Where Dya Get That Name?

There are a great many bands that decided on boring names, such as The Steve Miller Band, or Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. You have to wonder about the thought process that went into the naming of those sorts of groups. I imagine the conversation went something like this...

"What are we going to call our band?"

"Err...dunno"

"Well, my name's Steve Miller, and this is my band"

"Wait...I've got an idea, why don't we call it...The Steve Miller Band?"

"Brilliant, I'd never have thought of that"

But then, on the other side of the metaphorical street, a group of guys are coming up with names like Blue Öyster Cult and Right Said Fred. Both of these are discussed later in the blog, so have patience, young grasshopper!

In this blog, I shall uncover the mysteries of some band names, where they originated, and maybe some explanations from the bands themselves.

As an added bonus, I shall make a Spotify playlist with each bands most popular or well-known song. A link to this will be in the summary at the end of the blog.

_{I used the Steve Miller Band as an example, I mean no malice towards them, I actually quite like their music, but the name is boring...Sorry Steve!}

When the four members of ABBA got together from various other bands in their Swedish homeland they were initially known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. Their manager, Stig Andersson, was tired of unwieldy names for groups and started writing just the initials A.B.B.A. on their files and recording tapes. At the time ABBA was a famous fish canning company in Sweden, but it was virtually unknown outside of Scandinavia. It was thought that the name would help the band be recognized internationally. They had to get permission from the fish company to use the name, their reply to the manager was "O.K., as long as you don't make us feel ashamed for what you're doing"

The name is therefore an acronym of the first letters of the group members first names...

Agnetha Faltskog

Benny Andersson

Bjorn Ulvaes

Anni-frid Lyngstad

Their best-known song amongst many is probably Dancing Queen. It was a number-one hit in eighteen countries and their only chart-topper in the US.

Thin Lizzy was an Irish rock band that was formed in 1969, by two members of a band called Orphanage. 

They took their name from a character in The Dandy children's comic. The character was a robot called Tin Lizzie. This became Thin Lizzy as a joke towards the local Dublin accent that pronounced "thin" as "tin". In fact, at some of their early gigs, they were billed as Tin Lizzy.

The group's most well-known track is probably The Boys Are Back In Town.

This band's name originates from two other bands. Hollywood Rose and the L.A. Guns. One member of each were co-habiting, Izzy Stradlin and Tracii Guns respectively. When the L.A.Guns needed a new singer, Izzy suggested his frontman, Axl Rose. They were going to set up a record label called Guns and Roses, but decided to use that as a new band name instead. Other names rejected for the band were Heads of Amazon and AIDS, I think they chose wisely!

Guns N' Roses have had many singles and it is difficult to choose which is the best known, so I'm going to pick one I like, Paradise City.

The band was managed by a guy called Sandy Pearlman. He also supplied poetry to the group that was often used in their lyrics. Originally known as "Soft White Underbelly", from a phrase used by Winston Churchill, they changed their name after a bad review of a gig in Manhattan. In Pearlman's poetry, the Blue Oyster Cult is a group of aliens that guided Earth's history in secret.

The umlaut was added by Pearlman because of the supposedly "Wagnerian aspect of metal". Other bands such as Motorhead and Motley Crue followed suit by adding their own umlauts.

The symbol used on their album covers is a variation of the alchemic symbol for lead.

The Blue Oyster Cult's most known single, at least in the UK, is Don't Fear The Reaper.

A former member of the band, Brian Jones, named the band during a phone call to a music magazine. Just as the band formed from several other successful groups, he was calling to announce their formation but hadn't yet got a name. When asked, he looked around the room and saw a Muddy Waters album with the song "Rollin' Stone" among the tracks.

The logo first appeared on their Sticky Fingers album and was designed after Mick Jagger declared he wanted it to look like the stuck-out tongue of Kali, the Hindu goddess.

The Rolling Stones have had many hits over the years and it is difficult to pick just one. I'll make an executive decision and pick one I like. From their 1968 album, Beggars Banquet, the song is Sympathy for the Devil.

This little-known band from Liverpool went through several name changes before becoming The Beatles. John Lennon first formed a skiffle group called The Blackjacks whilst still at school. This was changed to The Quarrymen after they discovered another local group was called the BlackJacks. Following names included Johnny and the Moondogs, The Rainbows, and eventually The Beatals.

This name then developed into The Silver Beetles, then changing an e to an a to become the Silver Beatles, and eventually just The Beatles!

Joy Division was a British rock band that formed in Salford in 1976. They were influenced by various bands of the punk era.

Originally named Stiff Kittens and then Warsaw, before taking the name Joy Division. The name Warsaw was influenced by David Bowie's song Warszawa. However, to avoid confusion with a London band called Warsaw Pact, they decided to change the name to Joy Division.

The name was borrowed from a 1955 novel called House of Dolls, which used the name to describe the sexual slavery department of a Nazi concentration camp.

This band was formed in Southend on Sea in Essex, UK in 1967 after the break-up of a band called The Paramounts.

They named themselves after a cat belonging to a friend. The cat, a Burmese Blue, was actually named Procul Harun, but as they were talking on the telephone the name was written down incorrectly. The Procul part of the name is the breeder's prefix used when registering pedigree felines.

Their name has been described by some as a Latin phrase meaning "Beyond these things", but this would be procul hīs

Procol Harum's most well-known song is A Whiter Shade of Pale.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The band has reformed twice over the years, not least following a plane crash in 1977 that killed three members of the band and seriously injured the rest.

Their name was originally My Backyard, then Conquer The Worm, The Noble 5, and eventually The One Percent in 1968. The band members decided to change the name again following taunts at gigs of them having only 1% talent!

The band settled on Leonard Skinnerd, partly as a reference to a character in a novelty song by Allan Sherman called "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" and partly as a mocking tribute to the Robert E Lee Highschool PE teacher, Leonard Skinner. Skinner was strict in enforcing his "no long hair" policy, a rule that led to one member of the band dropping out of school due to being constantly harassed over his long hair.

The name developed into Lynyrd Skynyrd from there.

Right Said Fred is a British dance band comprising mainly of two brothers, Fred and Richard Fairbrass. They were formed in 1989 when both brothers were session artists for acts including David Bowie and Bob Dylan.

Following in Lynyrd Skynyrd's footsteps, their band name also comes from a novelty song. the tune was recorded in 1962 by British actor Bernard Cribbins and features the exploits of a group of removal men struggling with a piano.

The most popular song by Right Said Fred is "I'm Too Sexy"

You've read as far as here! Well done, and thank you. It makes me feel all warm inside that my years of research (well, hours) have not been wasted. Some of these I already knew, but I enjoyed reading about various processes and changes that went into seemingly random band names. There were some I didn't use, mainly because the background was too boring or too revolting (I'm looking at you Limp Bizkit). Don't ask me just look it up for yourself, but be warned, it's not for the faint of heart or if you've led a sheltered life. Don't blame me if your life is not the same afterward.

I already have a few names for a deuxième blog in this series, so watch this space.

Oh, and by the way, if you are so inclined, there is an accompanying SPOTIFY PLAYLIST if you feel you can sing along. There are extra tracks than just the band's best-known song, I've included any that were influential in the choosing of the names.

I'll leave you all (or y'all to my American friends) with an Irish blessing of unknown origins...

“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”