All roads lead to Gorgie Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Sometime I look at the names of bands and wonder how on earth did they choose that as a name. It's going back a bit in time but Mott the Hoople would be a good example. They chose their name from a Novel called Mott the Hoople about a circus freak show by Willard Manus. Mind you they were The Doc Thomas Group pre Mott which sounds pretty bland right enough! Tell us about any names of groups or individuals in music that once puzzled you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown user Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 5 minutes ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said: Sometime I look at the names of bands and wonder how on earth did they choose that as a name. It's going back a bit in time but Mott the Hoople would be a good example. They chose their name from a Novel called Mott the Hoople about a circus freak show by Willard Manus. Mind you they were The Doc Thomas Group pre Mott which sounds pretty bland right enough! Tell us about any names of groups or individuals in music that once puzzled you? This was a question once asked of Karl Pilkington - which band was named after the average human ejaculate? The answer was 10cc His answer was the Loving spoonful 😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All roads lead to Gorgie Posted February 21, 2023 Author Share Posted February 21, 2023 3 minutes ago, Smithee said: This was a question once asked of Karl Pilkington - which band was named after the average human ejaculate? The answer was 10cc His answer was the Loving spoonful 😆 Sounds a perfectly reasonable answer 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagar the Horrible Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Lynyrd Skynyrd was a coach they still had nightmares about. Duran Duran from the Jane Fonda film Barbarossa T.Pau is a Vulcan leader in Star Trek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Hagar the Horrible said: Lynyrd Skynyrd was a coach they still had nightmares about. Duran Duran from the Jane Fonda film Barbarossa T.Pau is a Vulcan leader in Star Trek Barberella, Hagar. I think Barbarossa was Hitler's invasion of the USSR. 😊 Edited February 21, 2023 by martoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 17 minutes ago, Smithee said: This was a question once asked of Karl Pilkington - which band was named after the average human ejaculate? The answer was 10cc His answer was the Loving spoonful 😆 I like the The Lovin' Spoonful.... the band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosanostra Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 I played poker with James from Biffy Clyro a couple of times. He told me that name came from Cliff Richards biro, Cliffy's biro and then Biffy Clyro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagar the Horrible Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 5 minutes ago, martoon said: Barberella, Hagar. I think Barbarossa was Hitler's invasion of the USSR. 😊 Its an age thing...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 3 minutes ago, Victorian said: I like the The Lovin' Spoonful.... the band. Me too. John Sebastian rarely seems to get the praise other great songwriters of the 60's get. Very underrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Just now, Hagar the Horrible said: Its an age thing...lol 😄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 2 minutes ago, martoon said: Me too. John Sebastian rarely seems to get the praise other great songwriters of the 60's get. Very underrated. Definitely. Quite obscure in actual fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchy frog Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Jesus of Spazzareth Angela Rippon's Bum No idea where those came from Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsmak Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 (edited) A little off topic, but I recommend watching this bloke on tiktok where he talks about how bands were formed etc.. how they got their names, their Inspirations etc https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYS1RNej/ Edited February 21, 2023 by Bigsmak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milky_26 Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 1 hour ago, Smithee said: This was a question once asked of Karl Pilkington - which band was named after the average human ejaculate? The answer was 10cc His answer was the Loving spoonful 😆 Jeremy Clarkson said the same on series two of his farm program Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown user Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 1 minute ago, milky_26 said: Jeremy Clarkson said the same on series two of his farm program Did he? Plagiarising wank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Percival King Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 10 minutes ago, Smithee said: Did he? Plagiarising wank Is the last word in your post about Jeremy Clarkson a noun or a verb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graygo Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Wonder how this band got it's name and what they're called now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewB Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 1 hour ago, cosanostra said: I played poker with James from Biffy Clyro a couple of times. He told me that name came from Cliff Richards biro, Cliffy's biro and then Biffy Clyro. I thought they liked to have a laugh coming up with outlandish stories about the name. That story of yours is disappointingly plausible compared to some of the others! