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The Stories Behind 26 Band Names....
1. The Clash....
The Clash's name came to bassist Paul Simonon when he was
reading the paper and kept noticing the word 'clash' cropping up in news
reports. Prior to that, the band had considered calling themselves either The Weak
Heartdrops or The Psychotic Negatives
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2. Guns n’Roses....
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Guns N' Roses is an elision of two earlier band names, LA
Guns and Hollywood Rose. The latter band were named after their frontman, Axl
Rose. LA Guns were a rival Hollywood band, whose guitarist Tracii Guns left to
form Guns N' Roses, but was later replaced by Slash.
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3. Snow Patrol....
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Long rumoured to be a reference to scoring cocaine, Snow
Patrol is the third moniker Gary Lightbody's band have gone under. Originally
formed in 1994 as Shrug, they became Polar Bear the following year, before
settling on Snow Patrol in mid-1997.
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4. CSS....
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CSS is an acronym for Cansei de Ser Sexy, literally "I
got tired of being sexy" in Portuguese. The Brazilian band supposedly took
their name from a quote by Beyoncé, although no-one has ever tracked down an
interview in which she said this
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5. The Ting Tings....
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The Ting Tings are named after a Chinese former shop
assistant colleague of singer Katie White's. The band have experienced much
success in Japan, and were perturbed to discover that their name means
"small, cute penis" in Japanese.
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6. Radiohead....
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Until they were signed in 1991 by EMI, Radiohead were known
as On A Friday. The name-change was suggested by a label representative, who
took the name from a song on Talking Heads' 'True Stories' album. Although it
was not their idea, Radiohead grew to love the name - Thom Yorke has said that
it encapsulates some of the ideas about alienation and cultural sterility dealt
with on 'OK Computer'.
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7. Coldplay....
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Coldplay's name was donated by them by a fellow student at
UCL, who had been using it for his group but didn't want it anymore because he
found it too depressing. Had he not given up the name, Coldplay might have been
called Starfish or Stepney Green. Interesting fact: Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley also
studied at UCL - in fact, he was invited to join the fledgling Coldplay, but
turned the offer down.
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8. Led Zeppelin....
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Led Zeppelin were known as The New Yardbirds until October
1968, when they changed their name, inspired by a sarcastic comment by The
Who's Keith Moon, who predicted the supergroup would "Go over like a lead
Zeppelin". At the suggestion of manager Peter Grant, the 'a' was dropped
from 'lead' in a bid to prevent "thick Americans" from pronouncing it
'leed zeppelin'.
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9. Bloc Party....
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Bloc Party only settled on their name after labouring under
a number of different monikers, including Superheroes Of BMX and Diet. They
eventually chose Bloc Party, but have denied any links to the Eastern Bloc or
the Canadian political party Bloc Québécois. According to guitarist Russell
Lissack, "It doesn't mean anything. It was simply the only name we didn't
all instantly hate."
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10. Friendly Fires....
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Friendly Fires are named after a song by the cult post-punk
band Section 25. “We liked it because it didn’t sound either indie or electro,”
explains guitarist Edd Gibson. “We didn’t want to be a ‘the’ band. And it just
looked good. But there is no meaning behind it.”
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11. Crystal Castles....
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As befits their 8-bit sound, Crystal Castles take their name
from an Atari arcade game released in 1983, a commercial for which stated:
"Crystal Castles, the source of all power." It can hardly be called
nostalgia though, since vocalist Alice Glass wasn't born until five years after
the game came out.
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12. Franz Ferdinand....
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Franz Ferdinand are named after the Austrian Archduke whose
assassination sparked the international crisis that led to the First World War.
The band chose the name predominantly because they liked the alliterative sound
of it, although in an early interview drummer Paul Thomson said: "I like
the idea that, if we become popular, maybe the words Franz Ferdinand will make
people think of the band instead of the historical figure."
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13. White Lies....
