Making fun of music, one song at a time. Since the year 2000.
Check out the two amIright misheard lyrics books including one book devoted to misheard lyrics of the 1980s.
Names -> Band Name Origins -> B, Page 3
Do you know why a band picked out it's name? Feel free to let us know.
I can't verify all of these stories, so do take them with a grain of salt. I try and delete the ones that I know to be bogus, but I don't know the origins of every band name (and some bands intentionally tell different stories about picking their band name).
Latest Entries
Entries starting with B are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3 4 5
There are 4772 Band Name Origin entries on the site.
Name | Origin | Submitted by: | ||
| The Black Mountain Poets | Taken from the group of late 1950's "Beat Poets" out of North Carolina. | Pal | ||
| Black Oak Arkansas | This band formed in 1965 as the Knowbody Else. After signing to Atco Records, the members changed the name to Black Oak Arkansas in honor of their hometown. | Tommy | ||
| Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | They got their name from the movie "The Wild One" starring Marlon Brando. It was the name of his biker gang in the movie. | Mustang Dave | ||
| Black Sabbath | Geezer Butler (drummer) read a book called Black Sabbath so they named a song Black Sabbath, hence the name. | crow89 | ||
| Black Sabbath | Originally a blues band known as Earth in their local circuits, they found out the name was already taken, so they chose Black Sabbath after a movie they had seen | Bub | ||
| Black Sabbath | They got the name from the Mario Bava film 'Black Sabbath'. They were called 'The Polka Tulka Blues Band' and 'Earth' before. | petri | ||
| Black Sabbath | The band was looking for a new name to reflect the darker, heavier music they were playing. The Boris Karloff film "Black Sabbath" was playing in a theatre across the road from the rehearsal space, so they used that as the name for a new song they were working on. The song was so popular with crowds they played it to, the band chose that as its name as well. | Powerslave | ||
| Black Sabbath | Black Sabbath rehearsed in movie theatres and Boris Karloffs movie "Black Sabbath" was shown there and that's how Black Sabbath got it's name. | Jimmy Jazz | ||
| Black Sabbath | they were originally called the "polka tulk blues band" which is a really gay name so im glad they changed it. then they changed it to "earth" but hten they got rid of that because there was already a band earth .then Geezer Butler saw the name for the boris karloff film and thought it sounded badass and i agree with him | god | ||
| Black Sabbath | Actually, Geezer was the Bassist, and Black Sabbath was a real horror movie i.e. full unedited not purchasable in USA | RandyRhoads | ||
| Black Sabbath | Nmed after 1930's Boris Karloff film, the film had three short stories in it, one about a headless horseman,the other about a woman in a flies body and another one | PeteR | ||
| Black Sabbath | The band was on their way to practice, when they looked over at the local movie theatre. There was a movie playing called "Black Sabbath" and they thought it was interesting that people would pay to get scared by a movie. They used to be a blues band called 'earth', but after that day, they changed their name and the sound of their music. | alisha | ||
| Black Sabbath | While playing a gig in Germany the band called Earth went by a movie theatre playing the Movie Black Sabbath , and they thought that would be a cool name and there it was Black Sabbath | Phantom | ||
| Black Sabbath | originally they were called "Earth". but at that time, there was also another, more popular band called "Earth". they played a whole different style of music. one day they got a gig, but the guy who hired them thought they were the other "Earth". when this was discovered, it was already too late to change, so Black Sabbath aka Earth had to perform. the audience didnt like them, and they went disappointed off the stage. that night they decided to make a new name, and they chose the name of their first song, "Black Sabbath". | Magga | ||
| Black Sabbath | The name is taken from the 1935 Borris Karloff horror flick Black Sabbath | Eddie Brandon K | ||
| Black Uhuru | It was actually an homage to Lieutenant Uhuru on Star Trek. From an interview with Nichelle Nichols, who was proud of the band's name. | teego56 | ||
| Black Uhuru | Derives from Swahili word meaning Freedom | Bobo | ||
| Black Uhuru | Uhuru is Swahili for freedom, and hence their name stood for 'black freedom' | Bobo | ||
| Blackhawk | This country/rock band which was at the height of it's popularity in the 1990s, took it's name from an American made luxury car, the Stutz Blackhawk which was produced from 1971 to 1987. While the car is no longer being made the band is still together. | Edward | ||
