etv78:
97 still not guessed.
Well, maybe not the band you were thinking of, but The Commodores fit the clue:
Commodores, often billed as The Commodores, are an American funk and soul group. The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer.
The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in November 1972, having first caught the public eye opening for the Jackson 5 while on tour.
The band's biggest hit singles are ballads such as "Easy", "Three Times a Lad...
The Commodores originally called themselves the Jays, but had to change their name because of the similarly named O’Jays. To choose a new name William King opened a dictionary and randomly picked a word. “We lucked out,” he remarked with a laugh when telling this story to People (magazine). “We almost became The Commodes!”
I heard the story many many years ago back when Casey Kasem was doing the American Top 40 countdown, though, not from Wikipedia
No :). This means that this one:
This band was supposedly named after the band members’ repeated responses to all the suggestions for a good name that were thrown into the discussion.
…is still open.
Smapti:
This band was originally named after a popular fantasy movie released in 1996. When they found out another band had the same name, they changed theirs to that of a game released for the Sega Saturn the same year.
I’m guessing Dragonforce?
Fiddle_Peghead:
This band took its name from a prostitute who allegedly mutilated and decapitated her clients.
More precisely, this band allegedly took its name from a prostitute who… (etc.)
Smapti
March 14, 2011, 5:37pm
210
Correct. The original name was Dragonheart, if you were wondering.
This band named itself for the site of an infamous triple-murder that had occured near their hometown in 1960.
Ibanez:
This rock band named itself after a character from a Bruce McDonald film.
Awesome band btw.
Billy Talent, named for Billy Tallent, from Hard Core Logo.
Smapti
March 15, 2011, 1:57am
215
Ibanez:
Children of Bodom.
Very good. I’m making these too easy.
This band named itself after a form of augury referred to in a song on their debut album.
(Actually, this may have been the very first band name origin story I ever heard.)