song ‘The Great Pretender’
Simple Minds: After a line in the David Bowie’s song “Jean Genie”.
Bands named after a movie
ToTo: After the dog from the Wizard of Oz
Belle and Sebastian: After a French children’s television series about a boy and his dog
Misfits: After the movie with Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.
My Bloody Valentine: After a horror film they never even saw.
Bright eyes: After a classic movie
The Mars Volta: Volta comes from a Frederico Fellini’s book about his films
Xiu Xiu: after a Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl.
Blues Traveler: After ‘Gozer the Traveler’ in the movie Ghost Busters.
Duran Duran: After the crazy scientist, Dr. Durand Durand in the Jane Fonda movie “Barbarella”.
Erasure: After the classic David Lynch’s film Eraserhead.
Mudhoney: After the movie Mudhoney by Russ Meyer, the large breast loving director
Faster Pussycat: After Russ Meyer’s ‘Pussycat! Kill! Kill!’ What? Another one?
Iron Maiden: After a movie adaptation of ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’
Wu-Tang Clan: After the clan of mercenaries in the movie, Shaolin and Wu-Tang.
Travis: After the movie Paris Texas
Bands with Head in their names:
Propellerheads: After computer nerds.
Radiohead: Also after a Talking Head’s song
Talking heads: like the ones on TV
Motörhead: Also about drugs!
Lemonheads: After a candy!
Bands with ‘Bad’ in their names:
Bad religion: It says at it is.
Bad Company: Could also go into the movie category since it is named after the movie of the same name.
Bands with stupid names
Smashing Pumpkins
The The
!!!: how do you pronounce it?
Just an attempt, There is so much more to be done and life is brief.