INFO : What's In A Name ?

[she...@waikato.ac.nz]

WHAT'S IN A NAME ?
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last updated 'black Sunday' 13th November 1994

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Main Sources : - Q magazine, June 89 article "...hence the name".
by Paul Du Noyer and Johnny Black
- Bits and Pieces: The Penguin book of Rock Facts -
by Steve Smith. From the section on names.
- The Rolling Stone Encyclopaedia of Rock'n'Roll.
- in the next edition : info. from the similar NME article

other sources : interviews etc
assorted FAQs, kudos to the maintainers of those !
and of course, the many netters who gave valuable
trivia anecdotes and...names

- It is too much trouble to reference every bit of info.
Though I have used RS to represent Rolling Stone for some reason.

- I have not included solo artists that have changed their name, only those
that have an interesting reason for it, e.g. Elton John.

- my reference books are quite old, so not that many recent bands are
in here. (apart from Nirvana of course ;-)

- Some band names are obvious to me and maybe to others familiar with
English or foreign slang, but not to others.
Hence some descriptions here may seem a bit obvious or trivial to some.

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Just to be a prick, I've listed everyone who's helped and provided
information, just to piss of those people who don't know how to use
an editor and cut this albatross off !

Thanks to the following people in no particular order :
Kenneth Si...@ucs.indiana.edu, Greg Ver...@cpac.washington.edu
Plastic in OZ, Jeremy Lyn Ha...@owlnet.rice.edu,
Kyle Cas...@elan.glassboro.edu, Alan Macdo...@rimu.minister.cri.nz
aste...@nyx10.cs.du.edu, Craig Cockburn, Edinburgh, Scotland
the...@hookup.net, Dave Emme...@harlqn.co.uk,
Something's Got A hold Of My T...@faraday.clas.virginia.edu,
Gre...@synopsys.com), Don T...@herald.usask.ca,
qui...@spectrum.cs.bucknell.edu,Les No...@pa881a.inland.com",
Mitchell Bl...@cae.wisc.edu, David W. Tam...@MCS.COM,
Erland Som...@enea.se, and...@alife2.demon.co.uk
Rune Hor...@ifi.uio.no,Dave Sco...@gibbs.oit.unc.edu,
Andrew Rap...@research.canon.oz.au, Mike Ha...@erasure.demon.co.uk
Gordon Cla...@un.seqeb.gov.au, Elson R. Trin...@aludra.usc.edu ,
Dave McCul...@f119.n324.z1.%e-tech.havr.ma.us,
Michael Fe...@canrem.com, Anders Eng...@eua.ericsson.se
Robert Atk...@alinga.newcastle.edu.au, Michael Shi...@nyx.cs.du.edu
Vivek Maddala@gt6990@prism.gatech.edu,John A. Fother...@yrsk.demon.co.uk
CRAIG JO...@CFS02.cc.monash.edu.au, Steve Kopp...@connix.com
Benn ba...@candelo.dpie.gov.au, rog...@hi.com,
Jeffrey Marg...@bullwinkle.ucdavis.edu, Brent R. Fos...@massey.ac.nz
Lisa Krak...@cornell.edu, Mor...@ws.rz.tu-bs.de,
Tim Mor...@postoffice.utas.edu.au, Andrew Rap...@research.canon.oz.au
gro...@husc.harvard.edu, Janet X...@eisinfo.demon.ac.uk,
K "Ned" Mal...@Calumet.Yorku.Ca,
and to the users (past/present) on the ALTQAX bbs...
Mela Alexian and S.C. Taylor

Big thanks to :
- Ad...@a3.hacktic.nl
- Our israeli friend with a stack of Rolling Stones,
Gleb Sha...@techst02.technion.ac.il.
- Our Seattle-mate, D...@fluke.com.
- M Sim...@eden.rutgers.edu for doing the new releases list each week,
- erik...@lightspeed.com who found the NME article with similar intents
as this one (April 27, 1991 Gary Clail bandaged face cover).
Expect those additions/amendments next posting...

And to Jude Webb at Guelph for being the patron of this lost cause !

New names needed : Trip Shakespeare, etc

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What's in a Name ?
v.13

10cc - Conceitedly a little above the average amount of male ejaculation
during orgasm.

54-40 - In the 1800s, Seattle was actually claimed by England
The Hudson's Bay Co. and all of that. There was a war by the US and
England over the land, and only a pig died. The Americans wanted the
border to be at 54 degrees 40 min in latitude.
US campaign slogan from that era: "Fifty-four-forty or fight!"

101ers - after the torture room (room 101) in Orwell's 1984.

808 State - chosen after the Roland TR808 drum machine and the
"State-of-mind" that the band shared.

10,000 Maniacs - named deliberately incorrectly after a movie "2,000 Maniacs".
Early names they discussed were Still Life and Burn Victims. Persuaded
that the Burn Victims might not be the most attractive of names, the band
considered various alternatives, including Dick Turpin's Ride To York
and Christian Burial, before settling on the equally unpleasant 10,000
Maniacs which was a derived title of a popular splatter movie, "2,000
Maniacs". Christian Burial survived in another form to become their
record label.
Some say 10,000 was used instead of 2,000 to make it more interesting.
Another story claims that they saw the movie poster advertising a showing of
"2,000 Maniacs" and wanted to use it for their name but by the time they got
home they had forgotten what the number actually was and accidentally used
"10,000" instead.

A Flock of Seagulls - a line from the Stranglers' song "Toiler on the Sea".

Abba - from the first letters of their christian names : Anni-Frid,Benny,
Bjorn, Agnetha. The reason that they appeared with one of the Bs turned is
that "Abba" was already a well-known trade mark in Sweden for fish
preserves.

About Six Feet - the name is a generic reply I've had for years for stupid
questions, like "What time is it?" when I don't have a watch... it's also a
line (I recently found out) in Nancy Sinatra's "Lightning's Girl" :o)
(to...@xymox.apana.org.au)

Alice in Chains - Staley :"the name came from a side project of my old
group. We were going to have this band that dressed in drag and played
heavy metal as a joke." (RS)

All About Eve - name taken from 1950 Bette Davis movie about an
ageing Broadway star.

Alphaville - a 1965 Jean Luc Godard-directed sci-fi film.

Amen Corner - a section of the Negro spiritual church where a group of women
sat and hollered the 'Amens'.

Amos, Tori - born Myra Ellen Amos on 22nd August 1963. Recorded her
first single when she was 17 as Ellen Amos on her MEA label, (after her
initials). We could believe the Atlantic press release about Y Kant
Tori Read, that advised that Tori took her name from the word "notorious",
based on the days she spent conducting her father's church choir while
wearing red leather trousers. Other articles claim her name was taken from
the Torrey Pine, a small, crooked, and rare tree which grows in Southern
California. But the facts are rather less extraordinary: a friend's
boyfriend once remarked that she didn't look much like an Ellen,
but more like a Tori (!)

The Animals - Named after a squatter known to the group, one Animal Hog.
"He epitomised what we wanted to represent with our music. Total freedom,
a little bit of anarchy, a lot of wildness and a lot of good times."(E.Burdon)

Arcadia - after the central region of the Greek Peloponnese, home of
the god Pan.

The Art Of Noise - The Art Of Noises was a 1913 booklet by italian futurist
painter Luigi Russolo, urging a new concept of music:"One day...every factory
will be transformed into an intoxicating orchestra of noises."

Aswad - In the Ethiopian Amharic language, Aswad is the word for black.

Atticus - A Sydney band named after a character in "To Kill A Mockingbird"

Aztec Camera - According to Roddy Frame, in 1983:"Aztec sounded right and
Camera came off the B-side to a Teardrops Explodes single." (His first group
was called Neutral Blue because "the guitarist was an electrician and that's
the way he remembered how to wire a plug.")

Bad Company - after a Robert Benton western (date ?)

The Band - Formerly Dylan's backing musicians, habitually called "the band".
Hence the name!

Bangles - originally call the Bangs, then changed it to the Electric
Prune's song of the same name.
They got the original name from a 60's fashion magazine that had an article
on a hairstyle called "Supersonic Bangs". In fact, they wanted to call
themselves "The Supersonic Bangs", but felt it was too similar to "The
Teardrop Explodes" and settled on just "Bangs". A New Jersey bar band
already had that name, so they changed it to "Bangles".

The Barenaked Ladies - The Barenaked Ladies is intended to represent naivete;
that feeling of excitement/fear/awe/etc. upon seeing your first naked woman.

Barracudas - After the Standell's song 'Barracuda'.

Batz Without Flesh - From their philosophy of "nonviolent aggression",that
is, the Batz is a reference to baseball bats, and the "without flesh" part
refers to that they're not actually hitting anyone.
(source : IndustrialnatioN ?)

Bauhaus - German school of design, founded 1919, aiming to integrate
architecture, fine arts and technology to create "the compositely inseparable
work of art, the great building."

BB & Q Band - from Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens Band.

The Beach Boys - Formerly Carl & the Passions, then Kenny & the Cadets.
then The Pendletones, after those plaid flannel shirts, which you can see
them wearing on the cover of their "Surfin' Safari" LP. (The striped shirts
came along much later.) But when their first record came out, the label
(without telling them) used the name "Beach Boys" because they thought it
better reflected the group's image. At first the band objected but they gave
in. Carl & the Passions was not an original name for the Beach Boys. A long
time after the Beach Boys were famous, some of its members collaborated on
the Carl & The Passions album (Carl is Carl Wilson from the Beach Boys).
In 1972, Carl Wilson released an album called Carl and the Passions:
"So Tough".

