Pookie
Veteran
COLOR ME BADD – Sam Watters said the name was an attempt to remove racial, sexual and musical overtones – “If you want to color us as anything, color us as badd.” Originally called TAKE 1 (but another group was using the name), Jon Bon Jovi asked them to open a Bon Jovi / Skid Row concert with “Daddy’s Home” sung a capella. Jon said, “You guys think you’re pretty bad. Let’s see how bad you are in front of 15,000 people.”
COUNTING CROWS – Comes from old English nursery rhyme which had to do with predicting the future from the numbers of birds seen. Originally the rhyme was about magpies, but as people came over to America, crows were used instead. From the song “A Murder of One” one of the versions of the rhyme goes “one for sorrow, two for joy, three for girls, four for boys, five for
silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told…” Adam Duritz liked the rhyme…
THE CRANBERRIES – originally called Cranberries Saw Us ( a joke on Cranberries SAUCE) they changed it to the shorter form later.
CREED – This popular Florida band was named after former bassist Brian Marshall’s
earlier band Mattox Creed. www.creednet.com
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL – unconfirmed origin: after Norvel Creedence, a friend of John Fogerty’s . His favorite beer was called Clearwater, after a brief absence from the marketplace it was re-introduced by another brewery – hence Creedence Clearwater Revival.
THE CULT – Goth/Rock band ‘The Cult’ were once known as ‘The Sudden Death Cult’, then
shortened to ‘Death Cult’, then finally just ‘The Cult’.
DEACON BLUE – took their name from a song of the same name by STEELY DAN.
DEF LEPPARD – Joe Elliot, lead singer, wanted to use the idea provided by the band Led Zeppelin’s logo and transformed what he originally had as deaf leopard.
THE DEFTONES – Because when they started out, people thought they were so bad
that they called them tone deaf – transposed to def tones.
DEPECHE MODE – from the name of a fashion magazine, meaning hurry up fashion
DEVO – shortened form of “de-evolution” – the opposite of evolution – expressing the band’s opinion on what the planet is going through.
DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS – named themselves after the slang term for a pep pill called DEXEDRINE even though the band themselves had a policy of no drink or drugs!
DION AND THE BELMONTS – BELMONTS after a street in their Bronx, New York neighborhood where they would hang out & sing street corner harmonies.
DMX - Dark Man X
DOOBIE BROTHERS – a doobie was 60’s slang for a marijuana joint.
THE DOORS – Jim Morrison read poet William Blake who said “if the doors of perception are cleansed, everything would appear to man as it truly is, infinite. “He was also influenced by author Aldous Huxley who referred to the same line when he titled his book on drug experimentation The Doors of Perception. “There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors” Official Doors web site is at http://www.thedoors.com/
DURAN DURAN – named after a character in the Jane Fonda movie Barbarella.
BOB DYLAN – His real name is Robert Zimmerman – he liked the poet Dylan Thomas.
DYNAMITE HACK- A line in the movie Caddyshack describing marijuana.
THE EAGLES – originally called TEEN KING AND THE EMERGENCIES , they liked the American sound of Eagles and the way it was aligned with THE BYRDS who had a great influence on them.
ELTON JOHN – Real name: Reginald Dwight. Created from two other British musicians: Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.
EMINEM – from his real name Marshall Mathers he took M&M and rewrote it phonetically as Eminem.
EVERCLEAR – Named after the “Everclear” brand of 190 proof grain alcohol used to make dangerous alcoholic drinks.
EURYTHMICS – a method of music instruction from the 1890’s that emphasizes physical response to the music..
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL – from an ad for a British clothing store that would sell you “Everything but the Girl” that you saw in the ad.
EVE 6 – a phrase they heard in an X FILES episode.
FASTBALL – from a porno film the band saw – Mike Zuniga says it was “a typical porno movie but about baseball. It’s like a really raunchy Bull Durham.”
FOO FIGHTERS – a term used by World War II pilots to describe strange flying fireballs they sometimes saw.
FLEETWOOD MAC – a simple one. They just took the last name of drummer Mick Fleetwood and a form of bassist John McVie’s last name.
FAITH NO MORE – named after a race horse they saw listed on a racing form.
