50 Fun Facts About Band Names

On which household appliance did Angus and Malcolm Young's sister spot the letters AC/DC?

A sewing machine belonging to Margaret Young carried the AC/DC symbol on its power adapter, and her brothers took the label as the name of their new band.

Nickelback's name comes from the change bassist Mike Kroeger handed customers while working at which chain?

Starbucks was where Mike Kroeger worked the till, and his habit of telling customers they had a nickel back in their change gave the Canadian band its name.

Fall Out Boy is named after a comic-book character from which long-running animated TV series?

The Simpsons supplied the name, which the band's friends chose by vote from a short list. It stuck partly because two members were die-hard fans of the show.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's name is a mocking tribute to Leonard Skinner, who held which job at the members' high school?

Gym teacher Leonard Skinner strictly enforced the school's rule against long hair on boys, so the Jacksonville band twisted his name into its own.

BTS stands for the Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates literally as which three words?

Bulletproof Boy Scouts is the literal translation. In 2017 the group announced that its initials would also stand for Beyond the Scene as part of a new brand identity.

Which British rock band played its first concerts, a Scandinavian tour, billed as the New Yardbirds?

Led Zeppelin had to drop the New Yardbirds billing after former Yardbirds bassist Chris Dreja sent a cease and desist letter, so the four chose a fresh name.

The Chicago rock band Veruca Salt is named after a spoiled rich girl in which Roald Dahl book?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is where Veruca Salt appears as the girl who gets whatever she demands. Louise Post and Nina Gordon borrowed her name in 1992.

Which continent gives its name to the rock band, first called Force, that recorded "The Final Countdown"?

Europe began in 1979 as a band called Force and broke through at home in 1982 by winning the first televised Swedish Rock Championships.

Which sea creature completes the name of Darius Rucker's South Carolina rock band, Hootie & the ___?

Blowfish was the nickname of a puffy-cheeked college friend of the band. Hootie was a second friend, whose round glasses made him look like an owl.

Which word ends the names of both Scott Weiland's Stone Temple ___ and Tyler Joseph's Twenty One ___?

Pilots ends both names. Tyler Joseph took his from Arthur Miller's play All My Sons, while Scott Weiland's band had earlier performed as Mighty Joe Young.

Which word completes the name of Red Hot Chili ___, the Los Angeles band formed by Anthony Kiedis and Flea?

Peppers rounds off the name the band took after starting out as Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem.

Which word completes the name of Guns N' ___, the Los Angeles hard rock band featuring the guitarist Slash?

Roses comes from Hollywood Rose, one of two earlier groups whose members merged to form the band. The other, L.A. Guns, supplied the first half of the name.

Which word completes the name of John Fogerty's California rock band, Creedence Clearwater ___?

Revival stood for the four members' renewed commitment to their band, while Clearwater came from a television commercial for a brewery.

Which word completes the name of Panic! at the ___, the Las Vegas pop rock band fronted by Brendon Urie?

Disco completes a name modelled on a line in a song by the band Name Taken. In 2008 the group dropped its exclamation mark, then restored it the following year.

Which word completes the name of Tom Petty and the ___, the band formed after Mudcrutch broke up?

Heartbreakers was the name Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench took in 1976, after their earlier band Mudcrutch failed to land a hit and disbanded.

Which word completes the name of Bob Marley and the ___, the Jamaican group first known as the Teenagers?

Wailers was the name the group settled on after also trying the Wailing Rudeboys and the Wailing Wailers.

Which word completes the name of Electric Light ___, the Birmingham rock band led by Jeff Lynne?

Orchestra turns the name into a pun: it refers both to electric light and to light orchestral music, a style long featured on BBC radio.

Which word completes the name of Imagine ___, the Las Vegas pop rock band fronted by Dan Reynolds?

Dragons is part of an anagram: the band's name rearranges a phrase known only to its members.

Which word completes the name of Siouxsie and the ___, the London band that debuted at a 1976 punk festival?

Banshees was chosen only after Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin had offered to fill a vacant slot at the 100 Club Punk Festival with no band name or bandmates.

Which band did Brian Jones name on the spot after a track on a Muddy Waters LP?

The Rolling Stones got their name when a journalist asked Brian Jones what the band was called and he spotted a Muddy Waters record lying on the floor.

Which founding member of Pink Floyd coined the band's name from the first names of two American bluesmen?

Syd Barrett took the names from Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, two players whose Piedmont blues records sat in his collection.

U2 played its first paying gig under which name, picked as one of the few technical terms the members knew?

Feedback soon gave way to The Hype, the name the group was still using at the show where founding member Dik Evans ceremonially walked offstage.

The reggae band UB40 took its name from a British government form used to claim which payment?

Unemployment benefit claimants were issued an attendance card called the UB40. The band's first album, Signing Off, marked the end of the members' own claims.

Jethro Tull is named after an 18th-century English agriculturist who invented which farming device?

Seed drill inventor Jethro Tull's name was supplied by a history enthusiast at the band's booking agency. Ian Anderson assumed the agent had made it up.

The Doors took their name from the title of The Doors of Perception, a book by which English writer?

Aldous Huxley borrowed his title from a line by the poet William Blake, so the band's name traces back to the eighteenth century.

