Band names ?
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Topic: Band names ?
Posted By: Biker Pat
Subject: Band names ?
Date Posted: 13-May-2010 at 18:47
Where did your favourite band's name come from? Or where did other band names come from?
My favourite band is Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Creedence were made up of John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook, Doug "Cosmo" Clifford.
The name Creedence Clearwater Revival, came from a friend of Tom Fogerty called, Credence Nuball. The first name, with its
connotations of believability and integrity, appealed to the group.
Clearwater also had two meanings. It came initially from a beer
commercial, but also resonated with the burgeoning environmental
movement of the time. Revival, however, had one meaning. It was the
band's aspiration, that after four years as the Golliwogs, which Creedence were originally called to match the so called British pop invasion, and after ten
years of playing together, this new change in their fortunes would take
the band where they all knew it could go.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Replies:
Posted By: Vinyl Junkie
Date Posted: 13-May-2010 at 23:03
You know Pat that we could also use this thread to make up "fictional" band names as well?
------------- TPFKAB (The Poster Formerly Known As Brunswick).
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 14-May-2010 at 19:02
If I had a band it would be called "The Junk Yard Dogs"  
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Bluebell
Date Posted: 14-May-2010 at 23:44
Robbie was the lead singer in a band many many many years ago called " Staten Island"............they once backed up the band "Those nervous Animals" in The Baggot Inn.
------------- You are what you wanna be....age doesn't matter
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 16-May-2010 at 17:55
The Rolling Stones
This is one version of where the Rolling Stones name came from.
The band got their name from an old saying, "A rolling stone gathers no
moss." (It was also the title of a 1950s Muddy Waters song.) This
saying has a literal truth in that moss needs an unmoving environment
in order to form. One of the easiest ways to get an idea of how long
stones or trees have been in a place is to look at the amount of moss
that has formed on them.
Correct or not 
Ideas please?
And what about all the other bands that you all like?
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 16-May-2010 at 21:17
Bad Company
Bad Company, the name was inspired by the 1972 Robert Benton
Civil War film of the same name.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 21-May-2010 at 20:12
Led Zeppelin
Keith Moon and John Entwistle of the Who
were hanging out with Richard Cole (The Yardbirds road manager) one night
at the disco “Salvation” in New York. Moon and Entwistle were burnt out
on the whole scene with The Who and were talking about the desire to form
a band with Jimmy Page and Steve Winwood. And Entwistle said “Yeah. We’ll
call it Lead Zeppelin. Because it will go over like a f**king Lead Balloon.”
Laughter followed and Cole told Jimmy about the discussion later. So when
the time came to change the band’s name from The New Yardbirds they finally
settled on “Led Zeppelin” after short stints as “Mad Dogs” and “Whoopee
Cushion”. They changed the spelling of lead to “Led” so that people wouldn’t
mispronounce the groups name as “Leed Zeppelin”.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 25-May-2010 at 18:47
Deep Purple
In
the “now isn’t this the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard” department,
the name of this famous band was inspired by the song “Deep Purple” by
Bing Crosby that was a favorite of Ritchie Blackmore’s grandmother.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Floyd
Date Posted: 25-May-2010 at 20:57
Pink Floyd was a name which Syd Barrett came up with after listening to two old blues players from Georgia,Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. The two never recorded together but Syd had both their albums and was so inspired he called his band (after the first incarnation of Meggadeath!!!) 'The Pink Floyd Sound',which later became 'The Pink Floyd' until their first recoring contract where the definite article was dropped and the name shortened to just 'Pink Floyd'.
------------- There are three kinds of people in the world,those who are able to count,and those who can't...
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Posted By: Floyd
Date Posted: 25-May-2010 at 20:58
Jethro Tull was so named after the inventor of the seed drill (a farming tool pulled by a horse to make it easier to sow seeds in a large field).
------------- There are three kinds of people in the world,those who are able to count,and those who can't...
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Posted By: Floyd
Date Posted: 25-May-2010 at 21:03
Eric Bell (Thin Lizzy guitarist) used to read the Beano and Dandy comics and one of the characters was a robot teacher called Tin Lizzy'. As Philo was a Dub he often said 'people from Dublin are going to call us 'Tin Lizzy anyway'.
------------- There are three kinds of people in the world,those who are able to count,and those who can't...
