Top 10 Bands with the Most Interesting Band Name Etymologies
You've probably heard these band names a hundred times. Maybe you've got their songs stuck in your head, or you've got a T-shirt with their logo. But have you ever stopped to wonder how they landed on that name in the first place? "Band name etymology" is just a fancy way of saying, "How the heck did they come up with that?"
Some stories are wild. Some are dumb luck. Some are inside jokes that somehow turned into arena-filling legacies. It's not always deep, and it's rarely what you'd expect. A typo, a misheard phrase, a sarcastic comment during rehearsal. Suddenly, it ends up on an album cover and gets chanted by thousands. That's the kind of chaos we're celebrating here.
This list is all about the most eyebrow-raising, head-scratching, or laugh-out-loud origin stories behind band names. The ones that make you say, "Wait, seriously?" You can vote for the ones you think deserve to be at the top. Maybe it's the weirdest. Maybe it's the cleverest. Or maybe it's just so perfectly stupid that you can't help but love it.
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Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies are a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The current members are Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, and Tyler Stewart. Steven Page, a founding member and co-lead singer, left the band in 2009 to pursue a solo career.... read more
Two friends and aspiring musicians, Steven Page and Ed Robertson, were bored at a Bob Dylan concert and entertained each other by inventing fictional band names, one of which was Barenaked Ladies.
Ed had a band that was supposed to perform in a battle of the bands, but his band broke up, and he forgot about the gig. A week before the show, he received a call asking to confirm the gig. He improvised that the band name had changed to "Barenaked Ladies," recalling it from the Dylan concert. He then called Steven and asked if he wanted to do the gig. Steven agreed but couldn't believe Ed had given that name.
To prepare for the gig, they scheduled three rehearsals but missed them all. Nevertheless, the two played the show. Instead of competing, they performed while the other bands set up, playing every song they both knew. Surprisingly, the show went well, and they continued as Barenaked Ladies and invited more musicians.
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Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin was an English hard rock band formed in London in 1968 as the New Yardbirds. The group consisted of Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitar), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboard), and John Bonham (drums). The band was largely the brainchild of Jimmy Page, who even financed their first tour... read more
Led Zeppelin refers to the Hindenburg disaster and originated from a joke made by Keith Moon and John Entwistle, members of The Who. The two were discussing the idea of forming a supergroup containing themselves, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck.
Moon and Entwistle thought such a band would go down like a "lead balloon" (a British idiom for disastrous results). The name was intentionally misspelled to ensure correct pronunciation by announcers.
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AC/DC
AC/DC is an Australian hard rock band founded in November 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Bon Scott was the lead singer until his death in 1980 from alcohol poisoning. He was succeeded by Brian Johnson.
The band is known for its blues-influenced rock sound and enduring hits such as Highway... read more
Malcolm and Angus Young's sister saw "AC/DC" on an electric sewing machine and said, "Why not AC/DC?"
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311
311 is the police code for indecent exposure in Omaha, Nebraska. One day, bassist P-Nut and some friends went skinny dipping in a public pool. The police arrested one of the friends, Jim Watson. He was cuffed (naked) and taken home to his parents. The band found the incident amusing, so they based their name on it.
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Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler, his younger brother David Knopfler, John Illsley, and Pick Withers. The band is known for its clean sound, literate lyrics, and hit songs like Sultans of Swing and Money for Nothing. Dire Straits disbanded in 1995 but remain influential... read more
The name comes from the band's financial situation at the time of forming.
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R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by lead singer Michael Stipe, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. They released their debut single, Radio Free Europe, in 1981 on the independent I.R.S. Records label... read more
R.E.M. is an acronym for rapid eye movement, the dream stage of sleep. Stipe selected it at random from a dictionary.
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Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. The band was formed in 1983 by guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson, shortly after Mustaine was dismissed from Metallica. They have released 16 studio albums to date and have undergone numerous lineup changes, with... read more
Dave Mustaine got kicked out of Metallica and was traveling on a bus. To pass the time, he started writing lyrics on the back of a handbill. The handbill itself quoted, "The arsenal of megadeath can't be rid, no matter what the peace treaties come to."
This inspired him to use Megadeath as his band name, but he dropped the "A" in "Death."
Fun fact: One of the former band names for Pink Floyd was "The Meggadeaths."
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Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath were a heavy metal band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1968 by guitarist and songwriter Tony Iommi, singer John "Ozzy" Osbourne, bassist and main lyricist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward. Their self-titled debut album received mixed reviews, but they quickly gained a strong following... read more
Originally, their name was Earth, but there was another group with the same name, so they had to change it. One day, they saw a cinema playing a film titled Black Sabbath. They couldn't believe people paid money to be frightened, but decided to use Black Sabbath as their new name.
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Drummer
Because all of the band members were drummers for other bands. LOL.
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Green Day
Green Day are an American pop punk and punk rock band formed in East Bay, California, in 1987. The core members are Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass), and Tré Cool (drums), with Jason White often performing live on guitar. They blend punk rock, pop punk, and alternative rock, drawing... read more
Originally, they were "Sweet Children" until Billie Joe Armstrong wrote a song called "Green Day." "Green day" is slang for spending a day smoking marijuana, and the song was about Joe's first experience with the drug.
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The Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The band consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and drummer Mike Joyce. They became one of the most influential bands of the 1980s, known for their distinct blend of jangly guitar pop and introspective... read more
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The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The first settled line-up consisted of Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), Ian Stewart (piano), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar), Bill Wyman (bass), and Charlie Watts (drums).... read more
When Brian Jones was on the phone with Jazz News magazine, the man on the phone asked for the band's name. Brian realized they didn't have one, so he looked around the room for inspiration and saw a Muddy Waters LP on the floor. One of the songs was "Rollin' Stone," so he told the guy they were the Rollin' Stones (the "g" was added soon after).
I have always found it interesting that something originally meant as a placeholder ended up sticking in public consciousness and becoming one of the most recognizable band names.
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Architecture in Helsinki
Lead singer Cameron Bird came up with this name by cutting up words out of a newspaper and rearranging them on a table until something jumped out at him.
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Jets to Brazil
Rumor has it that drummer Chris Daly saw it on a poster in the Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany's.