The Beatles - Insect theme was inspired by name of Buddy Holly and the
Crickets. They also liked Crickets' double meaning( an insect or a game)
so they made Beetles into Beatles, to carry pun on beat music.
Earlier called the Silver Beatles something about using electric
(read: silver) instruments.

Beautiful South, The - The South of London (I think it's London) is supposed
to be a pretty scuzzy/sleazy place. The Beautiful South is a sarcastic
play off of this. During their "0898" tour, they were selling baseball caps
and T-shirts that said nothing but "Northern Scum" on them. Just a little
BS humour I guess. BUT, on another angle, The North of England is supposed
to be scuzzy. Lots of rusty industries, unemployed ex-miners, etc. The
North votes Labour, the South votes Conservative.

Bee Gees - Generally stands for Brothers Gibb. But a Billboard article
states differently. They state the name comes from Barry Gibb, Bill Goode
(a friend), & Bill Gates (a DJ).

B-52's - An American bomber plane that later gave its name to a beehive
hairstyle.

Big Country - "It just implied a sense of vastness, open spaces. A sense
of new discovery. A sense of ambition." (Stuart Adamson)

Bjork - (Not so much a cryptic reason for the name, but just for trivia's
sake) Born Bjork Gudmundsdottir (literally Gudmund's daughter)
on 21st October 1966. Trivial note : her first album was in 1977 when she
was 11 years old. And she still looks cute now !
In the above spelling there is a trema (two dots) above the o in Bjork,
and an acute (') above the o in the surname.

Black Oak Arkansas - Amazingly they came from Black Oak, Arkansas.

Black Uhuru - swahili for 'freedom'.

Blind Melon - this was the way lead singer Shannon Hoon's dad used to call his
stupid neighbours, that weren't interested in anything outside their houses.
Well, maybe there was something else wrong about them, the point is that Hoon
Sr. didn't like them. (RS)

Blondie - From the long-running US newspaper cartoon strip Blondie and
Dagwood, about a dizzy blonde and her husband.

Blow Monkeys - In his teens, single Dr. Robert lived in Australia, where
he heard the expression used as a somewhat disparaging term for
Aboriginal didgeridoo players.
Also cited as jazz slang for saxophone players.

Blue Oyster Cult - comes from an anagram of Cully Stout Beer, an
American brew that future manager Sandy Pearlman and future producer
were drinking while thinking up a band name. Other names they came up
with included Trolleybus Cute, Stout Belly Cure, and Trycolute Blues.
They could easily have been true Coy Bullets, Truly Close Tube, Cut
Lobster Yule, Tellycue Or Bust, or Cute LT Boys Rule !

Blue Rondo a LA Turk - after a jazz song, best known in its version
by David 'take five' Brubeck.

Blur - Originally called Seymour. When they signed up to Food Records, they
all decided on the new name, because "to their knowledge, no one had ever
used it before".

Boiled In Lead - The Minneapolis-based folk-rock-world band.
Their first album included a song called "The Man Who Was Boiled in
Lead" with lyrics from a story of the same title in a book called "The
Screaming Skull and Other Stories" (from booklet of the disc with
that song on it)

Boney M - after an Australian TV detective (an aborigine ?)

And Bennet...@ircam.fr says (and I quote) :
"some trivia from an old fart :
I'll be damned, I always thought it came from the late 50's --
early 60's hit:
I've got a gal named Boney Maroni
She's as skinny as a stick of macaroni
...etc...
but have no evidence to back this up."
Also, [me again], isn't Boney Maroni mentioned in "Good Times",
last covered by INXS and Jimmy Barnes, who did that originally ?

Boo Radleys - From the main character in Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird."

BoomTown Rats - Formerly Mark Skid and the Y-Fronts, they wisely opted for
the name of a gang in Woody Guthrie's autobiographical book "Bound for Glory."
A gang of kids in Oklahoma who were the children of the casual oil-well
labourers.

David Bowie - Named himself after a hero, Jim Bowie, who fought with Davey
Crockett at the Alamo. Changed his name from David Jones to avoid confusion
with Monkee of similar title.

Brilliant - so DJs would announce, "That was Brilliant".

The Buckinghams - The Pulsations were advised to find with a more
British-sounding name (it being 1965) for commercial advantage. Legend has it
that a security guard at WGN TV came up with it. It could be, depending on
the slant needed, associated with Buckingham Palace to sound trendily
Anglophile or with Chicago's Buckingham Fountain (the one that spurts up in
the opening credits of "Married with Children") to sound proud of their
hometown.

Bucks Fizz - a cocktail of champagne and orange juice.

Buffalo Springfield - after a make of steamroller

Buffalo Tom - They named themselves Buffalo Tom - like Buffalo Springfield
only with drummer Tom's Maginnis' first name.(RS #655)

Buzzcocks - from the catch-phrase of a character in the TV series
'Rock Follies', who would say "Give me a buzz, cock!"
Also a nickname for vibrators.

Cabaret Voltaire - Literary nightclub in Zurich, 1916, which became cradle
of the "Dada" art movement.

The Chesterfield Kings - after the smokes(fags).

Chicago - originally called Chicago Transit Authority after the bus company
in the city where they were formed. The real CTA objected after the first
double-LP was released, forcing the contraction to Chicago.

Chicken Shack - after a blues song, 'Chicken Shack Boogie' by Amos Milburn.
The Chicken Shack is a famous whorehouse in Texas.

The Christians - the members of the band are two Christian brothers
and Gary Christian Russel.

Clannad - Gaelic for 'family'. Originally named "an clann as Dobhar", which
means "family from Dore"

The Clash - named by Mick Jones, because "that was the word that seemed
to appear most often in newspaper headlines in 1975/76".

Cocteau Twins - After Jean Cocteau (1891-1963), French writer/artist.
Cocteau Twins is likely a reference to the central characters (a brother
and sister who are twins) in Cocteau's "Les Enfants Terribles".

Commodores - supposedly found by someone (the manager?) placing his
finger on a dictionary page

Communards - Gesture of solidarity with radical insurgents of the Paris
Commune in 1870.
Put more clearly : named after a French Socialist group who revolted
in 1870.

Alice Cooper - Born Vincent Furnier. Name of a 17th century witch which
was supposedly reincarnated into him.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Originally called The Golliwogs, the group
came under increasing pressure from their record label Fantasy to change
the name, which they did in December '67. The story goes that John Fogerty
has a friend called Creedence, he also saw a TV beer advert which stressed
the virtues of clear water and, finally, he felt some sort of musical revival
was in the air. Put it all together and what do you get?
(that's right : Friend Beer Musical.)

CSNY - aka Crosby Stills Nash and Young. A short explanation of the
name order. And that is that : it is Purely random. They were each to be
known in their own right including the ability to pursue solo careers and
given full credit when working as a group. They foresaw problems of a group
name being fought over because of people coming and going from the group (a
later example being Pink Floyd). So when Neil Young left it became CSN & then
CN after Stills left. Incidentally Neil left because of Crosby's drug problem
( which was also the reason Crosby was kicked out of The Byrds).

Crowded House - Inspired by the cramped accommodation, in Hollywood, where
the band spent 1985 rehearsing their debut album. Originally called The
Mullanes, after Neil Finn's middle name.
Cruel Sea - This Australian band named themselves after a novel by Nicholas
Monsarrat, and the film of the same name.

Curved Air - From A Rainbow In Curved Air, title of 1969 electronic album
by Terry Riley.

Darling Buds - "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?/Thou art more lovely
and more temperate./Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May./And
summer's lease hath all too short a date." (Shakespeare, Sonnet XVII)

deacon blue - It comes from Steely Dan's song "Deacon Blues" right ?
Ricky Ross : "The song is very aspirational - the guy wants to play sax and
be James Dean, exactly the same feelings as when you form a band. It
wasnae like that at all ! I was going down Tottenham Court Road in London
and looked over at The Dominion and was very aware that Van The Man used
to play there, and all of a sudden the name Deacon Blue came into my head -
I don't know why. But it had a ring to it and I thought, I can live with
that - even though it was from a Steely Dan song. They're not a big influence".

Deep Purple - Name of a 1962 pop hit by Nino Tempo and April Stevens.
Original version by hard rock legend Bing Crosby.
Also cited elsewhere as named after a Joe South song.
(Are they all the same songs ?)
When Deep Purple went on their first tour, to Denmark in 1968, they were
still named "Roundabout", after a suggestion of former The Seekers member
Chris Curtis, who actually started the whole process of putting the band
together. He was rather quickly put aside, and the actual band (Mk I)
wasn't too pleased with the name.
On the boat between England and Denmark, Ritchie Blackmore and bassist
Nick Simper were interviewed about the new band. It seemed that it
actually was during this interview that the band changed it's name to Deep
Purple - named after an old song that was a favourite of Ritchie's granny,
or something like that. According to an interview with Nick Simper in an
old issue of Darker than Blue, the journalist asked them what the name of
the band was. Ritchie looked at Nick with a grin, and said "It's Deep
Purple". Nick smiled back, and that was it.

Possibly this song here :

DEEP PURPLE
When the deep purple falls...
...
...here in my deep purple dreams. - Mitchell Parish

Def FX - They couldn't think of a name, so their manager at the time threw
a whole pile of albums into the air and a DefJam label compilation and a
BBC sound effects record landed on top.