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE – the name of a garden center on Route 46 in Wayne, New Jersey. http://home.earthlink.net/~johncw/fow/html/gen_info.html
GARBAGE – Either lead singer Shirley Manson’s father yelled down to the band at one of their basement practice sessions, “Play more quietly – you sound like garbage.” or from a friend of Butch Vig (the drummer of Garbage), who said “This stuff sounds like garbage!” check their site at http://www.garbage.com/
GENESIS – The first book in the Bible – their first album’s title was “From Genesis to Revelation”
GIN BLOSSOMS – slang for the “blossoms” (burst blood capillaries) on the face particularly the nose from drinking too much alcohol – in the late 1800’s gin was a popular cheap alcoholic drink.
GODSMACK – The metal band “Godsmack” was much thought to be named after the Alice in
Chains song of the same name. But according to the band they arrived at the name after one band member made a particularly inappropriate comment and another remarked “God will smack you for that one”. Hence forth one would receive a “Godsmack” for bad behavior.
GO BETWEENS – from a film directed by Joseph Losey.
GOO GOO DOLLS – used to be called the Sex Maggots, and when they were told that local newspapers wouldn’t print that name, Jonny Rzeznik picked up a magazine from the early 60’s with an ad for a doll that cried Goo Goo when you turned it upside down.
GOLDFINGER – after the James Bond movie.
GRAND FUNK RAILROAD – a version of “The Grand Trunk Railroad” ; a Michigan landmark.
THE GRATEFUL DEAD – originally called The Warlocks, Jerry Garcia found out that another band had the same name. Supposedly, he looked in a reference book at random and found a folk tale about a troubled soul who is put to rest by a traveler. The spirit then helps the traveler with his own quest.
GREEN DAY – 1) It may have come from the sci-fi movie Soylent Green when they said “Tuesday is soylent green day.” Soylent green was a food produced by a corporation to feed the way overpopulated masses; turns out they were also making it from the masses! 2) Another story is that when they dropped out of school to be musicians, their principal said “It’ll be a green day in hell before you make anything of yourselves”. 3) Some say that in drug slang – if you smoked pot and goofed off all day, it was a “Green Day.”
GUNS ‘N’ ROSES – originally two bands L.A. GUNNS and HOLLYWOOD ROSES. Hollywood Roses was headed by Axl Rose, Tracii Guns headed the other band which also featured Slash. The two frequented clubs and played there and were friends.
HEAVEN 17 – took their name from a group mentioned in the novel A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess that was made into a popular film by Stanley Kubrick. In a scene in Kubrick’s film Alex is browsing in a futuristic record shop and checks out an album by the ‘Heavenly 17′.
HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH – from the nicknames of two friends of singer/guitarist Darius Rucker – one with owl-like eyes (Hootie), another with the puffy “Blowfish” cheeks.
JANE”S ADDICTION – The band got it’s name from a girl (Jane) that Perry Farrell knew back in L.A who was a prostitute and called it her addiction.
JETHRO TULL – popular 70’s band that is named after the rather obscure inventor of the farmer’s seed drill.
JUDAS PRIEST – originally a mild curse said to avoid saying “Jesus Christ” – also from the Bob Dylan song “The ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest”.
KMFDM – KEIN MEHRHEIT FÜR DIE MITLEID, loosely translates as “no sympathy for the majority.” Founded by SASCHA KONIETZKO from Germany. When Englishman RAYMOND “PIG” WATTS joined the band he never pronounce the name so he just started calling it by the initials.
KING CRIMSON – from the official website http://www.elephant-talk.com The band’s original lyricist, Peter Sinfield, created it as a synonym for Beelzebub, which is derived from the Arabic phrase “B’il Sabab”, meaning “the man with an aim.” (Another, more common etymology of “Beelzebub” is that it is Hebrew for “Lord of the Flies.”) In John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Beelzebub was Satan’s chief lieutenant among the fallen angels. Often seen as a red (crimson) figure, he is King of the underworld.
KING MISSILE – is a popular Japanese comic book character.
KISS – According to Paul Stanley, Kiss just sounded dangerous (kiss of death) and sexy at the same time. Kiss denies the rumors that the name stands for “Kids In Service of Satan” or the saying “Keep It Simple Stupid.”
KORN – There are many stories as to how the name originated, however the most believable is that Korn starts with Kern County which is where Jonathan worked as a Coroner. From that came “KoRn”. It was then decided that it would be written like a child would write it, hence the K
instead of a C, and the backwards R.
