bands and how they got their names... (1 Viewer)

[TheLongshot]

Spock's Beard:

Al and I were having this really weird night out one night, just one of those bizarro David Lynch type evenings. Al said "wow, it's like we're in a parallel universe. It's like Spock has a beard. Wouldn't that be a funny name for a band, Spock's Beard." That was about 89 or 90. Then when we were choosing names, around 92, Al made this list, like 2 pages of names. We all voted on them. He snuck Spock's Beard in as a joke, and it won. Then we were all like, are we going to commit to being known as Spock's Beard for all eternity, hopefully? Especially our first album, The Light, is kind of like music from a parallel universe. It's pretty out there, so that was part of it, too.

King Crimson: Peter Sinfield came up with it as a synonym for Beelzebub.

Jason

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Glad to hear U2 wasn't just based on a Prince song.

The Lockheed U2 dates from the 1950's. You figure it out.

 

[Tony-B]

Puffy Flumpkin! Get back in testy! We miss you!

 

[Mike Broadman]

But the real mystery has got to be - where did THE BAND get that name from?

They got famous as being "the band" that played with Bob Dylan.

 

[Michael Hall]

Now for the "industrial" portion of the evening...

Ministry: named after the old movie "The Ministry of Fear"

Skinny Puppy: an animal rights reference; refers to the dog that is normally quiet but when backed into a corner becomes abnormally defensive.

Front 242: the 242 was chosen because it "looks cool in any language"

Foetus: Jim Thirlwell (the man behind the music) said that it was the basest thing he could get at; we all start as one.

Die Warzau: named after an orchestra from WWII era-Poland called the "Die Warsau Synfony"

...and not industrial, but something else entirely

Dead Kennedys: fairly obvious

Alice in Chains: rumor had it that they were named after a lost episode of "The Brady Bunch." I have no idea if this is actually true, but given their sense of humor, it would not surprise me a bit.

Mr. Bungle: as mentioned earlier, the name came from the old puppet film shown on "Pee Wee's Playhouse", but after Mike Patton met Billy Gould (when Patton joined FNM), Gould showed him an "adult film" which had a character named Mr. Bungle in it. I want to say it was a "Buttman" video, but I don't know for sure. I'm sure Caca Volante people know the name of it. The actual samples on "The Girls of Porn" from the self-titled CD come from this film.

 

[Jeremiah]

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Jimi uses the word Experience to refer to an Acid trip or an Experience, and when you listen to Jimi Hendrix on Acid you get the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

I didn't know about Mr. Bungle(thanks), in their first CD they have excerps from the puppet show, "...His hair was messy and his hands were dirty, but Mr. Bungle didn't stop to wash his hands, or comb his hair, he went right to lunch." "Phil knew that a Mr. Bungle...."

 

[BrianB]

Maybe you're thinking of UB40, which I believe is a British tax form.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, UB40 was the form used for claiming unemployment benefit in the late 70s/early 80s in the UK. The band claim to have met in line at an unemployment office too, but I have my doubts about that

 

[Dennis]

Were U2 in fact named after the US spyplane?

I also heard that they meant that "you too" can join the band, in reference to seeing/being with them live.

 

[MartinTeller]

One of my favorites, and I love all the variations he's used over the years:

You've Got Foetus On Your Breath
Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel
Foetus Art Terrorism
Foetus Uber Frisco
Foetus Under Glass
The Foetus All-Nude Revue
Foetus Interruptus
Foetus Corruptus
Foetus is Excelsis Corruptus Deluxe
Phillip and his Foetus Vibrations
The Foetus of Excellence
Foetus, Inc.


I was kind of disappointed when he eventually decided to stick with just "Foetus". I'd always looked forward to seeing what he'd come up with next.

 

[andrew markworthy]

U2 - the original inspiration was supposedly a hearing aid shop of that name, but the association with the spy plane and of course the very obvious puns that can be made with the name made it stick.

Marillion - Named after Tolkein's 'Silmarillion' with the first three letters removed.

Oasis - supposedly after the Oasis Sauna/Massage Parlour in Manchester (though there are other theories).

Steely Dan - definitely not named after Steeleye Span. Named, as has been said, after a sharpened metal dildo (ouch!) in Burrough's 'The Naked Lunch'.

Steeleye Span - named after a character in an old folk song.

Elton John - Mr Dwight renamed himself after Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

Beatles - Quite simply, a pun. Nothing more to it than that.

Durutti Column - named after an early 20th century art movement.

Art of Noise - again, named after an early 20th century art and music movement.

Half Man Half Biscuit - allegedly named after an insulting description of on Andrew Lloyd Weber.

Abba - were indeed named after the initial letters of the group members' first names. It's also the name of a large fish canning factory in Sweden (any of you who shop at IKEA may have encountered their stuff in the supermarket section). When first formed, the group had to approach the factory for permission to use the name.

Pet Shop Boys - named after friends of the band who lived above a pet store. The band thought it sounded like a surreal rap act. Tales that it's named after an obscene sexual practice involving hamsters or other small rodents are vigorously (and IMHO plausibly) denied by the band members.

Def Leppard - it's my understanding that it's a play on the name 'Led Zeppelin'.

 

[GuruAskew]

U2 - the original inspiration was supposedly a hearing aid shop of that name

You're confused. The name of the hearing aid shop was Bonovox. This is where Paul Hewson got the name "Bono".

 

[andrew markworthy]

You're confused. The name of the hearing aid shop was Bonovox. This is where Paul Hewson got the name "Bono".

Bill, thanks for that. I was citing something I read, which was clearly *way* off the mark.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Pet Shop Boys - named after friends of the band who lived above a pet store.

I thought it was simply because the two first met in a pet shop?

 

[andrew markworthy]

I thought it was simply because the two first met in a pet shop?

No - Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a music shop.

 

[Henry Gale]

STANLEY AUGUSTUS OWSLEY III provided us with a little pill called BLUE CHEER. The band enjoyed it so much they took the name.

 

[michael_mo]

I heard multiple explainations of NIN over the years. The two most common were
1.(as mentioned above) that they used nine inch nails to nail JC into the cross. (although i never heard anyone confirm a biblical reference to this. Maybe it was just a common practice of roman crucifixion)
2. Supposively, they use nine inch nails to secure the top of a wooden coffin.

I know there is another good explaination, but I have forgot it over the last 10 years that Trent has been nonexistant.

Black Sabbath was from an obscure movie of the same name.