Have you ever liked a band who's name you thought had no meaning, it probably does and it might be in this list(Reposted from Last.fm)


4 Non Blondes
- none of the band members were blonde. short story
The band picked the name, 4 Non Blondes, after an incident in a San Francisco park where the band members were having pizza. Apparently, a family was walking by, and their little boy wanted to grab some left over pizza to feed the birds. He was told by his parents, "No, don't touch that, that's dirty from all the birds and people around here," and they proceeded to give the band members a dirty look. The family was supposedly "very blonde", so they decided to call themselves 4 Non Blondes.

7 Year Bitch
A twist on movie "The 7 Year Itch".

12 Rods
The bass player picked up a children's bible as they were trying to think of a name. He opened it to a page that said "The 12 Rods of the Apostles" (Numbers 17:1-13) and decided 12 Rods wasn't bad .. They couldn't think of anything better.

24-7 Spyz
They were looking (spying) for sex 24 hours a day, 7 days a week..

16 Horsepower
- inspired by a traditional American folk song about sixteen horses pulling the coffin of a beloved to the graveyard

60ft Dolls
One night the trio was hanging out in a bar chatting with a friend who collected toys from the '60s. The singer later dreamed that an alien who told him to name the band 60ft. Dolls.

88 Fingers Louie
88 Fingers Louie was a piano thief that sold Fred a hot piano in an episode of The Flinstones.

98 Degrees
They rejected names like Just Us, Next Issue and VERSE FOUR and settled on 98 DegreesS because they felt it conveyed the same atmosphere of heat and romance present in their music. The band is from Ohio.

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

10cc
The average man ejaculates around 10cc of sperm.

808 State
Quoting from their official website: "They got the name from the Roland drum machine TR 808 and the state of mind that they shared.

1000 Homo DJs
Al Jourgeson and some friends were listening to an unauthorized remix of a Revolting Cocks song. Jim Nash of Wax Trax records reassured Al that the only people that would hear the remix are 1000 Homo DJ's.


10,000 Maniacs
Inspired by an old horror movie called '2000 Maniacs'.

A

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 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'.

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.

Agent Orange
Double meaning.. they were from Orange County, California and Agent Orange is a famous dioxin-based "defoilant" used by the US military in the Vietnam War.

Aggression
Describes the sound of this hardcore band from the early 80's very well.

Aggravated Assault
Considering that this is a skinhead band on Resistance
Records, Aggravated Assault is probably an appropriate name.

Aiboforcen
This electronic band from Belgium reversed and screwed up the spelling of "necrophobia".

Aiden
- took their name from the little boy from the movie The RIng

Alien Ant Farm
- Their name comes from an idea former member Terry Corso had about aliens and the earth--"I was daydreaming at my dull desk job with my feet up, and I thought to myself, 'Wouldn't it be cool if the human species were placed on earth and cultivated by alien intelligence?' Maybe the aliens added us to an atmosphere that was suitable for us, and they've been watching us develop and colonize, kind of like what a kid does with an ant farm"

Alter Bridge
- The name comes from a bridge on Alter Road, close to Tremonti's childhood home. The bridge is at the intersection of Alter and Korte, which forms the border between the city of Detroit, Michigan and the city of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. The bridge signified a boundary to Tremonti when he was a child. His parents didn't want him crossing the bridge because the neighborhood on the other side wasn't considered safe enough for him to play as a child


Alice in Chains -
A funny rumor is that they were named after a lost episode from The Brady Bunch series!

The Amboy Dukes
Ted Nugent's original band - taken from the title of a 1940's book about street gangs by Irving Shulman

America
- the trio dubbed themselves America, honoring the name of the homeland they had hardly ever seen during their many travels around the world. The liner notes to the 1975 compilation album "History- America's Greatest Hits", state the band took their name while listening to an Americana juke box


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

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

Aphex Twin
The A in Aphex stands for the acid quality of his music, while the ph is a reference to the pH-value of acid. Aphex Twin' brother died three years prior to his birth and carried the exact same name as Richard David James. The twin is therefore a token of recognition for the brother Aphex Twin never knew, but who he feels is watching over him like a guardian angel.

Archers of Loaf
It basically means nothing, but they make up things to fool people.

Arhoolie
This great archival record label took its name from "Hoolie" which is slang for "field hollar" (work songs sang by field workers).

Army Of God
Named after some militant Christians responsible for kidnapping a couple of abortion providors in the 80's, and now suspected in various bombings in Atlanta. The band flirted with Satanic imagery, sucked eachother's blood on stage, and generally tried to shock audiences.

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.

Die Ärzte
German for The Doctors, but has nothing to do with doctors. The founding members didn't find any band names that start with Ä, so they used the first one they came up with.

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

Audioslave
-The original idea for the band's name was "Civilian", but it was dropped when members found out that it was already taken. Morello later discredited the story, contradicting Commerford and Cornell,and commented that "Civilian" was merely a rumour circulating at that time; he stated: "The band has only ever had one name and that is Audioslave."Morello described the origin of the "Audioslave" name to Launchcast as follows:
That was Chris' suggestion that sort of came to him in a vision. We're all on the two-way pagers, and Chris one night said, "I got it. It's Audioslave." We were all, like, "All right, fantastic."... To paraphrase Elvis Costello, talking about band names is like dancing about architecture_there's just no point in it because the band name becomes the music and the people


B

The 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.

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

B*Witched
The manager of this Irish all-girl teen band thought they were "bewitching" as they talked him into managing them. The * looks cool but maybe wasn't the best idea... it makes them harder to find in search engines and * is an illegal character for domain names.

Baader Meinhof
Named after the Baader-Meinhof Gang, a German terrorist group from the 70's intertwined with the RAF and SPK.

Babes in Toyland
The name of a 1934 movie starring Laural and Hardy, A 1961 Disney musical featuring Annette Funicello, and a stage production.

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.

