The origins of music band names

How do you find an original and unique name for a music band? There are so many out there but look below to find out how some of the big bands decided on theirs:

Ace of Base – named after the band’s first studio in the basement of a car repair shop. They considered themselves the ‘Aces’ of the studio.

Arctic Monkeys — The name was made up by the guitarist, Jamie Cook, while at school.

Coldplay – originally called Starfish, the band asked to use the name when another band – named Coldplay – disbanded.

Depeche Mode — inspired by a French fashion magazine of the same name.

Duran Duran – after playing at Barbarella’s nightclub in Birmingham, the band named themselves after Dr Durand-Durand, villain of sci-fi film Barbarella.

Green Day – originally called Sweet Children, the band changed its name to avoid confusion of a band with the same name. They got their new name from a song by Billie Joe Armstrong entitled ‘Green Day’, a slang term for a day spent smoking marijuana.

Kaiser Chiefs – named after the South African kaizer Chiefs Football Club.

Oasis – first called The Rain, but renamed when Liam Gallagher joined the band. Inspired by an Inspiral Carpets tour poster – one of the venues was Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon.

Pink – Her stage name “P!nk” was a nickname when she was singing in Philadelphia clubs as a teen.

Radiohead – the record label didn’t like their first choice of On a Friday – So they changed it to Radio Head in reference to the 1986 Talking Heads song from the album True Stories.

U2 – it is a type of spy plane from the USA. Bono once said that the band name came from its interactivity with the audience… as in “you too.