| artist's name |
named after... |
Alfie
 |
... the 1966 Burt Bacharach song which was also the title theme for a movie of the
same name starring Michael Caine. |
All Boro Kings
 |
... a classic Dog Eat Dog Album. |
Blind Jackson
 |
... a combination of old/new and blues/pop ie old blues players like Blind Lemon Jefferson and new(ish) popstar Michael Jackson. |
Cherry Poppin' Daddies
 |
... an old R&B record. Here's the official story: Way back in the formulative years, Steve and the guys were
sitting around before a gig and had to come up with a name. An old dirty blues
album was playing in the background: "....I'm your cherry popping daddy, man"
lyrics: click [here] |
Death Cab For Cutie
 |
The name death cab for cutie was actually a song title first written by a band called the bonzo dog band (or sometimes the bonzo dog doo-dah band.) the bonzo's were a cultish/novelty/notorious art rock band based in england in the 60's. the song "death cab for cutie" was featured in the beatles' movie "the magical mystery tour" and is where ben first gained exposure to it, and thought to himself,"hmmm, that's as good of a name as any and i'm sure to bet no other band in the world will name themselves that." Ben, being a guy who doesn't fuck around, settled the matter quickly and the band was born shortly afterward. some notable factoids: one member of the bonzo dog band was a fellow by he name of neil innes who later multiple appearances with the monty python troupe and even landed a role in "monty python and the quest for the holy grail" as sir robin's singing, taunting minstrel.
source: architecturelabel.com |
Eric's Trip
 |
... a song on the 1989 Sonic Youth album "Daydream Nation" |
The Electric Soft Parade
 |
... the Doors' 1969 album "The Soft Parade"
the word "Electric" was added later because of legal troubles with a Doors cover band who had used the same name years before |
Godsmack
 |
... a song by Alice In Chains
[track 09 on "Dirt" (1992)] |
Hothouse Flowers, The
 |
... an 1984 album by Wynton Marsalis
thanks to jason who has a hothouse flowers picture site |
John Wesley Harding
 |
western hero (1853-1895) to whom Bob Dylan dedicated an album ("John Wesley Harding", 1967) |
JJ72
 |
refers to either a type of washing machine,
or alternatively to a combination of Janis Joplin's initials and her weight. |
Ladytron
 |
Roxy Music song
[track 02 on the very first album (1972);
there was also a coverversion of Radiohead on the Velvet Goldmine OST] |
Machine Head
 |
... a 1972 album by Deep Purple.
The album features two of Deep Purple's greatest hits, "Highway Star" and "Smoke on the Water" |
Madness
 |
... one of the bands favourite songs by Prince
Buster who was one of their musical heroes. They were called the North
London Invaders but played the song "Madness" in their early sets. They then
decided that was a more appropriate name for the band. Also, their first single was called "The Prince" as a tribute to Prince Buster.
kindly submitted by Mark |
Madonna Hip Hop Massacre
 |
Madonna |
Magnetic Fields
 |
... a Jean-Michel Jarre album (1997) |
Mansun
 |
...an early song by the Verve named "A Man Called Sun"
[to be found on the 1992 single "All In The Mind"] |
Motörhead
 |
... "Motorhead", the title of the last song he had written for Hawkwind. Its simply a slang term for "speed freak". |
Nashville Pussy
 |
...dedication on a Ted Nugent album (he dedicated the 1978 song "Double Live Gonzo" to "all that Nashville pussy") |
Pink Floyd
 |
... The band Pink Floyd take their name from a suggestion by former member Syd Barrett of combining the name of 2 american blues singers "Pink
Anderson" and "Floyd Council"
The band's earlier names were "Sigma 6" "The T Set" "The Meggadeaths" "The Architectural Abdabs" and "The Screaming Abdabs"
submitted by Keith, thanks a lot! |
Powderfinger
 |
... a Neil Young song (1979)
track 06 on "Rust Never Sleeps"
[the first track on this album is "My My, Hey Hey" which contains the famous line "It's better to burn out than to fade away" - Kurt Cobain quoted it in his suicide letter ] |
Pretty Girls Make Graves
 |
... a Smiths song which was again inspired by Jack Kerouac. Featured on the bands's debut album. |
Radiohead
 |
... "Radio Head", a Talking Heads song on the album "True Stories" (1986)
|
Rolling Stones
 |
... a Muddy Waters song called "Rolling Stone".
thanks to Tim! |
Sepultura
 |
The singer was inspired when translating the Motörhead song "Dancing on your Grave", which is "Dancando Na Sepultura" in Portuguese. |
Shakespeare's Sister
 |
... a Smiths song from the album "The World Won't Listen" [listen]
"Shakespeare's sister" is also a character Virginia Woolf dreamed up in the book "A Room of
One's Own" where she talks about how different a sister of Shakespeare would have had it if she
was such a great writer, and female, during Elizabethan times... (submitted by Jenee, thanks!) |
Sonic Youth
 |
... Fred "Sonic" Smith of MC5 and after the reaggae musician Big Youth.
Another possibility: A combination of SONIC RENDEZVOUS ORCHESTRA and BIG YOUTH. they were local New York bands in the late 70's. |
Soulfly
 |
... the Deftones song "Headup" that has the lyric "soulfly fly high so fly fly free" (the song was co-written by Max Cavalera) |
Silverchair
 |
... a mutated combination of "Sliver" by Nirvana and "Berlin Chair" by You Am I. They were requesting the songs from a radio station and the name was inspired by notes a band member made to himself to remember the song titles. |
Simple Minds
 |
... a line in the David Bowie song "Jean Genie".
He's so simple minded he can't drive his module
[lyrics] |
Sisters Of Mercy
 |
... a Leanord Cohen song ("The Songs Of Leonard Cohen", 1968).
[lyrics] |
Soul Coughing
 |
Originally, Soul Coughing was the title of a rather dire poem frontman M. Doughty wrote about Neil Young vomiting in
the back of a bus. Whilst everybody hated the poem, they
were quite intrigued with the name and thus Mr Doughty
adopted it for his band. |
Starsailor
 |
... a song by Tim Buckley (1970) |
Stereolab
 |
... a record label in the 50's and 60's |
Urge Overkill
 |
... from a line of the Parliament song "Funkentelechy" (on Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome,1977)
Mood control is designed to render funkable
Ideas brought to you by the makers of Mr. Prolong
Better known as Urge Overkill
The pimping of the Pleasure Principle [more] |
The Verve
 |
"The" is in their name to avoid legal hassles with the record label VERVE. VERVE means talent. |
Yazoo
 |
Singer Alison Moyet chose this because it was the name of an American Blues label - little heard of in the UK. Obviously, the complications arose when they attempted to crack the American continent and shortened it to Yaz. |