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 25-May-2010 at 21:58
Wishbone Ash
As for the group's name, Andy Powell explained., We wanted something that
wouldn't tie us down to a particular style. Miles Copeland came up with a number
of wacky names - I remember Third World War and Jesus Duck. Finally
there were two lists, one of which had the word Wishbone on it and the
other of which had Ash. It was Martin Turner who suggested the combination of Wishbone and Ash and it sounded intriguing.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 26-May-2010 at 00:34
Status Quo
It
was 1967 at Butlins in Minehead when Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi
first met and they formed a friendship Rick became the bands rhythm
guitarist. In the band there was also Alan Lancaster on the bass
guitar, John Coughlan on drums and percussion and Roy Lynes on the
keyboard. Before Rick joined the band in 1967 Francis and the boys had
released three singles under the name of the Spectres and they also
released one single under the name of Traffic Jam, having changed their name from Traffic so as not to be confused with nthe other more famous band called Traffic. But it was in 1967 when their manager Pat Barlow saw the word
quovardis they played around with word until they came up with Status
Quo. They didn’t know what it meant it just sounded good so they kept
it.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Floyd
Date Posted: 26-May-2010 at 20:44
An old chestnut this,but it was from seeing the electrical rating plate on a vacuum cleaner, (some say it was a sewing machine) that Angus and Malcom Young named there band AC/DC. (any electrical product on it's rating plate tells you whether the supply should be AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current)).
This led to albums titles such as Powerage,High Voltage and Flick of the Switch.
------------- There are three kinds of people in the world,those who are able to count,and those who can't...
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Posted By: Floyd
Date Posted: 26-May-2010 at 20:47
Marillion were first called Silmarillion from JRR Tolkeins book and being the prog inpirists they were adapted the name,after shortening it to just Marillion to avoid legal complications.
------------- There are three kinds of people in the world,those who are able to count,and those who can't...
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 26-May-2010 at 22:07
U2
The band got their name from the
American (NOT GERMAN) U-2 Spy plane. It was the spy plane USAF pilot
Gary Powers was flying when he was shot down over the USSR in 1960.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 26-May-2010 at 22:17
Velvet Underground
Sterling Morrison’s (guitar and vocals) friend Conrad found a paperback book on the street and
showed it to his colleagues. The book, The Velvet Underground, billed
itself as “a documentary on the sexual corruption of our age.” It told
a lurid tale of sadomasochism and other sexual adventures in New York
City. The band had a name at last.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Uncle Arthur
Date Posted: 26-May-2010 at 22:27
Lynyrd Skynyrd were previously called "My Background" for 5 years before they felt they needed a name change to kickstart the band.
They decided to call it Leonard Skinnerd as a mocking tribute to a PE teacher at local high school, who was notorious for enforcing a "no long hair" policy. They later changed the spelling just before they released their first album.
------------- UA
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity but an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty"
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 26-May-2010 at 22:38
The Grateful Dead
The official story on the Grateful Dead, as related by Jerry Garcia in the book Playing in the Band,
is as follows: "We were standing around in utter desperation at Phil
[Lesh]'s house in Palo Alto [trying to think up a name for the band].
There was a huge dictionary, big monolithic thing, and I just opened it
up. There in huge black letters was `The Grateful Dead.' It … just
cancelled my mind out."
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 27-May-2010 at 21:45
Black Sabbath
From a Boris Karloff's 1963 horror movie called "Black Sabbath".
The band was originally called Earth but when they found out that there
was another band called Earth they changed their name to Black Sabbath.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 27-May-2010 at 21:55
The Kinks
The Kinks formed in 1963 in the UK. The band is known for being one of
the most influential bands that came out during the British invasion
along with the likes of The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones. The Kinks were originally called The Ravens, but
changed their name as they recorded their first single for Pye Records
in 1964; They were named the Kinks due to their style of dress onstage
which was called "kinky".
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 07-June-2010 at 20:00
The Who
Were originally called The Detours, then changed their name to The Who after a suggestion by Townsend's friend Richard Barnes. Their first manager, Pete Meaden, renamed them The High Numbers, and they released one unsuccessful single, Zoot Suit, under that name. When EMI
dropped them the band sacked Pete Meaden and went back to being called
The Who. Another possible reason was because of Peter Townshend's
grandmother, who would always refer to popular bands as "The Who?"
mainly because of hard hearing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_band_name_etymologies#cite_note-121 -
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 07-June-2010 at 20:11
The Small Faces
Originally known as The Pioneers they changed their name to The Small
Faces ("face" was a Mod slang for a person of consequence and
impeccable fashion sense) and from a remark by a female friend of
Marriott's, who noted that the band members all had "small faces". The
name stuck in part because of the mod slang usage of the word "face" to
mean a popular, trendsetting individual.)
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 31-August-2010 at 19:57
ZZ TOP
After a few false starts with other musicians, the
Gibbons-Hill-Beard version of ZZ Top was founded in 1969. According to Gibbons, the name
came from one or more of the following: the two brands of rolling-paper, Zig-Zag and Top,
a tribute to blues legend Z.Z. Hill, and/or Gibbons seeing the two words running together
on a dilapidated bill board. Hill and Beard had been members of a Dallas band called
American Blues.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Chris Rooney
Date Posted: 02-September-2010 at 17:27
Bluebell wrote:
Robbie was the lead singer in a band many many many years ago called " Staten Island"............they once backed up the band "Those nervous Animals" in The Baggot Inn. |
I was in a band called Killer Watt & in our time we supported Mama's Boys!

