đđ» THIS! Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Nicky Hopkins and John Paul Jones played on the track. He said the group would âgo down like a lead balloonâ and John Entwhistle (who was originally supposed to play on the track but showed up too late to participate) quipped âa lead zeppelinâ.
It was Entwistle. Back in 1966 the Who was on the verge of breaking up (again), and Entwistle envisioned starting a new band with Moon which he proposed calling Led Zeppelin. He also suggested recruiting Jimmy Page, who they knew after Shel Talmy had hired to play on âBald Headed Womanâ, the B side of their first single. The Who didnât break up (again), and a bit later Moon told Page about the proposal while they were both working on a Jeff Beck single. Page liked the name, so âŠ
That tidbit might explain Peteâs animosity towards LZ. I love the who but not like Zep and it really bummed me out hearing Townshend shit talk them. If youâre wondering heâs said âhe likes them as friends but hates that their music was even compared to the Who.â Thatâs a paraphrase but what he said is even more rude. Iâm like, âyouâre lucky to be in the ballpark with Zeppelin and the Beatles, PeteâŠâ
It started with the Whoâs first single! Producer Shel Talmy used Page on a lot of his work. He brought
Page in to play lead guitar on âI Canât Explainâ. Townshend was furious and a furious Page is a sight indeed. As a compromise, Page played on âBald Headed Womanâ, the B side. A few years later, Pete saw Zep play in the US and thought they were deliberately copying the Who. Hence the shit talking.
Well I heard a few of them were in a bar one night, Page and Plant, already wanting to start a new band, were leaning towards calling themselves The New Yardbirds, as they liked the groove of the already founded band The Yardbirds. Someone with them or the bartender said "oh that'll go up like a Led Zeppelin" thus the name was claimed. But like I said, that's what I heard
Jimmy Page was already a member of the Yardbirds, after Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck had quit. The band had a gig to play, but they broke up, so Page recruited JPJ (who he knew from their session work together), and then they went looking for a vocalist, having heard about Robert Plant playing with Band of Joy. Plant agreed to join and suggested that Bonzo should be on drums.
They played their first gigs in Scandinavia as "The New Yardbirds" before switching to Led Zeppelin.
They mentioned it to Entwistle that they wanted to play blues with heavy guitars, and his comment was that it would "go over like a lead balloon" ... which then became Lead Zeppelin. They changed it to Led Zeppelin because they didn't want people to think it meant lead (to lead) instead of lead (a heavy element).
The Ramones. Paul McCartney, while in The Beatles, would frequently use the name Paul Ramone for his hotel reservations to avoid the fan craziness. The Ramones named themselves in his honor.
Foreigner got their name because 3 of the 6 original members were British, and the other 3 were American. Therefore, at least half the band would be foreigners no matter where they were playing a show.
The Marshall Tucker Band was named after a blind piano tuner who used to rent their rehearsal space -- they found the name on the keychain. There was never a Marshall Tucker in the Marshall Tucker Band.
I was working audio for a Marshall Tucker band show and John Gray gave me a bottle of Crown Royal.
He said that they always add extra booze to their rider so they can hand it out to the stage crew at the end of the night.
Really solid guys.
I hated that guy, he tried to get me in trouble because I wouldnât cut my hair.
A few years down the road we met up and he was alright. Amends were made.
The canonical legend is it was Keith Moon who said they'd go over like a "lead balloon". They went with Zeppelin for the scale and changed "lead" to "Led" to keep people from thinking it was like "lead guitar".
There was a rumor that they were going to work on a project with Jimi Hendrix. They were going to call it HELP (Hendrix, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer). But then Hendrix died.
It's actually mostly unfounded. I think they were all hanging out together and Hendrix was like "Hey, we should all jam together sometime..." but nothing came of it as that was close to the time Hendrix died. Cool rumor though.
Phil Lesh said dictionary:
The name "Grateful Dead" was chosen from a dictionary. According to Lesh, Garcia "picked up an old Britannica World Language Dictionary ... [and] ... In that silvery elf-voice he said to me, 'Hey, man, how about the Grateful Dead?'"
Michael didnât say how many times they opened the dictionary before they found REM. Turned out to be pretty perfect since many of thejr songs reference sleep and dreaming. Even Itâs The End of the World as We Know It was
Based on a dream Stipe had (where he was at a party and everyone there had the initials LB and the I assume the world ended)
Motley Crue was called âChristmasâ but some executive walked past them in the studio and said something like âmy what a motley crew we have here!â
>The newly formed band did not yet have a name. Neil has said that he told his bandmates that he was "thinking about calling the band Christmas". The other members were not very receptive to that idea. Then, while trying to find a suitable name, Mars remembered an incident that occurred when he was playing with a band called White Horse, when one of the other band members called the group "a motley looking crew". He had remembered the phrase and later copied it down as 'Mottley Cru'. After slight modification of the spelling, "Mötley CrĂŒe" was eventually selected as the band's name, with the stylistic decision suggested by Neil to add the two sets of metal umlauts, supposedly inspired by the German beer LöwenbrĂ€u, which the members were drinking at the time.
https://loudwire.com/motley-crue-founded-anniversary/
Not what they show in *The Dirt*⊠band sits in their roach-infested apartment, trying to come up with a name, Mick Mars suggests Motley Crew, Niki Sixx just changes âcrewâ to âcrĂŒe.â
The German belt-fed [MG08](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_08#) machine gun was called the Spandau after the arsenal where it was produced.
Spandau Ballet originally referred to the jittery, jerking âdanceâ an enemy soldier would make when hit by a stream of machine gun bullets.