LED ZEPPELIN – Jimmy Page was drinking with Moon and Entwhistle, who were bitching about their band mates Daltrey and Townshend. They joked about the two of them starting a band with Jimmy, and one of them said “Yeah, that will go over like a lead balloon”. When Jimmy formed his own band, he remembered this and thought “Lead Zeppelin” would be good, both from that conversation and the heavy/light contradiction similar to the band named IRON BUTTERFLY. They decided to drop the “a” so Americans wouldn’t mispronounce it.
LEMONHEADS – a type of candy.
LEVEL 42 – 1) From the supercomputer in the great & hilarious novel The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, (part of the “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” series) computed the meaning of life to be 42 2) Also a possible reference to a sign in the strange film Brazil that says “Level 41″.
LIMP BIZKIT – Got the idea from Fred Durst’s dog Biscuit who has a limp.
LL COOL J – for “Ladies Love Cool James”.
LOVE AND ROCKETS – a popular comic book title.
LOVIN’ SPOONFUL – 1) from the lyrics of the old song “Coffee Blues”. Possibly a drug reference to the spoon used to heat & melt drugs such as heroin for use. 2) Also that the amount of the sperm ejaculated by the average male is about a spoonful (see also the band 10cc
LOS LOBOS – Spanish for “The Wolves”
LYNYRD SKYNYRD – Named after Leonard Skinner, an annoying gym teacher/coach some of the members had in high school. Leonard is said to have moved on to sell real estate in Jacksonville, Florida.
MARCY PLAYGROUND – frontman John Wozniak would look out the window of his third grade classroom and see that playground and wish he could play there – but he didn’t because there were bullies there that would beat him up… must have been traumatic.
MEGADETH – Dave Mustane was inspired by a government pamphlet he saw after leaving METALLICA. A Megadeath is a military term for one million dead (making World War II an 80 Megadeath)
MELVINS – You give someone a melvin by approaching from behind, and yanking up on the waistband of their underwear as hard as you can (also popularized on SEINFELD as a “wedgie” A “Melvin” was also a nerd synonym.
METALLICA – Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fanzine. The choices were Metal Mania and Metallica. Metal Mania was chosen for the magazine & he used Metallica for his band.
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
MONSTER MAGNET – 1) Dave Wyndorf, lead man in Monster Magnet, collects sci-fi/Horror collectibles, one is a model called “The Monster Magnet” 2) The Mothers of Invention’s first LP Freak Out has that title as its first track.
MOTHERS OF INVENTION – Frank Zappa’s highly experimental band was originally just called the Mothers, their record label asked them to change it (because it could be taken as an obscenity) and out of necessity they added “of Invention” since “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
MÖTLEY CRÜE – A friend said “What a Motley looking Crew” – motley meaning “of great variety” and once describing the appearance of a court jester. The re-spelling was their own invention using the umlauts (those funny dots over letters) came to them while they were partying & drinking Lowenbrau beer.
MOTORHEAD – British slang for a drug user who uses a lot of speed
NIRVANA – In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained through the annihilation of the self.
‘NSYNC- Justin’s mother came up with the name. N is the last letter in Justin, S is the last letter in Chris, Y is the last letter in Joey. N is actually from James Lance Bass because Chris gave him the nickname ‘Lansten’. Since Lance doesn’t end with a N, they used his nick name,
Lansten. C is from J.C. That’s how they came up with ‘NSYNC. (info from T.J. Gernon, Illinois & Andrea in San Diego) The whole thing is, of course, a play on In Sync – a term which comes from the movie industry – meaning when the picture & soundtrack are properly aligned or synchronized.
OASIS – local British origins: a Manchester cab company, a chain of women’s clothing stores, a local Indian restaurant and more likely a local club that The Beatles played in during their early years (the band are avowed Beatles fans
OUR LADY PEACE – The band took their unusual name from a 1943 poem by American poet Mark Van Doren. link to information
PANTERA – Spanish for Panther and also a pretty cool car.
PEARL JAM – 1) Eddie’s grandma supposedly made a peyote (hallucinogenic drug) jelly/jam , which as kids they called pearl jam. 2) I’ve heard a couple of times that “Pearl Jam” comes from NBA player Mookie Blaylock — it’s his nickname. Band members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament
were huge fans of Blaylock, loved his peculiar name and wished to just call their band “Mookie Blaylock” but Blaylock protested, so they used his nickname “Pearl Jam” instead.
PINK FLOYD – taken from the names of two Georgia bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council – from the early days when the band saw itself as a blues band.
