Bands Named After Songs By Other Bands

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Bad Brains
Rolling Stones
Boyz N Da Hood
Radiohead
Streetwalking Cheetahs

Keep going!

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

moonshake
radio 4

― carly (carly), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

Radio Birdman comes from a misheard lyric in the Stooges' "1970."

Sisters of Mercy, possibly.
Tiger Trap
Death Cab for Cutie

― owen moorhead (i heart daniel miller), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

Slowdive, although Neil Halstead claims that he saw the word in a dream.

― owen moorhead (i heart daniel miller), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names

― Mickey (modestmickey), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

negativland
court and spark

― carly (carly), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

Eric's Trip

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

stiff little fingers

― sublime frequency (sublime frequency), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

blonde redhead

― carly (carly), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

Who Made Who

― telephone thing, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

pretty girls make graves, obv.

― running in circles (running in circles), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

Fuck. We should be saying what bands songs these come from. This is getting confusing.

Bad Brains (Ramones)
Rolling Stones (Muddy Waters)
Boyz N Da Hood (NWA)
Radiohead (Taling Heads)
Streetwalking Cheetahs (Stooges)
Moonshake (Can)
Radio 4 (Public Image Limited)

Ack! Gotta get back to work. Someone finish this if they have time!

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

burning airlines (eno)

― nervous (cochere), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Spirea X and Velocity Girl both took their names off tracks on the same Primal Scream single (though I'm not sure if the single's lead track, Crystal Crescent, ever spawned a band name).

Funeral for a Friend (Elton John)

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

Not that they were ever famous, but there was a Cleveland-area band in the late 80s-early 90s called Rotary Ten after the REM song. They weren't bad.

― monkeybutler, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

negativland (neu!)
court and spark (joni mitchell)
blonde redhead (dna)

― carly (carly), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

Radiohead (talking heads)
Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her (XTC)

― jmkfhj, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

Ordinary Boys (Morrissey)

woohoo, my first post!

― Nutmeg (Nutmeg), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

Godsmack (Alice in Chains)

Parklife (Blur) -- and weird, since they sound nothing like them and have nothing else in common with them

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

A Certain Ratio (Eno)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

don't mean maybe

i've heard claims it's taken both from pixies lyrics (la la love you) and from a john hickman album (don't mean maybe).
quite possibly it's neither.

― nein Socken (nein Socken), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

Bullet Train to Vegas (Drive Like Jehu)

made me feel old, that

― jimbecile, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

Biff Bang Pow!

― Hatch (Hatch), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

this is the laziest band-naming trope ever. GET ONE IDEA.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 19:54 (twenty years ago)

(also Ladytron. And the Cocteau Twins, apparently)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

how 'bout a band named after movie titles thread?

― gdsg, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:10 (twenty years ago)

Spoon (Can)

― General Doinel (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

World Leader Pretend (REM)

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

For some reason I a) remember the Lightning Seeds, and b) remember that the Lightning Seeds were named after a misheard lyric in "Raspberry Beret" -- "thunder drowns out what the lightning sees."

― Petroski (petroski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:17 (twenty years ago)

I was about to say the Lightning Seeds! And I always thought that WAS the real lyric.

― Guayaquil (eephus), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:38 (twenty years ago)

The Sea and Cake (Gastr del Sol, although a certain ILXor has disputed this)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

I'm gathering lyrics count, so

Jellyfish Kiss (eno)

Eno wins, I think.

― Declan Zimmerman (Declan Zimmerman), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

aren't DFA and Death From Above 1979 after a sonic youth tune?

― ken taylrr never her (ken taylrr), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

Love Is All (The Rapture)
Jealous Lovers (The Rapture)

― Eppy (Eppy), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 20:59 (twenty years ago)

the sea and cake predate the gastr del sol song (the c in cake).
in my eyes (minor threat)

― simon 803 (simon 803), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 21:39 (twenty years ago)

Death Cab for Cutie (The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)

― Wub-Fur Internet Radio (wubfur), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

Do Atari Teenage Riot count?