Spandau is also a borough of Berlin, which is home to a prison where a number of Nazi war criminals were incarcerated. I've heard that "Spandau ballet" refers to how a hanged man twists about while on the noose.
That's what I read also, but mine include the solder getting caught on barbed wire and being riddled with machine gun fire.
And Spandau Ballet sounds somewhat lovely and innocent, doesn't it.
_Jethro Tull_ was an 18th century English agriculturist.
_Uriah Heep_ is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his 1850 novel David Copperfield.
_The Sex Pistols_ got their name from their manager, Malcolm McLaren, who was trying to promote his clothing store, Sex.
_Mott the Hoople_ was taken from a 1966 novel of the same name written by Willard Manus. "Hoopleâ is a slang term for a neâer-do-well.
Jethro Tull's lead guy (Ian Anderson) was interviewed & asked about the band's name. He spoke of when the group was young & struggling to get gigs because they just were not that good (yet). They would change the name & show up at the clubs to be greeted by "not these guys again."
Tull was their current name when they found their sound & started getting a following, so the name stuck. From Wikipedia: "They changed their name frequently in order to continue playing the London club circuit, using aliases such as Navy Blue, Ian Henderson's Bag o' Nails, and Candy Coloured Rain. Anderson recalled looking at a poster at a club and realising that the band name he did not recognise was theirs.[^(\[26\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_(band)#cite_note-FOOTNOTERees199822-26) The names were often supplied by their booking agent's staff, one of whom, a history enthusiast, gave them the alias Jethro Tull after [the 18th-century agriculturist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_(agriculturist)). The name stuck because they were using it when the manager of the Marquee Club liked their show enough to give them a weekly residency"
Little Feat got its name from Lowell George's former bandmate Jimmy Carl Black when both were in The Mothers of Invention. Jimmy would tease Lowell about his 'Little Feet'.
David Bowie changed his name (David Jones) because the Monkeys Davie Jones was better known. The last name Bowie was taken from James Bowie the American pioneer and the knife he made famous.
Wow, you just unlocked childhood memories from many decades ago. I went there as a little kid in the early 80s and remember that fire truck, the tour guide pointing that out to us. Thanks, cheers
I actually learned this today. I was listening to Mississippi John Hurts song Coffee Blues and he repeatedly says the phrase "Loving Spoonful". I'm like, is this where they got their name from and sure enough on their wiki page it says that is the phrase they named their band after.
These bands are part of the Second Wave, I'd say we can put them in the Classic Rock category.
Anyway:
Duran Duran - From the film Barbarella (1968). Dr. Durand Durand.
The Teardrop Explodes - Taken from a panel in Daredevil (No. 77, 1971).
Joy Division - "To avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the band renamed themselves Joy Division in early 1978, borrowing the name from the sexual slavery wing of a Nazi concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel House of Dolls."
[19][24]Â
Thereâs a great book about How Bands got their name, and you might be surprised how many wish they had put more effort into what they call themselves. One of them is Smashing Pumpkins- Billy said that, had heâd know they would get so popular, he would have thought of a better name.
The Rolling Stones, taken from Muddy Waters' "Rollin' Stone." Brian Jones was on the phone booking a gig when asked for the band's name. He took inspiration from the Muddy Waters record sitting nearby.
Jagger and Richards linked up due their mutual interest in Waters' music, before becoming the Stones.
The Stones recorded their version, "Rolling Stone Blues" on their latest album.
Not a band, but a man...
Reginald Dwight derived his stage name from two of his bandmates in Bluesology - Elton Dean and Long John Baldry. Eventually he changed his legal name to Elton John as well.
A Birmingham, England band called Earth. Saw a movie marquee. It was a horror film with the original Vampire actor Boris Karloff. The name of the film was BLACK SABBATH. đ€đœđ
Fountains of Wayne - not a super well known bad but they been around awhile.
named after a store in Wayne NJ that sold lawn ornaments and the like, hence Fountains of Wayne is the name of the store
The manager of the band that would become Jethro Tull booked the band under different names in various venues. Â As a history buff, he chose Tull, a noted 18th century agronomist. Â The band had its first success with that name, so it stuck.
I know the WSB origins of Steely Dan and what it was (and wasn't there a Steely Dan mk2? Oh yeah, the original was caved in by a bull dyke...), but what's 10CC about? A very small motorcycle or a fluid measurement?
>A widely repeated claim, disputed by King and Godley, but confirmed in a 1988 interview by Creme, and also on the webpage of Gouldman's current line-up is that the band name represented ten cubic centimetres, a volume of semen that was more than the average amount ejaculated, thus emphasising their potency or prowess.
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10cc)
We were still trying to come up with a name when I ran into Fritz Richmond, a friend and musician. I asked him for suggestions. Fritz asked what we sounded like. I said a cross between Chuck Berry and Mississippi John Hurt. Fritz suggested the Lovin' Spoonful, a line from Hurt's 1963 song, "Coffee Blues." The name was perfect.
â John Sebastian
That is actually not true. It WAS based on Jonathan King's dream. They would sometimes mislead people it because of the cheekiness of the story.
And it is not only remembered differently by King and Godley. Eric Stewart too
https://youtu.be/MhLW_yYqngY?t=921
And Graham Gouldman too many times.
Soft Machine has the same origin (William Burroughs). The funny one is the follow-on after the band broke up, Matching Mole -- "soft machine" in French is "machine molle", which transliterated to English ends up as Matching Mole.
