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

  • glimse@lemmy.worldOP
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    17 hours ago

    I’m on board with Propagandhi, Save Ferris, and EODM but I’m unfamiliar with the backstories on the rest. What makes them clever?

    • 0ops@piefed.zip
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      17 hours ago

      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.

      • glimse@lemmy.worldOP
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        16 hours ago

        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