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
The working title of the The Beatles song "A Little Help From My Friends".

Bad Ronald
Their name is from a bad 1974 horror movie called BAD RONALD.


Band of Susans
Three members of the band were named Susan.

The Bangles
They wanted to be the Bangs, but there was already a band using that name.

Barenaked Ladies
It is supposed to be sexual, but somewhat innocent, as in a child seeing a bare naked lady for the first time. They thought it up while bored at a Bob Dylan concert. The name gets people's attention too..

Bad Brains:
Got theiir name from a Ramones-song.

The Band
According to guitarist Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan's backup band resisted all conformity, even naming their ensemble. After landing their own recording contract, record company executives pressed them for a group name, but had to settle for simply "The Band".


Bauhaus
Named after 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.

Beastie Boys
'Beastie' is an acronym for 'Boys Entering Anarchistic States Toward Internal Excellence'.
In the 80's they loved and were inspired to make music because of the Bad Brains. they took the wholle B B idea and came up with Beastie Boys.


The 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. Lennon and Sutcliffe may have also been influenced by the film 'The Wild One', which featured a motorcycle gang called the Beetles. John Lennon is generally credited with combining Beetles and Beat to come up with the Beatles spelling. Lennon was also fond of saying he had a vision as a child of a flaming pie in the sky that said 'You are Beatles with an 'A'....

The Beau Brummels
- The band took its name from a 19th Century English dandy, Beau Brummell, as a way of identifying with the British music scene. Additionally, band members figured that since everyone was looking for and at The Beatles records, having a name that naturally followed Beatles alphabetically would be a shrewd move


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)

Beborn Beton
This German electro-pop band's name is a combination of "Be Born" shortened to Beborn and Beton, which is German for "Concrete". The result means something like "Be Born Concrete".

John Cafferty And The Beaver Brown Band
Did the classic soundtrack to the movie Eddie and the Cruisers. The band from the Cranston Rhode Island area was practicing in one of the band member's garages when they saw a Dutch Boy paint can that was called Beaver Brown.

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.

Ben Folds Five
The keyboard player is Ben Folds. They are a trio, but liked the sound of Ben Folds Five. ..also, they were told they made enough noise for 5 people.

Berserkr
Named after the Berserkers, a feared group of ancient Norse warriors who wore bearskins, ate hallucinogenic mushrooms and charged into battle with psychotic ferocity.

Better Than Ezra
There are many somewhat plausible stories about the name's origin. Band member Kevin Griffin has said the story behind their name is one that "always lets people down whenever we finally tell them what it means. Trust me, it's better left unsaid."

Bettie Serveert
This Dutch band is named after Bettie Stove, a Dutch tennis star of the 70's. Bettie Serveert means "Bettie serves".

Big Star
The name of a supermarket chain in the Southern United States.

The Birthday Party
The name of a play by Harold Pinter.

Bikini Kill
Lois Maffeo and Rebecca Gates (of The Spinanes) did a one-time performance in gorilla suites and called it Bikini Kill. Toby Vail called one of them and asked if she could use the name.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
This neo-swing band takes its name from what legendary buesman Albert King wrote as an autograph for the band's leader, Scotty Morris... "To the big bad voodoo daddy."

BIG T
He wasn't in a physical position to call himself "Small T".

The 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
- took its name from Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in the 1953 film The Wild One


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
is thought to be derived from Blind Lemon Jefferson.

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.

Bloodhound Gang
Was a segment on the PBS kid's show 3-2-1 Contact! in the 80's
about 3 kids who were detectives, solving mysteries and fighting crime and such

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

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


Blue Öyster 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'.

Blue Meanies
This Chicago band is named after characters in the The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" cartoon.

Blue Moon Boys
This Rockabilly band from Indiana named themselves after the first band Elvis Presley put together.

Blues Traveler
They were inspired by Gozer the Traveler in Ghostbusters 1.

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.

The Bobs
Dog and Cat show jargon for "Best of Breed"

Body Count
Ice-T was inspired by Sunday night news broadcasts in Los Angeles. The week's tally of dead from gang activities would always be mentioned right before sports.

Bongwater
- Water only fools would drink

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 aid store in Dublin, Ireland called 'Bono Vox'.

Booker T. & The MG's
Booker T. & The MG's. led the band and M.G. stands for Memphis Group.

The 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 The Monkees.

Bowling for Soup
- The band's name is derived from comedian Steve Martin's "Bowling for Shit" bawls from his 1978 comedy album, Wild and Crazy Guy, itself a reference to Bowling for Dollars.


Buckcherry
Possibly a goof on the often heard speaking disorder wherein the speaker will interchange the first letter{s} in two successive words i.e. "I have just received a Blushing Crow {crushing blow} Metallica uses such a device in their album entitled "Cunning Stunts." Buck Cherry would then equal Chuck Berry, famous classic rocker
The name of a transvestite that used to hang out outside a club they played at.. The transvestite liked to flick lit cigarettes at them

Boss Hog
A motorcycle (Thunderbolt V8).

BR5-49
This fun band out of Nashville took their name from the phone number Junior Samples always said in his used car salesman sketch on the Hee-Haw TV show.

Brainiac
- Superman's arch enemy.

Bratmobile
A twist on Batman and Robin's Batmobile.

Bread
Slang for money.. an improvement over their first name PLEASURE FAIRE.

The Breeders
Homosexual slang for heterosexuals


William Burroughs
His real name. This groundbreaking author came from the family that developed the Burroughs adding machine, but never saw any of that money. Burroughs was the first to use the term Heavy Metal Music (in 1964). He inspired the band names Steely Dan and Soft Machine and influenced underground culture from the early 50's until his death in 1997.

Burzum
Varg Vikernes created this Black Metal sensation. He is currently in prison for the murder of Euronymous of the Norwegian band Mayhem. Varg took the name BURZUM from J.R.R. Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. Tolkien described BURZUM as "the supreme and wide darkness, the plural form of BURZ". Sources : an interview in Terrorizer zine and the BURZUM website.