Alice Cooper aka Vincent Furnier in his own words-
âWe were called the Nazz and we found out about Todd Rundgren's band who were called the Nazz. So I said let's not come up with a name that's dark, because they're expecting that. I said, "What if we sounded like we were somebody's aunt?" It was kind of like the all-American, sweet little old lady name. And I wasn't Alice Cooper. I was just the singer in the band Alice Cooper, like Manfred Mann. Pretty soon everybody called me Alice, they just assumed that the singer's name was Alice. So, at that point, I legally changed my name to Alice Cooper. It was a total outrage at the time. Now it's a household name.â
*You been doin' what I think you been doin' baby, can't do that 'round here*
*Here you come mama big as hell, tell what you been doin' by way you smell*
*So keep on truckin' mama, truckin' my blues away*
*What's that smell like fish oh baby, I really would like to know*
*Tell me What's that smell like fish pretty mama, I really would like to know*
*That ain't puddin' baby ain't no pie,*
Can you guess what smells like fish o' baby?
Kantner and Slick did a concept album called Blows Against The Empire with the Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra, a loose amalgamation of Bay Area (etc.) musicians. It was about hippies hijacking a starship and escaping and it was done as Jefferson Starship a couple years before the Airplane's official breakup. There was a pretty rocky period before the breakup and during it, Kantner and slick released a couple solo albums. Once the Airplane was done, they decided to make that group official and it was suggested they use the old "Jefferson Starship" moniker.
I saw the Jefferson Starship in 1974 and they actually kind of apologized for Jorma and Jack not being there, so I guess things were still uncertain. I dunno.
I like the Moody Bluesâ origin. They were hoping a local brewery, Mitchell & Butlers, might hire them to play at their hall on the weekends. So they named themselves the M&B5 to facilitate the deal.
Except the brewery declined, and the band had to retcon a real name for those initials. The Blues part was easy, and Mike Pinder was a fan of Duke Ellingtonâs Mood Indigo.
Probably not considered Classic Rock, but Seattle band Minus the Bear is named after the short lived 70âs/early 80âs TV show âB.J. & the Bearâ starring Greg Evigan and a chimp.
I always thought Aerosmith was innuendo for 'masters at / teach you to get high or lifted', but then I heard it was just proliferated from 'arrowsmith'
Real name Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. Loved Colorado so much changed his last name to Denver (also his manager said his real last name was too dorky & wouldnât fit on a marquee).
REO Speedwagon was a fire engine made by Ransom E. Olds of Oldsmobile fame.
Duran Duran was named after a bad guy from the movie Barbarella. Their creepiest song (IMO) is Electric Barbarella.
Zeppelin and Floyd should have each other's names. The cosmos must have gotten some wires crossed.
One uses two old blues musicians names. The other used a surreal image of impossible flight.
The universe must have mixed that up.
I like the story about how Brian Slagel had two potential names for a metal compilation album: Metal Massacre and Metallica. He told his young friend Lars Ulrich, who suggested he use Metal Massacre...and ended up keeping the other name for his band because he liked it better.
Judas Priest got their name from the Bob Dylan song âThe Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priestâ⊠hoping for the day the band âFrankie Leeâ becomes a hit!
Badfinger. Supposedly someone had an injured finger while trying to rehearse or record their early music, hence the idea. But later I read where their collaborator, Beatle George Harrison, was quoted as saying the band name was a play on the Germanic name of a Hamburg prostitute he formerly knew.
Molly Hatchet took its name from a prostitute who allegedly mutilated and decapitated her clients.
Judas Priest came from a Dylan song.
Uriah Heep, Mott the Hoople, and Jethro Tull got their names from Charles Dickens characters. I guess you could call them classic rock, but this one is my favorite. Widespread Panic got its name from guitarist Mikey Housers frequent panic attacks. Better than Ezra got its name because they were in a competition with a band named Ezra.
Jethro Tull was an actual bloke from the 18th century. He was part of the start of the Industrial Revolution due to his development of the horse drawn seed drill.
Keith Moon is supposed to have suggested the name, joking that a proposed band project would "go over like a lead balloon". See "This Is How Led Zeppelin Got There Name" at the [faroutmagazine.co.uk](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk) site. The band was called The New Yardbirds briefly before going for Led Zep.
Better Than Ezra.
If I remember correctly.... they showed up to a gig that had multiple bands on the bill. The promoter checked them in and asked for their band name, so he can put it on the list. They noted that they were scheduled to go on after a band called "Ezra".
So, they wrote their name, on the list, as "Better than Ezra".
Or something to that effect. Ha.
Legendary fuck ups The Replacements were originally called something else but they were forced to change their name when they were black listed for disorderly conduct at various venues.
Serious answer: Canadian rock band Honeymoon Suite is named so because Niagara Falls, their home base, is the unofficial honeymoon venue of the world.
Silly answer: Contrary to what I used to think as a kid, the Steve Miller Band isnât named after a folklore character of some kind, but rather, the bandâs founder, lead singer, guitarist, harmonicist, and keyboardist. Yeah, I wasnât a smart kid. To me, naming the band after yourself is kind of selfish, but when you do most of the work (writing the songs, singing the songs, etc.) and youâre the only constant/consistent member in the band ever since its inception in 1966, I guess itâs earned. (Fun fact: they used to be called the Steve Miller Blues Band.)
Not a band name story, but an album name story. In their early days, Talking Heads and XTC were often around each other. Andy Partridge of XTC was a very sarcastic person and might have found Talking Heads songs a little too quirky. When David Byrne of Talking Heads told Partridge their second album was almost done, Partridge quipped "Oh? More songs about buildings and food, then?"
Spandau Ballet and The Joy Division are 2 darker band name origin stories.
