| artist's name |
short for... |
A
 |
...nothing, they called themselves "A" because it's the first letter of the alphabet and therefore,
their records have to be the first ones in record stores. |
ABBA
 |
... intials of band members Agnetha / Bjorn / Benny / Anni-Frid |
AC/DC
 |
The Young's sister Margaret suggested something she'd seen on the back of a vacuum cleaner: 'AC/DC'. According to Angus, "It had something to do with electricity, so it seemed to fit...". The Young brothers were ignorant of the bisexual connotation that the term carried, and after opening for bisexual rocker Lou Reed, many gay clubs tried to book them... convinced they were a bisexual group.
Info taken from 'Shock To The System' by Mark Putterford |
A.L.T. and the Lost Civilization
 |
...another latin timebomb
a big thank you to Mark! |
Beastie Boys
 |
..."Boys Entering Anarchistic States Toward Internal Excellence" |
Carter U.S.M.
![]() |
Quote from the website: "Carter is Fruitbat's surname and the Unstoppable bit was a description of his hectic lovelife at the time. Also Jimbob and Fruity's previous band, Jamie Wednesday, had an instrumental song called Conked Out Sex Machine.
Other, made-up, stories included an 80 year old man who was told to stop having sex or he'd die. He didn't and he did. Another was the story of the never-ending condom vending machine in the girls' toilets in The Bull And Gate, Kentish Town."
thanks to James! |
CCS
 |
... Collective Consciousness Society
thanks to Trevor |
C. C. R.
|
... Creedence Clearwater Revival
submitted by Karl - thank you! |
CKY
 |
... Camp Kill Yourself.
Thank you, Tommy! |
D12
 |
... "dirty dozen" |
D.A.D.
 |
... name was shortened to the initials due to legal hassles over Disneyland After Dark.
Again, thank you Mark! |
D.A.F.
 |
... Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (which means 'German-American friendship')
thanks to Kristof |
Devo
 |
...Devolution (bad evolution). |
DJ DSL
 |
...DSL is short for "DJ SuperLeiwand", "leiwand" being a Viennese expression for "cool, great". |
EBTG
 |
... "Everything but the Girl" (an advertisement for a British clothing store that would sell you that). |
E.L.O.
 |
... Electric Light Orchestra
submitted by Karl |
E.L.P.
 |
... Emerson, Lake & Palmer
one more 'thank you' for Karl |
EPMD
 |
... "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars" |
HIM
 |
quote from the band's oficial website:
Ville's comments on this issue (from Soundi 6-7/2001):
"Well, sometimes I wish that we’d picked other name for the band than HIM. The name constantly pisses me off. It’s utterly terrible! HIM! The upside is that it doesn’t actually mean anything, there are just three letters which are pronounced similarily in basically every language. It’s practical.
In almost every interview someone asks what does HIM stand for. I can’t even remember our latest lie about that. When Hanson was hot, we said it means Hanson Is Murder. The name doesn’t have a particular history. His Infernal Majesty was a totally different band. I think HIM derives from some death metal joke. And it was our protest to Haile Selassie’s rastafarian religion, he used to be called His Imperial Majesty. But nowadays because of Linde’s hair, we actually might be supporting him. "
You can always send your suggestions to him@heartagram.com. |
INXS
 |
... in excess.
Thank you, Mark! |
JJ72
 |
... either a type of washing machine,
or alternatively a combination of Janis Joplin's initials and her weight. |
KLF
 |
... Kopyright Liberation Front - which sums up their attitude towards using samples from other artists |
KMFDM
 |
... "Kein Mehrheit für die Mitleid" (no majority for the sympathy).
this is no mistake! if you don't believe me, read the band's history on their official website |
L7
 |
during the beat era "L7" meant square, unhip
but it's also mentioned as "the lesbian version of 69" |
LL Cool J
 |
... Ladies Love Cool James |
MC5
 |
... Motor City Five. |
M.O.P.
 |
... Mash Out Posse, so named because of their general rowdiness. Able to get any venue they play at reduced to rubble (or mashed out) due to their ability to hype a crowd. |
N*SYNC
 |
... describes their harmonies and their moves, and it's the last letter of their first names.
N is for JustiN Timberlake, S is for ChriS Kirkpatrick, Y is for JoeY Fatone, N is for LansteN (Lance Bass' fake nickname----OK, they had to fudge a bit on this one...the original member's name was JasoN), C is for J.C. Chasez.
|
N*E*R*D
 |
... "Noone ever really dies" |
NoFX
 |
... "No Effects" |
NWA
 |
... Niggaz With Attitude |
O.M.D.
 |
... Orchstral Manoevres in the Dark. |
POD
 |
... Payable On Death, which is a banking term which means that an amount of money is payable on that person's death. It's used because of the fact that because of Jesus' death they are saved. |
R.E.M.
 |
... Rapid Eye Movement, a state of sleep. Other fun acronyms are: "Righteous Energetic Music", "Really Enjoy Masturbating" and "Rear End Men." |
Spectre
 |
... "Special Executive for Counter
Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion".
Dr. No (James Bond) is a part of Spectre. [more] |
t.A.T.u.
 |
Actually, this is NO abbreviation... 'Taty' was the name the were under when they first formed and became public in Russia. 'Taty' is supposedly a wordplay on the phrase 'Ta Lyubit Tu' - roughly translating to 'She Loves Her'. |
TLC
 |
... the members' names: Tionne Lisa and Chili. They also claim it stands for "Tender Loving Care" |
U2
 |
They got their name from their philosophy. They believe that the audience is
part of their music and the concert. They believe that "you too" (U2) are participating in the music.
(Thanks to Jerrell for the correction!
Bono was named after Bonovox, a store that sold hearing aids and the Edge got his name from Bono who thought it was an accurate description of his head. Originally the band was called "Feedback" and "The Hype". |
UB 40
 |
Former British Unemployment Form. They allegedly met whilst in a dole queue. |