Bush
Named after a neighborhood in London called "Sheperd's Bush".

Buzzcocks
From the term "bus cock". Men sometimes get an erection because of the vibrations in a heavy diesel engine in a bus or truck.

C

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Inspired by a strange Uncle of Don van Vliets who would expose himself, squeeze his penis until the head turned purple, then comment about it looking "like a big ole' beef heart"

Cabaret Voltaire
Named after the famous dada cafe/performance space in Zurich.

Café Tacuba
This fun band from the suburbs of Mexico City named themselves after a restaurant called CAFE TACUBA open in downtown Mexico City since the early 1900's.

Calexico
- The band is named from the border town of Calexico, California.


calvary
This Black Metal band's name is Greek for GOLGOTHA


Candlebox
- their name is a tribute to a Midnight Oil song

Canned Heat
- took their name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a song about an alcoholic who has desperately turned to drinking Sterno, which is generically called canned heat.


CBGB's
"Country, Bluegrass, Blues" (the bar was there long before punk)

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 he was 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.

Cherry Poppin' Daddies
The leader of this modern big band, Steve Perry, says it comes from an old R&B record and that it "sounded sexy."

Cinderella
Named after a porn movie and deliberately chosen for its utter lack of heavy-metal connotations.

Circle Jerks
A circle jerk is a group of guys in a circle masturbating. The motivation was probably smart-ass shock value. Their first album fit the theme nicely.. it was called "Group Sex". Their 2nd album "Wild in The Streets" was named after a classic movie from the late 60's..

Clannad
The band members were all from a large family that lived in Gweedore in the county of Donegal (Northwest Ireland). Clannad is a contraction of "Clann as Dobhar", which means "the family from Gweedore". Source : Enya's Official webpage.

Clock DVA
This ground breaking electronic band from Sheffield, England formed in the late 70's and is still active. DVA is the number two in Russian. There are two stories about CLOCK:
1- After the Movie and book "Clockwork Orange"
2-symbolizing the "time-code the world operates on".

CMX
A mutated abbreviation from Cloaca MaXima (the great arsehole) which was the main sewer system in ancient Rome. Band members have also claimed that
CMX stood for "Cosmic Mental Xplosion" or "CliMaX" just to have some fun with the issue. CMX is a Finnish band with a great reputation.

Coal Chamber
Dez Fafara wanted the name COAL and Meegs wanted the name CHAMBER. They compromised.

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

The Cassandra Complex
An allusion to Greek mythology; Cassandra had the gift of prophecy with the curse of no one ever believing her

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. Chubby "invented" the dance called "the twist"

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'

The Clash
Taken from a newspaper headline describing 'A Clash With Police'

Cock Robin
From Disney's Who Killed Cock Robin?

Commodores
- chosen at random from a dictionary. It's an old US Navy rank now referred to as Commodore Admiral.

The Comsat Angels
Named after a communications satellite. They went by CS Angels in the US for legal reasons.

Concrete Blonde -
suggested by R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe.

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.

Collective Soul
A term used in the popular novel "The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand.

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

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

Coven
A coven is a group of witches. Their first album was called "Witchcraft- Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls". One side was a dramatization of a black mass. Their only hit was "One Tin Soldier", which was the theme song for the movie "Billy Jack".

Cracker
Derogatory slang for white people.

Crack the Sky
They noticed a crack in the sky while driving through a rain storm outside New York.

Crackout
Singer Steven Eagles was inspired by a TV show called "My Circle Of Life". A cool character on the show was Brian Crackout.

The Cramps
The story is... Ivy was buzzed one night, trying to think of a name that somehow exhuded images of gangs, something warped, something problematic.. It came to her while staring at a The Kinks album cover. CRAMPS! American slang for period pains. A legendary band was named. Source : "Wild Wild World of the Cramps" by Ian Johnston.

Coheed and Cambria
- named after two of the Amory Wars story's protagonists, and adopted the story's concept as a theme that would unify their forthcoming albums

Constructivists
- Named after the Russian Constructivists art movement, which stressed engineering and structural elements.


Alice Cooper
They were inspired by talking to a spirit named Alice Cooper using their Ouija Board.

Elvis Costello
He combined Elvis Presley and Lou Costello.

Can,
an influential Krautrock band, was originally an acronym - Communism, Anarchism, Nihilism.

The Cranberries
The name started as Cranberries Saw Us (a play on 'Cranberry Sauce'). When Dolores O'Riordan joined, she recommended shortening the name.

Crash Worship
Evel Knieval evidently coined the phrase to explain the behavior of people who love to watch daredevils crash.

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.

Cream
Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker are great musicians with big egos. They considered themselves the "Cream of the crop".

Creed
This popular Florida band was named after former bassist Brian Marshall's earlier band Mattox Creed.

Creedence Clearwater Revival
Name inspired by a logo on 'Olympia' beer cans. Their first label called them the Golliwogs (without the band's permission).

Crowded House
The New Zealand/Australian trio chose this name from their cramped living conditions at 1902 N. Sycamore Street in Los Angeles while working on their debut album.

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


The Cure
Origianally called Malice in 1976, they took the new name Easy Cure in January 1977 from a song written by their drummer Laurence Tolhurst. After several line-up changes, they dropped the 'Easy' to became The Cure in 1978.

Current 93
David Tibet found CURRENT 93 in Aliester Crowley's writings (Crowley's name for Thelema). If you're not familiar with Crowley, you should be Crowley has influenced plenty of people including Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne and Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates.

D

dada
Named after the wacky and brilliant Dada art movement.

Danzig
Danzig was a free City-State from after World War I until the Nazis envaded during World War II. The city is now called Gdansk and is in Poland. Glenn Danzig was in the Misfits and Samhain before creating the band Danzig

Dash Rip Rock
This zany Louisiana band was named after one of Ellie Maye's boyfriends in the Beverly Hillbillies.

