List of bands named after other performers' songs

This is a list of bands whose names are taken from songs by other artists where both artists in question have articles on the English Wikipedia.

Exact matches

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Bands named after other performers' albums

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Bands named after their own songs

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  • Black Sabbath took their name after writing the song of the same name, which in turn was named after the 1963 film of the same name.
  • Blue Murder, after a song on their first album.
  • Butthole Surfers, in the early years of band, they performed under a different name every show. In a gig, the announcer forgot their name so he used a title of one of their songs.
  • The Cure, after their own unreleased song from prior to their first record, Easy Cure. They pulled song lyrics from a hat, and the lyric "Easy Cure" was chosen, from a song written by drummer Lol Tolhurst. Guitarist/Vocalist Robert Smith said of the decision to change it to The Cure, “Every other group we liked had 'The' in front of their name but The Easy Cure sounded stupid so we just changed it to The Cure instead."[12]
  • Dashboard Confessional, from the song "The Sharp Hint of New Tears"; "on the way home, this car hears my confessions/I think tonight I'll take the long way home..."
  • The Get Up Kids, named from the title of a song by guitarist/vocalist Matt Pryor's previous band, Secular Theory, called "Suburban Get Up Kids"[13]
  • Icehouse, named after a Flowers song, Flowers changing their name to Icehouse thereafter.
  • Jesu, named after the last song on Godflesh's album Hymns. Godflesh is the main project of band leader Justin Broadrick.
  • Motörhead after the song "Motorhead" which the band's founder and frontman Lemmy had written while still in Hawkwind, and a version by that band was also recorded, making this a rare example of a band named after one of their own songs, and also a song by another band.
  • Nightwish, after a song by Tuomas Holopainen, it is from their demo released in 1996
  • Queensrÿche, after a song composed by Chris DeGarmo called "Queen of the Reich", it is from Queensrÿche
  • The Shins, after the Flake Music (a prior incarnation of the group) song of the same name
  • Slipknot, after the first track on their demo album Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
  • Steeleye Span, after the character John "Steeleye" Span in the song "Horkstow Grange"; the song was the inspiration for the band's name, but they only got around to recording it 28 years after first forming.
  • Talk Talk, Mark Hollis had originally written the song for his first group The Reaction, under the name "Talk Talk Talk Talk".
  • Tin Machine, David Bowie side project named after the song "Tin Machine" on the eponymous album.

Approximations, partial matches, and lyrics

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Incorrect associations

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  • BarlowGirl is not named after Superchick's "Barlow Girls". Superchick recorded their song as a tribute to the band.[22]
  • Godsmack was not named after Alice in Chains' "God Smack" from the Dirt album. Rather, the band's name came from an incident where lead singer Sully Erna "was making fun of somebody who had a cold sore on his lip and the next day (he) had one (him)self and somebody said, 'It's a godsmack.'"
  • I Set My Friends on Fire was not named after Aiden's "I Set My Friends on Fire". They stated on the Myspace blog that "(They) didn't even know that it was an Aiden song until it was too late."
  • Machine Head. Many people thinks that name comes from Deep Purple's album, but Dave McClain confirmed that is not. He stated that Robb Flynn came up with this name because it "sounded cool".[23]
  • Walter TV is not named after Makeout Videotape's "Walter TV". Pierce McGarry stated in a 2014 interview with Noisy that Mac DeMarco named the song after McGarry's band to "get more hits on MySpace".[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Death Cab for Cutie". The Washington Post. February 16, 2001. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2008.
  2. ^ Bloom, Jerry (2006). Black Knight: Ritchie Blackmore. Omnibus Press 2008. ISBN 9781846097577. Blackmore has stated; "It was a song my grandmother used to play on the piano."
  3. ^ Ribeiro, João Pedro (February 8, 2004). "dEUS biography". Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  4. ^ Mascia, Mike. "Dir En Grey feature interview". Blistering. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
  5. ^ Harvey, John (February 8, 2004). "Funeral for a Friend Interview 2004". leedsmusicscene. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  6. ^ Shipley, Ken (May 2019). "Indian Summer — You Had To Be There". The Numero Group. Retrieved November 23, 2023. The name was procured from the fifth song on the second side of The Doors' Morrison Hotel: 'Indian Summer.'
  7. ^ "Madness – The Dangermen Sessions Vol 1". Musicomh.com. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  8. ^ "WTSH interviews with Neil Halstead and Simon Scoot of Slowdive"
  9. ^ Parra, Mario. "Exclusive: The Story So Far Interview". Mtscollective.com. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  10. ^ DontGetHitProd (January 24, 2011). "The Story So Far interview w/ Don't Get Hit! Productions (HD)". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  11. ^ "Chart Attack". Chart Attack. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010. Retrieved May 6, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ^ "Where Did The Cure Get Their Name From?". Radio X. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  13. ^ "Get Up Kids Interview from Contrast #4, 1997". The Get Up Kids Interview Page. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  14. ^ The great rock discography By Martin Charles Strong, John Peel, p. 242
  15. ^ "Greatest Funk Classics mp3s, Greatest Funk Classics music downloads, Greatest Funk Classics songs from eMusic.com". Archived from the original on December 17, 2010. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  16. ^ Offner, Daniel. "Interview: Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed". Medium. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  17. ^ Al Atkin's recounting of the founding of Judas Priest Archived September 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Binelli, Mark (June 16, 2005). "Hit Men". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 24, 2008. Retrieved April 26, 2008.
  19. ^ "Aesthetic: Elias Bender Rønnenfelt". www.crackmagazine.net/. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  20. ^ Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing Ltd. p. 284. ISBN 0-85112-072-5.
  21. ^ "Perfect Sound Forever: The Nazz- Todd Rundgren's early years". www.furious.com. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  22. ^ Biography at YourMusicZone.com. Retrieved July 16, 2007 Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ "T.E.N. - Dave McClain Interview". January 20, 2015. Archived from the original on January 20, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  24. ^ "Pierce McGarry of Walter TV, On The Four Times He Almost Died While Touring". Vice.com. Retrieved September 5, 2020.