Post by sarah on Oct 2, 2006 14:19:06 GMT -5
The origins of band names. A lot of these I knew, but still interesting...
Pink Floyd (formerly The Abdabs) named after Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, two old blues men. This story has not been confirmed, especially by the great Mr Barrett, and there is another theory that they were named after two cats called Pink and Floyd that used to share his flat at the time
Steely Dan named after giant dildo in William Burroughs' 'The Naked Lunch'
Soft Machine name of William Burroughs novel Matching Mole 'machine meule' is French for 'Soft Machine'
10CC apparently the average male ejaculation is 9.7cc
Mogwai name of a gremlin in 'Gremlins'
Joy Division name given to group of Jewish women forced into sex with leading Nazis
REM stands for 'rapid eye movements' - that occur while sleeper is dreaming
The Doors after Aldous Huxley's 'The Doors of Perception', itself a quote from William Blake
Procol Harum (formerly The Paramounts) named after a friend's cat - a misspelling of Latin for 'beyond these things'
The Who (formerly The High Numbers) while trying to come up with a new name, someone couldn't hear what someone else had said and asked "the who?" and Bobs your uncle
Ned's Atomic Dustbin they found the phrase in an old 'Goon Show' script. They decided against one or two other possible names from the same source including The Spy and The Pink Oboe
The Beatles (formerly The Silver Beatles) a clever pun on the words 'beetles' and 'beat' (they wanted the beetles bit as they were fans of Buddy Holly who had The Crickets)
XTC (formerly The Helium Kidz) in an old film Jimmy Durante, in his immaculate accent, says "I'm in ecstasy"
Tin Lizzy Irish pronunciation of 'Thin Lizzy', a Beano character
The Lightning Seeds from a misheard line in Prince's 'Raspberry Beret' - it really goes 'The thunder drowns out what the lightning sees'
Starsailor after Tim Buckley album
Deep Purple (formerly Roundabout) Ritchie Blackmore's granny's favourite song
Depeche Mode named after a French fashion magazine ('Fast Fashion')
Led Zeppelin (formerly The New Yardbirds) given their name by Keith Moon - "That went down like a lead zeppelin"
Fine Young Cannibals after the film 'All The Fine Young Cannibals', which starred Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner
Duran Duran Milo O'Shea's character in 'Barbarella'
Madness (formerly The Invaders) their name came from the Prince Buster song that they covered in their act
Arab Strap a sex aid
Gigolo Aunts after a Syd Barrett song
Octopus after a Syd Barrett song
Uriah Heep After the Dickens character (along with Saxon, they were the alleged inspiration for Spinal Tap)
Was Not Was should be pronounced "was not was" not "was not was"
Echo And The Bunnymen Echo was the name of their drum machine
The Pet Shop Boys According to someone at their website who wrote to us, their name has nothing to do with the sexual practice of pet shopping which involves a hamster and a length of tubing (see under Gere, R), but from some friends of theirs who owned a pet shop
The Waterboys taken from a line in Lou Reed's song 'The Kids'
Right Said Fred named after a Bernard Cribbins song (alas. they could never even come close to his genius)
Lilac Time from lyric to Nick Drake's 'The Riverman'
Jethro Tull 18th century inventor of a seed drill
Marillion shortened from 'The Silmarillion' J.R.R.R.R.R.Tolkein's last book
Deacon Blue the name of a Steely Dan song
Badfinger (formerly The Iveys) 'Bad Finger Boogie' was the original title of The Beatles' 'With a little help from my friends', John Lennon wanted to call them Glass Onion
Saint Ettiene named after the crap French football club
U2 named after American reconnaissance plane - thanks to Vortex for correcting us (Bono is named after Bono Box - a hearing aid)
B-52s named after a hairdo, which was named after a bomber
Bay City Rollers they chose the name Bay City after an American town they found on a map - they wanted to sound like they were American
UB40 the number of the dole card
The Boo Radleys named after a character in 'To Kill A Mockingbird'
13th Floor Elevators US buildings have no 13th floor
The Hollies named after Buddy Holly
Iron Maiden mediaeval torture contraption (it can't have been much worse than their music)
Hatfield And The North legendary road sign on the A1 on leaving London
Yo La Tengo Spanish for "I've got it"
Mungo Jerry the name of a cat in one of T S Elliot's poems
Dexy's Midnight Runners named after the speed tablets favoured by Northern Soul fans
The Velvet Underground (formerly the Falling Spikes and the Warlocks) named after a book by Michael Leigh about sleazy American suburban sex
Aswad Arabic for black
The Soup Dragons after creature in 'The Clangers'
Frankie Goes To Hollywood after a newspaper headline from a cutting pinned up on their rehearsal room wall - it referred to Frank Sinatra getting mobbed by teenyboppers as he arrived at the airport
Burning Spear inspired by a phrase coined by Jomo Kenyatta
The Boomtown Rats (formerly Mark Skid And The Y-Fronts) from Woody Guthrie's autobiography 'Bound For Glory' - someone in it refers to: "A pack of mangy curs; boom town rats"
The Pogues from 'Pog ma thon' (anglicised as 'Pogue Mahone', their original name) - Irish Gaelic for 'Kiss my arse'
Booker T And The MGs - Booker T (Jones) And The Memphis Group
Radiohead after a track from Talking Heads' 'True Stories'
Husker Du after a Scandinavian board game - it means; 'Do you remember?'