Def Leppard - It is a take-off of Deaf Leopard.
Def Leppard came from lead singer Joe Elliott's youth. According to what
he said in the book Animal Instinct, he just always wanted to have a band
named Def Leppard (with that spelling and everything)
[thanks to Lisa for un-cloaking to give this info - ed]

Depeche Mode - French magazine title, roughly translates as "Fast Fashion".
Group originally called Composition of Sound.

Devo - Short for "de-evolution", an element in the band's view of mankind.

Dexys Midnight Runners - Although Kevin Rowland tends to be a bit vague
about this, it is understood to be a reference to illegally acquired
dexedrine pills, for which the slang term is dexys. The drug has the effect
of giving users artificial energy, thus enabling them to keep going when tired.

Dig - (Californian, not Australian) after the name of one of the band
members' dog

Dire Straits - Suggested by a friend. Wry reflection of band's insolvent
plight in 1977, as they rehearsed for early gigs and demos.

Doobie Brothers - Californian slang for a joint

The Doors - Jim Morrison took it from an essay on drugs, The Doors of
Perception by Aldous Huxley. The title itself is a phrase from 18th century
poet William Blake:"If the doors of perception were cleansed, man could see
things as they truly are; infinite."

Dr. Feelgood - after a much-covered blues song

Duran Duran - Name of a mad scientist character played by Milo O'Shea in
the 1968 Roger Vadim sci-fi fantasy film Barbarella, [opposite Jane Fonda.]
The character was actually called [Dr.?] Durand Durand. A sample
of a line from that movie, where Durand Durand is mentioned, is used in
the Duran Duran "megamix" 'Burning The Ground".

Bob Dylan - Born Robert Zimmerman, but adopted name of welsh port Dylan
Thomas. Another version suggests it was after a cowboy called Matt Dillon
in TV show Gunsmoke.

Easterhouse - named after a Glasgow (UK) housing estate

Echo and the Bunnymen - "it means, like, nothin'." (Ian McCulloch)
"We had this mate who kept suggesting all these names, like The Daz Men or
Glisserol and the Fan Extractors. Echo and the Bunnymen was one of them. I
thought it was just as stupid as the rest." (Will Sergeant)
They originally named their drum machine Echo until a real drummer
came in.

Einstuerzende Neubauten - german for 'collapsing new buildings'
Where einsturzende ("collapsing") is an adjective, not a verb.
According to the radio-promo release of 'Interim' the name is pronounced:
INE-SHTUR-ZEN-DEH NOY-BOUT-TEN.
"Neubauten" generally refers to buildings built in a particular style,
rather than to *any* recently constructed buildings. The style in
question is the impersonal concrete-box modernist style. Most housing
projects (especially the huge towers built in the 60's) are perfect
examples of Neubauten.
Einstuerzende Neubauten chose their name when the Berlin 'Kongresshalle'
collapsed around 1980. The building is located close to the Reichstag
and was a gift of the US allies to the city of Berlin. The Kongresshalle
is shaped a bit like an oyster, was used for all kinds of exhibitions
and meetings and finally collapsed due to its cheap 60's concrete/metal
construction. A journalist died, a few more were injured and several cars
were smashed. After a rather long public discussion the Berlin government
decided to rebuild the Kongresshalle since it was a symbol for the
friendship between Germany and the US.

Elton John - from friends John Baldry and fellow musician Elton Dean.

Enuff'Z'nuff - The lead singer's name is Chip Znuff

Enya - her real name is Eithne Ni Bhraonain, an Irish name which translates
to Eithne Brennan in English. Eithne is pronounced 'Enya' and she chose to
use this pseudo-phonetic spelling professionally so that she could be known
by her own name but avoid the inevitable pronunciation problems.
(Also possibly named after a Celtic Goddess, unconfirmed.)

Erasure - there is some sort of story about the BBC accidentally erasing a
demo tape of theirs, after which, they called themselves Erasure.
From Janet X...@eisinfo.demon.co.uk :
Folk legend goes, when they were choosing a name for the newly formed
group, they drew up a long list of potential names, which they circulated
amongst friends and acquaintances. Everyone was to cross out the ones they
didn't like. *Apparently*, Erasure was the one left on the list!

Eurythmics - after a form of rhythmic body movement (actually spelt
eurhythmics) popular in the early twentieth century.

Everything But the Girl - Name of a shop in Hull, where Ben and Tracey
were students.

Fairport Convention - The group used to assemble at Simon Nicol's Muswell
Hill home, which was called Fairport. They were, by extension,
The Fairport Convention.

The Fall - name taken from a book by Albert Camus. I think their first
LP title is taken from a Camus piece too.

Fiat Lux - latin for "Let there be light"

Field of the Nephilm - drawn from the biblical legends of the nephilim,
who were fallen angels, expelled from Heaven for divulging hidden
knowledge (including magic and medicine) to humankind.

Fine Young Canninbals - Named after a sleazy soap-opera movie, All the Fine
Young Canninbals (1960, MGM), starring Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood. For
the record, Halliwell's Film Guide describes it as a "boring rather than
daring farrago which is not even unintentionally funny."

Fleetwood Mac - Formerly Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. From the surnames of
drummers Mick Fleetwood and bass player John McVie.
Well, sort of... they were named after a John Mayall instrumental called
"Fleetwood Mac" after Mick and John, but McVie was not actually in the
original FM lineup; he joined later, replacing Bob Brunning.

Flood - played in an early eighties band The Lambrettas (with Jez Bird on
vocals) before finding fame as an sound engineer, producer etc. Real name is
Mark Ellis (as noted on the 7" on the Flood-produced Erasure single,
"Sometimes".) I believe he also had some doings with John Fryer from
Fad Gadget.
[so, am I right with this info. ? - ed]

Frank Chickens - see Let's Active entry

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Derives from writing on a poster for a Frank
Sinatra film, on the wall of the group's rehearsal room in Liverpool.

Frente! - This Australian band's name is Spanish for "forehead", I'm told.
Or for Front, supposedly it refers to leftist guerrillas in El Salvador. the
exclamation point is not really part of the bands name apparently.

Frizzell, Lefty - born William Orville Frizzell, known as Sonny to friends
and family, and then as Lefty in his mid-teens because he was left-handed
(though not when he played the guitar).
[Okay okay okay, maybe unknown to some...but it only takes up 4 lines!]

Front 242 - According to the band, "Front" was chosen because it means the
same thing in many languages and 242 was just chosen randomly. A popular
interpretation is that 242 was the number of a UN decree having something
to do with Israel, so Front 242 would be the (then) ongoing aggression
between Israel and its neighbours.

Gang of Four - Name applied to four political figures in China, 1976, who
emerged in power struggle after death of Mao Tse Tung. Group included
Mao's widow Chiang Ching.

Gap Band - from the initials of the three main streets (Greenwood, Archer,
and Pine) in the band's home town of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Gaye Bykers On Acid - after a Ray Lowrie cartoon.

Generation X - Taken from the 1964 book of the same name by Chris Hamblett
and Jane Davidson, which records teenage attitudes to sex, politics, drugs,
religion,etc. The book includes a poem from which it takes its name, written
in a psychiatric hospital by a 20-year-old female suffering from depression.
One brief verse is as follows:"I am me/I must suffer/Because I am me."

The Gin Blossoms - named after a famous photo of W.C.Fields gin-ravaged nose,
in 1986 (?)...which can be found in Kenneth Anger's book, _Hollywood Babylon_;
Anger's photo caption contains the "gin blossoms" phrase.

Go West - named after the term "Go west young man..."
It is normally attributed to Horace Greeley (who denied it. But was actually
from a newspaper article by John Soule in 1851.
[how's that for research !]

The Go-Betweens - From the novel & movie "The Go-Between".

Goo Goo Dolls-after a sex blow up doll,

Grant Lee Buffalo - Grant Lee Phillips (the lead singer) + Buffalo (the
home city)

Grateful Dead - Previously called The Warlocks. New name picked at random
by Jerry Garcia from a prayer in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
A slightly similar story : they found their name in 1965 by randomly opening
a Funk & Wagnalls dictionary to those very words... (RS #676)

Guns'n'Roses - Axl and Izzy were originally in a band called Rose which
changed to Hollywood Rose just before Axl left to join Tracii Guns'
LA Guns in 1985. But when Guns' rhythm section quit, Hollywood Rose
amalgamated to become Guns'N'Roses. W Axl Rose was born William Bailey
in 1962. When he found out that his father wasn't his real father he
changed his surname to his real father's name, Rose, and added the name
of one of his earliest bands, Axl. His initials now deliberately spelt WAR.
And Axl Rose is an anagram for Oral Sex. Deliberately?

Happy Mondays - named themselves after New Order's Blue Monday
Is this right ?

Harpers Bizarre - after a US fashion magazine

Hatfield and the North - Destination on roadsigns, familiar to motorists
leaving London.

Heaven 17 - Fictional group mentioned in the Anthony Burgess novel A
Clockwork Orange: "These young devotchkas has their own like way of
govoreeting. 'The Heaven Seventeen? Luke Stern? Goggly Gogol?"

Herman's Hermits - Peter Noone misheard another band member, who told him
he resembled the cartoon character Sherman from 'The Adventures of
Bullwinkle and Rocky'.

