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Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Anonymous — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 04:58:15 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/03/2011 08:58

Norman Bates wrote:

Captain_Dude wrote:

Depeche Mode - Means "hurry up fashion"

Depeche Mode is the name of a French fashion magazine. In this case "Depeche" is not "hurry up" but "piece of news".

I have just looked this up and you are right, the band is named after the French fashion magazine.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

kidamnesiac — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 04:06:08 GMT

Author: kidamnesiac

Posted: 09/03/2011 08:06

someone already said that pearl jam came from someones aunt who made jam or something.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

GARY — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 03:44:22 GMT

Author: GARY

Posted: 09/03/2011 07:44

swedenman wrote:

Alright I'll see what I can get off the top of my head and then look up the rest:

Led Zeppelin - I believe this came from a comment by Keith Moon that the band would go down like a lead zeppelin.
The Beatles - Just a generic pop band name?
Led Zeppelin (again) - Lol the same.

Alright, I looked up the ones I didn't know:

You may want to look the ones you THINK you know again.

Keith Moon never said "lead Zeppelin" he said "lead BALLOON"

The band changed balloon to Zeppelin.

Also, make up your mind please on which version you claim cuz you gave TWO answers for Led Zeppelin and NEITHER of them is accurate 🤣

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Anonymous — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 03:29:08 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/03/2011 07:29

Alright I'll see what I can get off the top of my head and then look up the rest:

Queen - Thought up by Freddie Mercury essentially out of the blue because he liked to think of the band as having a "regal" sound. Contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do (at least not directly) with the fact that Freddie was gay.
Soundgarden - Named after an art display in Seattle, WA.
The Clash - No idea.
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood comes from the drummer's name (Mick Fleetwood). I'm not sure about the Mac.
Nirvana - They were hoping their music would make people feel like they were in Nirvana? Lol probably not.
Pink Floyd - "Pink" and "Floyd" are both nicknames of popular jazz musicians (I can't remember which off the top of my head).
Led Zeppelin - I believe this came from a comment by Keith Moon that the band would go down like a lead zeppelin.
The Beatles - Just a generic pop band name?
Led Zeppelin (again) - Lol the same.
Pearl Jam - No idea.

Alright, I looked up the ones I didn't know:

The Clash - Paul Simonon was flipping through the London Evening Standard and was surprised by the amount of time the word "clash" appeared in the headlines, so this gave him the idea for the band name.
Fleetwood Mac - The Mac part comes from the last names of members John and Christie McVie. That would make sense, I guess.
Nirvana - All I could find on this one was a quote from Kurt saying "I wanted a name that was kind of beautiful or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk rock name like the Angry Samoans."
The Beatles - I can't find any consensus on this one, but the most likely story seems to be that it was taken from the name of a motorcycle game in the movie "The Wild Ones".
Pearl Jam - Can't find much on this one. If anyone knows where this one came from I'd be interested to hear.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Norman Bates — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 03:04:29 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 09/03/2011 07:04

Juan Schwartz wrote:

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Translated from japanese means The Velvet Underground (who were a big influence).

I don't know this band, but I'm quite surprised at this explanation, since "dénudé" (with both accents) means "naked" in French.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Norman Bates — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 02:59:53 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 09/03/2011 06:59

Captain_Dude wrote:

Soft Machine - A William Burroughs novel.
[

And Robert Wyatt named his next band "Matching Mole" after a pun on "Machine Molle", the French translation for "Soft Machine".

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Norman Bates — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 02:58:00 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 09/03/2011 06:58

Captain_Dude wrote:

Depeche Mode - Means "hurry up fashion"

Depeche Mode is the name of a French fashion magazine. In this case "Depeche" is not "hurry up" but "piece of news".

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Norman Bates — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 02:56:31 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 09/03/2011 06:56

Hayden wrote:

Oh, and the think with Bob Dylan:

Robert Zimmerman, got shortened to Bob Zimmerman.

He liked a poet named Dylan. He was an inspiration, etc..

So, he changed his last name to Dylan.

And that's how we all know him by 'Bob Dylan'

:?

That poet is Dylan Thomas.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

GARY — Fri, 2 Sep 2011 21:03:27 GMT

Author: GARY

Posted: 09/03/2011 01:03

The Band

🤔

They were guys who made music together 😁

They were great and very humble also.

The movie The Waltz gets even better with age.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Anonymous — Fri, 2 Sep 2011 20:45:08 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/03/2011 00:45

Captain_Dude wrote:

Flock of Seagulls - They were fans of The Stranglers and the name was taken from the line "...and we came to see...a flock of seagulls! A flock of Saagulls!!" from The Stranglers song, "Toiler on the Sea" (last track, side one) on their Blackand White album.

Ha - I like Toiler on the Sea and I have often wondered whether that was where the band got its inspiration from... Now I know 😄

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Captain_Dude — Fri, 2 Sep 2011 10:26:22 GMT

Author: Captain_Dude

Posted: 09/02/2011 14:26

Flock of Seagulls - They were fans of The Stranglers and the name was taken from the line "...and we came to see...a flock of seagulls! A flock of Saagulls!!" from The Stranglers song, "Toiler on the Sea" (last track, side one) on their Blackand White album.

Death Cab for Cutie - The band took their name from a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song. The song was performed by the Bonzo Dog Band in "Magical Mystery Tour," when the Beatles wandered into a bar where a stripper was performing.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Juan Schwartz — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:12:44 GMT

Author: Juan Schwartz

Posted: 08/29/2011 01:12

The Replacements - changed their name from the The Impediments in order to avoid gig cancellation ( ie 'aren't you those guys with the the naked guitarist who play 20 minute sets of covers and throw up all over the stage?' 'No! We're The Replacements!').

