Band's names
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
Forum Description: Discuss specific prog bands and their members or a specific sub-genre
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=22869
Printed Date: March 12 2025 at 10:37 Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Band's names
Posted By: Hans
Subject: Band's names
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 11:18
I've always wondered were did some bands
get their weird names from.
For example, I think "Pink Floyd" came from
the names of two blues musicians that Barret
listened to.
But what about "Yes"? Or "Jethro Tull"? "Opeth"?
Does anyone know about the origins of other prog bands' names?
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Replies:
Posted By: XTChuck
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 11:19
Jethro Tull was the inventor of the seed drill back in the 1600's.
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Posted By: dagrush
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 11:25
From http://www.furious.com/perfect/magma.html :
GA: THE NAME MAGMA, IS THAT PART OF KOBAIAN OR DOES IT REFER TO LAVA? IS IT REFLECTIVE OF THE STYLE OF THE BAND?
CV: Yes, it refers directly to lava. Back in 1966, I had written a
piece and I was already in a band with Bernard Paganotti, who became a
bass player. Already, I was searching for the right word. The tune I
wrote back then was called Nogma. I was looking for the word Magma, but
didn't know it was what I was looking for. One day the band didn't have
a name at the time, and they were standing in fornt of a fairly
well-known club in Paris. The club management told me if you don't have
a name, you can't come and play tonight. So we went for coffee, at the
shop next door. I thought deeply, you know, and the word Magma came
out. At the same time, I founded Univeria Zekt. I wrote this down on
the receipt from the coffee shop and kept it. From Wikipedia:
- When Tea Set found itself on the same bill as another band with the
same name, Barrett came up with an alternate name on the spur of the
moment, choosing The Pink Floyd Sound (after two http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues - blues musicians, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Anderson - Pink Anderson and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Council - Floyd Council )
- King supposedly dubbed the band Genesis because it was the first serious band he had worked with, or the genesis
of his career. As he recalled later — "I named them Genesis because I
thought it was a good name ... it suggested the beginning of a new
sound and a new feeling"
- The name "Opeth" was taken from the book Sunbird (1972) by author http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Smith - Wilbur Smith ,
and was originally spelled Opet. In the book, Opet is the name of the
location for an ancient empire which translates to "City of the Moon".
etc. Just check wikipedia.
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/omgwtfdagrush/">
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Posted By: eddietrooper
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 11:45
XTChuck wrote:
Jethro Tull was the inventor of the seed drill back in the 1600's.
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That's true. There´s a funny story around that name: The first vinyl single they released was pressed with the name of "Jethro Toe" because someone didn't understand the name properly.
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Posted By: Kleynan
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 11:48
dagrush wrote:
From http://www.furious.com/perfect/magma.html :
GA: THE NAME MAGMA, IS THAT PART OF KOBAIAN OR DOES IT REFER TO LAVA? IS IT REFLECTIVE OF THE STYLE OF THE BAND?
CV: Yes, it refers directly to lava. Back in 1966, I had written a piece and I was already in a band with Bernard Paganotti, who became a bass player. Already, I was searching for the right word. The tune I wrote back then was called Nogma. I was looking for the word Magma, but didn't know it was what I was looking for. One day the band didn't have a name at the time, and they were standing in fornt of a fairly well-known club in Paris. The club management told me if you don't have a name, you can't come and play tonight. So we went for coffee, at the shop next door. I thought deeply, you know, and the word Magma came out. At the same time, I founded Univeria Zekt. I wrote this down on the receipt from the coffee shop and kept it. From Wikipedia:
- When Tea Set found itself on the same bill as another band with the same name, Barrett came up with an alternate name on the spur of the moment, choosing The Pink Floyd Sound (after two http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues - blues musicians, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Anderson - Pink Anderson and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Council - Floyd Council )
- King supposedly dubbed the band Genesis because it was the first serious band he had worked with, or the genesis of his career. As he recalled later — "I named them Genesis because I thought it was a good name ... it suggested the beginning of a new sound and a new feeling"
- The name "Opeth" was taken from the book Sunbird (1972) by author http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Smith - Wilbur Smith , and was originally spelled Opet. In the book, Opet is the name of the location for an ancient empire which translates to "City of the Moon".
etc. Just check wikipedia.
