How did bands acquire their names?

[mikeyboy]

Simple minds - named after the line 'she's so simple minded' from bowie's jean genie.

Im sure the group that Jim Kerr was in before Simple Minds was called -
Johnny & The Self Abusers!!

yeah they were called that. top band name.ha.

 

[shadygiz]

sex pistols - malcolm maclaren wanted to get the name of his adult clothing shop (SEX) into his new group name

iron maiden - named after a medieval torture device used in a film

Motorhead - slang name for amphetemine

NWA - self explanatory

scissor sisters - named after a lesbian sex position

inspiral carpets - named after a shop

james - named after the bassist best mate who convinced him to buy a guitar

 

[manclad]

sex pistols - malcolm maclaren wanted to get the name of his adult clothing shop (SEX) into his new group name

iron maiden - named after a medieval torture device used in a film

Motorhead - slang name for amphetemine

NWA - self explanatory

scissor sisters - named after a lesbian sex position

inspiral carpets - named after a shop

james - named after the bassist best mate who convinced him to buy a guitar

The shop that the Inspiral Carpets are named after is Carpet World - cos if you look at their logo it's a spiral carpet.

A LESBIAN SEX POSITION - I think I'll be like Queen Victoria & refuse to acknowledge that such things even exist.

 

[Hollywood Blue]

james - named after the bassist best mate who convinced him to buy a guitar

That's anew one.
Long time James fan and I've heard a couple of other theories.
The first that Jim started the band up and named it after himself.
The other is that it was named after James Kirk from Orange Juice

 

[shadygiz]

frankie goes to hollywood - named after a newspaper headline in the LA times stating frank sinatra had moved to california

the cure - orginally called easy cure, then changed name

afrika bambaataa - changed his name after a visit to africa and was inspired by an african chief named bhambatha

 

[The Pink Panther]

T'Pau....Named after Mr Spocks mother in Star Trek

 

[manclad]

Rolling Stones - Muddy Waters song?
Fine Young Cannibals - film - All The Fine Young Cannibals.
Sham 69 - graffitti in the Hersham area of London
Small Faces - they were all small in stature & all wanted to be well known "faces"

 

[OB1]

Lynyrd Skynyrd - named after their gym teacher Leonard Skinner

Led Zeppelin - after Keith Moon told them they would go down like a lead...they started off as New Yardbirds.

Boston - after their home town; see also Kansas

Guns n Roses - after original members Axl Rose and Tracii Guns

Van Halen - David Lee Roth actually chose the name: they started out as Mammoth.

Reef - anagram of their fav band Free.

 

[mikeyboy]

Rolling Stones - Muddy Waters song?
Fine Young Cannibals - film - All The Fine Young Cannibals.
Sham 69 - graffitti in the Hersham area of London
Small Faces - they were all small in stature & all wanted to be well known "faces"

yeah remember seeing a documentary about the band.wasn't it graffitti about hersham winning the league or something in 1969 but it had faded away a bit to leave just 'sham 69' on the wall.

 

[mikeyboy]

Black Sabbath - named after the boris karloff film 'black sabbath'. they used to be called 'earth', but they wanted a scary name to go with their scary brand of music.

 

[manclad]

Ultravox - latin for beyond voice
Thompson Twins - from Herges "Adventures of Tin Tin"
Level 42 - from The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy
Deacon Blue-from a Steely Dan song -Deacon Blues

 

[manclad]

Just seen the thread about your favourite Madness song so

Madness - Prince Buster(Prince Bustamente) song
and
Pogues- gaelic for "Kiss My Arse"(Pogue Mahone)

 

[RobertHough1]

Killers - named after a ficticious band that feature in a New Order Video.

 

[Thanx4Knives]

Screaming Trees - Named after a distortion pedal

Mad Season - Named afte the time of the year in which Mushrooms grow.

Get cape wear cape fly - named after a cheat to an old Batman computer game.

Janes Addiction - The band was dubbed "Jane's Addiction" in honor of Farrell's housemate, Jane Bainter, who was heavily addicted to drugs, and to the famous researcher, Jane Goodall, whose addiction to finding new things they rightfully respect.

 

[jay66uk]

iron maiden - named after a medieval torture device used in a film

Main reason, though, being that they were big West Ham fans - Irons - and they picked a suitable name that conveyed that.

The Beautiful South - from Hull - named themselves as an ironic parody of the north/south divide thing. It's grim up north but its the beautiful south.

 

[shadygiz]

Led Zeppelin - after Keith Moon told them they would go down like a lead...they started off as New Yardbirds.

yeah, he said they would go down like a lead balloon, but they changed the name to "led" to stop the yanks mis-pronouncing the band name

 

[shadygiz]

iron maiden - named after a medieval torture device used in a film

Main reason, though, being that they were big West Ham fans - Irons - and they picked a suitable name that conveyed that.

thought it was also the fact that nico's fav film was "the man in the iron mask" and the iron maiden was used in the film

 

[Joliet Jake Blues]

10cc - the average amount of semen ejaculated is 9.5cc & they were "above average"

Ditto The Lovin' Spoonful

Remember when the Pistols were banned from just about everywhere and tried to tour as The Spots ( Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly)?

Procol Harum cod-Latin for "beyond this place" but actually the name of Keith Reed's friend's cat.

The Pretty Things - Bo Diddley song, "Oh you pretty thing"

 

[bada bing]

Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club

named after Marlon Brando's biker gang in The Wild One.

 

[manclad]

Yardbirds - the nickname of Charlie Parker was Bird or Yardbird.
Wet Wet Wet - from the Scritti Politti song Getting.Having & Holding.
Scritti Politti - Italian for" political writings".
Blow Monkeys - Aboriginal slang for a Didgeridoo player.