Duran Duran is named after the character Durand Durand in which science fiction film starring Jane Fonda?

Barbarella was shown on BBC television in October 1978, and John Taylor and Nick Rhodes named their new Birmingham band after its character the very next day.

Black Sabbath took its name from a 1963 Italian horror film starring which veteran actor?

Boris Karloff's film was playing at a cinema across the street from the band's rehearsal room, where Geezer Butler marvelled that people paid so much to be scared.

Radiohead, formerly On a Friday, took its new name from a song by which American new wave band?

Talking Heads released the track Radio Head on their 1986 album True Stories, and the English band adopted it when EMI asked for a change of name.

The Four Seasons, Frankie Valli's group, took its name from which kind of venue after a failed audition there?

A bowling alley in Union Township, New Jersey, rejected the quartet for its lounge in 1960, so the singers walked away with the venue's name instead.

Dave Grohl's band Foo Fighters is named after a Second World War term for which mysterious phenomena?

UFOs, or unidentified flying objects, were known as foo fighters during the war. Dave Grohl chose the name hoping to release his first recordings anonymously.

Fleetwood Mac takes the second half of its name from which bassist, who at first declined to join?

John McVie was the bassist Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood wanted, so they named the band after him to tempt him. He stayed with John Mayall at first for the steady pay.

Death Cab for Cutie took its name from a song the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performed in which Beatles film?

Magical Mystery Tour features the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band playing the song, a Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall number from the group's 1967 debut album, Gorilla.

Buffalo Springfield, the band of Stephen Stills and Neil Young, took its name from a brand of which vehicle?

A steamroller parked outside the band's house carried the name of its manufacturer, the Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company.

The Bay City Rollers named themselves by throwing a dart at a map that landed near Bay City in which state?

Michigan was the second attempt: Derek Longmuir's first dart hit Arkansas, which nobody in the Edinburgh band liked.

Which California band, named after two brothers in its line-up, earlier performed as Genesis and Mammoth?

Van Halen dropped the name Genesis on discovering that a British band already had it, then performed as Mammoth before settling on the brothers' surname.

Which boy band's name is spelled from the last letters of its original members' first names?

NSYNC takes one letter each from Justin, Chris, Joey, Jason and JC. When Lance Bass replaced Jason, he was nicknamed Lansten to keep the spelling intact.

Los Lobos, the East Los Angeles rock band, has a Spanish name that means which animals?

Wolves is the meaning: the group began as Los Lobos del Este, a play on the name of the norteño band Los Tigres del Norte.

Daft Punk took its name from a negative review of the duo's earlier band Darlin' in which British music weekly?

Melody Maker critic Dave Jennings dismissed the group's music as a daft punky thrash, and the two Frenchmen recycled the insult as the name of their next project.

Deep Purple is named after the favourite song of which relative of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore?

His grandmother loved the old standard Deep Purple by Peter DeRose, and Blackmore proposed the name while the band was still touring Scandinavia as Roundabout.

The Killers took their name from a fictional band in the video for "Crystal", a single by which British group?

New Order's video features a made-up group called The Killers, and singer Brandon Flowers, a fan of the song, borrowed the name for his own Las Vegas band.

Which skiffle group, founded by John Lennon and named after a Liverpool high school, evolved into the Beatles?

The Quarrymen took their name from a line in the school song of Quarry Bank High School, where Lennon and most of the first line-up were pupils.

Which Seattle grunge band first performed under the name of NBA point guard Mookie Blaylock?

Pearl Jam kept a tribute after renaming itself on signing to Epic Records: its debut album, Ten, is titled after Mookie Blaylock's jersey number.

Which Manchester post-punk band first performed as Warsaw, a name inspired by a David Bowie track?

Joy Division became the name in early 1978 so that nobody would confuse the group with a London punk band called Warsaw Pakt.

Which British band evolved from the Detours and briefly recorded as the High Numbers for the mod market?

The Who dropped the Detours name in 1964 on learning of Johnny Devlin and the Detours, and manager Peter Meaden then rebranded them the High Numbers for a single.

Which two words did the band Chicago drop from its name after its 1969 debut album?

Transit Authority was cut after the first album because the real mass-transit company of that name threatened legal action.

Which California band dropped the name the Warlocks and chose a new one from a dictionary?

Grateful Dead was the phrase Jerry Garcia found in an old dictionary, after the band learned that another group called the Warlocks had already released a record.

Which California band, first called the Pendletones, found a new name printed on its debut single?

The Beach Boys learned of the change only when the single came out. The Pendletones had been Mike Love's pun on a brand of wool shirt popular with surfers.

Which British rock band grew out of an earlier group called Smile after a fan joined as the new singer?

Queen was the name Freddie Mercury suggested on joining guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, whose band Smile he had followed as a fan.

Which word completes the name of Toad the Wet ___, a California band named after a Monty Python sketch?

Sprocket comes from Rock Notes, a Monty Python sketch in which a journalist reads a nonsensical music news report about a band of that name.

Thompson Twins, the 1980s synth-pop group, took its name from two bumbling detectives in which comic series?

Tintin's detectives Thomson and Thompson are close doubles rather than twins, and their surnames are not even spelled alike.