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Opeth actually didn't get that name from the book. It must have been a coincidence. They claim it is a self-made word... :)
Yes however just came with a bunch of names from each member of the band. "Yes" was chosen, and it is the perfect description of their music IMHO.
-------------
You've just had a heavy session of electroshock therapy, and you're more relaxed than you've been in weeks.
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Posted By: Lota
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 11:50
I was pretty sure that the name YES came from the movie The Yellow Submarine, maybe Im wrong but I hear it long time ago.
------------- And In The End, The Love You Take, Is Equal To The Love You Make
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Posted By: tarkus2112
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 11:59
Here are some names for you.
Dream Theater-They once called themselves "Majesty" but changed the name to Dream Theater on a suggestion from John Petrucci's father, after an old movie theater near their home.
Marillion-The band's name was originally Silmarillion, inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein. At an early concert, promoters hung a big banner with the band's name on it over the back of the stage. But a bunch of gear got piled in front of the "Sil," leaving just "marillion." Subsequent (and positive) press coverage referred to the band as Marillion, and the name stuck.
Strawbs-Dave Cousins who led (and still leads the band) and other members of the band were from Strawberry Hill in South West London. They originally performed as the Strawberry Hill Boys and later shortened it to The Strawbs.
Tangerine Dream-A reference to 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'. ''Tangerine trees and marmalade skies''
Radiohead-It's the name of a Talking Heads song. Before they chose the name "Radiohead" (which was right after they were signed) they were called "On A Friday" because the only time they could practice was on Fridays.
Rush-In the very early days of the band they had been so busy playing they neglected to come up with a name for themselves. Band member John Rutsy's older brother Bill came up with the name "RUSH" because, he said, it "sounded cool". The name stuck.
Fish-Fish - former Marillion lead singer (derek dick) he received the nickname from his landlord becase he used to spend hours taking long baths in the bathtub.
Queensryche-Their EP, featuring Queen of the Reich was released and it took off, so the band, pressed for time, had to decide on a name. Queensryche was created from the song title, and the name has stuck ever since.
Atomic Rooster-According to Arthur Brown, while touring the US with the band Rhinoceros in 1969, one of the members of that band shut himself up in a cabin for an entire weekend, up to his eyeballs on LSD. When he came out, he emerged dressed as a chicken, and declared himself "The Atomic Rooster!". Brown's backing musicians (Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer) took the name home with them when they left the band shortly afterwards and named their new band after that.
King Crimson -the name King Crimson came from a wooden tomato crate with the paper labels on the end announcing "King Crimson".
------------- Seasons change and so can I
Hold on Boy
No time to cry
Untie these strings
I'm climbing down
I won't let them push me away
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Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 12:39
Yes got their name because it was short and could be written in large writing on the front covers so everyone could see who they were.
------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005
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Posted By: anael
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 15:45
does anyone know what Ejwuusl Wessahqqan means?
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Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 15:53
some you may or may not know......
DEEP PURPLE - named after Ritchie Blackmore's granny's favourite song recorded by Nino Tempo and April Stevens (1963).
when jimmy page found himself with a disintegrating Yardbirds during the sixties, he planned a New Yardbirds project involving john paul jones, a fellow session muso, and john entwhistle, who was thinking of leaving the who. Keith moon wasn't impressed, saying "you'll go down like a lead zeppelin". entwistle went back to the who, enter robert plant and his mate john bonham, change the "lead" to "led" so it doesn't get mispronounced, and BINGO! the rest you all know.
THE NICE - from the small faces song "here comes the nice" referring to amphetamines.
BEATLES - the idea for an insect name came from buddy holly's CRICKETS and was originally SILVER BEATLES (gimmicky misspelling usual at the time) then just THE BEATLES.
HATFIELD & THE NORTH - a road sign on the A1 leading out of London.
SOFT MACHINE - a novel by william burroughs
SUPERTRAMP - another novel "the autobiography of a supertramp" by W.H.Davies.
PROCOL HARUM - pedigree name of a friend of the band's siamese cat.