Dave Matthews Band
A couple similar stories :
1- a club owner mistakenly announced them as Dave Matthews Band and popularity made it hard to change the name later
2- a printer shortened "Dave Matthews and his band" to Dave Matthews Band for an announcement. The band was going to think of a new name but never got around to it.

Day-Glo Abortions
They used to be called the Sick Fucks until hearing about GG Allin'S band with the same name. A promoter gave them an entire case of "Day-Glo" brand spray paint to promote their next show with. The band decided their name would be DAY GLO + "whatever word was used the most in tomorrow's paper". The next day's paper had a huge story about a prominent doctor caught performing ABORTIONS.. The rest is history. Source = interview with a band member aired on the radio (1100 AM) in Pheonix, AZ, Halloween night 1999.

Dead Can Dance
Brendan Perry was reportedly inspired by the idea of making "animacy out of inanimacy" .. such as making lively music out of the dead wood of instruments.

Death in June
Named after a night in June when Hitler ordered the execution of Ernst Roehm, leader of the Nazi Brown Shirts. Roehm was one of Hitler's earliest supporters, but Hitler became annoyed by his open homosexuality and demands of more money for the Brown Shirts.

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"

Deicide
The name means "death of God"

Deine Lakaien
This German Darkwave band's name translates to "Your Lackeys"

Destiny's Child
They were originally Destiny, but there are other bands with that name. They were inspired to add CHILD to the name after Beyoncé's mother found a picture of the four girls in a family bible. The picture had "Child" written on it.

Def Leppard
Inspired by a drawing Joe Elliot made of a leopard with no ears, a 'Deaf Leopard'.


Dee Dee Ramone
Legend says that he wanted his initials to be DDR.

Deicide
is actually a verbal noun which means "the state of destroying a godly being" basically its an act of killing a god

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

Depeche Mode
It roughly translates to 'Fashion News', which was the name of a fashion magazine.


Derek and The Dominos
Were originally meant to be Eric and the Dynamo, but an announcer got the name wrong.


Devo
Short for 'de-evolution', which the band think the human race is experiencing.

Dexy's Midnight Runners
Named themselves after the slang term for a pep pill called DEXEDRINE even though the band themselves had a policy of no drink or drugs

Dion & The Belmonts
BELMONTS after a street in their Bronx, New York neighborhood where they would hang out & sing street corner harmonies.

The Dickies
Named after the fashion item.

Dire Straits
It describes the financial situation they were in when forming the band.

Die Toten Hosen
1.When something is "tote Hose", nothing is going, and the band didn't have much confidence in early days. Singer Campino took his name from a ceratin bonbon.
2.German for "dead trousers". This is German slang for either a lazy bastard, out of style or VERY bad in bed.

Die Kreuzen
Slight modification of "Die Kreuze", which is "TheCrosses" in German.

Dig Dug
named after the underground smash arcade hit, they were almost named Pole Position.

Dimmu Borgir
This Norwegian black metal band's name means "black castle" in Icelandic. There is a mountain in Iceland called DIMMU BORGIR.

Dinosaur Jr.
- They were DINOSAUR, but Robert Hunter, the lyricist for the Grateful Dead, already had a band called Dinosaur.

Dion & The Belmonts
- The Belmonts named themselves after a street in their hometown, the Bronx.

The Doobie Brothers
Doobie is slang for marijuana joint. Their first name was Pud.

Dishwalla
A term for people who sell satellite dishes on the black market in India. Rumor has it they were earlier called Life Talking and Dish.

Djur Djura
This amazing singer and group of musicians are named after Mount Djurdjura near the singer's birthplace in Algeria.

DMX
Earl Simmons called himself DMX, or the "Divine Master of the Unknown" and included that in his first single "Born Losers" in 1992. He also goes by "Dark Man X".

doa
Dead On Arrival.

Thomas Dolby
- His real name is Thomas Morgan Robertson .. Dolby Labs (who make Dolby Noise Reduction) sued him and now he has to always use THOMAS when he uses DOLBY.

The 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 Aldus Huxley's novel "The Doors of Perception" was probably also inspired by the same quote. Before the The Doors.. Robbie Krieger and John Densmore were the Psychedelic Rangers.. Ray Manzarek started a band called Rick And The Ravens with his two brothers. Morrison and Densmore later joined Rick And The Ravens.. Krieger joined after they called themselves The Doors.

Doppelganger
-Inspired by a Curve record called "doppelganger".. the German word roughly translates to "alter-ego" or "body double". Source = interview in MK ULTRA magazine (no relation to the band with the same name) 1999.

Dr. Dre
His name is "Andre" and people started calling him that in his early DJ days. He was also a fan of basketball star Dr. J.

Drain S.T.H..
- This Swedish band was Drain until realizing there was already a Drain in the USA. STH stands for "Stockholm International Airport". "Slam Those Heinikens" and "Straight To Hell" are fun, but wrong.

Dream Theater
- They originally met in Boston and called themselves Majesty. That had to change because of another band with the same name. Mike's father suggested the name Dream Theater as taken from a movie house in Monterey, California. - Source = www.dreamtheater.net
They had to drop their original name "Majesty" due to copyright problems and named themselves after a theater in their LA neighborhood.

The Dream Syndicate
- named indirectly after an avant garde combo which include La Monte Young and John Cale.

D.R.I.
"Dirty Rotten Imbeciles" .. this fast as hell punk band has been alive and kicking since about 1981.

Drowning Pool
- Stevie Benton realized that while he lost his virginity the movie "The Drowning Pool" was playing in the background. Source : band's official website.

Dru Hill
-The band is from Baltimore. DRU HILL was the local nickname for "Druid Hill Park" in West Baltimore. Source : numerous stories found on the web

Duran Duran
A villan in the 1967 Jane Fonda movie 'Barbarella'.

The 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.