PORNO FOR PYROS – 1) Perry Farrell was reading a fireworks catalog on tour when a friend said the magazine looked like “porno for a pyro(maniac)” – a pyromaniac being one who loves fire. 2) Perry Farrel was up one night late watching the TV coverage of the LA riots and the fires and
couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. He said it was like “porno for pyros”.
PROCOL HARUM – terrific art rock band was named by lyricist Keith Reid – a term he thought to be Arabic for “beyond that which is” – also the name of his cat.
QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE – Some of the band members were into astrology,
and noted that one or more of them were born under the House of Mercury. As Mercury
is the name for both the messenger of the gods and the liquid metal, the latter of which is also called quicksilver, Quicksilver Messenger Service was born.
RAMONES – Paul McCartney used to call himself Paul Ramone. The Ramones all use the last name Ramone even though it’s not their given name.
REO SPEEDWAGON – the name of a fire engine made by Oldsmobile in the 1930’s. “R.E.O.” was the initials of Ransom Elliot Olds, the founder of the Oldsmobile Car Company.
THE REPLACEMENTS – Legend has it that they were given a gig after another band failed to show – when asked who they were they replied “We’re the Replacements”.
R.E.M. – in the study of dreams, the abbreviation refers to rapid eye movement or that time during sleep when an observable movement of the eyeball occurs indicating that the person is in a dream state. Band member Michael Stipe has said that this is not why the band picked the name.
THE RIGHEOUS BROTHERS – The Righteous Brothers supposedly changed their name when a fan at one of their appearances yelled “That’s righteous, brothers.” I don’t know what they called themselves before. Righteous being a late 1950’s slang for great, cool etc.
THE ROLLING STONES – from the Howlin’ Wolf blues song “Rolling Stone” – Keith Richards was a fan of the version recorded by Muddy Waters.
SAMHAIN – The Celtic New Year, which has evolved into Halloween – the spirit of Halloween sometimes Americanized to Sam Haines.
SAVAGE GARDEN – a phrase from an Anne Rice novel “Interview With The Vampire”
SEVEN MARY THREE – a police radio code for 7M3, it was also one of the motorcycle cops radio name on the old TV show C.H.I.P.S. (California Highway Patrol ) mid-70’s.
SIMPLE MINDS – taken from a line in the David Bowie song “Jean Genie”.
SISTERS OF MERCY – A tribute to the Leonard Cohen song of same name; also an order of nuns.
SKID ROW – Slang for a rundown inner city neighborhoods where alcoholics, junkies, street people can afford to live.
THE SMITHEREENS – Inspired by the cartoon character Yosemite Sam’s classic line, “I’ll blow you varmints to smithereens”.
SOFT MACHINE – The name of a William Burroughs novel.
SOUNDGARDEN – A garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when wind blows through them… a sculpture in Seattle called “Sound Garden”.
SPEEDBALL – A deadly drug cocktail mix of heroin and cocaine.
SMASH MOUTH – football players use this slang term in any game with a lot of blocking or tackling.
STEELY DAN – taken from William Burrough’s book Naked Lunch. In it Steely Dan is the nickname given to a giant steam-powered dildo (see cover photo on their first album)
10,000 MANIACS – extension of an old horror movie called “2000 Maniacs”.
10 CC – the average amount of ejaculate from a healthy male.
TALKING HEADS – probably from the video jargon for a camera shot showing only the head & shoulders of a person. Newscasters are usually shown this way and it makes for boring TV. Another story says they were inspired by a military experiment involving talking mannequin heads.
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.
THREE DOG NIGHT – Inspired by an Australian Aboriginal custom of sleeping with a dog for warmth on a cold night – a three dog night would be very cold, plus the band had 3 lead singers.
TOAD THE WET SPROCKET – A skit from Monty Python’s Flying Circus which is about a weird rock band.
U2 – Three possibilities: 1) A type of spy plane used by the United States in the 1960’s – made famous when Gary Powers’ U2 plane was shot down over Russia and he was taken as a
prisoner during the Cold War. 2) U2 as in “you too” referring to the audience and its role in the musical experience 3) a U2 is an unemployment form in Ireland (see UB40)
UB40 – Code number of a form people in Britain have to fill out to receive public assistance or welfare. Known in the UK as a signing-off form when you get a job. Hence the title of their first album Signing Off.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND – 60’s experimental band associated with pop artist Andy Warhol, they took their name from a paperback book they found on the street – the book was about sex in America.
WEEZER – Band member Rivers Cuomo had the nickname Weezer in school because of a breathing problem.
