The Story Behind the Band name

[nrs182]

[joyofdivision]

Sigur Ros

Named after Sigurrós Elín (Jonsi's sister)

[Guest]

[Mr. Shankly]

[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

[alelsupreme]

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

[Captain_Dude]

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?
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Speakers of the House DJ

[Juan Schwartz]

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).

[Captain_Dude]

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.
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Speakers of the House DJ

[Guest]

[GARY]

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.
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I owe $100,000 and wasted 4 years of my life.

And all I got was this silly hat



.