abbreviations | movies | books | places | languages | memories   myths | celebrities | records | misc. | list | submit artist's name what does it mean? 2raumwohnung German for 2-room-flat. 2raumwohnung is a duo and the band's name stands for the two members. 22 Pistepirkko finnish for "22 Ladybugs" (twentytwo being spelled "kaksikymmentäkaksi") Aavikko finnish for desert A-Ha Chosen from a song they had written, because it was something people said all the time. L'Ame Immortelle French for for "the immortal heart". Thanks to Morgauth B-52's The B-52's got their name from the Southern term for a bouffant hairdo, which is the kind of wig the female members used to also wear. Les Babacools ... a common french name for "hippies" or "freaks" in the 1960s. Bauhaus German: "Bauen" means "to build" and "Haus" means "house". The Bauhaus School was a design school in existence in Germany 1919 - 1933. Radically breaking with the past, the Bauhaus Masters and their students ushered in our modern times. The familiar Bauhaus font seen on the right is only one of the many enduring contributions the Bauhaus has made to our lives. Bettie Serveert Bettie Serveert, Dutch for "Betty Serves," (the title of a tennis instruction book by one-time pro Betty Stove.) Breeders Homosexual Slang for Heterosexuals Buzzcocks British slang for vibrators Cabaret Voltaire Dada-Café in Zürich Cibo Matto "Cibo" is Italian for "food". "Matto" can be interpreted to mean "crazy" ... Hence Cibo Matto would be "crazy food". Dead Prez In M1s own words: "First 'dead presidents' is a slang for money. You see faces of dead presidents on dollar bill notes and on coins too. The other meaning refers to the condemning of corrupt presidents, they aint working for us, the people . So we need trustworthy and righteous leaders to become our leaders in the first place. Del Amitri "from the womb" in Greek, but when asked what the band's name means, Justin Currie has said that it was simply three syllables he strung together because they sounded good. dEUS latin word for God Dilated Peoples means nothing at all. It is merely a play on words: the correct phrase is "dilated pupils" and refers to a certain condition of the black centre of the eye, called pupil. Dilated pupils are widened so as to let more light in. This state can either occur naturally when it is very dark, or be achieved artificially by administering eyedrops to the eyes or ingesting certain pills. Dimmu Borgir ... Icelandic for "black castle" Dr. Nachtstrom German expression: "Nacht" means "night" and "Strom" means "current". De La Soul french for "Of the soul" Depeche Mode The name is french for "fast fashion" and was chosen by Dave from the cover of a french fashion magazine. Eminem Marshall Mathers' initials are MM... and M&M makes "Eminem" Erdmöbel German for soil-furniture; DDR expression for coffin Frente! spanish for "front" Go-Betweens A go-between is something of a broker, or an agent mediating between two parties. Green Day A Green Day is a day when nothing much happens, you just sit around smoking pot. Thanks to Tommy Hüsker Dü A board game that was popular in the fifties, which was Norwegian for "Do You Remember?" KMFDM "Kein Mehrheit für die Mitleid " (no majority for the sympathy - an intended mistake!). Kosheen ... taken from combining the Japanese words 'new' ('ko') and 'old' ('sheen'). In a similar logic this reflects their format for making music. The 'new' technologies for drum patterns and sampling are combined with the traditional 'verse chorus verse' structure of songwriting, vocals and live instruments. Kosheen are most at home when performing and their ambitious sound comes to life with a live band and Sian's haunting vocals. [source] Kraftwerk German for "power plant" L7 during the beat era "L7" meant square, unhip Les Negresses Vertes Literally translated, the name of the band Les Negresses Vertes is a paradox. It means "the green Black girls", a name that does not make a great deal of sense. But, as Susan wrote to me (thank you!), "vert" can also mean "fresh". Mano Negra "Black Hand" in Spanish. It is Mexican and Spanish slang for cheating. Morcheeba Morcheeba is a New York expression for weed. Nada Surf Dainiel Lorca: "I came up with Nothing as our name. So with my being from Madrid the name became Nada. However, in San Francisco there is already an experimental group called Nada. So Mathew after finding out about the other band name called me and said how about Nada Surf for our name. I said that was terrible for a name. But, Mathew said it could mean Surfing on Nothing. To me it means the way that you can go through something but not feeling anything - hallow - but you are just going through the waves. A special side effect, because it is kind of cool, but not by design though, because of surfing the internet waves nowadays." Pantera portuguese for panther Placebo Latin for: "I will please". Useless but harmless preparation given to a patient to humor him, especially when his illness is thought to be due to emotional disturbances Primus ... means "first" in Latin They called themselves the PRIMATES but heard about another band with the same name, so they evolved into PRIMUS. Propellerheads ... slang for computer nerds Rammstein ... the German "rammen" means "to ram" and "Stein" means "stone". The name came from the big catastrophe that happened in Ramstein, which is a place in Germany, where the American airforce had a flight show. They crashed and over 80 people got hurt and killed. (The spelling was of course changed slightly.) Reissdorf Force ... a German beer brand Röyksopp ... Norwegian, either for a puffball mushroom ("Lycoperdon perlatum") "Mushroom Cloud" - thanks to Ivar Scritti Politti Italian for "politic writings" ... political writings by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist Sigue Sigue Sputnik .... a Russian street gang, it means "burn burn Sputnik". (Sputnik being of course the name of a satellite) Sigur Ròs ... Sigur Ros means "Victory Rose" in Icelandic. It's also a popular girl's name there, following a vein of other Sigur rooted female names like Sigurborg (Victory- City), Sigurlaug (Victory-Pool) and Sigurveig (Victory-Veig). St. Etienne ... a french soccer club, A.S. St. Etienne. Therion ... Norwegian for "sloth". Thanks to Truthahnmann and "beast" in ancient or modern Greek. Thanks to vassilis Ween ...an archaic synonym for the verb "to believe". dates back to the 12th century. Yello ...a wordplay of "Yell Hello" [source]. Yo La Tengo ... the spanish term for "I've got it!" A phrase used by a Hispanic baseball player that the band likes.