ZZ TOP – taken from the name of a Texas Blues man ZZ Hill. Though a rumor is that they got their name by combining Zig Zag and Top, two well known brands of “cigarette” rolling papers.
COUNTING CROWS – Comes from old English nursery rhyme which had to do with predicting the future from the numbers of birds seen. Originally the rhyme was about magpies, but as people came over to America, crows were used instead. From the song “A Murder of One” one of the versions of the rhyme goes “one for sorrow, two for joy, three for girls, four for boys, five for
silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told…” Adam Duritz liked the rhyme…
THE CRANBERRIES – originally called Cranberries Saw Us ( a joke on Cranberries SAUCE) they changed it to the shorter form later.
CREED – This popular Florida band was named after former bassist Brian Marshall’s
earlier band Mattox Creed. www.creednet.com
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL – unconfirmed origin: after Norvel Creedence, a friend of John Fogerty’s . His favorite beer was called Clearwater, after a brief absence from the marketplace it was re-introduced by another brewery – hence Creedence Clearwater Revival.
THE CULT – Goth/Rock band ‘The Cult’ were once known as ‘The Sudden Death Cult’, then
shortened to ‘Death Cult’, then finally just ‘The Cult’.
DEACON BLUE – took their name from a song of the same name by STEELY DAN.
DEF LEPPARD – Joe Elliot, lead singer, wanted to use the idea provided by the band Led Zeppelin’s logo and transformed what he originally had as deaf leopard.
THE DEFTONES – Because when they started out, people thought they were so bad
that they called them tone deaf – transposed to def tones.
DEPECHE MODE – from the name of a fashion magazine, meaning hurry up fashion
DEVO – shortened form of “de-evolution” – the opposite of evolution – expressing the band’s opinion on what the planet is going through.
DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS – named themselves after the slang term for a pep pill called DEXEDRINE even though the band themselves had a policy of no drink or drugs!
DION AND THE BELMONTS – BELMONTS after a street in their Bronx, New York neighborhood where they would hang out & sing street corner harmonies.
DMX - Dark Man X
DOOBIE BROTHERS – a doobie was 60’s slang for a marijuana joint.
THE DOORS – Jim Morrison read poet William Blake who said “if the doors of perception are cleansed, everything would appear to man as it truly is, infinite. “He was also influenced by author Aldous Huxley who referred to the same line when he titled his book on drug experimentation The Doors of Perception. “There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors” Official Doors web site is at http://www.thedoors.com/
DURAN DURAN – named after a character in the Jane Fonda movie Barbarella.
BOB DYLAN – His real name is Robert Zimmerman – he liked the poet Dylan Thomas.
DYNAMITE HACK- A line in the movie Caddyshack describing marijuana.
THE EAGLES – originally called TEEN KING AND THE EMERGENCIES , they liked the American sound of Eagles and the way it was aligned with THE BYRDS who had a great influence on them.
ELTON JOHN – Real name: Reginald Dwight. Created from two other British musicians: Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.
EMINEM – from his real name Marshall Mathers he took M&M and rewrote it phonetically as Eminem.
EVERCLEAR – Named after the “Everclear” brand of 190 proof grain alcohol used to make dangerous alcoholic drinks.
EURYTHMICS – a method of music instruction from the 1890’s that emphasizes physical response to the music..
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL – from an ad for a British clothing store that would sell you “Everything but the Girl” that you saw in the ad.
EVE 6 – a phrase they heard in an X FILES episode.
FASTBALL – from a porno film the band saw – Mike Zuniga says it was “a typical porno movie but about baseball. It’s like a really raunchy Bull Durham.”
FOO FIGHTERS – a term used by World War II pilots to describe strange flying fireballs they sometimes saw.
FLEETWOOD MAC – a simple one. They just took the last name of drummer Mick Fleetwood and a form of bassist John McVie’s last name.
FAITH NO MORE – named after a race horse they saw listed on a racing form.
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE – the name of a garden center on Route 46 in Wayne, New Jersey. http://home.earthlink.net/~johncw/fow/html/gen_info.html
GARBAGE – Either lead singer Shirley Manson’s father yelled down to the band at one of their basement practice sessions, “Play more quietly – you sound like garbage.” or from a friend of Butch Vig (the drummer of Garbage), who said “This stuff sounds like garbage!” check their site at http://www.garbage.com/
GENESIS – The first book in the Bible – their first album’s title was “From Genesis to Revelation”
GIN BLOSSOMS – slang for the “blossoms” (burst blood capillaries) on the face particularly the nose from drinking too much alcohol – in the late 1800’s gin was a popular cheap alcoholic drink.
