# "That'll go over like a Led Zeppelin" And other Origins of Band names. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230 "2003-03-05T13:33:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/61 "2003-03-08T02:06:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*Of course, Lennon was telling the truth about “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” It really is just about a painting his kid made: > > 1. You can see the painting itself here: > [http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/lucysky.htm](http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/lucysky.htm) > > 2. At least one other witness saw the painting > > 3. It fits Lennon’s pattern of lyric writing to name a song after his child’s painting > > 4. Lennon denied the LSD connection his whole life, and it would have been extremely out of character for him to lie about that sort of thing - he was by nature egotistical, honest, and forthright, and would have happily said so if the song was about LSD. > > And like I said, that’s what Vedder CLAIMED. Of course, it may be true, and he may have found it hilarious when he found out the other meaning. \*\* Well, let me put it this way: since everyone who hears the song notes the acronym, I suspect Lennon noticed it as well. I’ve read the snopes article on it before, but didn’t find it all that convincing. As well, musicians who insert drug references in songs are generally hesitant to admit them – the references often “cheapen” the song/artist. That said, I won’t say it definitely is an intentional reference, but its not at all implausible. ---
**Author:** ![katiekilldare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/838e76/32.png) [@katiekilldare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katiekilldare)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/62 "2003-03-08T03:05:30Z")
_Crowded House_ was initially called _The Mullanes_, after the middle name of singer/songwriter Neil Finn. The three of them, Neil, Nick Seymour, and Paul Hester, moved to Los Angeles to secure a contract and shared a teeny tiny little house. Living all squashed together, they came up with what they felt like was a better name. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/63 "2003-03-08T03:07:20Z")
“Walk This Way: the Autobiography of Aerosmith” debunks the idea that the band was named after Sinclair Lewis’s novel. It seemed (and still seems) too coincidental for me, though. -Myron ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/64 "2003-03-08T05:30:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by furryman \* > \*\*Deep Purple was named after a popular '40’s song. \*\* Not true. I was working as an intern (you work your butt off and don’t get paid for it) at KISW radio in Seattle in 1975. I was considering a career as a DJ. The day of a Deep Purple concert in Seattle, the band stopped by the studio. When asked how they came about there name, they said the song Deep Purple by Nino Temple & April Stevens came on the radio while they were thinking of names. It sounded good so they used it. The version of the song they used was released in 1963. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/65 "2003-03-08T10:33:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Steve Albini named his band “Big Black” because he said that scary things are always described as “big and black”. I’d always thought he got it from the **Suicide** song _Harlem_, which has the phrase “Big Black City” repeated throughout. An addendum to the origin of the **Velvet Underground** name - they once played a show (in 1969 or 1970) and one of the people working at the gig was the daughter of the guy who wrote the book. She gave them the sad news that he’d just died. There’s also a sequel to the book (which is not a porn novel, so much as a cheesy book about wife swapping and other types of deviance), called _The Velvet Underground Revisited_ which was, as likely as not, a cash in on the (limited) success of the band. [slight hijack]Re **Pearl Jam** , my mother, back about forty years ago, used to know a young girl called … Pearl Jam. She appeared in a newspaper at the time of the band’s first tour here, saying how she was bemused at all the disbelieving laughter she got from young people when she told them her name, until she cottoned on that it had been purloined.[/sh] ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/66 "2003-03-08T20:00:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HenrySpencer \* > **I’d always thought he got it from the Suicide song _Harlem_, which has the phrase “Big Black City” repeated throughout.** Here is the quote, from _Our Band Could Be Your Life_ by Michael Azerrad: > [@](#): > > “It was just sort of a reduction of the concept of the large, scary, ominous figure,” Albini said. “All the historical images of fear and all the things that kids are afraid of are all big and black, basically. That’s all there was to it.” ---
**Author:** ![ECJones29](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@ECJones29](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ECJones29)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/67 "2003-03-08T21:40:39Z")
Yo, **Racer 72** , “Deep Purple” the Tempo-Stevens song has been around since at least 1939, when it went to #1 for the first time, by Larry Clinton & His Orchestra. **Fine Young Cannibals** took their name from the 1960 movie, **All The Fine Young Cannibals**. Some soft rock stations won’t even say the group’s name because, I guess, it sounds so “heathenish,” preferring to call them “FYC.” The **Beau Brummels** took their name because it would put their records directly behind those of the Beatles in the music store racks. Hoping for a spillover effect that never really happened. Although “Laugh, Laugh” is a good song. And, **Tears For Fears** adopted their name for Arthur Janev’s book, \*\*Prisoners of Pain[b/], but then aren’t we all? ---