Hollies - either from the plant name, or from Buddy Holly.

House Of Love - name taken from a book "A Spy In The House of Love" by
Anais Nin. (Visible on one of their record covers).

Human League - From the science fiction boardgame Star Force, in which the
Human League was one of two rival futuristic empires in the year 2180.

Husker Du - taken from a Danish boardgame, which translates as
"Do You Remember ?" It is that game with the little tiles where you turn
them upside down one at a time and try and get a pair.... most pairs at the
end wins...
It is definitely after this boardgame, as there is a photo of Grant, Greg &
Bob hovering over a copy of the game in some sort of lame promo shot...
AND : a band member may well have known the Danish, seeing as they were
living in
Minnesota, heart of the Nordic-People Belt of the U.S.

It's Danish for "Do you Remember", and I don't have the foggiest if they
had the board game (card game, actually) in mind, though it's probable..

Icehouse - originally called Flowers. But the international rights to the
name were already taken by an irish group. So they renamed themselves
after the title of their first album, (thus not having to redo the
first album cover). An icehouse is an insulated warehouse for storing ice
shipped from frigid lands to warm lands. This was common before the invention
of efficient refrigeration.
But in this case, Icehouse refers to a mental institution, not a fridge
(listen to the song - Walls also refers to the same house).
I think I read it in an interview somewhere - Iva used to live next door to
or across the road from the nuthouse, which he's referred to in at least 3
songs. - B Fos...@massey.ac.nz

Billy Idol - well, I suppose, it's a joke, but once in an interview he
said that his chemistry teacher used to call him "idle" and it sounded good
(probably, his relations with his English teacher were not much better and
he couldn't spell it right :) )

Iggy(Pop) and the Stooges - "Iggy" derived from his one-time membership
called The Iguanas. The Stooges came from US comedy troupe of that name.
His real name is James Osterberg.
The troupe was called "The Three Stooges" who made short films in the
30s or 40s, probably for play as short subjects before the main features
in those classic American cinemas. These old films get lots of play
on US television.

INXS - "in excess" and because it sounds a lot like "sex"
Originally called The Farriss Brothers.
An interview in RS revealed that Peter Garrett (Midnight Oils) suggested
the original name "Inaccessible". The as-yet unnamed INXS were on the
road with the Oils and they were casting around for a name. Garrett met
the band and came up with "Inaccessible" and suggested that they (INXS)
should make themselves inaccessible to the media (as a gimmick to go
with the name). The members of INXS decided that instead of
"inaccessible" they'd call themselves "INXS".

Iron Maiden - Torture implement used in Middle Ages, consisting of
human-shaped shell in two halves, with inward facing spikes. Unlucky souls
were placed inside, then the halves of the maiden were brought slowly together.

Michael Jackson - From the subtle combination of his family name, Jackson,
plus the christian name given to him by his parents at the time of his
birth, Michael.

Jah Wobble - real name John Wardle, nifty huh ?

The Jam - Thought up by Paul Weller's sister at the breakfast table:"Well,
we've had The Bread, and we've had The Marmalade, so let's have The Jam."

James -
[all text from an interview in New Zealand music magazine Rip It Up Issue 177,
April 1992]

The band's name itself is a bit of a mystery, many say it comes
from James Kirk, the guitar player for Orange Juice. Others say they're named
after Jim Glennie (bass) himself. "In a way it was both really. Paul
our original guitarist, was a big OJ fan and we toured with them. We were
looking for a name that didn't give anybody any idea of who or what we were,
Tim (singer) would go on stage and recite a poem and people would go
'oh, that's James, he reads poems'. Then he'd do a song, with an acoustic
and they'd go 'oh right, James plays a guitar as well'. Then the rest of the
band would come on - basically just mucking about with people's lack of
knowledge. When we started the punk thing was dying and the new wave bands
like Teardrop Explodes and Echo and the Bunnymen etc were seem as having
these innovative names. So the name James was really a reaction against
that as well."
Very similar to the reasons for the Smiths.
"Yeah, but we came up with it before we'd even heard of the Smiths".

Jefferson Airplane - after a device used for holding marijuana cigarettes.
Supposedly the Jefferson came from the Jefferson Ice Company.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - The group has stated that it was taken from an
offer on a breakfast cereal packet, to send away for a gold Jesus
and Mary Chain.

Jesus Jones - While on holiday in Spain the boys decided to get serious
with their music. One day on a beach of the group made the comment that
in the spanish phone book there was as many Jesus'es as Jones'es in
the English phone book. Hence Jesus Jones.

Jethro Tull - An 18th century English agriculturalist, inventor of useful
farming contraption. Ian Anderson saw a book by him in manager's house.
When they started out, they sucked so bad that they couldn't get a gig at
the same place twice, so they had to always come up with new names for
themselves all the time. Jethro Tull was the one they had the night they
"got discovered"...Ian didn't really like the name for a long time though.

Jo Jo Gunne - after a character from a Chuck Berry song.
[which song ?]
"Joe Joe Gun", itself based on an African-American folk tale called "The
Signifying Monkey".

Johnny Hates Jazz - taken from the Frank Sinatra song of the same name

Tom Jones - Born Thomas Woodward. Manager Gordon Mills rechristened him after
swash-buckling hero of Henry Fielding novel, which had just become a saucy
hit film. Also had suitable welsh element.

Josek K - from the book The Trial by Franz Kafka

Joy Division - 'commandeered' Prostitute's wing of Nazi prison camp. Name
found in lurid paperback novel.

Judas Priest - From the Bob Dylan song The Ballad of Frankie Lee And Judas
Priest, on his John Wesley Harding album.

Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls - this Australian group took their
name from the line in Lou Reed's 'Walk on the Wild Side'.
['...and the coloured girls go...doot do doot...']
This name was changed to The Messengers before their album "Gossip" was
released in the USA. The Messengers is from a song on that album. A band
of white men called The Coloured Girls might not go down well in the USA.

trivia(l) quote from Moritz Barsnick :
"There's a band called Les Negresses Vertes - French for The (female) Green
Negroes. The bandmembers are neither female, nor green, nor Negroes. Let's
get THEM a recording contract in the States..."

Kill Switch...Klick - Band member SA Sebasstian used to work moving grass,
and the lawn mower has a "kill switch" to turn it off. Then he wondered if
(serial-killer) Jeffery Dahmer "has a kill switch that just went...klick"
(source: IndustrialnatioN #9)

The Kinks - Formerly The Ravens. "Kinky" was favoured word in 1960s swinging
London, meaning "attractively pervy" (as in "kinky boots"). For early
photos the band posed with riding whips.

KISS - The popular belief is that KISS stands for Knights in Satan's Service,
but at least one interview with them revealed that they originally wanted to
name the band FUCK, but when they discovered they couldn't, they renamed the
band KISS. This is straight from the band which means either: a) it's true,
or b) they were joking. I don't know; I'll leave that up to you.

Kissing The Pink - a term used in snooker

Klaatu - The band that some thought were the Beatles under a pseudonym,
plus also writers of "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (better
known as performed by those paragons of rock'n'roll The Carpenters),
took their name from the line "Klaatu Barada Niktu" which was the phrase
used to stop the robot from attacking people in the film "The Day The
Earth Stood Still".

KLF - KLF stands for "Kings of Low Frequency." They also refer to their name
the JAMMs, which stands for the Justified Ancients of Mumuland, as described
in their 1992 hit, "Justified And Ancient." The reason for Kopyright
Liberation Front is that the KLF wants free sampling, artists should be free
to "borrow" sounds from other record. Because of Copyright laws, this is
illegal today, and KLF wants the Copyright laws removed.

KMFDM - stands for Kein Mitleid fuer die Mehrheit which in English
means "No pity For The Majority." It has been argued that the name
really means nothing because the liner notes for their album, WHAT DO
YOU KNOW, DEUTSCHLAND (WaxTrax! Records) have it listed as meaning:
"Kein Mehrheit fur die Mitleid"
however, the proper use of the phrase would be:
"Kein Mitleid fuer die Mehrheit"
(mit=with,leid=pain -> Pity; Mehr=more,heit=-ness -> Majority)
which also uses the genders correctly.

Kraftwerk - German for "power station".

Kursaal Fliers - after the train that paraded along the front at
Southend (UK) advertising the Kursaal Pleasure Park.

KWS - King, Williams and St.Joseph (band's members)

L7 - supposedly because it makes a square shape when written,
which comes from an old industry name for an LP, because they were
square (not the records, the whole LP).
And by a scientific coincidence :
L7 is one of the "Le Grange Points", places where the gravitational pull
between the earth and the moon form a sort of nether-point. there are 12
points I believe and the one known as L7 has been cited as the "best" place
to put a space station.
PLUS, in the 50's or so, this was (in some parts of the U.S.)
slang for someone who was a "square" This is mentioned somewhere in
William Manchester's "The Glory and the Dream" (history of the U.S.
1932-1972). Watch for its use in the Rusty Tamblyn movie "High School
Confidential". (1959 ?) And it's possible they the name came from
Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs' 1965 hit "Wooly Bully."
Which contains the line, "Let's not don't be L7..."
PLUS, they supposedly may have heard it on the Flintstones (same meaning
though).