GODSMACK – The metal band “Godsmack” was much thought to be named after the Alice in
Chains song of the same name. But according to the band they arrived at the name after one band member made a particularly inappropriate comment and another remarked “God will smack you for that one”. Hence forth one would receive a “Godsmack” for bad behavior.
GO BETWEENS – from a film directed by Joseph Losey.
GOO GOO DOLLS – used to be called the Sex Maggots, and when they were told that local newspapers wouldn’t print that name, Jonny Rzeznik picked up a magazine from the early 60’s with an ad for a doll that cried Goo Goo when you turned it upside down.
GOLDFINGER – after the James Bond movie.
GRAND FUNK RAILROAD – a version of “The Grand Trunk Railroad” ; a Michigan landmark.
THE GRATEFUL DEAD – originally called The Warlocks, Jerry Garcia found out that another band had the same name. Supposedly, he looked in a reference book at random and found a folk tale about a troubled soul who is put to rest by a traveler. The spirit then helps the traveler with his own quest.
GREEN DAY – 1) It may have come from the sci-fi movie Soylent Green when they said “Tuesday is soylent green day.” Soylent green was a food produced by a corporation to feed the way overpopulated masses; turns out they were also making it from the masses! 2) Another story is that when they dropped out of school to be musicians, their principal said “It’ll be a green day in hell before you make anything of yourselves”. 3) Some say that in drug slang – if you smoked pot and goofed off all day, it was a “Green Day.”
GUNS ‘N’ ROSES – originally two bands L.A. GUNNS and HOLLYWOOD ROSES. Hollywood Roses was headed by Axl Rose, Tracii Guns headed the other band which also featured Slash. The two frequented clubs and played there and were friends.
HEAVEN 17 – took their name from a group mentioned in the novel A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess that was made into a popular film by Stanley Kubrick. In a scene in Kubrick’s film Alex is browsing in a futuristic record shop and checks out an album by the ‘Heavenly 17′.
HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH – from the nicknames of two friends of singer/guitarist Darius Rucker – one with owl-like eyes (Hootie), another with the puffy “Blowfish” cheeks.
JANE”S ADDICTION – The band got it’s name from a girl (Jane) that Perry Farrell knew back in L.A who was a prostitute and called it her addiction.
JETHRO TULL – popular 70’s band that is named after the rather obscure inventor of the farmer’s seed drill.
JUDAS PRIEST – originally a mild curse said to avoid saying “Jesus Christ” – also from the Bob Dylan song “The ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest”.
KMFDM – KEIN MEHRHEIT FÜR DIE MITLEID, loosely translates as “no sympathy for the majority.” Founded by SASCHA KONIETZKO from Germany. When Englishman RAYMOND “PIG” WATTS joined the band he never pronounce the name so he just started calling it by the initials.
KING CRIMSON – from the official website http://www.elephant-talk.com The band’s original lyricist, Peter Sinfield, created it as a synonym for Beelzebub, which is derived from the Arabic phrase “B’il Sabab”, meaning “the man with an aim.” (Another, more common etymology of “Beelzebub” is that it is Hebrew for “Lord of the Flies.”) In John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Beelzebub was Satan’s chief lieutenant among the fallen angels. Often seen as a red (crimson) figure, he is King of the underworld.
KING MISSILE – is a popular Japanese comic book character.
KISS – According to Paul Stanley, Kiss just sounded dangerous (kiss of death) and sexy at the same time. Kiss denies the rumors that the name stands for “Kids In Service of Satan” or the saying “Keep It Simple Stupid.”
KORN – There are many stories as to how the name originated, however the most believable is that Korn starts with Kern County which is where Jonathan worked as a Coroner. From that came “KoRn”. It was then decided that it would be written like a child would write it, hence the K
instead of a C, and the backwards R.
LED ZEPPELIN – Jimmy Page was drinking with Moon and Entwhistle, who were bitching about their band mates Daltrey and Townshend. They joked about the two of them starting a band with Jimmy, and one of them said “Yeah, that will go over like a lead balloon”. When Jimmy formed his own band, he remembered this and thought “Lead Zeppelin” would be good, both from that conversation and the heavy/light contradiction similar to the band named IRON BUTTERFLY. They decided to drop the “a” so Americans wouldn’t mispronounce it.