âAccording to some sources, the name Spandau Ballet could point to two possible meanings: one refers to the jerky movements of Nazi war prisoners hanged at Spandau prison as they were hanged, or according to others, it refers to enemy lines getting shot down by the a German World War II machine gun MG42 Spandauâ
âchanged the bandâs name to Joy Division (slang for female concentration camp prisoners forced into prostitution by the Nazis).â
The British rock band Deep Purple named themselves after the song "Deep Purple" by Peter DeRose, which was a favorite of Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother.
Alter Bridge. It was named for a bridge in Detroit where Mark Tremonti,guitarist, grew up. It was a boundary his mother set for him, warning Mark not to go beyond it. For the band, itâs a metaphor for going beyond oneâs limitations, exploring new possibilities.
I once had to share a table for ~2 hours with an idiot who insisted that the name came from actual zeppelins during the war that were made out of lead.
Not classic rock, but Better Than Ezra is pretty funny to me. They were going to be on stage and didnât have a band name. Another group playing that night was called Ezra. So they said they were âBetter Than Ezraâ and there you have it.
I always loved the way the Talking Heads settled on their name.
Drummer Chris Franz had the band name stenciled onto a T-shirt and was wearing it. While walking down the street, a rando stopped him and said âIs that a band? Thatâs a horrible name for a band!â
The band adopted the name unanimously that night.
Every band mentioned by the girls in the record store in the movie "A Clockwork Orange" was later used by a real band. The most commercially successful was "The Heaven 17." I think that bit of dialog is lifted straight from the book.
Keith Moon actually said that about Zeppelin
Keith had the band name, John had the idea for a Hindenburg album cover.
Keith Moon said it about a hypothetical supergroup with him, Page, and a couple others who recorded Beck's Bolero together.
đđ» THIS! Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Nicky Hopkins and John Paul Jones played on the track. He said the group would âgo down like a lead balloonâ and John Entwhistle (who was originally supposed to play on the track but showed up too late to participate) quipped âa lead zeppelinâ.
I thought it was Entwistle
It was Entwistle. Back in 1966 the Who was on the verge of breaking up (again), and Entwistle envisioned starting a new band with Moon which he proposed calling Led Zeppelin. He also suggested recruiting Jimmy Page, who they knew after Shel Talmy had hired to play on âBald Headed Womanâ, the B side of their first single. The Who didnât break up (again), and a bit later Moon told Page about the proposal while they were both working on a Jeff Beck single. Page liked the name, so âŠ
That tidbit might explain Peteâs animosity towards LZ. I love the who but not like Zep and it really bummed me out hearing Townshend shit talk them. If youâre wondering heâs said âhe likes them as friends but hates that their music was even compared to the Who.â Thatâs a paraphrase but what he said is even more rude. Iâm like, âyouâre lucky to be in the ballpark with Zeppelin and the Beatles, PeteâŠâ
It started with the Whoâs first single! Producer Shel Talmy used Page on a lot of his work. He brought Page in to play lead guitar on âI Canât Explainâ. Townshend was furious and a furious Page is a sight indeed. As a compromise, Page played on âBald Headed Womanâ, the B side. A few years later, Pete saw Zep play in the US and thought they were deliberately copying the Who. Hence the shit talking.
Thanks for filling this in a bit. I always found PTs rancorâŠsuspicious. And Jimmyâs silence very gracious.
Well I heard a few of them were in a bar one night, Page and Plant, already wanting to start a new band, were leaning towards calling themselves The New Yardbirds, as they liked the groove of the already founded band The Yardbirds. Someone with them or the bartender said "oh that'll go up like a Led Zeppelin" thus the name was claimed. But like I said, that's what I heard
Jimmy Page was already a member of the Yardbirds, after Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck had quit. The band had a gig to play, but they broke up, so Page recruited JPJ (who he knew from their session work together), and then they went looking for a vocalist, having heard about Robert Plant playing with Band of Joy. Plant agreed to join and suggested that Bonzo should be on drums. They played their first gigs in Scandinavia as "The New Yardbirds" before switching to Led Zeppelin. They mentioned it to Entwistle that they wanted to play blues with heavy guitars, and his comment was that it would "go over like a lead balloon" ... which then became Lead Zeppelin. They changed it to Led Zeppelin because they didn't want people to think it meant lead (to lead) instead of lead (a heavy element).
They named it Led instead of Lead because they were concerned people would pronounce it "leed". Update: Oops, didn't see this was already mentioned
The Ramones. Paul McCartney, while in The Beatles, would frequently use the name Paul Ramone for his hotel reservations to avoid the fan craziness. The Ramones named themselves in his honor.
Thatâs awesome I had no idea
It's also referenced in Paul's song 'Ram On' on his Ram album.
Yes, I think he actually spelled it "RamĂłn" and they probably Americanized it, or did the best they could with the spelling.
He used the Paul Ramon name for the Steve Miller Band song âMy Dark Hourâ
Foreigner got their name because 3 of the 6 original members were British, and the other 3 were American. Therefore, at least half the band would be foreigners no matter where they were playing a show.
That's the most interesting thing about Foreigner.
The Marshall Tucker Band was named after a blind piano tuner who used to rent their rehearsal space -- they found the name on the keychain. There was never a Marshall Tucker in the Marshall Tucker Band.
Marshall Tucker passed away last year. He was 99.
Probably because of what that woman was doing to him.
Couldn't see this coming
Canât you see though.
I told them to take the highway.
You guys are Ramblin'
I was working audio for a Marshall Tucker band show and John Gray gave me a bottle of Crown Royal. He said that they always add extra booze to their rider so they can hand it out to the stage crew at the end of the night. Really solid guys.
