WASHINGTON — One of the most challenging aspects of starting a band is coming up with a good name.
Some of the music industry’s best bands started out with terrible monikers, but had the sense to change their names before it was too late.
Rolling Stone has compiled the 25 Worst Original Names of Famous Bands.
25. Tom and Jerry entered the music world in 1956 when they were 15 years old. They scored a minor hit with “Hey Schoolgirl” which they played on American Bandstand. In 1964, Paul and Artie decided to use their real last names — Simon and Garfunkel.
24. The Square Roots professional careers began in the early 1990s, but during their first show in a 1989 high school talent show, they went by Radio Activity. That was quickly changed to Black to the Future. Eventually they realized there was a folk band with the same name, so they shortened it to The Roots.
23. Mookie Blaylock was a professional basketball player in 1990, when a Seattle band named themselves after him. As they gained popularity, they realized they had to change their name, because they couldn’t trademark it and make money from merchandise. So, they changed it to Pearl Jam.
22. On a Friday named themselves after the day of the weekend that they rehearsed. They recorded a demo in the early 1990s, which got them signed to a record deal. EMI Records suggested they think of a better name, and since band members were all fans of Talking Heads, they named themselves after an obscure song, “Radio Head,” but combined it to one word — Radiohead.
21. The Obelisk played a single show featuring middle-schooler Robert Smith on piano. After dabbling with the names Malice and Easy Cure, Robert Smith became a frontman. In 1979 the group released its debut album, Three Imaginary Boys under their new name — The Cure.
20. Smile was far too benign a name for four musicians who wanted their music to be regal and majestic, and full of glamour. Guitarist Brian May said “we want to shock and be outrageous.” When singer Freddie Mercury joined the band, the combo found a more suitable name — Queen.
19. Atomic Mass never played a paying gig — perhaps because of their name. Singer Joe Elliott told his bandmates about posters he’d designed for a phony band called “Deaf Leopard.” Not wanting to be labeled a punk band, they rejiggered the spelling and came up with Def Leppard.
18. Kara’s Flowers released two albums in the 1990s, including one on a major label. They wore suits, but some thought their name sounded like a girl group. Adam Levine and bandmates traded in their name for a new one — Maroon 5.
17, The Pendletons were named after plaid, wool shirts that were popular with surfers in the early 1960s. The group recorded a song called “Surfin'” that an independent record label agreed to put out, but the record company hated the band’s stuffy name. Without telling Brian Wilson and his bandmates, the label changed the band’s name to the Beach Boys.
16. Sweet Children started playing local shows near San Francisco in 1986, when the band members were only 14. It didn’t take too long to realize that being “sweet” wasn’t terribly punk rock. And, they wanted to avoid getting confused with another California band, Sweet Baby. Their current name refers to a day spent smoking marijuana — Green Day.
15. Mr. Crowe’s Grarden was reportedly named for a children’s book called “Johnny Crow’s Garden, but the Georgia-based rock band featuring brothers Chris and Rich Robinson was looking for something with more power, to match their garage rock, and went with The Black Crowes.
14. The Band Aid Boys got their name as junior high school kids in Cleveland. When Anthony “Krayzie Bone” crashed his moped, his bandmates came to school wearing bandages to show solidarity. With each band member adopting the name Bone, they tried B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e, but by the time rapper Eazy-E signed them, they were called Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
13. The Young Aborigines wanted a name to match their primitive sound, and even bought a record of Australian Aborigine music for inspiration. When Michael Diamond, Adam Yauch, and two other musicians formed a new hardcore punk band, they chose a name they kept through their transformation into a rap trio — Beastie Boys.
12. Wicked Lester was the name of a New York band featuring Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, which included “all these three-part harmonies that sounded like Doobie Brothers.” Determined to create a more bombastic sound, the two started interviewing musicians. Drummer Peter Criss hated the new name that Simmons and Stanley were hot on, but he joined the band anyway — KISS.
11. Screaming Abdabs is British slang for a mystery ailment along the lines of the heebie-jeebies. Its founding members had been architecture students at London Polytechnic when they joined a band called Sigma 6, which morphed into the Screaming Abdabs, which is sometimes also spelled “habdabs.” Eventually Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright decided on Pink Floyd.
10. Soft White Underbelly got their start in the late 60s when bands were experimenting with strange names, in addition to strange substances. Their names didn’t get much better — Oaxaca and then Stalk-Forrest Group. Finally, manager Sandy Pearlman came up with a new name that still required an umlaut — those two dots over the O — Blue Oyster Cult.
9. The Salty Peppers was Maurice White’s name for his 1969 jazz trio. When he moved to Los Angeles he added seven bandmates, and turned to astrology to for a better name. Since he’s a Sagittarius, his elements were Earth, Wind and Fire.
8. Pud was a name destined to be changed, soon after guitarist Tom Johnston and drummer John Hartman formed the band in San Jose. As they gained members, Rolling Stone says they “changed their name from a childish weiner reference to a slightly-less-childish pot reference.” And, we know them as Doobie Brothers.
7. Burn the Priest pretty much doomed a Virginian neo-thrash band to obscurity, with such an over-the-top name. So, in 1999, looking for a name that was “a little less of a sledgehammer in the face,” according to singer Randy Blythe, they chose a name that still has gotten them banned from several venues — Lamb of God.
6. Rainbow Butt Monkeys were clearly channeling Wayne’s World when they came up with their name. Back then they were Red Hot Chili Peppers clones. When they changed their sound to a more moody sound, they also changed their name, to Finger Eleven.
5. The Shrinky Dinks named themselves after a kids’ arts and crafts kit. For a while, nobody cared. Once they got signed to Atlantic Records in 1994, the Milton Bradley toy company threatened to sue. So, Mark McGrath and bandmates renamed themselves after the late boxer, Sugar Ray Robinson, as Sugar Ray.
4. Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem probably couldn’t fit on a t-shirt, but singer Anthony Kiedis said the name fit the majestic and chaotic vibe they were going for. The band played two shows in 1983. As they got closer to making it, they tweaked their name to a slightly less-unwieldy name: Red Hot Chili Peppers.
3. The Polka Tulk Blue Band was the subject of band arguments from the start of the blues rock group featuring Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and Ozzy Osbourne. Butler saw a line of movie goers lined up to see a Boris Karloff film and convinced his bandmates to try out the name: Black Sabbath.
2. The Golliwogs might as well have called themselves The Racially Insensitive, as their early promo photos of them in frizzy white afro wigs was a take-off on their band name, which is a doll characterized by black skin, clown lips, and fuzzy hair. The band members hated the name, which was the creation of their label owner. When a new owner bought the label, the band became Creedence Clearwater Revival.
1. Naked Toddler was part of a newspaper clipping that guitarist Mark Tremonti kept in his pocket. He was able to convince his bandmates it would make a great band name. Singer Scott Stapp said “girls hated it,” which isn’t the result new bands aim for. They adopted the name of their bassist’s former band, Mattox Creed, but eventually shorted that to Creed.