E

Eagles
Inspired by The Byrds, who were a big influence on the Eagles. Their first name was Teen King and the Emergencies.

Ebba Grön
Joakim Thastrom started this popular Swedish punk band in 1977. The band broke up in 1983. EBBA GRÖN was the codename for an operation that resulted in the arrest of terrorist Norbet Kröcher.

EBM
"Electric Body Music". This is not a band. It's a style of music. Front 242 thought up the term. It refers to the heavy synth sound of bands like Front 242, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, etc.

Echo & the Bunnymen
- They stuck BUNNYMEN in there to keep from taking themselves too seriously. There are conflicting stories about ECHO..
1- Official story is that ECHO was the brand of drum machine used in their early demos.
2- there is no such drum machine and they just made up ECHO ED GEIN'S CAR - Named after the famous serial killer/cannibal farmer from Wisconsin. Ed Gein's car was on display at Wisconsin State Fairs for a few years in the 50's after he was caught.

Einstürzende Neubauten
Translates to "collapsing new buildings".

El Duce
This lovably offensive wino drummer for Mentors borrowed Mussolini's nickname. Both EL DUCEs are now dead.

The Electric Hellfire Club
There were a few "Hellfire Clubs" throughout history. They were decadent, blasphemous social clubs intent on amusing themselves and scandalizing everyone else.

Elton John
His real name is Reginald Dwight. He took his stage name from two other British musicians, Elton Dean and John Baldry.

elvez
- El Vez is a crazy Latino guy from Los Angeles who claims to be the "Mexican Elvis". ELVÉZ is "Elvis" with a Mexican twist.

Elvis and the Shitheads
I don't know how this name came about. Their music sucks, but the website is kind of funny - click their name to check it out.

Elvis Hitler
Same idea as Marilyn Manson.. combine two famous people with very different reputations for shock value.

EPMD
- acronym for "Eric and Parish Making Dollars"

ERNIE'S RUBBER DUCKIE
Inspired by the Sesame Street character Ernie.

EMF
acronym for "Epsom Mad Funkers". The rumoured "Ectasy Mother Fuckers" is funny, but wrong.

Epitaph Records
- Epitaph fit the tombstone logo used on the first Bad Religion ep.
EPPERLEY - They were the Bugs until copyright problems prompted a name change.. EPPERLEY is a friend's last name (his father is a classical composer)

Eppu Normaali
- This Finnish band was inspired by a scene in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Igor steals a brain for Frankenstein's creature labelled "Abnormal". Igor thought the guy's name was "Abbey Normal". "Eppu Normaali" is Abbey Normal translated into Finnish.

Eurythmics
a system of music instruction from the 1890s that emphasises physical response.

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

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.

Eve 6
a phrase they heard in an X FILES episode.

Eve's Plumb
One of the band members was friends with Eve Plumb, who played Jan on The Brady Bunch.

Extreme
- They were originally dream, but someone was using the name. While thinking of something like ex-Dream, Extreme came up.


Eyeless in Gaza
An aldous huxley Novel. Also, Samson's eyes were burned out when he was held captive in Gaza in the legend of Samson and Delhia.

F

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.


Falco
named after East German ski jumper Falko Weissflogg.

The Fall
Inspired by a novel by Albert Camus.

Fanny
The band claims the name referred to a woman's spirit, but their records usually showed the women in butt accentuating tight bell bottom pants.

Perry Farrel
- His real name is Perry Bernstein and his brother's name is Farrel Bernstein.. hence, Perry Farrel.. it kinda sounds like "Peripheral". Perry Ferrel is the front man for Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros. Note : a book in the early 90's incorrectly stated his real name is Simon Bernstein.

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

Faster Pussycat
After the Russ Meyer movie "Faster Pussycat Kill! KIll!"

Fat Tuesday
- The day before Ash Wednesday, which is the last day of Mardi Gras. It's usually a paid holiday for workers in New Orleans.

Fields of the Nephilim
- "The Nephilim was something I'd known about since I was really young. If you're familiar with the first book of the Bible, Genesis, you see the sons of God seduce some of the women on the earth and they produce a race of people known as the Nephilim. According to legend they taught man about war, astrology, and magic." - Carl McCoy in Cornerstone Magazine, 1989. Most of the original Biblical references to the Nephilim were taken out of the Bible by the Catholic Councils of 633 and 637.

Fig Dish
This Chicago band was inspired by the German phrase FICK DICH, which basically means Fuck You.

Fleetwood Mac
Slight modification of Mick Fleetwood's name with the 'Mac' coming from John McVie.

Flipper
After the happy television dolphin

Foghat
"Lonesome" Dave Peverett's (founding member and singer) and his brother invented the word in a Scrabble game. Source = Dave Peverett's obituary as printed in several newspapers.


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.

Free Beer
Fliers for their shows were sure to grab people's attention.

Front 242
- According to band member Patrick Codenys the name doesn't mean anything. 242 has no significance other than it looks good.

Fudge Tunnel
Slang for anal cavity

Fugazi
Vietnam War slang meaning "fucked up situation". This is what the band had in mind. Some say fugazi is an acronym for "Fucked Up, Got in an Ambush and Zipped In", or something similar, but HeaThen friends in the military say that's a load of crap and maybe people are thinking of FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition). Fugazi is also Italian slang for fake.

Fugees
Three band members' parents were refugees. Their label is called Refugee Camp.

Fugs
When Norman Mailer first published 'The Naked And The Dead' in the U.S. he had to replace 'fuck' with 'fug'

Funker Vogt
This dark sounding German band was inspired by a friend who was a radio operator in the German Armed Forces. "Radio operator" in German is FUNKER. The friend's name was Stephan VOGT, so he was FUNKER VOGT.

Fu Manchu
This stoner rock band named themselves after the character FU-MANCHU. He first appeared in "The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu" by Sax Rohmer (pseudonym for Arthur Sarsfield Ward), then in a series of movies.