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White Lies ditched their original name Fear Of Flying in
October 2007. When asked about the name change in an interview with a radio
station in San Francisco, vocalist Jack Brown said: "We just thought that
we should perform these songs as a different band. We had songs that we felt
weren't suitable for the band that we were in and we thought White Lies would
be the perfect vehicle for the songs."
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14. Oasis....
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Formerly known as Rain, it was Liam Gallagher who suggested
the name Oasis, inspired by an Inspiral Carpets tour poster which hung in the
Gallagher brothers' bedroom. One of the venues the poster listed was the Oasis
Leisure Centre in Swindon.
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15. Klaxons....
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Originally calling themselves Klaxons (Not Centaurs) before
dropping the bit in brackets, Klaxons were inspired by a quote from Filippo
Tommaso Marinetti’s 1909 futurism text ‘The Futurist Manifesto’.
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16. The Rolling
Stones....
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The Rolling Stones took their name from from the Howlin'
Wolf blues song 'Rolling Stone' - Keith Richards was a fan of the version
recorded by Muddy Waters
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17. Nirvana....
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In their earliest incarnation Nirvana went through a series
of names, including Skid Row, Pen Cap Chew, and Ted Ed Fred. They finally
settled on Nirvana (meaning a state of ultimate bliss) in early 1988. Cobain
explained the choice thus: "I wanted a name that was kind of beautiful or
nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk rock name."
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18. Black Sabbath....
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Black Sabbath were originally formed as a heavy blues-rock
band named Earth. Gradually they began incorporating occult and horror-inspired
lyrics before changing their name to Black Sabbath - taken from a '60's cheap
horror movie starring Boris Karloff, suggesting a holy day of witchcraft.
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19. Noah and the
Whale....
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Noah And The Whale is a marriage of the title of one of the
band’s favourite films, 'The Squid and the Whale', and the director of said
film’s name (Noah Baumbach). They are also fans of film director, Wes Anderson,
who helped produce 'The Squid and the Whale.'
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20. The Cure....
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NME Godlike Geniuses The Cure were originally known as Easy
Cure. In 1977 they won a talent competition with the German label Hansa
Records, and received a record contract - although no singles were released.
After disagreements with the label, the contract was dissolved, which meant the
band could no longer operate under the same name. Robert Smith subsequently
shortened it to The Cure.
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21. Death Cab for
Cutie....
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Death Cab For Cutie named themselves after a song written by
Neil Innes and Vivienne Stanshall and performed by their group the Bonzo Dog
Doo-Dah Band in the Beatles’ 1967 film 'Magical Mystery Tour'
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22. Blur....
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Like Radiohead, Blur renamed themselves at the suggestion of
their record label. They started out as Circus, before a line-up change
encouraged them to switch to Seymour. After being signed to Food Records, label
boss Andy Ross drew up a list of suggested names. Blur was one, Whirlpool was
another.
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23. Kaiser Chiefs....
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Kaiser Chiefs are named after the South African football
club Kaizer Chiefs, for whom former Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe once
played. The band are big Leeds United supporters. Kaizer Chiefs are one of the
biggest teams on the African continent, with an estimated 16 million fans.
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24. Vampire Weekend....
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Vampire Weekend take their name from an amateur film lead
singer Ezra Koening made as a student. It centres around the young Ezra
fighting off vampires while wearing a mask. You can watch it by Googling
'Vampire Weekend trailer'. It doesn't look very good.
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25. The Beastie Boys....
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According to Mike D, Beastie Boys was originally an acronym
standing for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal
Excellence," and the initials B.B. were intended to mimic Washington DC
hardcore punk band Bad Brains. However, other members of the band have
suggested that these factors were afterthoughts.
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26. Red Brick House....
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Red Brick House only settled on their name after labouring
under a number of different monikers, including The Weapons of Mass
Destruction, Firefly and Templewild. The name refers to drummer Danny’s house,
known locally to party goers and taxi drivers as the red brick bungalow. They
replaced “bungalow” with “house” because it sounds better and has a bluesy
quality to it. Also, it was the only name that everybody did not hate after 5
minutes.