BY MIKEY MIGO
A band's name is something that should be taken seriously. It's the combination of letters (and sometimes numbers) that will appear on your music for years to come. It's what will be on top of your multimillion dollar recording contract. And most importantly it'll be what the fans chant when wanting an encore. But still it's even much more than that. It's an identity. The mental connection of the name a band uses is sometimes a definitive way of knowing the style of the musician's work.
Some of the most famous bands and performers in history have really obscure names. But with time, these bands put out music that overshadowed their name and made it acceptable and in a lot of cases house hold names. Would you honestly think though that if Nirvana was named "Puddle of Mudd" they'd have the same chance as others? How about KISS being the rock superstars they are with a name like "Smooch"? Not very likely. An interesting part of a most interviews I've seen in my life have been when a band talks about the origin of their name. It's not only cool to know, but a bit of insight of where their creative roots start.
INSPIRED BY WAR:
ANTHRAX
The Name: If you've been alive through the early part of this century you know what anthrax is. It's that's dangerous powder that kills people.
B-52's
The Name: The women of the band both have these huge Marge Simpsons like beehive hair styles. The hairstyle it's self is called a "B-52" after a larger bomber US Air Force Bomber plane.
FOO FIGHTERS
The Name: Before doing research, I had always thought the name had something to do with a food fight, boy was I wrong. The name is a term that World War II pilots used to describe strange flying fireballs they sometimes encountered.
INSPIRED BY MOVIES/TV/PRINT:
BLACK SABBATH
The Name: The name is from a 1960s cheap horror movie starring Boris Karloff. A movie about a holy day of witchcraft. So yeah, he's always been the Prince of Darkness.
DEPECHE MODE
The Name: It was picked from the name of a fashion magazine, meaning hurry up fashion. If they mean as in 80's fashion then I now hate them for ruining my childhood. If they're talking about it metaphorically with music then rock on because they were very ahead of their time and still rock.
THE DOORS
The Name: I learned this from the movie. Val Kilmer.. I mean... 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. Things like this is why The Doors rock and will always do so.
SAVAGE GARDEN
The Name: It's a phrase from an Anne Rice novel "Interview With The Vampire." While it's one of my favorite books AND favorite movies, the band shouldn't be using something so cool due to their lack of cool music. *shakes fist*
THE BLOODHOUND GANG
The Name: "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.
WHITE ZOMBIE
The Name: "White Zombie" is a classic horror movie starring legendary Bella Lugosi. I recently had the pleasure of getting my hands on this flick and it's awesome. I can completely understand the influence.
TOAD THE WET SPROCKET
The Name: The name is from a skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus which is about a weird rock band. Make sense to me.
INSPIRED BY OTHER PEOPLE'S MUSIC:
BUCK CHERRY
The Name: It's not for sure, but if you think about it there's one great possibility. Look at the name "Chuck Berry." Mix it up just a little and there you have it.
RADIOHEAD
The Name: There was a song by Talking Heads' long before the band named "Radio Head." I like Radio Head, but they my friends are most certainly not Talking Heads'. Then again, no one is...
SIMPLE MINDS
The Name: They were already on my good side because of making the theme song for The Breakfast Club, but they are now even cooler in my book. Their name is taken from a line in the David Bowie song "Jean Genie." Emilio Estavez and David Bowie? Yeah.
NOTHING THAT SPECIAL, BUT KINDA COOL... I GUESS:
BACKSTREET BOYS
The Name: The Backstreet Market was a store in Florida where the guys used to hang out. The contents of what the store sells, and more importantly the sexuality of these said items is still up in the air.
BAUHAUS
The Name: These guys are artsy and creative. I would assume this is why they named their band after a graphic art style and a famous architecture school.
THE BEE GEES
The Name: Originally they were just called "The Brothers Gibb." People got lazy and just started calling them the BG's. The band got off their asses and then added some "E's." "E" for Easy Listening, baby!
FAITH NO MORE
The Name: The band found the name in a horse racing listing. If I were old enough to gamble at the time, I'd have soooooo blown my allowance on that horse. And then when he lost, I'd support the cause and buy some glue to glue my piggy bank back together.
KMFDM
The Name: The name is really "KEIN MEHRHEIT FÃœR DIE MITLEID", which loosely translates as "no sympathy for the majority." When Raymond Watts joined the band he would never say it right and just called it by the initials. Way to Mr. Watts! You made people's lives in my country so easy.
LL COOL J
The Name: Unless you live under a rock you'd know that "LL Cool J" stands for "Ladies Love Cool James." I'm no lady. (looks down) Nope. Not a lady, but I love the man's music if that counts. I still get chills for a live performance of "Mama Said Knock You Out."
DAVID BOWIE
The Name: Mr. Bowie did not want to experience extreme mocking. He was born David Jones, he changed his name to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of THE MONKEES. I love me some Monkees, but Bowie is on a different level then the "Daydream Believer" guys.
WEEZER
The Name: When Rivers Cuomo was a kid his nickname was "Weezer" due to a breathing problem. He showed those bitches!
ODDBALL NAMES:
ALICE IN CHAINS
The Name: There's this rumor out there that they came up with their named based on a "lost episode" of The Brady Bunch.
CHUMBAWAMBA
The Name: So get this one. Apparently a band member had a dream in which the public bathrooms said "Chumba" and "Wamba" instead of "Men" and "Women."
DYNAMITE HACK
The Name: Stolen completely from Caddyshack. If you watch you'll hear marijuana referred to as "dynamite hack."
PEARL JAM
The Name: From what I've been told and know the band originally wanted to be called "Mookie Blaylock" in honor of the NBA star at the time. Blaylock wouldn't allow it so they went with this nick name of "Pearl Jam." Those damn grunge kids and their inane basketball favorites. They should have just went the Gnarls Barkley route and went with "Spookie Blaylock".
|