Laibach - the name given to Ljubljana by the germans/nazis (?) during
World War II. The capital city of Slovenia, a federal republic
of Yugoslavia has, of course, it's original name now !
trivia :
This is not so much an explanation of the name but one of the band.
Laibach's politics does not take sides in anything. Laibach is part of a
collective of artists called NSK or Neue Slowenische Kunst. Upon entrance you
are supposed to get rid of your political views. Laibach are merely
'by-standers' and commentators in our world of chaos. The most important
point though is that totalitarianism and oppression are not exclusive to
fascism but also to: communism, Christianity and capitalistic consumerism.
Since the entire NSK bases its work on the retro principle, it means that the
fascist imagery is real (taken from actual Nazi art), the music is also based
on other music originally not composed by Laibach. The most clear cut
examples are: Beatles, Queen, Opus, and the glorified Macbeth is nothing more
than a re-make of some classical stuff.
What makes Laibach very unique though, is the overall designs of their work.
They usually manage to collage one idea with its opposite. Some of the
artwork included on their disks was originally done by anti-Nazi activists;
however, its out-of-context use leads one to associate it with Nazis. Laibach
stresses the idea that one can't be sure of the real meaning of symbolry,
that no one knows all of the history.

Lambrettas - after a motor scooter popular with Mods

Lead Into Gold - from the medieval search for the formula to turn lead into
gold

Led Zeppelin - Arose out of Jimmy Page's early plan to start a band with
Keith Moon and John Entwistle (who were fed up with The Who). Cynically,
Entwistle said "We'll call it Lead Zeppelin, because it'll go down like a
lead balloon." The 'a' was later dropped from Lead so it wouldn't be
pronounced Leed.

Lemonheads, The - Originally called the Whelps, it was a high-school friend
who suggested the band call itself the Lemonheads (after a popular
Midwestern candy). "It seemed to bite, 'cause Lemonheads are sweet on the
outside and sour in the inside", says Dando. "We definitely helped them sell
an extra few boxes. I know, because kids buy them and throw 'em at us" (RS #675)
The sweets incidentally bear the legend "Say No! To Drugs!".

Let's Active - producer Mitch Easter's band got their name from a
mis-translated Japanese phrase on a tee-shirt. It was supposed
to translate to "get physical".
There's a similar story attached to The Frank Chickens. A pencil with the
words "We Are Frank Chickens!"

Level 42 - From the fact that 42 is given as "the ultimate answer to the
ultimate question of life, the universe and everything" in Douglas Adams's
book HitchHiker's Guide To the Galaxy.

Levellers, The - When the lads decided to start their own folk-inspired
group, they were keen to use it positively, as a vehicle to address
contemporary issues. Echoing New Model Army's choice of name, they
christianed themselves the Levellers, after a radical section of Oliver
Cromwell's Civil War followers, who advocated republican politics
and the freedom of worship.

Lindisfarne - Also known as Holy Island, off coast of Northumberland, north
of group's HQ Newcastle. Famous abbey founded there in 635 AD.

Little Feat - When Lowell George was a member of the Mothers of Invention,
their drummer Jimmy Carl Black (the Indian of the group) used to refer to
him as Little Feet, an ironic reference to the size of his pedal extremities.
Also, Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward said on an interview with a local
Charlottesville, Virginia, radio station in 1990 that the late Lowell George
used to have the nickname "Earthpads" back in high school, referring of course
to the size of his soles. Hayward said the band name was really just
reaction poking fun at that.

Little River Band - this Australian band supposedly took their
name from a road sign post.

Longmire, Ernie - how ? why ? who ?

Los Lobos - spanish for 'the wolves'

Love and Rockets - from the name of *the* Hernandez comic book.
They used the name without permission, and the author of the comic book
(or whatever) is unhappy. [more to come]

Lovin' Spoonful - Taken from Mississippi John Hurt's blues number, Coffee
Song: " I love my baby by the lovin' spoonful."
I think the blues track has some sexual connotations too.

Larry Lurex - In 1972, Trident engineer/producer Robin Cable was working
on an old Beach Boys song, trying to have a go at re-creating the Spector
sound. At the same time whilst recording their debut album, Queen were to
be found wandering the same corridors. Robin asked Freddie if he'd like to
do the vocals, and at Freddie's insistence Roger Taylor and Brian May were
drafted in also. John Deacon was not present at the recordings.
When it was due to be released almost a year later, Queen's own
album wasn't too far away, and so a pseudonym had to be used. As the songs
were so far removed from the Queen sound, it was decided to spoof Gary
Glitter by crediting the record to Larry Lurex.
The single in question was "I Can Hear Music", backed by "I'm Going Back".

Lynyrd Skynyrd - From Leonard Skinner, name of unpopular gym teacher in the
Florida school that most of the group attended.
Renowned for punishing boys with long hair.

Machines Of Loving Grace - from a poem by Richard Brautigan which is about a
techno-Eden, which may or may not be about how humans in the future live
in some eden-esque environment and are cared for by "Machines of Loving
Grace". The poem is given some space in Levy's "Hackers".

Here's the poem.

"All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace", by Richard Brautigan.

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Taking verbatim from p.176 of the trade paperback.

[Thanks to Michael Shi...@nyx.cs.du.edu for keying that all in !]

Madness - Title of old ska hit by the band's hero Prince Buster.
The covered "The Prince" on their first album. They were originally
known as the North London Invaders.

Manhatten Transfer - taken from a novel by John Dos Passos about New York
in the 1920s.

Manic Street Preachers - The lead singer James Dean Bradfield used to
play on the street and once one kid said to his mom: "Look, there's
another manic street preacher!"

Marillion - Originally Silmarillion, from the title of Tolkein's book,
but later abbreviated to avoid copyright.

Marshall Tucker Band - after the piano tuner who owned their rehearsal hall

Matchbox - after a Carl Perkins track

MC 900ft Jesus - taken from tele-evangelist, Oral Roberts, who
claimed a 900ft Jesus came to him in a vision

Meatloaf - born Marvin Lee Aday. He acquired his hall-of-fame nickname at
high school when as a clumsy 13 (or 8?) year old he trod on the toes
of his football coach. Or, as another story has it, the coach, kicking
his sizeable behind in an effort to attract his attention,
shouted "Hey Meatloaf!".

MFSB - stands for Mother, Father, Sister, Brother.

Miami Sound Machine - In 1975, at the urging of her mother, Gloria sang some
songs at a wedding which was being entertained by a local party band,
The Miami Latin Boys. The band leader, Emilio Estefan, was so impressed by
her smooth alto voice that he hounded her to join his band. She reluctantly
agreed, but only to sing on weekends. No longer all boys, the band was
rechristened The Miami Sound Machine.

Midnight Oil - This is what you burn when you stay up working very late.

Milli Vanilli - because they liked the sound of Scritti Politti.

Mi-Sex - the classic New Zealand synthy band took their name
from the Ultravox song.

The Mission - Despite Eldritch's claims that the name was taken from his
forthcoming Sisters Of Mercy album title "Left On Mission And Revenge".
Hussey claims the name is after the make of amplifier and a Mormon
diary he was given by his parents, and he says the band were very nearly
called Crystal Religion instead.

Molly Hatchet - after Hatchet Molly, an infamous US whore who castrated
her clients.

Moody Blues - from a Slim Harpo song.

Morrissey - Stephen Morrissey.
In "The Severed Alliance" by Johnny Rogan (the definitive Smiths
expert) he says that he uses his last name simply because he didn't want
his first name "Stephen" to be shorted to Steve. As "Steves" were all
knock about rough and ready type of guys not like himself at all.
"I've never been a Steve" I believe were his words.
He thought Morrissey was a rare enough name just to use by itself. He
refuses these days to be called Stephen and says that people who use that
name are usually people who don't know him but are trying to suggest they
have some sort of friendship with him. On the other hand he quite adores
the nicknames his fans have given such as Moz and Mozza.

Mothers of Invention - Were simply called The Mothers until record company
voiced concern it might be taken as short for "the oedipal compound" word.
New Name adapted from old proverb about Necessity Being...

Motorhead - B-side of a 1974 Hawkwind single Kings of Speed. Lemmy was band
member at the time, but was subsequently sacked.
In turn, also after a US term for a speed freak.

Mott The Hoople - name of novel by Willard Manus. The title was chosen
by manager Geoff Stevens who read the book while doing 8 months for possession

Mr.Big - after a song (by Free ?) with the same name which they also cover
on their last album "Bump Ahead".

Mud - they wanted a name that would stick

Mungo Jerry - from T.S. Eliot's 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'.

Naked Lunch - from the William S. Burroughs novel of that name

Michelle NdegeOchello - "Michelle Free As A Bird" in swahili

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - taken from the title of a (radio) episode of
"The Goons show."
[ove ove ove ying tong ying tong ying tong]

Negativland - The proper spelling for the band Negativland is without the 'e'.
Their name was lifted from the Neu album BLACK FOREST GATEAU. On that album one
can find tracks named "Negativland" and "Seeland." The first one is obviously
the band name, and the second is the name of the band's record label (before
they got on to SST, of course). Negativland means "negative country" or
"country of negativity" in German and Seeland means "country of the sea."