**Author:** ![Barks\_dog\_food](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@Barks\_dog\_food](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barks_dog_food)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/68 "2003-03-08T21:45:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yookeroo \* > \*\*Doesn’t New Order only have 4 members? \*\* Yes, but I heard this story from several of the members in a documentary on BBC. I think a friend who wasn’t in the band but helped them find a new name was also there. ---
**Author:** ![dogchow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@dogchow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogchow)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/69 "2003-03-08T22:01:42Z")
Once upon a time there was a poor little kid named Rivers Cuomo that had bad asthma and was called **Weezer**. Later on, when he was forming a band, he thought his nickname would be perfect for the band. **Big Star** named themselves after a grocery store chain in the South. They liked the pretentiousness of it. **No Doubt** came from the phrase their original lead singer said alot. ---
**Author:** ![Florentine\_Pogen\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Florentine\_Pogen\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Florentine_Pogen_1)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/70 "2003-03-08T23:04:50Z")
The Residents got their name after someone responded to a letter they sent. They didn’t write their names on the return adress, so it was labled as being to “The Residents”. I think The Band got their name since they were always introduced as “Bob Dylan and Band” when they played with him. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Mook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Mr.Mook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Mook)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/71 "2003-03-09T05:56:58Z")
Beagledave nailed the GD origin. Apropos of nothing, they previuosly were called Mother Macree’s Uptown Jug Champions before Pigpen took them in a blues direction. The Bangles had to change their name from something, I forget what, but they took the Bangles as a play on the name of, and an homage to, the Beatles. Beat…Bang…get it? “Frankie Goes to Hollywood” was poached from a Frank Sinatra movie poster. Peter Paul and Mary got their name from…oh, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/72 "2003-03-09T07:28:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Florentine Pogen \* > **The Residents got their name after someone responded to a letter they sent. They didn’t write their names on the return adress, so it was labled as being to “The Residents”.** [/nitpick] The name of the band as well as the return address label is _Residents_, not _The Residents_ Haj ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/73 "2003-03-09T07:29:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Mook \* > \*\*Beagledave nailed the GD origin. > > Apropos of nothing, they previuosly were called Mother Macree’s Uptown Jug Champions before Pigpen took them in a blues direction.\*\* Yes, but just prior to be called The Grateful Dead, they were known as The Warlocks. How early 60’s is that? Haj ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/74 "2003-03-09T07:31:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Semp \* > \*\*And Heaven 17 was named after a band mentioned in A Clockwork Orange (definitely in the film, I’m not sure about the book). \*\* Definitely the film _and_ the book. In fact, I don’t think any of the dialogue in that excellent film isn’t from the equally excellent book. The film stops at the end of the 20th chapter of a 21 chapter book though. The U.S. version of the book, until recently, left off the last chapter. Haj ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/75 "2003-03-09T07:32:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Mook \* > \*\*Beagledave nailed the GD origin. > The Bangles had to change their name from something, I forget what \*\* That would be “The Bangs” - at least according to their very own appearance on Behind the Music. They added the “les” to the end only to avoid a legal wrangle with some obscure band with their original name - I can’t speak to the Beatles homage one way or another… ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/76 "2003-03-09T07:36:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WordMan \* > \*\*That would be “The Bangs” - at least according to their very own appearance on Behind the Music. They added the “les” to the end only to avoid a legal wrangle with some obscure band with their original name - I can’t speak to the Beatles homage one way or another… \*\* A similar thing happened with The English Beat. The had to change their name from The Beat to perform in the U.S. and avoid legal issues. Haj ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/77 "2003-03-09T19:07:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Man Who \* > \*\*“Walk This Way: the Autobiography of Aerosmith” debunks the idea that the band was named after Sinclair Lewis’s novel. > > It seemed (and still seems) too coincidental for me, though. > > -Myron \*\* Damn you… I read through this whole thread and thought I was going to be the only one who knew that. The “Arrowsmith” thing is not true at all. “Walk This Way” does in fact note that Joey Kramer basically just made the name up in High School. His band at the time didn’t want to use it, but he was obsessed with the name. Wrote it on his textbooks and everything. When he proposed it to the band who would become Aerosmith, they actually DIDN’T want to use it because of the book. Too scholarly, they didn’t like the book yadda yadda. But when he explained it was AERO not ARROW… they took to it. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/78 "2003-03-09T22:04:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WordMan \* > \*\*10cc = the average amount of human male ejaculate > > \*\* I also heard the same story about “The Lovin’ Spoonful”. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/79 "2003-03-10T00:16:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Hootie and The Blowfish–Darius Rucker is not Hootie and the rest of the band are not The Blowfish. Rather, they were the nicknames of two of their friends at USC (damn, why do I still know that?). Hmmn… I seem to recall that on Letterman’s show he had a Top 10 list - “Top 10 worst band names”. The number 1 on the list was Hootie and the Blowfish. When the band formed, they chose the name as a joke. I believe I even have a memory of their first appearance on the Letterman show where he mentioned that. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230/80 "2003-03-10T00:44:22Z")
A question - Does KMFDM really stand for Kill Mother F(iretruckin’) Depeche Mode? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thatll-go-over-like-a-led-zeppelin-and-other-origins-of-band-names/159230.md?page=5)