― Wub-Fur Internet Radio (wubfur), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 22:53 (twenty years ago)

Radio Birdman comes from a misheard lyric in the Stooges' "1970."

Misheard?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 22:57 (twenty years ago)

"this is the laziest band-naming trope ever. GET ONE IDEA.

-- Shakey Mo Collier (audiobo...), October 25th, 2005."

Ahhahahaha!
Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link 4

― schwantz, Wednesday, 26 October 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty confident that Slowdive actually was a word in Nick Chapin's (not Neil) dreams. But uhhhh otherwise let's see, Uhhh I thought of Starsailor, but that was an album.

― Tokyo Ghost Stories (Tokyo Ghost Stories), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 01:16 (twenty years ago)

the Warm Jets (another for Eno)

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 01:36 (twenty years ago)

Powderfinger (ew) (Neil Young)

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 01:41 (twenty years ago)

poor neil

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 01:42 (twenty years ago)

Life Without Buildings (Japan)

― Wub-Fur Internet Radio (wubfur), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 05:29 (twenty years ago)

I'm in a band called 'Spitfire Parade' (Swell Maps)

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 06:00 (twenty years ago)

The Boy Least Likely To (a twisted title of a Morrissey song, The Girl Least Likely To)

― zeus (zeus), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 06:07 (twenty years ago)

I think there's a band called Trapdoor Fucking Exit now. And Daydream Nation.

Lazy bastards.

― MESTEMA (davidcorp), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 07:42 (twenty years ago)

Fish From Tahiti (The 012 (pre- World Domination Enterpises))

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 07:45 (twenty years ago)

Suburban Kids with Biblical Names (lyric from the Silver Jews' People)

― D.J. Anderson, Wednesday, 26 October 2005 07:47 (twenty years ago)

Can't believe we;ve come this far without mentioning...

Shakespear's Sister

― persecution_smith, Wednesday, 26 October 2005 10:28 (twenty years ago)

Unrest (Henry Cow)
Motorhead (Hawkwind - Lemmy wrote the song, but still...)

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 12:01 (twenty years ago)

Do we know for sure that these bands were actually named after songs by other bands or are we just guessing? Were Unrest really named after the Henry Cow album?

― BarabadabaDadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 12:06 (twenty years ago)

Dogstar (bad band with Keanu Reeves) named after the song Dogstar by Beatnik Filmstars.

― bob121, Wednesday, 26 October 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

Uncle Jam's Army (Funkadelic)

― R. Greene, Wednesday, 26 October 2005 23:05 (twenty years ago)

eric's trip

― dogonwheels (dogonwheels), Thursday, 27 October 2005 05:47 (twenty years ago)

monster movie (band)

monster movie (album) by CAN

...eh? : ]

― sonore, Thursday, 27 October 2005 07:00 (twenty years ago)

considering the big influence of henry cow on unrest and the fact they cited henry cow as a big influence, i would say it's quite plausible that they took the name from their album.

tiger trap though is actually an example of the opposite. beat happening named their song after the band.

― Dan Gr (certain), Thursday, 27 October 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

Suckdog, assuming the GG Allin song came first.

― mike a, Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

The Unrest guess re: Henry Cow is a good one since there was also a song (or is it album name?) called "Teenbeat"

― iDonut B4 x86 (donut), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Gigolo Aunts
Baby Lemonade
(both from Barrett)

Thingy
(from the first Heavy Vegetable album.. sure it's the same band-leader)

Also, I don't think "A Certain Ratio" is an Eno song per se. It's a lyric from "The True Wheel" tho... I could be wrong, and there's some ambient track called that.

― iDonut B4 x86 (donut), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:03 (twenty years ago)

Orange Clawhammer

― autovac (autovac), Thursday, 27 October 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

Stephanie Says, from the Velvet Underground.