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debut 4 Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Simple Minds:- lyric from Bowie’s,The Jean Genie Spandau Ballet:- they saw the name written on a wall in Berlin. Iron Maiden:- named after a torture device which was dug up in memory from a band member who liked the movie Man in the Iron Mask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazio Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Deacon Blur named after a Steely Dan song Deacon’s Blues. Steely Dan named after a dildo in a William Burroughs novel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewB Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Just listening to The Twilight Sad which reminds me they got their name from a Wilfred Owen poem. Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewB Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Moloko comes from the novel A Clockwork Orange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazio Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Famously Led Zeppelin got their name as Keith Moon said they would go down like a lead balloon. Not a great prediction by him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown user Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Thompson Twins - there were 3 of them but they were named after the characters in the Tintin books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown user Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 UB40 - youngsters won't know, but this was the form you had to fill in to get Unemployment Benefit, hence the UB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
periodictabledancer Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 56 minutes ago, Debut 4 said: Simple Minds:- lyric from Bowie’s,The Jean Genie Spandau Ballet:- they saw the name written on a wall in Berlin. Iron Maiden:- named after a torture device which was dug up in memory from a band member who liked the movie Man in the Iron Mask. The phrase is "simple minded" so not sure about that. Anyways , here's mine : Boomtown Rats - the name of a gang in a Woodie Guthrie book. Steely Dan - a kind of dildo My Chemical Romance - originates from an Irvine Welsh book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown user Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 1 hour ago, Percival King said: Is the last word in your post about Jeremy Clarkson a noun or a verb? Definitely a noun, a plagiarising wank is a tough ask for anyone I reckon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pap Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Not sure the stories behind them but - Pink Floyd AC/DC Fleetwood Mac Black Sabbath Pearl Jam The Velvet Underground The Sex Pistols The Joy Division The Rolling Stones Guns N' Roses Deep Purple (so so) Jefferson Airplane T.Rex Are all cool names for bands 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watt-Zeefuik Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Hootie and the Blowfish was not supposed to be a nickname for the lead singer (Darius Rucker) and his backup band, but was rather the nicknames of two of their friends in South Carolina. The Blowfish was just one guy. * They Might Be Giants is both a reference to Don Quixote as well as a 1970s movie about Albert Einstein. I have no idea where it came from but my headcanon is that the Butthole Surfers got their name from a nickname from some obscure cove in California or Hawaii known among the hard core surfers for having gnarly waves called the Butthole, and if that's not correct I don't want to know, and anyone who tells me different gets blocked and reported. Cowboy Mouth, a hard driving pop band from New Orleans, got their name from a line in a David Mamet play, I believe. *(Side note—a fellow named Peter Holsapple lived around here for several years, might still. He played with Hootie and the Blowfish, a band that was widely derided at the time as talentless hacks by the learned critics of popular music, with REM, the colossally successful alt band derided by some as selling out, and the dB's, one of those "you probably haven't heard of them" bands almost universally beloved by the vinyl collecting set. I got a chance to chat with him about all that and basically his take on all of them is, "eh, it was a job, we had some good times," no real difference between the way he talked about them.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown user Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 41 minutes ago, Pap said: Not sure the stories behind them but - Pink Floyd AC/DC Fleetwood Mac Black Sabbath Pearl Jam The Velvet Underground The Sex Pistols The Joy Division The Rolling Stones Guns N' Roses Deep Purple (so so) Jefferson Airplane T.Rex Are all cool names for bands 🙂 Fleetwood Mac are named after their rhythm section, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hansel Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Killing Joke were named after a Monty Python sketch https://youtu.be/prDoDPIpX4E Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown user Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 2 minutes ago, Hansel said: Killing Joke were named after a Monty Python sketch https://youtu.be/prDoDPIpX4E Didn't know that, cool. Here's another one - no one cares what U2 were named after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haken Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Think Radiohead came from a Talking Heads song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hansel Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 44 minutes ago, Smithee said: Didn't know that, cool. Here's another one - no one cares what U2 were named after. 