------------- Lovely cushioned header, for Gerrard!!!! Oooooooooooh you beauty! What a hit son, what a hit!!!!
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Posted By: monarch
Date Posted: 06-October-2011 at 13:57
Biker Pat wrote:
The Kinks formed in 1963 in the UK. The band is known for being one of the most influential bands that came out during the British invasion along with the likes of The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones. The Kinks were originally called The Ravens, but changed their name as they recorded their first single for Pye Records in 1964; They were named the Kinks due to their style of dress onstage which was called "kinky".
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------------- There is a crack in everything ...... that's how the light gets in
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 06-October-2011 at 19:15
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
actually began existence as members of a 5-piece group called The Paramours.
Performing in a local bar, a Black marine in the audience shouted out
after one of their duets, "That was righteous, brothers." They
remembered the occasion and eventually renamed their group The Righteous
Brothers for their first album.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 02-February-2023 at 07:30
Anybody interested in resurrecting this old thread
SMALL FACES
The group chose the name, Small Faces, because of the members' small physical stature and a "Face" was somebody special; more than just a snappy dresser, he was someone in Mod circles as a leader, someone to look up to.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 04-February-2023 at 14:44
Nice one Pat. I'll add a lighthearted but true one:
My band, with Gerry Leonard et al, 1978-81, was called the Dark (we had to change it to the Spies around 1980ish, English band of the same name, long story etc). So, the name "The Dark" came about cos I thought if it in the pub one night and the other lads liked it! HOWEVER, Ferdia MacAnna (aka Rocky De Valera from the gravediggers), was reviewing us for some paper or maybe the Hot Press, and made reference to our excellent choice of name based on the book by John McGahern of the same name! Now, to my eternal embarrassment, at that time in my life I hadn't really heard of John McGahern and certainly hadn't read his book - but it sounded a lot better than"we thought it up in the pub"! So we let that assumption run. Dave Fanning, Garech a Brun, Ronan Collins etc all bought into the story!!! I don't think Ferdia knows to this day!!! Great fun, great days!!! ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
------------- One of its legs is both the same
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Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 04-February-2023 at 19:21
Excellent story of the day Gerry
To my embarrassment I have to admit I did read "The Dark" when it was first published, but only the dirty bits
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Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 04-February-2023 at 19:26
😂😂 Poguey! You've read more of it than me so!!!
------------- One of its legs is both the same
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Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 02:57
Gerry will hate me for this and never speak to me for the rest of his life but....LADLES AND GENTLESPOONS! On Drums Boom Boom Tssssh! Sir Gerrrrrey Daley!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzR0LerI8Y" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzR0LerI8Y
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Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 03:02
...and just to prove Gerry is a good Catholic and uses the rhythm method
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRoaef6YIvg" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRoaef6YIvg
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 03:06
Nice one Pogue and well done Gerry and The Spies ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 03:45
One of the best lines in any movie I saw was in "A Soldier's Story" and always plants a picture of Gerry in my mind. –"He could play the drums like two jackrabbits f**king"
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Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 04:04
Keeping on the "Let's embarrass Gerry some more" track and following up on this weeks Grove Show, Peter's tribute to Bowie. Here's another Gerry (Gerry Leonard) lead guitarist from Gerry's Daley's band "The Spies" backing the man himself. How can you not be impressed? All Born and Bred in The Grove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nou2kGCS7U4" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nou2kGCS7U4
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Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 09:54
Lol, good stuff Poguey! The Spies track is floating around the Internet for ages. Not keen on the version there - it's tracked slightly too fast, wasn't played at that speed. Also, we played it as a kinda mid-tempo rock song,, whereas the single turned out to be a fast-paced pop song! Not representative at all of what we were as a live band, but sure there ya go! Still. Nice to have something "out there", even if it's over 40 years old!! 😊
Back home at the moment, will head across to Blighty for another stint probably Wednesday! 🙂
------------- One of its legs is both the same
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Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 10:08
The story behind that "loving the Alien" version is interesting. If you've heard the original version, it's very different to that one there. Seemingly they had a gig coming up in Madison Square Gardens on a Saturday. On the Tuesday, Bowie asked Gerry to "do something different" with the song for the gig!
I don't know which is more astounding - the fact Bowie asked Gerry to do it at such short notice, or the fact that Gerry actually came up with that version.
------------- One of its legs is both the same
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 11:04
TALKING HEADS
The band played their first gig as Talking Heads, opening for the Ramones at CBGB on June 5, 1975. According to Weymouth, the name Talking Heads came from an issue of TV Guide, which "explained the term used by TV studios to describe a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking as 'all content, no action'.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 05-February-2023 at 11:07
AC/DC
Malcolm and Angus Young developed the idea for the band's name after their sister, Margaret Young, saw the initials "AC/DC" on the AC adapter of a sewing machine. "AC/DC" is an abbreviation meaning "alternating current/direct current" electricity.
------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat
Grove 1972-1975
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