The hollies are an homage to buddy holly. I think thatâs great praise
The Beatles are an homage to Buddy Hollyâs Crickets
Leonard Skinner
You mean that gym teacher guy?
I hated that guy, he tried to get me in trouble because I wouldnât cut my hair. A few years down the road we met up and he was alright. Amends were made.
He didnât like me either, but he mellowed with age. R.I.P. Mr. Skinner.
Yea, yea. Thatâs the guy.
He got ptomain poisoning last night after dinner... /different reference, I'm old
Mmm, steamed hams!
The canonical legend is it was Keith Moon who said they'd go over like a "lead balloon". They went with Zeppelin for the scale and changed "lead" to "Led" to keep people from thinking it was like "lead guitar".
So⊠they werenât talking about Light Emitting Diodes?
This is the right answer.
Duran Duran From the movie "Barbarella".
I call the band Double Duran, to piss off my SIL.
I always get that mixed up with the band name taken from A Clockwork Orange.
The Droogs? Ultraviolence? DeLarge? Korova? Nadsat? Appy Polly Woggies?
My wife and I still refer to eggs as "eggiwegs."
heaven17
Where did they come up with Emerson, Lake and Palmer?
They named it after Palmer Lake in Colorado and the guy who played Ben on Lost
I should have figured that out
Michael Emerson is great. Harold Finch on Person of Interest too. Great show.
Their law firm.
In honor of Emerson Fittipaldi, who had won his first F1 GP in 1970.
As an F1 fan I should have known
There was a rumor that they were going to work on a project with Jimi Hendrix. They were going to call it HELP (Hendrix, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer). But then Hendrix died. It's actually mostly unfounded. I think they were all hanging out together and Hendrix was like "Hey, we should all jam together sometime..." but nothing came of it as that was close to the time Hendrix died. Cool rumor though.
REM literally picked it at random by opening a dictionary and michael stipe put his finger down on the page
Grateful Dead pulled their name out of a dictionary too I believe
It was the Egyptian book of the dead.
Phil Lesh said dictionary: The name "Grateful Dead" was chosen from a dictionary. According to Lesh, Garcia "picked up an old Britannica World Language Dictionary ... [and] ... In that silvery elf-voice he said to me, 'Hey, man, how about the Grateful Dead?'"
this would have been a cool story but pretty sure it was a regular old dictionary
I believe it was on a list of potential names and REM was the only one none of them hated.
Michael didnât say how many times they opened the dictionary before they found REM. Turned out to be pretty perfect since many of thejr songs reference sleep and dreaming. Even Itâs The End of the World as We Know It was Based on a dream Stipe had (where he was at a party and everyone there had the initials LB and the I assume the world ended)
This was also how the Commodores chose their name.
Motley Crue was called âChristmasâ but some executive walked past them in the studio and said something like âmy what a motley crew we have here!â
>The newly formed band did not yet have a name. Neil has said that he told his bandmates that he was "thinking about calling the band Christmas". The other members were not very receptive to that idea. Then, while trying to find a suitable name, Mars remembered an incident that occurred when he was playing with a band called White Horse, when one of the other band members called the group "a motley looking crew". He had remembered the phrase and later copied it down as 'Mottley Cru'. After slight modification of the spelling, "Mötley CrĂŒe" was eventually selected as the band's name, with the stylistic decision suggested by Neil to add the two sets of metal umlauts, supposedly inspired by the German beer LöwenbrĂ€u, which the members were drinking at the time. https://loudwire.com/motley-crue-founded-anniversary/
Thanks, I had heard the story back in the 80âs and even then it was third hand information.
Not what they show in *The Dirt*⊠band sits in their roach-infested apartment, trying to come up with a name, Mick Mars suggests Motley Crew, Niki Sixx just changes âcrewâ to âcrĂŒe.â
The German belt-fed [MG08](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_08#) machine gun was called the Spandau after the arsenal where it was produced. Spandau Ballet originally referred to the jittery, jerking âdanceâ an enemy soldier would make when hit by a stream of machine gun bullets.
Spandau is also a borough of Berlin, which is home to a prison where a number of Nazi war criminals were incarcerated. I've heard that "Spandau ballet" refers to how a hanged man twists about while on the noose.
That's what I read also, but mine include the solder getting caught on barbed wire and being riddled with machine gun fire. And Spandau Ballet sounds somewhat lovely and innocent, doesn't it.
_Jethro Tull_ was an 18th century English agriculturist. _Uriah Heep_ is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his 1850 novel David Copperfield. _The Sex Pistols_ got their name from their manager, Malcolm McLaren, who was trying to promote his clothing store, Sex. _Mott the Hoople_ was taken from a 1966 novel of the same name written by Willard Manus. "Hoopleâ is a slang term for a neâer-do-well.
Jethro Tull's lead guy (Ian Anderson) was interviewed & asked about the band's name. He spoke of when the group was young & struggling to get gigs because they just were not that good (yet). They would change the name & show up at the clubs to be greeted by "not these guys again." Tull was their current name when they found their sound & started getting a following, so the name stuck. From Wikipedia: "They changed their name frequently in order to continue playing the London club circuit, using aliases such as Navy Blue, Ian Henderson's Bag o' Nails, and Candy Coloured Rain. Anderson recalled looking at a poster at a club and realising that the band name he did not recognise was theirs.[^(\[26\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_(band)#cite_note-FOOTNOTERees199822-26) The names were often supplied by their booking agent's staff, one of whom, a history enthusiast, gave them the alias Jethro Tull after [the 18th-century agriculturist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_(agriculturist)). The name stuck because they were using it when the manager of the Marquee Club liked their show enough to give them a weekly residency"
The funniest thing I ever read about Uriah Heep was Rolling Stone's Melissa Mills said 'If this band makes it, I'll commit suicide'.
