# How many musical groups have names with US Presidents in them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2015, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970 "2015-10-28T14:37:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/1 "2015-10-28T14:37:16Z")
Not necessarily named after the President. Just with a name of a President. It occurred to me that “Jefferson Airplane” has the name of Thomas Jefferson in it. And, of course, there’s Dead Kennedys. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/2 "2015-10-28T14:44:55Z")
[The Presidents of The United States Of America.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Presidents_of_the_United_States_of_America_%28band%29) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/3 "2015-10-28T14:48:46Z")
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic Bush Mojo Nixon ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/4 "2015-10-28T14:59:31Z")
Wilson Phillips Ryan Adams Bryan Adams Jackson Browne ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/5 "2015-10-28T15:02:10Z")
**The Jackson Five** comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/6 "2015-10-28T15:02:20Z")
Do Polk-a bands and music count? ::groan!:: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/7 "2015-10-28T15:24:34Z")
[Arthur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_(band)) [The Carter Family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Family) [Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_the_Unstoppable_Sex_Machine) [Grant Lee Buffalo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Lee_Buffalo) [Sputnik Monroe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_Monroe_(band)) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/8 "2015-10-28T15:50:56Z")
[Buchanan Brothers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaUZ40pMIDg) [Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_(band)) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/9 "2015-10-28T15:52:38Z")
[Blind Lemon Jefferson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Lemon_Jefferson) [Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_%28band%29) [John Wesley Harding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley_Harding_%28singer%29) ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/10 "2015-10-28T15:59:18Z")
Soft Machine (Refers to Bush and Cheney respectively) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/11 "2015-10-28T16:15:54Z")
The Brothers Johnson ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/12 "2015-10-28T16:18:18Z")
Bonnie Tyler? Grover Washington? Isaac Hayes? Single artists count? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/13 "2015-10-28T16:19:52Z")
Linkin Park, which I assume is the “cool” spelling of Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/14 "2015-10-28T16:46:20Z")
Eddy Grant? Wilson Philips ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/15 "2015-10-28T17:08:40Z")
Marilyn Monroe, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Webb Pierce, Tim Pierce, The Pierces, Nat Pierce, Wilson Pickett. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-musical-groups-have-names-with-us-presidents-in-them/735970/16 "2015-10-28T17:19:17Z")
**19,664** \* \*Assuming you accept my obviously imperfect methods. I asked the Spotify API to search for artists matching each presidential last name. Here’s the number of results for each: Washington: 686 Adams: 1011 Jefferson: 269 Madison: 357 Monroe: 370 Jackson: 2154 Van Buren: 14 Harrison: 653 Tyler:1050 Polk: 65 Taylor: 2630 Fillmore: 27 Pierce: 335 Buchanan: 152 Lincoln: 270 _Johnson: 3326_ Grant: 952 Hayes: 517 Garfield: 49 Arthur: 1470 Cleveland: 214 McKinley: 79 Roosevelt: 141 Taft: 36 Wilson: 2098 Harding: 210 Coolidge: 22 Hoover: 81 Truman: 59 _Eisenhower: 12_ Kennedy: 631 Nixon: 180 Ford: 645 Carter: 1216 Reagan: 79 Bush: 361 Clinton: 214 Obama: 29 Note that many of the resulting matches are actual names (Dinah Washington, George Clinton, etc). Also, the search includes non-music audio files, so most presidents recent enough to have recorded speeches get included under their own names.