G

Galaxie 500
The cool car from the 1960's

Gang of Four
Group of old-style Chinese rulers who all ended up dead or in prison
In fact the term "Gang of Four" refers to the "big four" Structuralist theorists: Claude Lévi-Strauss, michel foucault, ROLAND BARTHES, and Jacques Lacan, not to be confused with the Maoist Gang of Four in China.

Fountains of Wayne
The name of a garden center on Route 46 in Wayne, New Jersey.

Garbage
was so-named because nobody thought that a band composed of one singer and three producers could work.

GBH
It's a British police acronym for "Grevious Bodily Harm". The band has always just called themselves GBH.


Geggy Tah
Band member Greg Kurstin's little sister used call him "Geggy" and Tommy Jordan's little sister used to call him "Tah". They later learned that the name means "mouth thanks" in Scottish.


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. Many of the band's songs are loosely based on his writings.

George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars
- A combination of George Clinton's two earlier bands Parliament and Funkadelic.

G.G.F.H.
- The band started in Berkeley in the mid 80's. There was some mock Satanic graffiti around town including a popular one with the tag "Goat Guys From Hell". This was their first inspiration. They later changed it to "Global Genocide Forget Heaven". Source: Info page on this fan site.

Ghoul Squad
- A Chinese friend told the band they were an "army of ghosts".

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.

The Go-Betweens
From a film directed by Joseph Losey.

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

GODSNATAS
- The guitar player saw the word in a footnote while reading Dante's "Divine Comedy". Someone pointed out months later that the name was "Satan's Dog" backwards. So Dante used backmasking! And those preachers thought Led Zeppelin started that silliness.

Golden Earring
They were originally the Tornadoes, but there was a British band with that name. A movie called 'Golden Earrings' was the inspiration.

Goldfinger
- named after the James Bond movie.

Golgotha
- This Black Metal band's name comes from the Mount Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified near Jeruselam. In Hebrew it means "Hill of the skull".

Goo Goo Dolls
Used to be called the Sex Maggots, and when they were told that local newspapers wouldn't print that name, Johnny 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
Their label rejected their first name, THE SEX MAGGOTS. They were drunkenly looking through "True Detective" magazine and saw an ad on the back page for a "Goo Goo Doll". It was a doll head that you put your finger in to change it's expression.

Gothic music
- Bauhaus is generally considered the first Gothic band, but the origins of the term are more vague. Evidently a British journalist first called Bauhaus "Gothic" in a negative review and somehow the term stuck.

Grand Funk Railroad
a version of "The Grand Trunk Railroad" ; a Michigan landmark.

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. The band was originally the Warlocks, and picked Grateful Dead out of a dictionary after realising there was another band called the Warlocks.

Great Big Sea
- The name came from a Newfoundland folk song called "Great Big Sea Hove In Long Beach."

Green Day
If you smoked pot and goofed off all day, you just had a 'Green Day'.

Green River
- This Seattle area band was named after the Green River Killer, who terrorized that region and was never caught.

Green Jellÿ
- They were originally called Green Jellÿ, but makers of Jello gelatin sued the band for using their brand name.

GTO's
An acronym for 'Girls Together Outrageously'.Frank Zappa produced one album by this motley bunch of hippie band groupies.

The Gun Club
- Actually thought up by Kieth of Circle Jerks. Jeffrey Lee Pierce thought of Circle Jerks and they traded names.

Guns N' Roses
From Axl Rose and Tracii Guns' names, from the two hollywood bands Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns

Guttermouth
- Someone who swears alot.

GWAR
- Some rumors: "Gay Women Against Rape" (taken from Dave Gibbon's novel The Watchmen), "God What an Awful Racket", "Gods of War", etc.. A band member on the Jerry Springer Show said they were inspired by the "GWWAAAR" sound that monsters make in movies.

H

Heaven 17
A fictitious band mentioned in the movie 'A Clockwork Orange'

Nina Hagen
- Hagen is her real last name. Hagen is also a murderous character in a an important 13th Century mythological poem called the Nibelungenlied. The Nibdlungenlied also inspired Richard Wagner to write "The Ring of the Nibelung"

Hagfish
- a small eel-like fish with no jaw, a round sucking mouth and horny teeth.

Hanson Brothers
- The goofy and rough hockey playing brothers in the Paul Newman movie "Slapshot"

Happy Mondays
- A couple stories:
1- A response to New Order's "Blue Monday"
2- The band was all unemployed, so after weekends full of beers and pills other people had to go to work.. they had a Happy Monday sleeping late.

Hardcore
- A genre, not a band. The actual origin is mysterious, but bands like Dead Kennedys and Black Flag were part of the "hardcore" scene in the early 80's. These bands played much faster and harder than the slower, more slovenly punk bands of the late 70's. Some people now use HARDCORE to describe aggressive techno music.

Harry Crews
- This short lived band featured Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch. It was named after the strange and unpredictable author Harry Crews.

Harvey Danger
- Taken from graffiti on the newsroom wall of the University of Washington Daily.

Hawkwind
- There are a couple stories
1- Nik Turner looked like a hawk and farted a lot, hence Hawkwind
2- from "Hawkmoon" in the "Runestaff" books

Haujobb
- Taken from a German version of Blade Runner. It is a translation of "Skinjob" spelled slightly wrong.


Heavy Metal
- A genre, not a band. William Burroughs published the book SOFT MACHINE in 1961. One of the book's characters is "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal kid". His book NOVA EXPRESS came out in 1964. Here's a quote: "With their diseases and orgasm drugs and their sexless parasite life forms - Heavy Metal People of Uranus wrapped in cool blue mist of vaporized bank notes - And The Insect People of Minraud with metal music - Cold insect brains like white hot buzz saws sharpened in the Ovens." .. No one knows exactly what was going through the brilliant and drug addled brain of Burroughs back then, but SOFT MACHINE has the earliest reference to "Heavy Metal music".