New Model Army - after the name given to Oliver Cromwell's troops

New Order - Signified "fresh start" for Joy Division after death of their
old singer Ian Curtis. Term was also used by Hitler, but band deny
Nazi connotations.
Also used by Kampuchean/Cambodian rebels (the source according to "An
Ideal for Living" biography; thought of their manager). whether for or
against Pol Pot, I don't know. variant also used by George Bush, but
that was later on.... also considered The Sunshine Valley Dance Band and
The Swinging Curtises (dunno how seriously though).
[sick sick sick - ed]

New Riders of The Purple Sage - Named in 1970 after 1912 novel by western
fiction writer Zane Gray, Riders of the Purple Sage.
The "new" was added in 1971.
PLUS : The Riders of the Purple Sage were a Texas swing band in the
50's or 60's. They released 78s "Texas Blues" and "Tumbling Tumbleweed".
Possibly the new band had never heard of the old band. Though
maybe they named themselves after it. On the other hand, maybe they
added the "new" when they discovered the existence of the old band.
Or maybe both bands got their name(s) independently from the Gray book.

Nine Below Zero - after a Sonny Boy Williamson blues track

Nine Inch Nails - Many explanations, though this one is almost certainly
taken from the Bible (ie Jesus was crucified with nine inch nails) or
a carpentry book. Trent Reznor has said in interviews that the name doesn't
really mean much, he just liked how it sounded and it abbreviated well.
("Now I'm Nothing").

Nirvana - hindu term for 'beatific state'
(As is the beatitudes).

Nitzer Ebb - supposedly chosen because they wanted something "german-sounding"
And supposedly the Nitzer came from drawing letters out of a hat.

NRBQ - New Rhythm and Blues Quintet. BUT...while briefly a Quintet near the
beginning of the band's evolution, it is actually (and has been for at least
twenty years) the New Rhythm and Blues Quartet.

NWA - Niggaz With Attitude. There was a rumour/joke that Dr.Dre and Ice Cube
will reunite the group as NWE - Niggaz Without Eazy (Eazy E. was the third
founding member, which later fell out with the rest)
Also spells out to mean: No Whiteys Allowed plus numerous others...

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Originally a song written by Andrew
McClusky featuring "three radios and war noises recorded off the telly."

Pop Will Eat Itself - supposedly taken from a David Quantick article
heading about the future state of music, from UK mag. New Music Express.
[I think the issue date was 1985 ?]

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Thought by rock scholars to be an ingenious derivative
of popular English composers Gilbert and Sullivan. Evidence in inconclusive.

Peace, Love & Pitbulls - according to Joakim Thastrom the name comes from
Sweden being "a little too overpopulated with dirty hippies with nasty
looking dogs on string leashes"

Pearl Jam - Be wary of any explanations of Pearl Jam. There are several and
none is the "official" version.

This was the first and most popular one. There are two more :

Pearl Jam's first name was "Mookie Blaylock". Mookie is an NBA basketball
player who was playing for the New Jersey Nets at the time and is currently
playing with the Atlanta Hawks. Jeff Ament is a huge basketball fan and thus
the attraction in addition to the fact that Mookie's name is different/cool.
I first heard of "Mookie Blaylock" as the second coming of Mother Love Bone
and this was big news. Mother Love Bone was *huge* in Seattle. Anyway
"Mookie" played club dates in Seattle and started to record their album.
They actually met with the real Mookie, got along with him, and received
his blessing to use his name. Pearl Jam's record label (not the NBA as
Rolling Stone reported) didn't think the "Mookie Blaylock" was not catchy
enough. The album they had been recording as "Mookie" was to be called
"Ten" because Mookie's jersey number is 10. So the story goes, one
of Mookie's favourite dunks is the "Pearl Jam". Thus Eddie and the boys
adopted this as their new name. The record label agreed. But of course,
the album was still called "Ten".

The other theory is in regard to Pearl Jam being a reference to semen.
This is the least credible. There is also a theory about Eddie's grandmother
Pearl, in regard to some hallucinogenic jam that she made which may
or not be derived from supposedly "Cow Pearl Jam" which is an Indian
sub-continent folk medicine for gaining weight.

Pere Ubu - Character in Alfred Jarry's avant-garde 1896 play Ubu Roi.
[De Fish! says 'YoW !! ArE wE hAvInG fUn YeT ?" ;-)]

Pet Shop Boys - "we had some friends who owned a pet shop and they were
always joked about calling themselves The Pet Shop Boys and recording
'How much is that Doggie in The Window'. When it came time for us to
find a name we decided to use it." - Neil Tennant
It is also supposedly a slang term for a person who performs the
homosexual act of putting a tube pipe up their anus and letting a gerbil
run wild. Hence the t-shirt "So little time, so many Gerbils".
The Pet Shop Boys deny ever knowing about the term.

Pink Floyd - After two Georgia bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
Who, contrary to some accounts of the story, never recorded together and
probably never met.

Poco - Were to have been Pogo, after Walt Kelly's satirical cartoon strip, but
Kelly refused permission, so group chose Poco as being similar, and having
a musical connotation in sheet music where it means "a little".

The Pogues - Abbreviation of "pogue mahone", irish for Kiss My Arse. So,
are they now The Kisses, or The Arses ?
They had to drop the "mahone" part when they were contracted by their
record company.
The spelling is probably something like 'pog mo tho/in'
pog = kiss
mo = my
to/in (aspirated to tho/in) = arse

Powerstation - English for Kraftwerk.
Seriously though, isn't this the recording studio they did their stuff in ?
That is, New York's famed The Power Station recording studios.
And : "I had heard that Kraftwerk named themselves after the studio too
since they envisioned themselves as just a studio band, just
translating it to German, but I haven't the foggiest how true that is.
Probably isn't, but it sounds interesting." - Jeffrey Margrave
[...yes it does - ed]

Prefab Sprout - Leader Paddy MacAloon's imagination was stimulated by
seeing albums by Tyrannosaurus Rex and Grand Central Station tucked under
the arms of school friends. "I feel under the mystery of the names and their
intangible and wilful obscurity. So I put two words together that didn't
mean anything because people would say "what does it mean?" I had other
names like Chrysalis Cognosi and The Ethereal Fair Roses".

Pretenders - From the ballad song The Great Pretender, a 1956 hit for
The Platters.

Primal Scream - a term concocted by Dr. Albert Janov to describe a cry
heard in psychotherapy treatment. See Tears for Fears.

Prince - wwwwwweeeeeeeellll...he was born Prince Rogers Nelson.
His new "name" is supposed to represent a combination of the male-female signs,
plus a horn or paisley curl going through it. I think he considers this his
true spiritual name, so now his albums are either credited to 0(+> or to
"Prince 1958-1993"..

Procol Harum - Name of a cat belonging to friend of Gary Brooker. Latin
Phrase meaning "beyond these things".

The Projectiles - after projectile vomit. (Contact Brian Goodman,
b...@godel.cci.com for booking details).

Quantum Jump - a term used in physics

Queensryche - all five members all hail from the Seattle area and were
involved in local bands, before coming together in a band called The Mob
and recording a 4-song EP.
The Mob's EP got the attention of Kim and Diana Harris, record-shop owners
on the east side of Seattle, who began managing the band and encouraged them
to change their name. The title of the first song on the EP, Queen of
the Reich, was contracted to Queensreich, then altered to Queensryche, so as
not to imply Nazi sentiments. The EP was also given the title Queensryche.
Queensryche's symbol, known as a tri-ryche (sometimes spelled try-ryche),
has no particular meaning, and is just something the band thought looked neat
at the time. Through subsequent releases it has evolved, but the basic
shape remains the same.

The Ramones - When The Beatles were still known as The Silver Beetles, Paul
McCartney briefly used the pseudonym Paul Ramon. When The Ramones formed in
1974 they chose their stage names in memory of the days when McCartney was
still a rocker.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - most probably derived from The Red Hot Peppers who
were a (great) jazz band led by the legendary Jelly Roll Morton in the 1920s.

Redbone - a derogatory Cajun term for a half-breed

R.E.M. - In the real world of sleep research, R.E.M. indeed stands for
Rapid Eye Movement. In the case of the band, no. The story goes that they
picked it out of the dictionary (not all dictionaries list it, so
don't be disappointed if you don't find it) and liked it because it
was so ambiguous. Either way, the band continually insists that it
stands for nothing. Some bootlegs, however, have the band listed as
Rapid Eye Movement, but then, what do bootleggers know?

REO Speedwagon - from the high-speed fire engine. The REO standing for
Ransom E. Olds the designer of the engine.

The Residents - The most favoured rumour is that when the group was sending
out demo tapes to record companies, they once forgot to include their names
in the package. The record company returned the package, addressing it to
The Residents, at the address given on the package. Suitably amused, the group
decided that their name had found them.

Revolting Cocks - (often abbreviated to RevCo) taken from the name of a
Brussels street gang (source: interview in Music From The Empty Quarter
issue #9)

Rick Kids - the band containing Midge Ure was named after a
Jean Cocteau book

Righteous Brothers - reportedly named after their audience shouting out
"Hey that's really righteous, brothers !"
Due to their blue-eyed soul singing.

Roachford - the surname of the lead singer

Rolling Stones - From the Muddy Waters blues song, Rolling Stone.

Roxy Music - "It was intended to convey a slightly old-style glamour, with
a pun on rock." (Bryan Ferry)
Supposedly he got the name from a cinema on the other side of the street
where he used to live.

Runrig - originally called the Run-Rig dance band. The run-rig system being
a method of feudal land ownership imposed on the Scottish people by
18th century English landlords.

Rush - supposedly they were quite in a rush to come up with a name, and a
younger brother or similar suggested why not just "Rush".