LEMONHEADS – a type of candy.
LEVEL 42 – 1) From the supercomputer in the great & hilarious novel The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, (part of the “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” series) computed the meaning of life to be 42 2) Also a possible reference to a sign in the strange film Brazil that says “Level 41″.
LIMP BIZKIT – Got the idea from Fred Durst’s dog Biscuit who has a limp.
LL COOL J – for “Ladies Love Cool James”.
LOVE AND ROCKETS – a popular comic book title.
LOVIN’ SPOONFUL – 1) from the lyrics of the old song “Coffee Blues”. Possibly a drug reference to the spoon used to heat & melt drugs such as heroin for use. 2) Also that the amount of the sperm ejaculated by the average male is about a spoonful (see also the band 10cc
LOS LOBOS – Spanish for “The Wolves”
LYNYRD SKYNYRD – Named after Leonard Skinner, an annoying gym teacher/coach some of the members had in high school. Leonard is said to have moved on to sell real estate in Jacksonville, Florida.
MARCY PLAYGROUND – frontman John Wozniak would look out the window of his third grade classroom and see that playground and wish he could play there – but he didn’t because there were bullies there that would beat him up… must have been traumatic.
MEGADETH – Dave Mustane was inspired by a government pamphlet he saw after leaving METALLICA. A Megadeath is a military term for one million dead (making World War II an 80 Megadeath)
MELVINS – You give someone a melvin by approaching from behind, and yanking up on the waistband of their underwear as hard as you can (also popularized on SEINFELD as a “wedgie” A “Melvin” was also a nerd synonym.
METALLICA – Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fanzine. The choices were Metal Mania and Metallica. Metal Mania was chosen for the magazine & he used Metallica for his band.
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
MONSTER MAGNET – 1) Dave Wyndorf, lead man in Monster Magnet, collects sci-fi/Horror collectibles, one is a model called “The Monster Magnet” 2) The Mothers of Invention’s first LP Freak Out has that title as its first track.
MOTHERS OF INVENTION – Frank Zappa’s highly experimental band was originally just called the Mothers, their record label asked them to change it (because it could be taken as an obscenity) and out of necessity they added “of Invention” since “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
MÖTLEY CRÜE – A friend said “What a Motley looking Crew” – motley meaning “of great variety” and once describing the appearance of a court jester. The re-spelling was their own invention using the umlauts (those funny dots over letters) came to them while they were partying & drinking Lowenbrau beer.
MOTORHEAD – British slang for a drug user who uses a lot of speed
NIRVANA – In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained through the annihilation of the self.
‘NSYNC- Justin’s mother came up with the name. N is the last letter in Justin, S is the last letter in Chris, Y is the last letter in Joey. N is actually from James Lance Bass because Chris gave him the nickname ‘Lansten’. Since Lance doesn’t end with a N, they used his nick name,
Lansten. C is from J.C. That’s how they came up with ‘NSYNC. (info from T.J. Gernon, Illinois & Andrea in San Diego) The whole thing is, of course, a play on In Sync – a term which comes from the movie industry – meaning when the picture & soundtrack are properly aligned or synchronized.
OASIS – local British origins: a Manchester cab company, a chain of women’s clothing stores, a local Indian restaurant and more likely a local club that The Beatles played in during their early years (the band are avowed Beatles fans
OUR LADY PEACE – The band took their unusual name from a 1943 poem by American poet Mark Van Doren. link to information
PANTERA – Spanish for Panther and also a pretty cool car.
PEARL JAM – 1) Eddie’s grandma supposedly made a peyote (hallucinogenic drug) jelly/jam , which as kids they called pearl jam. 2) I’ve heard a couple of times that “Pearl Jam” comes from NBA player Mookie Blaylock — it’s his nickname. Band members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament
were huge fans of Blaylock, loved his peculiar name and wished to just call their band “Mookie Blaylock” but Blaylock protested, so they used his nickname “Pearl Jam” instead.
PINK FLOYD – taken from the names of two Georgia bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council – from the early days when the band saw itself as a blues band.
PORNO FOR PYROS – 1) Perry Farrell was reading a fireworks catalog on tour when a friend said the magazine looked like “porno for a pyro(maniac)” – a pyromaniac being one who loves fire. 2) Perry Farrel was up one night late watching the TV coverage of the LA riots and the fires and
couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. He said it was like “porno for pyros”.