The Hidden Cameras:
Hidden camera=voyeurism

Hedningarna
- Means "The Heathens" in Swedish
(HED)PE - "Hed" means "of the mind" and "pe" means "planetary evolution" or "planet earth".

Heldon
- The name of a city in Norman Spinrad's novel "Iron Dream", which claims to be written by a parallel universe Adolph Hitler who joined Sci-Fi fan clubs instead of armies. Heldon was a great ambient French band in the 1970's.

Helios Creed
- Helios was an ancient sun god. The Collosus of Rodan (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) was a huge statue depicting Helios. The band's leader calls himself Helios Creed. He was a founding member of the legendary early 80's band Chrome.

Richard Hell and the Voidoids
- He wrote a book called THE VOIDOID before forming the band. Source = official website

Helmet
- They were originally called "Purple Helmet" and decided to tone down the penis reference.

H.N.A.S
- This was a groundbreaking electronic, industrial, soundscape, whatever band from the 1980's. The name is short for "Hirsche Nicht Aufs Sofa", which according to Babel Fish translates to "Deer not on the sofa". (somehow that translation sounds wrong)

Hole
- Courtney's mom used to tell her "you can't go around with a hole in your head, just because you had a bad childhood"

HollyHotchers
- The bass player heard about a game called Hollyhotch (pronounced Hi-ho-che) while on vacation in Spain. The directions are to see who can pee the farthest.

Honeymoon Killers
- This great New York band was named after a piece of 1970 film noir.

Hootie & 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.

Horace Pinker
- The villian in the 80's horror movie "Shoeker".

Hot Tuna
- Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady started a band in high school called the triumphs. Some stories have them working on a side project later called HOT SHIT.. which was toned down to Hot Tuna .. The name also shows up in an early song of theirs called "Keep on Truckin' Mama.

Hot Water Music
- Named after a Charles Bukowski book. Bukowski was a wino who wrote incredible stuff.

HP Lovecraft
- Named after the reclusive horror writer by the same name

Howlin' Wolf
- Howlin' Wolf was a name in a Funny Papa Smith Record. He was a big, loud, impressive blues singer. The height of his career was in Chicago in the 50's.

Huffamoose
- Canadian slang for blowjob. The band is from Philadelphia

Huggy Bear
- The black informant on "Starsky and Hutch".

Engelbert Humperdinck
- Named himself after the composer of "Hansel and Gretel".

Hüsker Dü
- In a 1987 interview the band said the name was taken from the Danish language. It translates to "Do you Remember?". They didn't know about the board game at first. They later met George Beck, the guy who created the boardgame and actually played a game with him. Bassist Greg Norton won. Sources: several articles in the Star Tribune (a paper in the band's home town).


I

Ice-T
- Inspired by a legendary pimp from decades past called Iceberg Slim. ICEBERG SLIM switched to writing "gangsta" books to stay out of prison in his later years.
The Icicle Works
- From Frederick Pohl's short story "The Day the Icicle Works Closed"

impotent sea snakes
- strange little creatures that live in fish tanks. This band is a theatrical transvestite punk band somwhere between a low budget Jim Rose and GWAR in a horny mood. Their live shows are very fun and probably illegal in some states.

Industrial Music
- Peter Christopherson of the assaultive electronic band Throbbing Gristle coined the term. Monte Cazazza, a collaborator with the band, started promoting the phrase "Industrial Music for Industrial People". Throbbing Gristle released albums on their label INDUSTRIAL RECORDS from the mid 1970's to 1981. Members split up to start Coil, Chris & Cosey, and Psychic TV.

Insane Clown Posse
- They moved to Detriot and started a street gang called Inner City Posse. The other Detriot gangs basically terrorized them into non-existence. Shaggy and Violent J wisely changed their name and started rapping. Source is their official website. The website also mentions a story about ghosts inspiring the band's existence, but it's too silly and long to bother with here.

INXS
- Three members are brothers with the last name Farriss. They narrowly decided on INXS over Farriss Brothers. INXS is a cool way to spell "In Excess", which they hoped their music would be. There is an old story that their girlfriends approached XTC saying their boyfriends were in a band called the "Farris Brothers".. and they wish their name was as cool as XTC's.

Iron Butterfly
- The band wanted a name that sounded heavy and beautiful at the same time. Trivia: Their biggest hit was "In A Gadda Da Vida", which was originally called "In The Garden of Eden". The singer was so trashed on LSD one rehearsal that it came out "In A Gadda Da Vida", and the band decided that was a better name for the song.

Iron Maiden
Named after a medieval torture device.

[artistI]rving Klaw Trio
- Irving Klaw was a photographer best known for his photos of Bettie Page in the 50's.

It's a Beautiful Day
- They were hippies from San Francisco.. what do you expect

J

Jack Off Jill
- Originally JACK AND JILL until Marilyn Manson inspired the name change.

James
- Named after James Joyce.

Jamiroquai
- A quote from their official website : Jay chose the name - synonymous with both the man and the band - for its reference to the Iroquois tribe, reflecting his own empathy for their displaced status and earth aware mentality.

Jane's Addiction
- Similar but differing stories here...
1- they are named after a drug addicted manager they worked with named Jane. 2- the name comes from a hooker named Jane who was a huge fan in their early days.
3- a heroin addict name Jane who lived in a house with Perry Farrell.

Jawbox
- According to Mark Anderson's book "The Dance of Days", "the trio took the name Jawbox from a derisive term for tv." The book is not just about Jawbox, it's about the Washington DC punk scene in general

Jefferson Airplane
- Inspired by the blues player Blind Lemon Jefferson and the name of a friend's dog. Some say Jefferson Airplane was slang for a paper match split to hold a joint.

Jesus Chrysler Supercar
- Parody of the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar".

Jesus Jones
- While on a vacation in Spain, the band noticed they were Joneses (Brits) surrounded by people named Jesus.