😆 The Beatles were named after a type of insect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Percival King Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 My favourite band from the 80s, The Men They Couldn't Hang, were named after, erm, a man they couldn't hang, John "Babbacombe" Lee, despite three attempts. Think Blancmange were named after something which my mum used to put in trifles, pink with a horrible skin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hansel Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 (edited) Joy Division were named after a nazi concentration camp where attractive Jewish women were forced to be sex slaves for favourable prisoners and camp guards. Edited February 21, 2023 by Hansel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilnunb Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 1 hour ago, Pap said: The Velvet Underground Is from Michael Leigh's book of the same name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawdust Caesar Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 5 hours ago, Smithee said: This was a question once asked of Karl Pilkington - which band was named after the average human ejaculate? The answer was 10cc His answer was the Loving spoonful 😆 I'll admit I thought the Lovin Spoonful was named for the same reason as 10cc, turns out it is to do with Maxwell House coffee. Sham 69 were named after graffiti on a wall that originally read Hersham 69 but the 1st 3 letters were got smudged or washed away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitzroy Pointon Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 2 hours ago, Pap said: Not sure the stories behind them but - Pink Floyd AC/DC Fleetwood Mac Black Sabbath Pearl Jam The Velvet Underground The Sex Pistols The Joy Division The Rolling Stones Guns N' Roses Deep Purple (so so) Jefferson Airplane T.Rex Are all cool names for bands 🙂 Joy Division were named after a brothel the Nazi soldiers used in Mein Kampf. They were originally called Warsaw but didn't want to he confused with Warsaw Pakt. Sex Pistols was dreamed up by Malcolm McLaren as that's what he wanted them to be, Sex Pistols. That's the only two I know about on that list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debut 4 Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 2 hours ago, periodictabledancer said: The phrase is "simple minded" so not sure about that. Anyways , here's mine : Boomtown Rats - the name of a gang in a Woodie Guthrie book. Steely Dan - a kind of dildo My Chemical Romance - originates from an Irvine Welsh book Yes, they tweaked it to Simple Minds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I P Knightley Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 3 hours ago, Tazio said: Deacon Blue named after a Steely Dan song Deacon’s Blues. Steely Dan named after a dildo in a William Burroughs novel. Rats! That was the pair I came to post. 2 hours ago, Pap said: Not sure the stories behind them but - AC/DC The Rolling Stones AC/DC chose their name from seeing it on a sewing machine. Black Sabbath came from an old black & white horror movie. The Rolling Stones came from the Muddy Waters song. Others: The Killers was the name of a fictional band in a New Order video. The Velvet Underground was the name of a mucky book. The Beatles was derived from Buddy Holly's Crickets (the insect thing, see?) but they messed with it, the clever lads as "Beat" was "groovy". Iron Maiden was an instrument of torture. As is listening to their records, if ya know worra mean? Boom, boom! The Doobie Brothers used to relax herbally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorgiegus Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Pink Floyd were named after Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Blues artists that Syd Barret liked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWL Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 The Ramones took their name from an early Paul McCartney stage name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorgiegus Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Think New Order had something to do with the Nazis being supreme, not sure thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I P Knightley Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 2 hours ago, Pap said: Guns N' Roses The "Rose" is for Axl Rose whose name was chosen as an anagram of oral sex. "Guns" was the surname of someone who left the band before they made it big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I P Knightley Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 9 minutes ago, gorgiegus said: Pink Floyd were named after Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Blues artists that Syd Barret liked. There's a few others that have taken the names of a couple of clssic musicians and spliced them to make up the band name. If I could think of them, I'd tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 The New York Dolls were named after a doll repair shop called The New York Doll Hospital that was near the shop that Sylvain Sylvain worked in. Say what you see lad. Say what you see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milky_26 Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 4 minutes ago, I P Knightley said: The "Rose" is for Axl Rose whose name was chosen as an anagram of oral sex. "Guns" was the surname of someone who left the band before they made it big. not quite, guns n roses was the result in the merging of two bands hollywood rose and LA guns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Thin Lizzy were named after a character in The Dandy (Tin Lizzie) + a kind of Irish accent play on words. The 'H' added as a silent 'H' as a Dubliner would pronounce Thin Lizzy (Tin Lizzy). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diadora Van Basten Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Shed seven used to have eleven members but they shed seven. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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