BLACK SABBATH - originally called EARTH, they found another group in Birmingham had that name, so named themselves after one of their first songs.
CAN - Communism, Anarchism, Nihilism.
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Prog Archives Tour Van
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Posted By: Agemo
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 16:30
Soft Machine translated into french is Machine Mol, which became Matching Mole
------------- Dona Nobis Pacem
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Posted By: DrGoon
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 17:42
anael wrote:
does anyone know what Ejwuusl Wessahqqan means? |

That's a pretty obscure bit of Krautrock. It's just a name - taken from a Clark Ashton Smith story. He was the greediest money lender in all Hyperboraea. The English version was "Avoosl Wuthoqquan" if you want to Google it. :)
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Posted By: Trky_Lym
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 18:40
This band has nothing to do with prog, but Nirvanas first band name choice was Fecal Matter.
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Posted By: zappaholic
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 22:24
Kleynan wrote:
dagrush wrote:
- The name "Opeth" was taken from the book Sunbird (1972) by author http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Smith - Wilbur Smith , and was originally spelled Opet. In the book, Opet is the name of the location for an ancient empire which translates to "City of the Moon".
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Opeth actually didn't get that name from the book. It must have been a coincidence. They claim it is a self-made word... :)
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I seem to recall reading an interview with Mikael Akerfeldt where he did indeed confirm that the name Opeth came from Wilbur Smith, although he didn't specify which book.
Band name origins fascinate me. I'm always collecting stories about them. (Granted, there's a lot of myths and bogus stories, often propagated by the bands themselves.....)
------------- "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken
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Posted By: int_2375
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 23:06
I heard that they thought Yes would look good on posters.
Here's a few others off the top of my head:
* "Meshuggah" is hebrew for "crazy"
* "Tool" has had different meanings, one, a tool being someone who doesn't think for themselves, also, the band being a tool for their fans.
* "Led Zeppelin" took their name from a phrase Bob Dylan used to describe a bad gig, * "lead zeppelin".
* "The Doors" got their name from Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception"
* "Kyuss" was originally called "The Sons of Kyuss", which they got out of a D&D book.
* "Blind Guardian" is from Stephen King's IT, referring to a phrase "guardian of the blind" or something like that.
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Posted By: zappaholic
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 23:50
Trying to limit this to just prog artists that haven't already been mentioned:
AMON DUUL II - Amon is an Egyptian sun god, and Duul is Turkish for moon.
CAPTAIN BEYOND - inspired by General Air, a cut-rate airline.
CURVED AIR - from Terry Riley's composition "A Rainbow In Curved Air".
DREAM THEATER - from an old movie house in Monterey, CA.
THE GATHERING - from the movie "Highlander".
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR - from a Japanese documentary about biker culture.
HAWKWIND - because Nik Turner had a hawk-like nose and farted a lot.
HENRY COW - in honor of composer Henry Cowell.
JADE WARRIOR - a term for samurai who aspired to be artists.
KLAATU - from "The Day the Earth Stood Still".
THE MARS VOLTA - named after Federico Fellini's narrative technique.
MOGWAI - from the movie "Gremlins".
MR. BUNGLE - from a film about hygiene and etiquette that they used to show in elementary schools.
NEU! - German for new - the most common word in advertising.
THE RESIDENTS - they sent a tape to a record label with no name on it; it came back addressed to "resident".
SIGUR ROS - Jonsi Birgisson's sister's name.
THE VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR - after Robert Van de Graaff's machine that creates static electricity.
VOIVOD - from a race of barbarians that once lived in central Europe.
------------- "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken
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Posted By: memowakeman
Date Posted: May 06 2006 at 00:22
King Crimson : The name King Crimson was coined by Peter Sinfield as a synonym for Beelzebub, prince of demons; according to Fripp, Beelzebub would be an angliciced form of the arabi phrase "B'il Sabab", meaning "the man with an aim". although it is widely accepted that the word is from Hebrew Ba'al-z'bub meaning "lord of the flies"
Fantomas :A villain featured in a series of crime novels popular in France before World War I.
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Follow me on twitter @memowakeman
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