What is in a name? Sometimes naming a band can be the hardest part.
I know the couple of bands I was in during my high school years we spent more time on finding a name then on the songs. That could be why we never made it big.
Here are some bands that started under names you may not recognize:
When Pearl Jam started, they went by the name Mookie Blaylock. They named themselves after a pretty decent NBA player, after being forced to change the name of the group, they called their first album “Ten”, Mookie’s jersey number.
Nickelback originally called themselves Village Idiot. Imagine if everything else played out the same, the internet would have had a field day with that name.
Blink 182 went through a few different names, first they were Duck Tape. They quickly changed that to Figure 8, then to Blink, unfortunatley there was already a band called Blink so they added the numbers. Apparently, there is not significance to the 182, but maybe we have been saying it wrong? Tom DeLonge posted on Twitter, “It’s actually- Blink eighteen-two. People have all gotten this wrong for years. Sometimes this can happen with very complex, thoughtful and elevated art.”
Finger Eleven perhaps had one of the greatest band names as the Rainbow Butt Monkeys. Unlike most bands on the list they did release an album under the name Rainbow Butt Monkeys, and have actually gone back and done some shows under that name.
Our own The Trews didn’t start under that name, they actually started as One I’d Trouser. The name came from a line in a Monty Python song.
Here are a few other famous band name switches:
Green Day originally started as Sweet Children
Queens of the Stone Age originally wanted to be called Gamma Ray
Red Hot Chli Peppers went by Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem
Sum 41 thought Kaspir was a good name
Nirvana started as Fecal Matter, changed to Skid Row, then to Ted Ed Fred and finally Nirvana.
Linkin Park began as Xero, then Hybrid Theory before settling on Linkin Park.
Cage The Elephant was first called Perfect Confusion
I’m sure there are many, many more.
It is interesting to wonder if the bands would have achieved the same success had they not changed their names.
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