Buffalo Springfield after a steam traction engine - none of them came from Buffalo or Springfield
The Rolling Stones after the Muddy Waters track 'Rollin' Stone'
Sham 69 after a bit of faded graffiti (referring to their home town) saying 'Hersham 69' - they liked the connotation that the 'Love and Peace' movement of the late 60s was a sham
Oasis after the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon!
Level 42 did in fact name themselves after the Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe & Everything (Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy)
The Police Stewart Copeland named them that for free publicity, after noticing a police car in his rear-view mirror
Veruca Salt one of the children from Roald Dahl's Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
They Might Be Giants from the movie of the same name, starring George C Scott and Joanne Woodward
Everything But The Girl from the advertising slogan of Turners, furniture shop in Hull
T'Pau name of a character in a Star Trek episode called Amok Time
Professor Harbottle's Encyclopedia of Brilliant Things
www.professorharbottle.co.uk/rockname.html
Pink Floyd (formerly The Abdabs) named after Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, two old blues men. This story has not been confirmed, especially by the great Mr Barrett, and there is another theory that they were named after two cats called Pink and Floyd that used to share his flat at the time
Steely Dan named after giant dildo in William Burroughs' 'The Naked Lunch'
Soft Machine name of William Burroughs novel Matching Mole 'machine meule' is French for 'Soft Machine'
10CC apparently the average male ejaculation is 9.7cc
Mogwai name of a gremlin in 'Gremlins'
Joy Division name given to group of Jewish women forced into sex with leading Nazis
REM stands for 'rapid eye movements' - that occur while sleeper is dreaming
The Doors after Aldous Huxley's 'The Doors of Perception', itself a quote from William Blake
Procol Harum (formerly The Paramounts) named after a friend's cat - a misspelling of Latin for 'beyond these things'
The Who (formerly The High Numbers) while trying to come up with a new name, someone couldn't hear what someone else had said and asked "the who?" and Bobs your uncle
Ned's Atomic Dustbin they found the phrase in an old 'Goon Show' script. They decided against one or two other possible names from the same source including The Spy and The Pink Oboe
The Beatles (formerly The Silver Beatles) a clever pun on the words 'beetles' and 'beat' (they wanted the beetles bit as they were fans of Buddy Holly who had The Crickets)
XTC (formerly The Helium Kidz) in an old film Jimmy Durante, in his immaculate accent, says "I'm in ecstasy"
Tin Lizzy Irish pronunciation of 'Thin Lizzy', a Beano character
The Lightning Seeds from a misheard line in Prince's 'Raspberry Beret' - it really goes 'The thunder drowns out what the lightning sees'
Starsailor after Tim Buckley album
Deep Purple (formerly Roundabout) Ritchie Blackmore's granny's favourite song
Depeche Mode named after a French fashion magazine ('Fast Fashion')
Led Zeppelin (formerly The New Yardbirds) given their name by Keith Moon - "That went down like a lead zeppelin"
Fine Young Cannibals after the film 'All The Fine Young Cannibals', which starred Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner
Duran Duran Milo O'Shea's character in 'Barbarella'
Madness (formerly The Invaders) their name came from the Prince Buster song that they covered in their act
Arab Strap a sex aid
Gigolo Aunts after a Syd Barrett song
Octopus after a Syd Barrett song
Uriah Heep After the Dickens character (along with Saxon, they were the alleged inspiration for Spinal Tap)
Was Not Was should be pronounced "was not was" not "was not was"
Echo And The Bunnymen Echo was the name of their drum machine
