AC/DC - A band member saw AC/DC on a vacuum cleaner and figured it has something to do with power. He was right, it means "Alternating Current / Direct Current". The band didn't realize it was also slang for bi-sexual, which caused a few awkward moments in their early days. A silly rumor claims the acronym "Anti-Christ Devil's Children".
AEROSMITH - It was evidently a word Joey Kramer wrote all over his notebooks in high school. Some think they were inspired by the 1925 book , "Arrowsmith" by Sinclair Lewis.
ALICE IN CHAINS - A masochistic parody of Alice in Wonderland. Some say it started with a joke about doing Slayer covers wearing dresses.
BEASTIE BOYS - "Beastie" is an acronym for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Toward Internal Excellence".
THE BEATLES - A few stories floating around about this one.. Stuart Sutcliffe came up with THE BEETLES in 1960, which was evidently a play on Buddy Holly's CRICKETS. They went by THE QUARRYMEN and THE SILVER BEETLES awhile later, then shortened and mutated that to THE BEATLES. Lennon and Sutcliffe may have also been influenced by the film "The Wild One", which featured a motorcycle gang called the Beetles. John Lennon is generally credited with combining Beetles and Beat to come up with THE BEATLES spelling. Lennon was also fond of saying he had a vision as a child of a flaming pie in the sky that said "You are Beatles with an "A"...
THE BEE GEES - Their name was not derived from "Brothers Gibb". Two friends that helped them out early on were Bill Goode and Bill Gates (not THAT Bill Gates, this was some disc jockey)
BEN FOLDS FIVE - The keyboard player is Ben Fold. They are a trio, but liked the sound of BEN FOLDS FIVE. ..Also, they were told they made enough noise for 5 people.
BETTER THAN EZRA - Two rumors: 1- They followed a band called EZRA and thought they were better. 2- The lead singer was mad about not getting into Cornell University. Erza is the first name of a Cornell founder.
BLACK SABBATH - named after a 1963 horror movie starring Boris Karloff. They released an album as EARTH before changing their name to BLACK SABBATHBLUE OYSTER CULT - A combination of a recipe the band's manager read in a book and the band's fascination with the occult. The name is also an anagram of Cully's Stout Beer.
BLUES TRAVELER - They were inspired by Gozer the Traveler in Ghostbusters 1.
BON JOVI - A mutation of Jon Bon Jovi's real name: John Bongiovi, Jr.
BONO - (the singer of U2) Paul Hewson was inspired by a hearing aid store in Dublin, Ireland called Bono Vox.
BUSH - Named after a neighborhood in London called "Sheperd's Bush".
CHEAP TRICK - They asked a Ouiji Board what they should call their band.
CHEMICAL BROTHERS - They were originally named "The Dust Brothers" after the famous American producers until the real Dust Brothers caught wind of this. "Chemical Brothers" was derived from a song of theirs called "Chemical Beat", which was allegedly inspired by all the drugs in the clubs they played.
CHUBBY CHECKER - Dick Clark's wife thought up the name as a take off on Fats Domino.
CHUMBAWAMBA - Based on a band member's dream.. he didn't know which door to use in a public toilet because the signs said "Chumba" and "Wamba" instead of "Men" and "Women"
COMMODORES - chosen at random from a dictionary. It's an old US Navy rank now referred to as Commodore Admiral.
DEVO - Short for "de-evolution",which the bands thinks the human race is experiencing.
ELTON JOHN - His real name is Reginald Dwight. He took the stage name from two other British musicians, Elton Dean and John Baldry.
EVERCLEAR - Named afterthe "Everclear" brand of 190 proof grain alcohol.
FASTBALL - The name of their favorite porn flick.
FOO FIGHTERS - World War II slang for UFOs. "Foo" is a mutation of the French word "feu", which means "fire". Some say it was a hush-hush group of Airforce pilots who tried to shoot down UFOs.
GREEN DAY - A bunch of stories: 1- If you smoked pot and goofed off all day, you just had a "Green Day". They used to skip high school and do this. 2- When the band members dropped out of high school to work on the band, their principal said "it'll be a green day in hell before you make anything of yourselves". 3- A sign in the movie "Soilent Green" contained GREEN DAY. The band's first name was SWEET CHILDREN.)
HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH - There was a kid in Darius Rucker's high school who looked like and owl. They called him Hootie. There was another kid with puffed up cheeks that they called Blowfish. Hootie is also the nickname of the legendary Kansas City jazz pianist Jay McShann.
LED ZEPPELIN - Stories vary, but evidently Keith Moon told Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones that their new project would go over like a lead balloon, hence, Led Zeppelin. Another story is that Page stole the name from a band "Lead Zeppelin" that Moon and Entwistle almost started in the early 60's. The "Led" spelling was to make sure people pronounced the name right.
LYNYRD SKYNYRD - Named after Leonard Skinerd, who was an annoying gym coach some band members had in high school
METALLICA - Two stories: 1- Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fanzine. The magazine went with METAL MANIA and Lars kept METALLICA, which was one of the suggestions. A 2nd story claims it is a combination of Metal and Vodka into the word METALLICA.
NERF HERDER - What Princess Leia called Hans Solo in the Empire Strikes Back.
NIRVANA - In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained through the annihilation of the self.
PEARL JAM - Eddie's grandma's peyote jam. Evidently, they took it as kids and called it pearl jam. It's also slang for sperm. They almost named themselves "Mookie Blaylock" after their favorite basketball player.
R.E.M - A state of sleep - R.E.M. stands for "Rapid Eye Movement". The band claims they didn't have that in mind.
ROCK AND ROLL - Old slang for sex. (Which proves that sex sells!) The Boswell Sisters recorded a song called "Rock and Roll" in 1934, long before rock music evolved. Early 50's disc jockey Alan Freed is credited for popularizing the term as we think of it today. The music he played apparently rocked and rolled all of the furniture in the place.
ROLLING STONES - From the Muddy Waters song "Rolling Stone". The name was suggested by Brian Jones.
SMASHING PUMPKINS - Smashing people's carved pumpkins is a favorite Halloween prank in the US.
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS - They were originally called Mighty Joe Young, but that's the name of a blues singer. They were fond of STP oil stickers.
THIRD EYE BLIND - Refers to being blind in your third eye of intuition.
U2 - A type of spy plane used by the United States. Bono explained once that U2 grew out of thoughts of interactivity with the audience.. as in "you too."
THE WHO - The legend goes like this: a bunch of people were brainstorming for names. The band members were already so deaf they kept saying, "the who?". Finally, someone suggested THE WHO as their name.