# Guess the band by the origin of its name.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [March 4, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502 "2011-03-04T18:17:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/1 "2011-03-04T18:17:50Z")
1 -This band got their name from the title of a song appearing in a Beatles movie, but not performed by the Beatles.
2 - This band’s name was originally the name of an alien cabal intent on controlling mankind.
3 - This band got their name by taking a word out of an _Inspiral Carpets_ poster hanging on the room of two of their members.
---
### Author:  [@BDoors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDoors)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/2 "2011-03-04T20:15:47Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#):
>
> 3 - This band got their name by taking a word out of an _Inspiral Carpets_ poster hanging on the room of two of their members.
Has to be **Oasis** , since Noel Gallagher was a roadie for them.
1. This band was named after a government form issued to jobless people.
---
### Author:  [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/3 "2011-03-04T20:30:21Z")
The answer to #4 is UB-40.
---
### Author:  [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/4 "2011-03-04T20:44:13Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#):
>
> 2 - This band’s name was originally the name of an alien cabal intent on controlling mankind.
Attempting to find a band on Google with “Xenu” in its name led me to a myspace page of “Lord Xenu and the Thetans”. I would find it hard to believe from that page that they actually would be known by anybody though.
---
### Author:  [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/5 "2011-03-04T20:59:16Z")
> [@BDoors](#):
>
> Has to be **Oasis** , since Noel Gallagher was a roadie for them.
That’s right! In the poster you could read “Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon.” as one of the venues.
> [@glowacks](#):
>
> Attempting to find a band on Google with “Xenu” in its name led me to a myspace page of “Lord Xenu and the Thetans”. I would find it hard to believe from that page that they actually would be known by anybody though.
No. But now I **have** to find some music by them.
Maybe the clue is a bit obscure: the cabal I was talking about is fictional, and was part of the poems their manager was writing at the time. But the name is similar to the one you found.
---
### Author:  [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/6 "2011-03-04T22:21:06Z")
1. Anderson’s and Council’s first names combined make the name of this band.
---
### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/7 "2011-03-05T22:47:09Z")
> [@Yeticus\_Rex](#):
>
> 1. Anderson’s and Council’s first names combined make the name of this band.
Pink Floyd
1. This band originally named itself after a local brewery that sponsored them. When the sponsorship fell through, the band kept the same initials but took a new name based on a Slim Harpo song.
---
### Author:  [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/8 "2011-03-05T23:04:19Z")
7 This band was originally named “Rainbow Butt Monkeys”
8 First called The Warlocks, their definitive name was picked out of a dictionary
9 Also called The Warlocks, then The Falling Spikes, and finally they took the title from a book about the ‘secret sexual subculture of the early sixties’.
---
### Author:  [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/9 "2011-03-05T23:26:58Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#):
>
> 7 This band was originally named “Rainbow Butt Monkeys”
>
> 8 First called The Warlocks, their definitive name was picked out of a dictionary
>
> 9 Also called The Warlocks, then The Falling Spikes, and finally they took the title from a book about the ‘secret sexual subculture of the early sixties’.
#8—Grateful Dead
10—This band took it’s name from the peyote cactus preserves that the lead singers Native American grandmother used to make.
---
### Author:  [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/10 "2011-03-05T23:42:27Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#):
>
> 10—This band took it’s name from the peyote cactus preserves that the lead singers Native American grandmother used to make.
Oh, please, not even a challenge: **Pearl Jam**.
---
### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/11 "2011-03-06T04:03:48Z")
1. This band was named after a fictional character who evolved from unctuous, butt kissing law clerk to ruthless, villainous lawyer.
2. This band was named after a movie about a man who thinks he’s Sherlock Holmes.
3. This band was named after a song on Bob Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding” album (hint: they once recorded a song about Bob Dylan, written by one of Bob’s former lovers).
---
### Author:  [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/12 "2011-03-06T04:11:17Z")
1. This band supposedly got their name from a ouija board that channeled a 17th century witch.
2. This band got it’s name from the movie **Barbarella**.
---
### Author:  [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/13 "2011-03-06T04:14:47Z")
> [@faithfool](#):
>
> 1. This band got it’s name from the movie **Barbarella**.
Duran Duran
---
### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/14 "2011-03-06T05:01:42Z")
Answer #11- Uriah Heep?
#16: Easy one: This band started life as “Soft White Underbelly”
---
### Author:  [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/15 "2011-03-06T05:46:48Z")
Number 2: Blue Öyster Cult
The name came from producer/manager Sandy Pearlman’s poetry and was later developed into the concept album “Imaginos”
> **[Imaginos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginos)**
>
> Imaginos is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band Blue Öyster Cult. It was released in 1988, and was their last recording with their original record label, CBS/Columbia Records.
> The album took nearly eight years to complete and was originally intended to be the first in a trilogy of solo albums by Blue Öyster Cult drummer and songwriter Albert Bouchard. Bouchard was fired in August 1981, and CBS rejected the album in 1984, but a re-worked version was eventually published as a p...
---
### Author:  [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/16 "2011-03-06T05:48:53Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> #16: Easy one: This band started life as “Soft White Underbelly”
Number 16: Blue Öyster Cult
The name “Soft White Underbelly” also came from Sandy Pearlman.
LOL!
---
### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/17 "2011-03-06T05:52:35Z")
> [@BDoors](#):
>
> 1. This band was named after a government form issued to jobless people.
Dude, this is the SDMB. We all watched Jeopardy last week, too…
Joe
---
### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/18 "2011-03-06T06:21:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 1. This band was named after a song on Bob Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding” album (hint: they once recorded a song about Bob Dylan, written by one of Bob’s former lovers).
Judas Priest.
> [@](#):
>
> 1. This band supposedly got their name from a ouija board that channeled a 17th century witch.
Alice Cooper.
1. This group took its name from that of a fictional band in a music video by New Order.
---
### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/19 "2011-03-06T06:45:27Z")
Gatopescado got #11 right- Uriah Heep was a phony, smarmy law clerk in Dickens’ _ **David Copperfield.** _
And Smapti was right about Judas Priest- they took their name from Dylan’s “The Ballad of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest.” They also did a cover of Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust,” a song she wrote about Dylan.
---
### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/20 "2011-03-06T06:45:46Z")
#1. Death Cab For Cutie, from Magical Mystery Tour.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502.md?page=2)