# Guess the band by the origin of its name. **URL:** \ **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:** 4
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/61 "2011-03-07T03:37:17Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > 1. Akorn Nope. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/62 "2011-03-07T04:51:46Z")
> [@BDoors](#): > > Well, the list of famous Birmingham bands isn’t that long, and it can’t be Duran Duran, Ocean Colour Scene or the aforementioned UB40. I tried to get ELO to work, but they emerged form The Move, I think, so that doesn’t work. Which leaves the **Moody Blues**? YES- they briefly got a sponsorship from the M & B brewery by calling themselves the MB5. After they lost the sponsorship, they no longer saw any reason to plug the brewery, so they kept the initials but adopted the name Moody Blues. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/63 "2011-03-07T04:52:51Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > 1. This band was named after a movie about a man who thinks he’s Sherlock Holmes. > They Might be Giants. correctomundo ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/64 "2011-03-07T05:02:46Z")
My only unsolved question: 1. This band named itself after a Western that co-starred Jeff Bridges. I will tell you that it’s an English band, and that the Western was made VERY early in Jeff’s career. 39. This band named itself after a disfiguring medical condition often suffered by heavy drinkers (like W.C. Fields). ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/65 "2011-03-07T05:07:02Z")
39: Gin Blossoms ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/66 "2011-03-07T05:16:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > My only unsolved question: > > 1. This band named itself after a Western that co-starred Jeff Bridges. > > I will tell you that it’s an English band, and that the Western was made VERY early in Jeff’s career. Bad Company. 1. This group prefixed their name with their nationality after finding out about an American band with the same name as themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/67 "2011-03-07T06:20:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Bad Company. > > 1. This group prefixed their name with their nationality after finding out about an American band with the same name as themselves. Mmmh… The English Beat? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/68 "2011-03-07T06:37:23Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Mmmh… The English Beat? Correct. 1. This group got its name from a pseudonym Paul McCartney once used to check in to hotels. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/69 "2011-03-07T07:07:31Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > 1. This group got its name from a pseudonym Paul McCartney once used to check in to hotels. The Ramones 1. This group took its name from the title of a 1960 film starring a famously married couple. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/70 "2011-03-07T07:16:06Z")
> [@gregorio](#): > > 1. This band was named after an American expansionist slogan. Also Canadian! ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/71 "2011-03-07T09:04:14Z")
43 . This band named themselves after a public art work in one of the parks in their hometown. 1. According to the band members, the item they misspelled to use as a name made an unscheduled appearance in a sex act performance they watched at a party. Although that story is probably apocryphal and the name likely just the result of listing random words and picking one. 2. This band used the name of a deceased friend of the families of two of the members who took care of them when children as an homage. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/72 "2011-03-07T10:56:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > 1. This group prefixed their name with their nationality after finding out about an American band with the same name as themselves. > [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Mmmh… The English Beat? Number 40: Also, [X Japan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Japan)! > [@](#): > > By 1992 the band’s success in Japan made an international breakthrough appear likely enough to warrant the renaming of X to X Japan, in order to distinguish the group from the American punk band X. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/73 "2011-03-07T11:37:02Z")
> [@Hennessy](#): > > 1. The Samples yes! ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/74 "2011-03-07T12:09:53Z")
1. This British female group have a name that is a direct reaction to a different British female group who had been extremely successful a few years earlier. (This is, however, only one of a few stories about how the group got their name. I think it is the most likely) 2. Named after a form of Greek dance. 3. A word made from the first letter of each member’s first name. 4. A word made from the last letter of each member’s first name. Extra hint/push in the right direction: all of these are pop groups/bands. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/75 "2011-03-07T12:19:57Z")
Okay, my last two posts have been solved: The Jeff Bridges Western was _ **Bad Company,** _ And Gin Blossoms is a slang term for rosacea, the condition that gives many alcoholics big, bulbous noses. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/76 "2011-03-07T12:21:01Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > 1. A word made from the first letter of each member’s first name. > > . ABBA ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/77 "2011-03-07T14:53:27Z")
49 is NSYNC ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/78 "2011-03-07T15:17:10Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > 49 is NSYNC Now, the question you have to answer is… **how did you know?** ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/79 "2011-03-07T15:25:22Z")
1. This group was named after a blind piano tuner whose business card they found lying around in their rehearsal studio. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502/80 "2011-03-07T15:34:30Z")
1. This band named itself after an early model of pickup truck, one that became very popular among fire departments in the 1930s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-band-by-the-origin-of-its-name/573502.md?page=5)