BY MIKEY MIGO
I've always had an interest in why and how a band gets their name. The name of a band is sometimes the first thing someone sees and for the most part it gives the instant vibe of what the band could possibly sound like. That's not really the case all of the time because sometimes something obscure will suit a band just fine. Half the fun is knowing where it begins. What inspired the artist to adopt a moniker is always a fun trivia discussion with fellow music fans.
In this specific case, I got to thinking about all the bands who have taken inspiration from films. Some bands just completely adopt a movie title as their name. There's a local Chicago area band that have named themselves "Chasing Amy". Being a huge Kevin Smith fan, they have already gotten my attention. I've not heard them yet, but their name makes me a bit more open to it. That's the case with a lot of bands. If a band is named "Sex, Coffee, and Cigarettes" then I can honestly say that I'd listen to them at least once. I love all three of those things so I like where they're coming from.
Here are ten bands who have taken inspiration from a film in terms of naming their band:
Wu-Tang Clan ("Shaolin and Wu-Tang")
The story goes that RZA and ODB were big kung fu fans and took the name for their super group from the movie "Shaolin and Wu-Tang". If you've listened to the Wu for more than 10 minutes, you'll hear they still haven't strayed from their original obsession. A lot of their work is inspired by kung fu flicks and themes. It's worked out, I'd say, pretty damn well for the group.
Veruca Salt("Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory")
I miss this 90's band. The Chicago group named themselves after the spoiled rich girl character from Willy Wonka. Veruca Salt was the "Bad Nut" of the movie, but a "bad ass" band.
Black Sabbath
Originally named "Earth", the band came into a problem when they started getting confused for another English band with the same name. Around the same time, the Boris Karloff movie "Black Sabbath" was playing across their rehearsal spot. The line of fans inspired Geezer Butler to lay down the song with the same title. The success and surprise of the darker toned song really got them in the direction that we're all used to today. From there, they offer an alternative to the hippy music with their dark and "Satanic" toned material. Thank Jebus that theatre wasn't showing a Shirley Temple movie or one of the biggest hard rock bands of all time could have been called "Wee Willie Winkie", which actually sounds a bit scarier now that I think about it.
Radiohead ("True Stories")
This one is sort of a stretch as David Byrne's "True Stories" was a movie AND an album. The song "Radiohead" is one of the more underappreciated Talking Head songs. This is a weird connection. I am a fan of both bands(and the movie), but I don't see a musical connection between the two. I can't fault Radiohead for good taste though.
White Zombie
Rob Zombie and the people in this trailblazing band were really into horror films, Halloween, and all things spooky and eccentric. From this came the name "White Zombie", taken from an old Bela Lugosi film. This works simply because I couldn't imagine the band under any other name.
Save Ferris ("Ferris Buellers Day Off")
Besides having that song from the movie "10 Things I Hate About You", they obviously took their name from the film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". I couldn't find any more information about this SoCal band's connection to the John Hughes classic. I'd assume at least someone in the band is a huge fan of the movie or they're just being ironic. Either way, in this case the band's name is cooler than the band.
Misfits ("The Misfits")
It's hard to believe this vile punk act is named after a Clark Gable/Marilyn Monroe film from 1961. I guess since it was Monroe's last movie it has some "edge" to it, but still. The band's movie love doesn't stop there. Besides songs, they had the label of "Plan 9 Records" named after the comically bad "Plan 9 from Outer Space". That sci-fi horror flick makes much more sense than borrowing from a Monroe movie.
Atreyu ("Neverending Story")
They originally used the very original name of "Retribution" until they found out there was another band from their area with the same time. Not to count the other hundred "Retributions" surely in dive bars near you. So they went with the main character's name "Atreyu" from the movie "The Neverending Story".
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ("The Wild One")
I didn't know this one until approaching this column. The band's name is taken from Marlon Brando's 1953 film "The Wild One". In the movie, Brando's gang is called "Black Rebels Motorcycle Club". So they made "Rebels" singular as opposed to plural.
Dynamite Hack ("Caddyshack")
The not so known, other than their "oh so witty" cover of Easy E's "Boyz-n-the-Hood", Dynamite Hack has a really cool name origin. In the great film, "Caddyshack", Bill Murray describes the weed he's smoking to Chevy Chase as "dynamite hack". This is another case of the band's name being better than the band itself. It's sorta upsetting that such a cool name is wasted on a "barely one hit wonder".
Surely I missed a few and I'm SURE that I'll be told that my list is discredited for not including (place band I probably don't care about anyway here).
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