Jay Reatard - Earned his nick name after failing grade 3 several times.

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Translated from japanese means The Velvet Underground (who were a big influence).

The Stooges - Not sure exactly how they came up with the name but i know ron asheton became good friends with Larry Fine around the time of his death, so ima guess the comedy trio.

The Strokes - Masturbatory joke.

Manic Street Preachers - From the Monty Python film Life Of Brian, which lists 'Manic Street Preacher' as a character in the credits.

R.E.M - Mchael Stipe literally opened a dictionary to a random page and pointed at a random word, which just so happened to be R.E.M. (rapid eye movement).

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Captain_Dude — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:47:23 GMT

Author: Captain_Dude

Posted: 08/28/2011 20:47

Echo & The Bunnymen - "Echo" was a nickname they'd given their drum machine (I believe I read somewhere that "Echo" was a model name or something). As for "The Bunnymen" part, it was a send up to all of the self-important and/or menacing band names that were permeating music at the time.

As for The Flaming Lips, I've heard several stories about the origin of that name.

As Mr. Shankly already stated, one of the stories is that it's in reference to the burning sensation caused by Gonorrhea. (However, the "burning" sensation would be felt by a man once he was infected...most infected women are asymptomatic (except for a discharge). So, maybe, they really mean "The lips that later cause a burning sensation to her partner while urinating "...but, that name wouldn't be as cool, now would it?)

Another story I've heard is that it comes from a '60s Shirley MacLaine movie called "What a Way to Go!" In the movie, there's a fantasy sequence which features a large, flashing sign promoting a fictitious movie called "Flaming Lips."

Either one sounds reasonable, but I've never encounted a single reference to the name from the band, themselves. So, who knows?

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

alelsupreme — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 06:08:42 GMT

Author: alelsupreme

Posted: 08/28/2011 10:08

MBV is indeed a horror film.
and NMH was something Jeff Mangum came up with when he was a kid I think.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Mr. Shankly — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 02:22:26 GMT

Author: Mr. Shankly

Posted: 08/28/2011 06:22

[quote="Captain_Dude"]When I worked in radio, we'd often do this kind of thing for contests (back when radio was fun, interactive, and DJs got to pick the music and, very often, the games for contests). Here's some I know of...

Toad the Wet Sprocket - A Monty Python sketch.

I always wondered where the hell that weird ass name came from.

Probably because a lot of people don't care for them, I'm not surprised that no one mentioned U2. Obviously their name came from the U-2 spyplane incident where an American spy plane was shot down by the Russians. Makes sense, considering they would go on to be a political band.

I'm very surprised however that nobody mentioned Radiohead, named for the Talking Heads song, Radio Head.

Here are a couple other to add:

The Decemberists--Named for Russian Revolutionaries
The Small Faces-- A reference to being mods and short in stature
The Pogues- short for "pogue mahone" which means "kiss my ass" in Gaelic 🤣
Husker Du- named for a Danish memory game... Also means, "Do you remember?" in Danish
Cowboy Mouth--Not familiar with their music and never listened to them, but dollars to donuts, they got their name from Bob Dylan's Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.
Gigolo Aunts--Got their name from a Syd Barrett song
Baby Lemonade-ditto
Big Star-named for a grocery store chain in Memphis at the time.
They Might be Giants--Named after an old B monster movie
The Feelies--The pleasure devices in Brave New World
The Dead Kennedys--Maybe the best band name ever and quite self-explanatory.

Here are some, I'm curious about:

Neutral Milk Hotel--has to mean something!
Guided by Voices?
The Flaming Lips--Does it have something to do with VD?
My Bloody Valentine-- I think it's the title of a horror movie, but I'm not sure.
Echo and the Bunnymen

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:27:40 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/25/2011 06:27

Captain_Dude wrote:

When I worked in radio, we'd often do this kind of thing for contests (back when radio was fun, interactive, and DJs got to pick the music and, very often, the games for contests). Here's some I know of...

KMFDM - "Kein Mehrheit Fur Die Mitlied" means, loosely, "No sympathy for the majority" (No, it doesn't stand for that OTHER phrase about Depeche Mode). Watts couldn't say the name, so he just started calling the band by its initials.

Awesome list 😁

- but the pedantic linguist in me takes exception to this one

Kein Mehrheit Fur Die Mitleid means 'No Majority for Sympathy' I think you probably got your Mitleids and Mehrheits mixed up as your meaning makes way more sense

Kein Mitleid fur die Mehrheit then

I know

Picky

Sorry! 🙄

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:20:55 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/24/2011 22:20

Sigur Ros

Named after Sigurrós Elín (Jonsi's sister)

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

nrs182 — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:49:03 GMT

Author: nrs182

Posted: 08/24/2011 20:49

Jackwc wrote:

nrs182 wrote:

Jackwc wrote:

Just off the top of my head...

Beatles - A terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible pun on "beat" and "beetle". Fuck, what a god-awful pun...

Mmmm no!, the true story was the one I wrote, they didnt intend no pun!

I've hear THAT version of how they got their name, but that was just John Lennon being a smartass when asked about how the band got its name. He did stuff like that pretty often, so I doubt he ever even had this dream he described.

Oh well, at least i got the crickets part right...

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

alelsupreme — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:41:27 GMT

Author: alelsupreme

Posted: 08/24/2011 20:41

Oh, right.
The Human League is from some board game.

Re: The Story Behind the Band name

albummaster — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:10:54 GMT

Author: albummaster

Posted: 08/24/2011 20:10

Duran Duran is from the film Barbarella, not a sex film...