Sad Cafe - after the book The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, by Carson McCullers.

s.b.o.t.h.i. - it stands for Swimming Behavior Of The Human Infant

Scritti Politti - latin for 'political writings'
BUT Erland says :
Double-check that one. Both words looks Italian to me and "scritti"
does indeed mean "writings", "scripts", but this must be "scripti"
in Latin. "Politti" means nothing in Italian, "political" would be
"politici", and I would expect there to be a Latin meaning either.

The Searchers - After a 1956 John Wayne western movie.

The Selecter - the name of the first song by the Specials that they tried
to sell to record companies without success. It later ended up on the
b-side of the first single. ('Ghost Town'?)

Sepultura - Portuguese for Grave. Early choices for names for this
Brazilian band were Tropa De Choque (roughly, riot police or shock troops),
and Veneno (venom).
Igor Cavalera (drums) "this is way back in '83 or '84. We picked up
the Motorhead album that included "Dance On Your Grave". We used to
translate the names of the songs into our language, and when we
released that Sepultura meant 'grave', we knew we had to have it as
our name".

Sex Pistols - Chosen by Malcolm McLaren, who assembled band in his boutique
Sex, and a distortion of botanical term sex pistils, referring to male sexual
parts of flowers.

Shakespear's Sister - named from the b-side of a certain Smiths single.

The Shamen - A name taken from the South American Indians who used
hallucinogenic drugs as a central part their culture.
Colin Angus : "I liked it because it goes right back to antiquity - there
have always been shamans on the planet, ever since consciousness evolved.
The roots of the name are in prehistory and I liked the idea. I also liked
the rhythm aspect of the name - drums were always central to the shamanic
tradition. The word 'shaman' also means someone who undertakes a cosmic
journey, who goes out of their mind into the realm of ideas on behalf
of the community, in pursuit of art, or knowledge, or healing forces.
All these things appealed to my notion of what The Shamen should be about."
[ This spot dedicated to Will Sin :'( ]

Shangri Las - Shangri La is another name for paradise in a novel by
James Hilton.

Shirelles - from lead singer Shirley Alston (nee Owen)

Showaddywaddy - From the doo-wop backing vocal line. (Same as Sha Na Na).

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Supposedly name of a Moscow street gang, spotted by
Tony James in the International Herald Tribune.

Simple Minds - from a line in the David Bowie song 'Jean Genie'.

Single Gun Theory - obviously from the "standard" theory explaining the JFK
assassination

Sister Machine Gun - Not taken from a lyric from Skinny Puppy's
"Tin Omen" from "Rabies" album as commonly thought.
But from a paper Jim Marcus (artist, has done covers and artwork for bands,
did covers for Die Warzau) wrote called 'Sister Machine Gun, Brother Bomb'
about it being necessary to have wars and religions to use up excess money.
That's where Skinny Puppy got their Sister Machine Gun too.

And from the keyboard of the author :
I wrote the essay in Question. An excerpt of it appears on the inside of
SMG's album "the Torture Technique" . It concerns The origins of Potlach-
a system by which goods are destroyed in order to attain rank. Potlach in
varying forms is practised by every culture on this planet including ours.
The essay is an estension of principals established by Georges Bataille
called "neo-copernican economics" where he discusses incipient familiarity
with the means of destruction for the individual laborer. I took the idea
one step further using modern terminology to explain how the government
uses this familiarity to create a fondness for the instruments of
destruction themselves. Reading "The Accursed Share" parts 1 through 3
would be a good start if you'd like to learn more about this. The members
of Skinny Puppy are also interested in Georges Battaille and (I'm
guessing) made the same rhetorical leap that I did in describing the
familial dysfunction inherent in the system I called "Sister Machine Gun/
Brother Bomb". This wasn't a college essay- it's a published work that is
also a chapter in my up-coming book "America Union Babel". Chris has told
me that this is where the name comes from.
[Jake_c...@mcs.com]

Sisters of Mercy - A "laughing" Leonard Cohen song.
Eldritch : "It's nice and ironic. A nice 50-50 balance between nuns and
prostitutes, which seemed a very suitable metaphor for a rock band."
And speaking of Eldritch, his real name is a secret, but he chose it
due to its meaning of weird or hideous.

Small Faces - Marriott's girlfriend Annie suggested the name. 'face' being
a term for a high profile mod-about-town, and 'small' coming from their
height. All of them were less than 5 feet 6 inches. Except Jimmy
Langwith (Winston) who was dumped after the first hit.
Another explanation has 'making small faces' describing a couple of kids
puckering up for a kiss, but the term was not used because there was already
a group called The Kiss in the UK.

S*M*A*S*H - a shortened version of Smash At The Blues

The Smiths - Morrissey just came up with it, and Johnny Marr approved: "All
other bands at the time had 15-syllable names...We just wanted four
individuals who could be collectively known as something normal." Morrissey
has denied it was tribute to fellow Mancunian Mark E. Smith of The Fall.

Snow - a) snow
b) Some Notorious Outrageous White boy
[c) wgaf ? - ed]

Soft Machine - named after the metaphor for humanity used by William Burroughs
in his 1961 novel of the same name.

Sonic Youth - Thurston Moore: "At the time I was really into Sonic'
Rendevouz Band's 'City Slang' single and also Big Youth's Screaming
Target album. I kept wondering how I could be true to both these
geniuses and finally arrived at Sonic youth. It sounded better
than the Arcadians".

Soundgarden - Formed in 1984 and named after the Sound Garden pipe sculpture
on that Pacific northwest town's Sand Point, the band made several independent
records before releasing its major label debut ``Louder Than Love'' on A&M
Records in 1989.The sculpture is situated in Seattle's Magnuson Park (?).
Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil liked the name and took it for the band.

Spandau Ballet - Spandau is an area in Berlin; in the last century they had
a ballet there. Friend of the band saw it written on a toilet wall. Gary
Kemp: "Basically we used the name because it had a lot more mystery
than Neasden Ballet."

Spin Doctors - A "spin doctor" tries to influence the public's interpretation
or impression of a political event by immediately offering their own slant on
the event hoping to influence what everyone thinks about what it meant.
i.e. when the Pres. gives a speech, immediately afterwards the "spin
doctors" work the crowd, i.e. reporters, and try to offer an
"interpretation" based on their own agenda, hoping to affect the public's
idea of what actually went down. At least that is a brief description.
The term isn't all that old. For example the Pres. says:

"Thank you very much for listening to my speech tonight."

Spin Doctor #1: "The pres. is suffering from low self esteem, causing him
to feel that he has to thank the people for listening to his speech."

Spin Doctor #2: "The pres. is showing his normal huge amount of good
manners, class, and style by being so polite."

You get to decide which you agree with and vote accordingly.
[Thanks to Robert nort...@med.unc.edu for the above explanation and
example (!)]

Spirea X - named from the instrumental on the 12" of Primal Scream's
Crystal Crescent. Jim Beattie left Primal Scream in 1987.
Being one of the major songwriters actually.

SPK - "Sozialistische Patienten Klinik" or SPK named themselves after a
group of mental patients who formed an anarchist collective (inspired by
the Baader-Meinhoff Gang) and then blew themselves up trying to make
explosives. Their name changed on every release to things such as
standing for "Systems Planning Korporation", "Surgical Penis Klinik",
and "SePpuKu."

Split Enz - New Zealand's finest so far, were originally called "Split Ends",
after one of the early songs they wrote, which was the b-side to their
first single, "For You". After their second single they changed it to
Split Enz.
Mike Chunn : "the graphic symbolism inherent in ENZ with the NZ reference
was clever and we were happy with the new moniker".
[i.e. it looks good - edz]

Standells - after a make of amplifier

Starry-Eyed and Laughing - from a line in the Bob Dylan song 'Chimes
of Freedom'.

Stars of Heaven - from a biblical quotation:'I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of heaven/And as the sand which is upon the sea shore',
Gen. 22:17

Status Quo - Chosen by manager Pat Barlow: "It was a name I kept reading
about in the papers and hearing on the telly. It sticks in the mind."
Francis Rossi: "We're always asked about the name: Did you do it for a
reason? In a word, no."
It is latin for 'the existing position of or in society'.

Steeleye Span - Formed by Ashley Hutchings, previously of Fairport Convention,
they were looking for something folksy and settled for the name of a character
in the traditional Lincolnshire ballad, Horkston Grange.

Steely Dan - Name of a dildo in William Burrough's novel Naked Lunch.

Steppenwolf - Novel by German writer Hermann Hesse.

Stiff Little Fingers - Derived from a line in a Vibrators song which was, in
turn, referring to an early '60s US sci-fi series, The Invaders, in which
the invading aliens were distinguishable from earthlings only because
they all had unbendable pinkies.

The Stone Roses - The name was taken from a previous incarnation,
English Rose and that of their favourite pop group, The Rolling Stones.
One name they considered was The Angry Young Teddy Bears.

Strawberry Switchblade - after an Orange Juice song

Strawbs - Short for Strawberry Hill Boys, after the district of London where
they rehearsed. Plus redolent of bluegrass idols such as The Foggy Mountain
Boys. As their sound evolved Strawberry Hill Boys seemed increasingly
ill-suited.

Styx - after the river in the Greek underworld of Hades

Supertramp - From the book Autobiography of a Supertramp, by W.H. Davies
(1908), tale of a British toff who roamed the USA as a vagrant.
[hence the name of their greatest hits collection as well DF!]