PROCOL HARUM – terrific art rock band was named by lyricist Keith Reid – a term he thought to be Arabic for “beyond that which is” – also the name of his cat.
QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE – Some of the band members were into astrology,
and noted that one or more of them were born under the House of Mercury. As Mercury
is the name for both the messenger of the gods and the liquid metal, the latter of which is also called quicksilver, Quicksilver Messenger Service was born.
RAMONES – Paul McCartney used to call himself Paul Ramone. The Ramones all use the last name Ramone even though it’s not their given name.
REO SPEEDWAGON – the name of a fire engine made by Oldsmobile in the 1930’s. “R.E.O.” was the initials of Ransom Elliot Olds, the founder of the Oldsmobile Car Company.
THE REPLACEMENTS – Legend has it that they were given a gig after another band failed to show – when asked who they were they replied “We’re the Replacements”.
R.E.M. – in the study of dreams, the abbreviation refers to rapid eye movement or that time during sleep when an observable movement of the eyeball occurs indicating that the person is in a dream state. Band member Michael Stipe has said that this is not why the band picked the name.
THE RIGHEOUS BROTHERS – The Righteous Brothers supposedly changed their name when a fan at one of their appearances yelled “That’s righteous, brothers.” I don’t know what they called themselves before. Righteous being a late 1950’s slang for great, cool etc.
THE ROLLING STONES – from the Howlin’ Wolf blues song “Rolling Stone” – Keith Richards was a fan of the version recorded by Muddy Waters.
SAMHAIN – The Celtic New Year, which has evolved into Halloween – the spirit of Halloween sometimes Americanized to Sam Haines.
SAVAGE GARDEN – a phrase from an Anne Rice novel “Interview With The Vampire”
SEVEN MARY THREE – a police radio code for 7M3, it was also one of the motorcycle cops radio name on the old TV show C.H.I.P.S. (California Highway Patrol ) mid-70’s.
SIMPLE MINDS – taken from a line in the David Bowie song “Jean Genie”.
SISTERS OF MERCY – A tribute to the Leonard Cohen song of same name; also an order of nuns.
SKID ROW – Slang for a rundown inner city neighborhoods where alcoholics, junkies, street people can afford to live.
THE SMITHEREENS – Inspired by the cartoon character Yosemite Sam’s classic line, “I’ll blow you varmints to smithereens”.
SOFT MACHINE – The name of a William Burroughs novel.
SOUNDGARDEN – A garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when wind blows through them… a sculpture in Seattle called “Sound Garden”.
SPEEDBALL – A deadly drug cocktail mix of heroin and cocaine.
SMASH MOUTH – football players use this slang term in any game with a lot of blocking or tackling.
STEELY DAN – taken from William Burrough’s book Naked Lunch. In it Steely Dan is the nickname given to a giant steam-powered dildo (see cover photo on their first album)
10,000 MANIACS – extension of an old horror movie called “2000 Maniacs”.
10 CC – the average amount of ejaculate from a healthy male.
TALKING HEADS – probably from the video jargon for a camera shot showing only the head & shoulders of a person. Newscasters are usually shown this way and it makes for boring TV. Another story says they were inspired by a military experiment involving talking mannequin heads.
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.
THREE DOG NIGHT – Inspired by an Australian Aboriginal custom of sleeping with a dog for warmth on a cold night – a three dog night would be very cold, plus the band had 3 lead singers.
TOAD THE WET SPROCKET – A skit from Monty Python’s Flying Circus which is about a weird rock band.
U2 – Three possibilities: 1) A type of spy plane used by the United States in the 1960’s – made famous when Gary Powers’ U2 plane was shot down over Russia and he was taken as a
prisoner during the Cold War. 2) U2 as in “you too” referring to the audience and its role in the musical experience 3) a U2 is an unemployment form in Ireland (see UB40)
UB40 – Code number of a form people in Britain have to fill out to receive public assistance or welfare. Known in the UK as a signing-off form when you get a job. Hence the title of their first album Signing Off.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND – 60’s experimental band associated with pop artist Andy Warhol, they took their name from a paperback book they found on the street – the book was about sex in America.
WEEZER – Band member Rivers Cuomo had the nickname Weezer in school because of a breathing problem.
ZZ TOP – taken from the name of a Texas Blues man ZZ Hill. Though a rumor is that they got their name by combining Zig Zag and Top, two well known brands of “cigarette” rolling papers.