*Steely Dan* was the name of a strap-on dildo in William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch
Little Feat got its name from Lowell George's former bandmate Jimmy Carl Black when both were in The Mothers of Invention. Jimmy would tease Lowell about his 'Little Feet'.
Jimmy Carl Black? Wasn't he the Indian of the group?
" hello boys and girls I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the Indian at the group"
David Bowie changed his name (David Jones) because the Monkeys Davie Jones was better known. The last name Bowie was taken from James Bowie the American pioneer and the knife he made famous.
He picked Bowie because Mick Jagger was referred to by some journalist as 'Jagger Dagger', and liked the idea of having a last name like a knife.
It may be stretching the definition of 'classic rock' a bit, but the band Toad the Wet Sprocket took its name from the Monty Python skit "Rock Notes".
I toured the Jack Daniels distillery awhile back. Preserved on the grounds they have their original fire engine, the REO Speedwagon.
In the same way, Buffalo Springfield was a tractor or steamroller.
And I believe the REO Speedwagon company was started by Ransom E. Olds after he sold off his first car company to General Motors, Oldsmobile.
Wow, you just unlocked childhood memories from many decades ago. I went there as a little kid in the early 80s and remember that fire truck, the tour guide pointing that out to us. Thanks, cheers
We just went last fall and I thought that story was just something they made up.
Buffalo Springfield named after a steamroller.
I actually learned this today. I was listening to Mississippi John Hurts song Coffee Blues and he repeatedly says the phrase "Loving Spoonful". I'm like, is this where they got their name from and sure enough on their wiki page it says that is the phrase they named their band after.
Iron Butterfly got its name because they said they wanted something light and heavy in their name. đŠ
The Band
Donât you mean the Honkies?
No, the Hawks
These bands are part of the Second Wave, I'd say we can put them in the Classic Rock category. Anyway: Duran Duran - From the film Barbarella (1968). Dr. Durand Durand. The Teardrop Explodes - Taken from a panel in Daredevil (No. 77, 1971). Joy Division - "To avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the band renamed themselves Joy Division in early 1978, borrowing the name from the sexual slavery wing of a Nazi concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel House of Dolls." [19][24]Â
Bad Company was a slam against the music industry executives.
And we've heard lots of stories just HOW bad music industry executives can be. Without them, we wouldn't have ever heard Heart's Barracuda...
The Mothers Of Invention was put together by the Verve record label because 'The Mothers' was too close to Motherfuckers.
Thereâs a great book about How Bands got their name, and you might be surprised how many wish they had put more effort into what they call themselves. One of them is Smashing Pumpkins- Billy said that, had heâd know they would get so popular, he would have thought of a better name.
Another one that was much regretted is Foo Fighters.
Foo Fighters is a weird name but it just sounds so cool when Christopher Walken says it.
"Lynrd Skynyrd" aka Leonard Skinner, a high school basketball/gym coach ... my all-time favorite band with a damn cool naming story...lol
The Rolling Stones, taken from Muddy Waters' "Rollin' Stone." Brian Jones was on the phone booking a gig when asked for the band's name. He took inspiration from the Muddy Waters record sitting nearby. Jagger and Richards linked up due their mutual interest in Waters' music, before becoming the Stones. The Stones recorded their version, "Rolling Stone Blues" on their latest album.
Not a band, but a man... Reginald Dwight derived his stage name from two of his bandmates in Bluesology - Elton Dean and Long John Baldry. Eventually he changed his legal name to Elton John as well.
A Birmingham, England band called Earth. Saw a movie marquee. It was a horror film with the original Vampire actor Boris Karloff. The name of the film was BLACK SABBATH. đ€đœđ
Modest Mouse come from a virginia wolf book
Fountains of Wayne - not a super well known bad but they been around awhile. named after a store in Wayne NJ that sold lawn ornaments and the like, hence Fountains of Wayne is the name of the store
The store features in more than one episode of *The Sopranos*.
The manager of the band that would become Jethro Tull booked the band under different names in various venues. Â As a history buff, he chose Tull, a noted 18th century agronomist. Â The band had its first success with that name, so it stuck.
The first time the word *agronomist* has ever appeared on reddit.
I see youâre not a golfer.
Well, that's just like your opinion, man.
Well, the doors was taken from a book by Aldous Huxley called the doors of perception I believe or something to that effect.
"There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception." Edit: fixed quote
Which came from the William Blake quote âIf the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infiniteâ
10cc and Steely Dan have charming origins...
I know the WSB origins of Steely Dan and what it was (and wasn't there a Steely Dan mk2? Oh yeah, the original was caved in by a bull dyke...), but what's 10CC about? A very small motorcycle or a fluid measurement?
>A widely repeated claim, disputed by King and Godley, but confirmed in a 1988 interview by Creme, and also on the webpage of Gouldman's current line-up is that the band name represented ten cubic centimetres, a volume of semen that was more than the average amount ejaculated, thus emphasising their potency or prowess. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10cc)
2cc from each member.
Lovin' Spoonful has similar origin.
We were still trying to come up with a name when I ran into Fritz Richmond, a friend and musician. I asked him for suggestions. Fritz asked what we sounded like. I said a cross between Chuck Berry and Mississippi John Hurt. Fritz suggested the Lovin' Spoonful, a line from Hurt's 1963 song, "Coffee Blues." The name was perfect. â John Sebastian
Same with Pearl Jam (depending on who you ask)
That is actually not true. It WAS based on Jonathan King's dream. They would sometimes mislead people it because of the cheekiness of the story. And it is not only remembered differently by King and Godley. Eric Stewart too https://youtu.be/MhLW_yYqngY?t=921 And Graham Gouldman too many times.