Booker T and The MGs - Short for Booker T. Jones and the Memphis Group, once
the house rhythm section at Stax Records in Memphis.

Talking Heads - TV jargon for onscreen speakers.
The explanation they gave was that a talking head was simply someone
talking with no accompanying visual element. The point being that as such
it was reputedly the most BORING form of television possible as a result.
From a biography of the band by someone named "Miles" :
The band was sitting around, searching for inspiration looking for a name,
somebody opened a magazine and saw a reference to "talking head", describing
that cheapest of low-budget TV production techniques, filming the top part
of a talking human being. This must surely predate any V-R jargon!
"Talking heads is also used in MIT research with Virtual Reality, in which
a method of communication was explored by using different probes around
one's face, and having a computer re-draw it, thus having a Talking Head,
so to speak."

Tears for Fears - A phrase lifted from Arthur Janov's The Primal Scream, which
advocates the release of pent-up emotions, such as crying, as a method of
relieving fears and neuroses.

Temple of the Dog - Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard,
and another guy from Soundgarden are members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden
who recorded a tribute album to the deceased singer of Mother Love Bone,
Andrew Wood. Temple of the Dog is a lyric from the Mother Love Bone song
'Man of Golden Words.'

The The - a play on bands that name themselves "The ...."
This absolutely fools computer programs that eliminate any "the"s from
artists and titles in order to correctly sort them alphabetically (!)

The Teardrop Explodes - From a caption in the Marvel comic Daredevil, (number
77, June 1971): "filling the park with an unearthy whine - painting the
leaf-bare branches with golden fire - the teardrop explodes..."

They Might Be Giants - taken from the 1971 George C. Scott movie

This Mortal Coil - Shakespeare. From Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be"
speech. "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,/When we have
shuffled of this mortal coil,/Must give us pause."

Therapy? - I don't know what the name means per se, but the question mark
was added so that promoters would give the band a second look

Thompson Twins - Comic strip detectives in the cartoon Tin Tin.
And, more specifically (thanks to Bennett Smith) :
They are characters from the English version of Herge's Tin Tin cartoon
series. In the original French, they are called Dupont and Dupond
(the two are homonyms in French), so in French they're "identical",
but not twins...

Three Dog Night - an Australian term for a very cold night, which comes
from the thinking that a man in the outback would need to sleep with
one dog to keep him warm on a mild night, two on a colder night and
three when it's freezing.

T. Rex - Abbreviation for Tyrannosaurus Rex, a large dinosaur. Bolan chose
name, says manager Simon Napier-Bell, "because that was the biggest animal
there'd ever been in the world, and he was going to be that big."

Throbbing Gristle - after a Pork Dukes' track

Thousand Yard Stare - The British term for shellshock

Tom Tom Club - after the hall where they rehearsed

Tony Toni Tone - "Tony Toni Tone was an image," guitarist Dwayne Wiggins says.
"When we went out, long before the group, we liked to go shopping at
vintage-clothing stores, buy old suits and big shoes, and it was more a
character thing. We invented this character, Tony Toni Tone." (RS #666 !)

Toto - after Dorothy's dog in The Wizard of Oz. Also, it may have some
tie-in with the name of the original lead vocalist, Bobby Kimball. Whose
real name is Roberrt Toteaux (pronounced "to-to" with the accent on the
second syllable).

T'Pau - It did not come from "the name of Spock's Vulcan mother" in Star Trek.
Spock's mother was an Earthwoman, Amanda Grayson (played by Jane Wyatt).
T'Pau was the Vulcan matriarch who officiated at Spock's wedding. It was
never stated that she was a member of his family, only that she was an
extremely important Vulcan dignitary, "the only person who ever turned down
a seat on the Federation Council". The name of the episode in which she
appeared was "Amok Time", written by Theodore Sturgeon. The year was 1967.
The actress who played T'Pau was Celia Lovsky, a Hungarian character actress
who was the wife of Peter Lorre. The band may have liked the sound of the
name, or the fact that Vulcan had a woman in such a powerful position of
authority.

The Tragically Hip - The name, The Tragically Hip, was taken from a
Michael Nesmith video called "Elephant Parts." The video contained a clip
asking for contributions to The Foundation for The Tragically Hip -- poor,
afflicted people in need of jacuzzis, Lamborghinis and cocaine.

"There seems to be some confusion about our
name...about the kind of band we are. People either
like the name, think it's clever and funny or think
it's a really pretentious, new-wave thing. We were
billed in Germany a couple of times as an American
Hip Hop band."

Treponem Pal - named for the virus which causes syphilis

Triffids - Frankly unsociable plant monsters who attack humanity in John
Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day of The Triffids.

Troggs - short for troglodyte man

UB40 - Number on the British unemployment benefit card. Indicative of their
job status at their first sessions.

Ultravox - latin for 'many voices'

Unit 4 + 2 - in the sixties the chart rundown was divided into units (1-4).
The group called themselves Unit 4 and later when two more people
joined, they became Unit 4 + 2.

Uriah Heep - a character from a Dicken's novel David Copperfield.
In any case, Mr. Heep was a bookkeeper, which deserves a mention.
Charles Dicken's conniving and hypocritical paragon of "humility".
He gets his comeuppance from Mr. Macawber [sp?] .

U2 - Formerly The Hype. Adam Clayton liked XTC's name, and a friend suggested
U2 as being along the same lines. The U2 was a US spy plane, is also the
number of a battery, and could be taken as a pun on "you too."

Van Der Graaf Generator - The (misspelled) name was given by founder member
Chris Judge Smith in 1967, commemorating the invention of R.J. Van de Graaff
(1901-1967), a static electricity generator used for accelerating charged
atomic particles (protons) to high energies.

Vaya Con Dios - spanish for 'Go with God.' It's usually said to someone
who is going somewhere, anywhere.

Velvet Underground - from the salacious pulp book of the same name, about
the joys of sado-masochism.

Ventures - because they considered themselves 'venturing' into a new style
of music, rock instrumentals.

Veruca Salt - The rich girl from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"
by Roald Dahl.

Voice of the Beehive -- the two female lead singers used to do a
cabaret-style singing act in London. Because of their distinctive
hairstyles, they were called the Beehive Girls. When they joined with
some friends to form a band, they decided to capitalise on the idea that
the singers were already known in the area, thus Voice of the Beehive.

The Wallflowers - named after a Dylan song. [any more info about this band?]
They're led by Dylan's son, Jacob.

Wang Chung - formerly Huang Chung, which is Chinese [which dialect ?]
for 'perfection in music'.

Was Not Was - Dave Weiss and Don Fagenson got their group name unwittingly
provided by Don's son who described the opposite of was as 'was not was'

W.A.S.P. - stand for We Are Sexual Perverts

Wedding Present - David Gedge: "I've always thought that The Wedding Present
was an inappropriate name for a pop group--more like a poem, or a book or
something--and therefore quite attractive (to me!). I've also always
been fascinated by Weddings...those surreal performances where the audience
plays an integral part--the joy, the sadness, the passion...all unfolding
firstly in a house where God is served and ultimately in a house where beer
is served...the knife inserted ritually into the virginal white cake to
reveal the dark fruity interior...that ugly pagan concept of the father
handing over his daughter to her new master...the mothers crying because
they're losing a daughter, the page boys crying because they have to wear
such stupid clothes...those embarrassing speeches and drunken uncles on
the dance floor...I could go on and on!"
"I used to be a huge Birthday Party fan and although I'd thought of
'The Wedding Present' about ten or eleven years ago, I decided it was
a bit too similar and hence called the band I was in THE LOST PANDAS.
By the time our first single came out in 1985, TBP were dead and
gone so I felt more comfortable reverting to my original idea."

Wet Wet Wet - From the line "his face is wet, wet with tears" taken from the
Scritti Politti song Getting Having And Holding. The third Wet was added to
distinguish them from such double-headed names as Duran Duran and Talk Talk.

Wham! - Taken from their early composition Wham Rap, which contains the
lines "Wham! Bam! I am a man!"

The Who - Chosen because it would print up big on posters, and cause enough
confusion to make it memorable. Townsend's first suggestion, The Hair And
The Who, was turned down for sounding like a pub.

Wilson Phillips - Chynna Phillips, and Wendy and Carnie Wilson.
Just in case you didn't know, Wendy and Carnie are the spawn of one Beach Boy
and no Mamas; Chynna Phillips is the spawn of one Papa and no Beach Boys.

Woodentops - after a children's TV puppet show

XTC - a phonetic interpretation of 'ecstasy'

Yello - Meaning a "yelled hello". Obviously.

Youth - for interested people, his real name is Martin Glover.
Was and still is the bassist for Killing Joke before moving into
production and remixing.

ZZ Top - According to drummer Frank Beard it's a parody of B.B. King.
"We just wanted a name that sounded like maybe some crusty old blues player."
Others allege it's taken from names of two brands of rolling papers.
Another reason being that they wanted to be last in record shop bins.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

And we leave the final word to James A. Gar...@mace.cc.purdue.edu
[who once played in a band called the Radio Doctors, named after
a hi-fi repair shop]

"Did you know that there was a rash of bands in the U.S. during
the late 1970s-early 1980s with monster-movie-related names,
like Mars Needs Women, Destroy All Monsters, and (I believe)
Planets Against Us? Also, one of my favourite band names came out
of this period, from a tabloid headline: Hornets Attack Victor Mature!"

Sums it all up doesn't it ?

FUN FAN FIN