The Pet Shop Boys According to someone at their website who wrote to us, their name has nothing to do with the sexual practice of pet shopping which involves a hamster and a length of tubing (see under Gere, R), but from some friends of theirs who owned a pet shop
The Waterboys taken from a line in Lou Reed's song 'The Kids'
Right Said Fred named after a Bernard Cribbins song (alas. they could never even come close to his genius)
Lilac Time from lyric to Nick Drake's 'The Riverman'
Jethro Tull 18th century inventor of a seed drill
Marillion shortened from 'The Silmarillion' J.R.R.R.R.R.Tolkein's last book
Deacon Blue the name of a Steely Dan song
Badfinger (formerly The Iveys) 'Bad Finger Boogie' was the original title of The Beatles' 'With a little help from my friends', John Lennon wanted to call them Glass Onion
Saint Ettiene named after the crap French football club
U2 named after American reconnaissance plane - thanks to Vortex for correcting us (Bono is named after Bono Box - a hearing aid)
B-52s named after a hairdo, which was named after a bomber
Bay City Rollers they chose the name Bay City after an American town they found on a map - they wanted to sound like they were American
UB40 the number of the dole card
The Boo Radleys named after a character in 'To Kill A Mockingbird'
13th Floor Elevators US buildings have no 13th floor
The Hollies named after Buddy Holly
Iron Maiden mediaeval torture contraption (it can't have been much worse than their music)
Hatfield And The North legendary road sign on the A1 on leaving London
Yo La Tengo Spanish for "I've got it"
Mungo Jerry the name of a cat in one of T S Elliot's poems
Dexy's Midnight Runners named after the speed tablets favoured by Northern Soul fans
The Velvet Underground (formerly the Falling Spikes and the Warlocks) named after a book by Michael Leigh about sleazy American suburban sex
Aswad Arabic for black
The Soup Dragons after creature in 'The Clangers'
Frankie Goes To Hollywood after a newspaper headline from a cutting pinned up on their rehearsal room wall - it referred to Frank Sinatra getting mobbed by teenyboppers as he arrived at the airport
Burning Spear inspired by a phrase coined by Jomo Kenyatta
The Boomtown Rats (formerly Mark Skid And The Y-Fronts) from Woody Guthrie's autobiography 'Bound For Glory' - someone in it refers to: "A pack of mangy curs; boom town rats"
The Pogues from 'Pog ma thon' (anglicised as 'Pogue Mahone', their original name) - Irish Gaelic for 'Kiss my arse'
Booker T And The MGs - Booker T (Jones) And The Memphis Group
Radiohead after a track from Talking Heads' 'True Stories'
Husker Du after a Scandinavian board game - it means; 'Do you remember?'
Buffalo Springfield after a steam traction engine - none of them came from Buffalo or Springfield
The Rolling Stones after the Muddy Waters track 'Rollin' Stone'
Sham 69 after a bit of faded graffiti (referring to their home town) saying 'Hersham 69' - they liked the connotation that the 'Love and Peace' movement of the late 60s was a sham
Oasis after the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon!
Level 42 did in fact name themselves after the Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe & Everything (Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy)
The Police Stewart Copeland named them that for free publicity, after noticing a police car in his rear-view mirror
Veruca Salt one of the children from Roald Dahl's Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
They Might Be Giants from the movie of the same name, starring George C Scott and Joanne Woodward
Everything But The Girl from the advertising slogan of Turners, furniture shop in Hull
T'Pau name of a character in a Star Trek episode called Amok Time
Professor Harbottle's Encyclopedia of Brilliant Things
www.professorharbottle.co.uk/rockname.html