― patita (patita), Thursday, 27 October 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

the sea and cake predate the gastr del sol song (the c in cake).

But Crookt, Crackt or Fly and the first Sea and Cake album both came out in 1994...?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 27 October 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

I like this thread. Any more? Is Sisters Of Mercy named after the Leonard Cohen song?

My addition:
Ski Patrol (John Cale)

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 19 September 2011 13:36 (fourteen years ago)

rmde whenever i see 'i break horses'. i feel like it is on a 'kevin shields' level of cynical intertextual credibility trading, but maybe that is from the insider baseball camp of smog-fandom

― "kiss ..?" (schlump), Monday, 19 September 2011 13:41 (fourteen years ago)

yes. (re: Sisters of Mercy)

Also, apparently Wet Wet Wet were named after a lyric from Scritti Politti's "Getting having and holding" where he sings "his face was wet, wet with tears" and they added another wet because they are.

― Mark G, Monday, 19 September 2011 13:43 (fourteen years ago)

Boris (Melvins)
Demon Cleaner (Kyuss)

― knaaq (ryanrandom666), Monday, 19 September 2011 14:00 (fourteen years ago)

nine years pass...

A Certain Ratio (Eno)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, October 25, 2005 2:40 PM (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

burning airlines (eno)
― nervous (cochere), Tuesday, October 25, 2005 1:14 PM (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

801 (Eno)

I knew about all three of these before, but for some reason this afternoon it clicked that they are all on the same record, two in the same song!

― cwkiii, Friday, 28 May 2021 18:32 (five years ago)

just heard a song in WFMU by The Boys with Perpetual Nervousness (The Feelies)

― mizzell, Saturday, 29 May 2021 17:23 (five years ago)

Deacon Blues (Steely Dan)

― Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Saturday, 29 May 2021 18:41 (five years ago)

Thee Michelle Gun Elepant (the Damned)

― Fauna Sukkot (Deflatormouse), Sunday, 30 May 2021 21:49 (five years ago)

Wednesday Week (Elvis Costello)

― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 30 May 2021 22:44 (five years ago)

I know this says songs not albums but I feel that Squeeze at least deserves an honorable mention.

I sometimes have heard it said that Panic! At the Disco were named after the Smiths song but I can't find hard confirmation on that.

― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Monday, 31 May 2021 01:07 (five years ago)

The Raveonettes

― Hideous Lump, Monday, 31 May 2021 01:21 (five years ago)

Exciter

― brimstead, Monday, 31 May 2021 03:30 (five years ago)

Jellyfish Kiss presumably got their name from Taking Tiger Mountian as well

― PaulTMA, Monday, 31 May 2021 12:16 (five years ago)

I was in one of the 'Daisy Glaze' (Big Star) bands.

― earlnash, Monday, 31 May 2021 12:19 (five years ago)

i see Spoon and Moonshake were mentioned itt, but not Hunters and Collectors

― scampos sacra fames (outdoor_miner), Monday, 31 May 2021 12:30 (five years ago)

The Lilac Time (Nick Drake)

― worth her weight in dogecoin (Lee626), Monday, 31 May 2021 19:20 (five years ago)

Cherry Ghost (Wilco)

― henry s, Monday, 31 May 2021 20:13 (five years ago)

not a song, but a lyric tho

― henry s, Monday, 31 May 2021 20:15 (five years ago)

Desperate Journalist (The Cure)

― Maresn3st, Monday, 31 May 2021 20:43 (five years ago)

I thought of Starsailor, but that was an album.
― Tokyo Ghost Stories (Tokyo Ghost Stories), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 01:16 (fifteen years ago) link

It's a song, too (Tim Buckley) so it counts!

― worth her weight in dogecoin (Lee626), Monday, 31 May 2021 21:17 (five years ago)

They even nicked the font from the Buckley album, lazy bastards.

― Maresn3st, Monday, 31 May 2021 21:51 (five years ago)

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