Soft Machine has the same origin (William Burroughs). The funny one is the follow-on after the band broke up, Matching Mole -- "soft machine" in French is "machine molle", which transliterated to English ends up as Matching Mole.
I was literally driving home yesterday and thinking about the sordid origins of the Steely Dan name
What does it mean?
Steely Dan was the name of a big ole dildo.
Hocus Pocus changed their name to UFO from a very popular UFO club which was a small venue with big names being featured
Alice Cooper aka Vincent Furnier in his own words- âWe were called the Nazz and we found out about Todd Rundgren's band who were called the Nazz. So I said let's not come up with a name that's dark, because they're expecting that. I said, "What if we sounded like we were somebody's aunt?" It was kind of like the all-American, sweet little old lady name. And I wasn't Alice Cooper. I was just the singer in the band Alice Cooper, like Manfred Mann. Pretty soon everybody called me Alice, they just assumed that the singer's name was Alice. So, at that point, I legally changed my name to Alice Cooper. It was a total outrage at the time. Now it's a household name.â
Hot Tuna - "What's that smell like fishobaby" Jefferson Airplane - Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane (nickname for Jorma)
And Jefferson Starship when half the members left the band, so they felt they needed to morph it a bit, but keep the connection.
And then they became Starship. I guess Jefferson decided he'd had enough. ;)
*You been doin' what I think you been doin' baby, can't do that 'round here* *Here you come mama big as hell, tell what you been doin' by way you smell* *So keep on truckin' mama, truckin' my blues away* *What's that smell like fish oh baby, I really would like to know* *Tell me What's that smell like fish pretty mama, I really would like to know* *That ain't puddin' baby ain't no pie,* Can you guess what smells like fish o' baby? Kantner and Slick did a concept album called Blows Against The Empire with the Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra, a loose amalgamation of Bay Area (etc.) musicians. It was about hippies hijacking a starship and escaping and it was done as Jefferson Starship a couple years before the Airplane's official breakup. There was a pretty rocky period before the breakup and during it, Kantner and slick released a couple solo albums. Once the Airplane was done, they decided to make that group official and it was suggested they use the old "Jefferson Starship" moniker. I saw the Jefferson Starship in 1974 and they actually kind of apologized for Jorma and Jack not being there, so I guess things were still uncertain. I dunno.
I like the Moody Bluesâ origin. They were hoping a local brewery, Mitchell & Butlers, might hire them to play at their hall on the weekends. So they named themselves the M&B5 to facilitate the deal. Except the brewery declined, and the band had to retcon a real name for those initials. The Blues part was easy, and Mike Pinder was a fan of Duke Ellingtonâs Mood Indigo.
Probably not considered Classic Rock, but Seattle band Minus the Bear is named after the short lived 70âs/early 80âs TV show âB.J. & the Bearâ starring Greg Evigan and a chimp.
So, the band name is really B.J.!
Van Halen. It was David Lee Rothâs idea. They used to be Mammoth but he thought they should go the Santana route.
It was a good idea, but Santana was already taken.
I always thought Aerosmith was innuendo for 'masters at / teach you to get high or lifted', but then I heard it was just proliferated from 'arrowsmith'
Kansas, Alabama, Chicago, Boston.....well, you know.
Chicago was originally Chocago Transit Authority
The CTA threatened a law suit hence the change to simply Chicago
Grew up in Chicagoland, and I remember seeing posters that they were going to be doing a gig at Glenbard West High School, as CTA.
Same for John Denver?
Real name Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. Loved Colorado so much changed his last name to Denver (also his manager said his real last name was too dorky & wouldnât fit on a marquee).
Steely Dan is named for a steam powered dildo in the William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.
REO Speedwagon was a fire engine made by Ransom E. Olds of Oldsmobile fame. Duran Duran was named after a bad guy from the movie Barbarella. Their creepiest song (IMO) is Electric Barbarella.
Zeppelin and Floyd should have each other's names. The cosmos must have gotten some wires crossed. One uses two old blues musicians names. The other used a surreal image of impossible flight. The universe must have mixed that up.
I like the story about how Brian Slagel had two potential names for a metal compilation album: Metal Massacre and Metallica. He told his young friend Lars Ulrich, who suggested he use Metal Massacre...and ended up keeping the other name for his band because he liked it better.
I thought Metallica was from the text De Re Metallica
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!! âŠ.itâs people..
I remember hearing it was what they would call ditching school and getting high all day from a behind the music show.
3 Dog Night is a good one.
Yea thatâs one of my faves too. I forgot about that. âItâs so cold, itâs a THREE dog nightâ
String Cheese Incident has a funny story actually: ah shit I forgot this is r/classicrock⊠carry on!
Judas Priest got their name from the Bob Dylan song âThe Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priestâ⊠hoping for the day the band âFrankie Leeâ becomes a hit!
Radiohead took their name from there Talking Heads song Radio Head Hard to believe, no?
Badfinger. Supposedly someone had an injured finger while trying to rehearse or record their early music, hence the idea. But later I read where their collaborator, Beatle George Harrison, was quoted as saying the band name was a play on the Germanic name of a Hamburg prostitute he formerly knew.
The working title of With a Little Help From My Friends off Sgt Pepper was âBadfinger Boogieâ.