Jet
Was named after a Paul McCartney/Wings song.

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.

J.F.A.
- "Jody Foster's Army". They called themselves The Breakers until after their first show. JFA was a song they wrote about the shooting of Ronald Reagan. A bunch of skate punks in Phoenix made and wore JFA arm bands to the show. The band was inspired to change the name. Sources: the original bass player and the band's official website.

Jimmie's Chicken Shack
- A shady blues restaurant in Harlem where young Charlie Parker and Malcom X hung out. There are a lot of "Jims" in the band, too.

John Cougar Concentration Camp
- A parody of the Indiana rock star John Mellencamp.

Al Jolson
- Al and his brother were singing waiters, "The Singing Yoelson Brothers", in a rough New York bar called Callahan's Dancehall Saloon. He switched to the "Jolson" spelling when going solo.

Tom Jones
- His real name is Thomas Jones-Woodward.. he dropped the Woodward part.


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.

K

Kentucky Headhunters
- from a band led by Muddy Waters in the 50's called the Headchoppers.

Kid Rock
- The official story is that when Bob Ritchie was in high school he used to jam in Basement parties with his turntables.. people would say "look at that kid rock!" Another story is that he used to be called CRACK ROCK 'cause he was known to like doing up a rock before performing at parties.

Killdozer
- Inspired by the Theodore Sturgeon's book from 1944 called KILLDOZER.. about a killer bulldozer. There was also a 1974 TV movie inspired by the story.

Kill Me Kate
- " taken from the movie "From Dusk Til Dawn"

B.B. King
- Riley B. King was a hit on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio show in the early 1950's. He wanted a catchy name.. he first called himself BEAL STREET BLUES BOY, then shortened that to BLUES BOY KING, then settled on BB KING. He is famous for calling his guitar LUCILLE. That name came from a night in the 1950's when he nearly died saving his guitar after a venue caught fire in the middle of his show. The fire was caused by two guys who knocked over a kerosene lamp while fighting over a woman named Lucille. Source = Official BB KING website.

King Adora
- Band member Maxi was trying to think of a name as he passed a local sex shop. There was a sex toy called "King Adora" waving at him from the window.


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.

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'.

King Missile
- A Japanese Comic book character.


Kings of Leon
- The group's name is derived from Nathan, Caleb, and Jared's (Followill) father and grandfather, both named Leon.

Klirrfaktor
- This German synth-pop band's name means "Distortion Factor" in German.

KMFDM
- KEIN MEHRHEIT FÜR DIE MITLEID .. it somewhat translates to "No sympathy for the majority". According to Babel Fish it means "No Majority for the Compassion". The following acronyms are fun, but wrong: "Kill MotherFucking Depeche Mode"., "Krispy Melted Fish Dealing Mescaline", "Kyle Minogue Fans Don't Masturbate".

Kompanjoner
- named after the song Kompanjoner by LOK.


KoЯn
- A couple quotes from Jonathan Davis: "Korn" popped in my head, and I'm like 'What about "Korn"?' ... and we're all like, 'Fuck yeah!'" .. "To me it kind of means that it doesn't matter what your band is called. Name or not, the music makes a name, you know... 'cause "Korn", that's a dumb name, but once a band gets established, then it makes a name cool. -- There are two other persistent rumors: 1- Korn means "Kiddy Porn"
2- a story that includes eating corn, a party, felching and diarrhea .. You can put the details together yourself since they're different every time someone tells the story anyway.

Kraftwerk
- German for "power station". A fitting name for this pioneering electronic band.

KRS-One
- A couple stories: acronym for "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone", or his old graffiti tag KRS, which is short for his name Chris.

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. They modified the name to the familiar spelling. Earlier names included Object of Desire and The Kays. - Source = unofficial fan sites

Kyuss
- There is a Dungeons and Dragons character(s) called the "Sons of Kyuss". There was probably a father to the sons of Kyuss too.

The KLF
An acronym for 'Kopyright Liberation Front', which sums up their attitude towards using samples from other artists.

KMFDM
Short for Keine Mehrheit Für Die or Das Mitleid, which is German and doesn't make any sense at all. Means something like: No majority for the masses.

The Kooks
From a David Bowie song


L

L7
- Couple possibilities:
1- The Gibson L7 is an old model of guitar
2- L7 is old slang for "square" (as in the Rick James album "Bustin' Out of L7")

Lacrimosa
- This European Goth band took its name from a Latin word that means "The part of the tears", which is a common part of the Latin rite of a Requiem mass.

Laibach
- Tomaz Hostnik and Miran Mohar, both members of the Yugoslavian army, started Laibach in 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia. The group was the musical section of the political art movement NSK, which stands for Neue Slowenische Kunst (New Slovenian Art). Ljubljana was called Laibach during the Second World War when it was under German occupation. - Sources = official LAIBACH site and fan sites

Last Rites
- Brothers Paul and Nod Wright started the band after leaving Fields of the Nephilim. Their last name inspired the RITES part.

Lead Into Gold
- Reference to something Alchemists kept trying to do


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.

The 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.

Less Than Jake
- Quote from their official website: "My parents had an 80 pound English bulldog. He had his own private space on the couch, my parents would get take out food just to feed him, and he was treated like a king. His name was "JAKE". So, everything in my house was less...than...JAKE. Also, "jake" is an old twenties term for "average, smooth, .."

LFO
- There is also a well-respected electronic band called LFO that started around 1990. Their name is derived from Low Frequency Oscillator.

Little Richard
- His first stab at commercial music was singing blues. There were lots of Blues singers with "Little" in their name, so Richard joined the crowd. Source = cable TV special which aired early 2000 (on Entertainment Network?)


Limp Bizkit
Got the idea from Fred Durst's dog Biscuit who has a limp.

Lipps, Inc.
- pronunced 'lip-sync'.

Little River Band
- This Australian band was