Third Eye Blind popped into my head this morning and I always thought their name was pretty clever. I started thinking about a few others I like and got stuck on “modified birth names”
City & Colour - stage name of Dallas Green
Corto Alto - stage name for Liam Shortall (Corto Alto means “short tall” in Spanish)
Dora Jar - stage name for Dorothy Jar (door ajar)
I don’t love when artists pick names based on other artists, though. I love Chet Faker’s music but wish he stuck with Nick Murphy.
Are there any that you really like?
[Edit] Please explain why you think a name is clever! I’ve looked up the origins of the unfamiliar names getting posted but I’m definitely missing what’s clever about some of them
There is that joke from Peep Show “we were thinking of calling ourselves ‘Various Artists’ just to fuck with people with iPods”
There used to be a Christian band in Tassie called ‘The Fish That John West Rejects’. (A reference to an ad campaign running at the time)
Also another aussie band that’d play bluegrass covers of rock classics called ‘The Fargone Beauties’
Dunno if they ever did it but my friend wanted his band to call themselves Free Beer. He figured they would get gigs as an opening act. This Friday at the Paramount - Boy Genius, with Free Beer!
How do you think Barenaked Ladies got their name?
Fair to Midland.
They Might Be Giants - a reference to the George C. Scott movie of the same name, where this is his character’s answer to why Don Quixote jousted with windmills
Good one, I knew it was a movie but not the Don Quixote context!
I don’t know that it’s clever but it always gives me a good chuckle, Steely Dan is named after a steam powered strap on.
Had no idea!
Similarly, it was years before I learned where Arab Strap got their name.…
It’s one of my dad’s favorite pieces of music trivia. Probably because it made us kids uncomfortable lol
This led to a long conversation about Naked Lunch with my friend who I’d a big Steely Dan fan
Lol that’s funny
One that sprang to mind I haven’t seen mentioned is Gogol Bordello.
Also, while I’ve always thought Rainbow Kitten Surprise was a funny name, I didn’t realize how clever it was until the “surprise” happened. Obviously it wasn’t planned that way, but it’s still cool
Holy shit I had the same moment. Devil Like Me is what got me (and most people) into them and if you listen to the lyrics…
Cease
Was an excellent local drone band.
I always thought the name was curious and succinct.
Did they…Cease to be?
Re-evolved I’m pretty sure.
The Beatles. It’s a plural of people who can keep a beat.
Like the Oneders?
You know, I guess I don’t give them enough credit for that one
The lads actually just really hated a bloke called Les.
But seriously, it was also an homage to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
Gorillaz - A subtle nod to the fact that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were both born in 1968, the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese Zodiac.
Wow I didn’t know that!
- Glass Hammer - I like oxymorons [prog rock]
- Blind Guardian - also kind of an oxymoron [power metal]
- Animals as Leaders - political messaging at its finest? [prog rock/metal]
- Carbon-based Lifeforms - that’s us (and our surrounding) [ambient]
- Envy of None - yeah… [not sure about genre]
- Ayreon - sounds cool, is basically a play on words of the creator’s name (Arjen Lucassen) [prog rock/metal]
- NoFX - quite fitting for [punk rock]
I’ve always loved the name Animals As Leaders. Humans ain’t cutting it so fuck it, the dogs are in charge now.
The Who
The Hu
Propagandhi
Minor Threat
Ruskaja
Circle Jerks
The Slits
Eagles of Death Metal
I’m on board with Propagandhi, Save Ferris, and EODM but I’m unfamiliar with the backstories on the rest. What makes them clever?
So The Who came around when all the band names seemed to be “The something”, so The Who kinda poked fun at that trend.
The Hu is a Mongolian metal band (Mongolian as in Hun), and their name is phonetically the same as world famous rock band The Who.
Minor Threat has a double meaning: “Insignificant” Threat and “Youth” Threat. The song “Minor Threat - Minor Threat” really nails that point down.
Ruskaja is just blending “Ruski” and “ska” together, you can probably guess their sound. Fun fact the first time I heard “Energia” I jokingly, accidently guessed their name.
You’re on the Internet so I assume you’ve heard the term “Circle Jerk”, but a jerk is also a person, the asshole type, so “Circle Jerks” is just a play on words between those two meanings.
The Slits is an all female punk band, and the name is a reference to that.
Funny how The [Name] is cyclical. Sum 41 had a music video where they jokingly changed their name to The Sums to ride the trend
Jerk is also a play on “clerk” as in Soda Jerk. Circle Jerk referring to group hog cranking is from the 60s I think
Well, Green Day 75 stopped being popular around that time.
Circle Jerks were around long before the internet meaning of the phrase
The phrase was around long before the Internet.
Theres sooooo many. I’m really into bands.
Can’t think of a lot at the moment but Some I think are clever or interesting:
- deftones (“tone deaf”)
- muse (short and to the point)
- limp bizkit (yeah, I never knew the origin of this till a few years ago). Not a fan of the band myself.
So did you like Wham!
Bowling for Soup- 1985
“She rocked out to Wham!, not a big Limp Bizkit fan”
Yes I did hahha good one
Lol I agree with you on Deftones but I’m not sure I’d consider Limp Bizkit a “clever” name. For sure funny, though
Yeah its more silly than clever.
deftones (“tone deaf”)
I know, but to me thats a clever part of it if you read it that way
Save Ferris
Flogging Molly
TV on the Radio
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats
LCD Soundsystem
If I recall correctly, Flogging Molly got their name because they started playing in a bar called Molly’s so when they played there they were Flogging Molly (or something like that)