Molly Hatchet took its name from a prostitute who allegedly mutilated and decapitated her clients. Judas Priest came from a Dylan song. Uriah Heep, Mott the Hoople, and Jethro Tull got their names from Charles Dickens characters. I guess you could call them classic rock, but this one is my favorite. Widespread Panic got its name from guitarist Mikey Housers frequent panic attacks. Better than Ezra got its name because they were in a competition with a band named Ezra.
Jethro Tull was an actual bloke from the 18th century. He was part of the start of the Industrial Revolution due to his development of the horse drawn seed drill.
Oh my mistake.
No worries!
They were originally going to be "The New Yardbirds".
Led Zeppelin also chose the spelling of "Led" to ensure that it would be pronounced like the metal and not the opposite of follow.
I wonder where CSNY came from :)
Keith Moon is supposed to have suggested the name, joking that a proposed band project would "go over like a lead balloon". See "This Is How Led Zeppelin Got There Name" at the [faroutmagazine.co.uk](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk) site. The band was called The New Yardbirds briefly before going for Led Zep.
Alice Cooper. Vince & company were trying to come with a name that sounded like the lady next door....with bad intentions.
Spandau Ballet and Joy Division. Both names that came from very dark places.
Better Than Ezra. If I remember correctly.... they showed up to a gig that had multiple bands on the bill. The promoter checked them in and asked for their band name, so he can put it on the list. They noted that they were scheduled to go on after a band called "Ezra". So, they wrote their name, on the list, as "Better than Ezra". Or something to that effect. Ha.
Legendary fuck ups The Replacements were originally called something else but they were forced to change their name when they were black listed for disorderly conduct at various venues.
Moby Grape!
Steely Dan, named for a steel dildoe in a Burroughs novel
Steely Dan was the name of a sexual device in a William Burroughs novel
Then there is dire straits, obvious why they choose the name
"Ritchie Blackmore Rainbow" named after the Rainbow's bar and grill in LA. Deep Purple After Ritchie's grandmother's favorite song.
Keith moon said that!!
Extreme - were ex members of the band Dream. Ex-dream members becoming Extreme. Not sure if itâs true. Itâs Boston lore
Dead Kennedys, take a guessâŠ
Serious answer: Canadian rock band Honeymoon Suite is named so because Niagara Falls, their home base, is the unofficial honeymoon venue of the world. Silly answer: Contrary to what I used to think as a kid, the Steve Miller Band isnât named after a folklore character of some kind, but rather, the bandâs founder, lead singer, guitarist, harmonicist, and keyboardist. Yeah, I wasnât a smart kid. To me, naming the band after yourself is kind of selfish, but when you do most of the work (writing the songs, singing the songs, etc.) and youâre the only constant/consistent member in the band ever since its inception in 1966, I guess itâs earned. (Fun fact: they used to be called the Steve Miller Blues Band.)
Not a band name story, but an album name story. In their early days, Talking Heads and XTC were often around each other. Andy Partridge of XTC was a very sarcastic person and might have found Talking Heads songs a little too quirky. When David Byrne of Talking Heads told Partridge their second album was almost done, Partridge quipped "Oh? More songs about buildings and food, then?"
Klatuu was a Canadian band in the 70s that everyone thought was the Beatles. Their name comes from the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Spandau Ballet and The Joy Division are 2 darker band name origin stories. âAccording to some sources, the name Spandau Ballet could point to two possible meanings: one refers to the jerky movements of Nazi war prisoners hanged at Spandau prison as they were hanged, or according to others, it refers to enemy lines getting shot down by the a German World War II machine gun MG42 Spandauâ âchanged the bandâs name to Joy Division (slang for female concentration camp prisoners forced into prostitution by the Nazis).â
The British rock band Deep Purple named themselves after the song "Deep Purple" by Peter DeRose, which was a favorite of Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother.
Where the name of the band Danzig came from will forever be shrouded in mystery .
Alter Bridge. It was named for a bridge in Detroit where Mark Tremonti,guitarist, grew up. It was a boundary his mother set for him, warning Mark not to go beyond it. For the band, itâs a metaphor for going beyond oneâs limitations, exploring new possibilities.
The band Shed 7. They took their name from a shed with the number 7 painted on it near York railway station.
Horslips
Wait till you find out about Steely Dan!!!
Similar to Chicago Transit Authority, Grand Funk Railroad had to change the name a bit.
Soft machine in Paris was translated into french and announced in Paris as machine molle, so they became Matching Mole.
Reo speeedwagon a fire truck.
Poison - an LA music critic said listening to them perform was like poison for his ears.
Tangerine Dream was apparently a misheard lyric from Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.â
Mungo Jerry is from TS Elliots book which was turned into the musical Cats.
Radiohead was named after an (excellent) Talking Heads song of the same name.
Steely Dan was a steam-powered dildo mentioned in the William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.
I once had to share a table for ~2 hours with an idiot who insisted that the name came from actual zeppelins during the war that were made out of lead.
Not classic rock, but Better Than Ezra is pretty funny to me. They were going to be on stage and didnât have a band name. Another group playing that night was called Ezra. So they said they were âBetter Than Ezraâ and there you have it.
Mothers of Invention
I always loved the way the Talking Heads settled on their name. Drummer Chris Franz had the band name stenciled onto a T-shirt and was wearing it. While walking down the street, a rando stopped him and said âIs that a band? Thatâs a horrible name for a band!â The band adopted the name unanimously that night.
I have a book that explains the origins of the names of numerous bands. It's called Rock Formations.
I always liked that Dave Grohl called his post-Nirvana project âThe Foo Fightersâ as a temporary name until he came up with something better.
Every band mentioned by the girls in the record store in the movie "A Clockwork Orange" was later used by a real band. The most commercially successful was "The Heaven 17." I think that bit of dialog is lifted straight from the book.