| Blackmore's Night | Richie Blackmore, after breaking off of Deep Purple, married Candace Night. They both started their own Celtic-folk-rock band. Now with many more members, they both just decided to name it after each other's last names, Blackmore's Night. | Victoria Silver | ||
| Blackmore's Night | Evidently, former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore liked so much the sweet voice of his beautiful partner, Candice Night, that he brought her not only on stage but also in the band's name. | Ugo C. | ||
| The Blackouts | a band from BC. PA. the greatest punk rock band today today got their name from their drunk punk lifestyles, when the 2 members of the band get together and drink, they always drink until they are in a total blackout, the name fits the band perfectly | don't matter | ||
| The Blackwater Tribe | Named after a Sioux tribe driven from their encampment on the Knife River in the Dakota's on December 30, 1890 due to the massacre at Wounded Knee to a tannic river in northern Canada. Swedish loggers who discovered the tribe referred to them as the tribe from black water. The members of the band are descendants of that tribe. Strange side note: Blackwater is a plumbing term for waste water that is flushed from toilets. The name became oddly prophetic of the plight of natives in amerika. On the underground music scene The Blackwater Tribe is known as The Shit. | Wanda Boudreaux | ||
| Blancmange | From an interview with lead singer Neil Arthur. "We were at a party and one of the silly games was who could eat a blancmange the quickest. The name came from that. It could have been worse because one of the other games was to drink curry from pint glasses. So we could have been called Pint Of Curry" | Ripple | ||
| Blaque | Yet another acronym, this time meaning Believing in Life and Achieving a Quest for Unity in Everything | Bobo | ||
| Blaze | It is the nickname of the lead singer, Bayley Cook, more commonly known as Blaze Bayley (of Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden fame.) | Clegnut | ||
| Bleach | multiple bible verses and hymns pray that the Lord clothes them in pure white. bleach makes clothes whiter | john | ||
| Blessed Union of Souls | From a M*A*S*H quote. Frank Burns says this to Hotlips Houlihan | Karen | ||
| Blind Melon | I heard it was as a joke from every band's favorite cult movie of the 80s, This is Spinal Tap. It made reference to a fictional blues master "Blind Melon Chitlin" who taught Nigel how to play guitar. "But these go to eleven." | Stevie I | ||
| Blind Melon | There was a blues man named "Blind Lemon Jefferson", which Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong parodied as "Blind Melon Chitlin". The band stole the name. | Dave Bowman | ||
| Blind Melon | The bass player's dad called unemployed hippies "Blind Melons", and thats what they were at the time. So, that's how they got the name. | supernessagirl | ||
| Blind Melon | there's a legend in louisiana, that a guy got blind by the explosion of a melon he was trying to open. they say that, in summer, because of the heat, melons produce some gas inside, and they happen to explode avery once in a while. that's were the neme come's from. I read this story from the booklet of the second CD of the group (european edition) | karlo | ||
| Blind Melon | A play on the name of the fabled Texas bluesman, Blind Lemon Jefferson | JazzmanChgo | ||
| Blindspott | It came from two ideas the band had, blindfold and G-spot. why they added an extra t I don't know | Craig | ||
| Blink | The group who had the name originally (and forced the other Blink to add 182 to their name) got it from a Cocteau Twins song. | Jenny Turner | ||
| Blink 182 | "Blink" was a term that represented the "f" word. The members of Blink 182 used to attend Rancho Bernardo High, until they were expelled and sent to RB's rival school, Poway. The letter R is the 18th letter in the alphabet, and B is the 2nd, hence Blink 182 means "f___" RB. | Britt | ||
| blink 182 | Scarface: According to the "scorecard" feature on the Platinum Edition DVD, the word "fuck" and its derivatives are used 226 times for an average of 1.32 fucks per minute. So if they really got the 182 from Scarface, they should be called blink 226....that is, unless they are really bad counters.....which could be true :-P | Watching and Waiting | ||
| Blink 182 | One day Mark decided he could take 200 shots of vodka in 5 minutes but soon he realized after 18, he could not take 182 more. Soon he started to blink uncontrolably so the name stuck. | Alfonzo Bojangles Girth | ||
| Blink 182 | Hadas was the only one who got it right, Blink-182 was originaly called Duct Tape but a couple days later Tom said they were going to be called Blink for NO REASON! then after their first big show a techo band in Ireland also called Blink didnt want to share names so they threatened to sue so they added a 182 FOR NO REASON WHATS SO EVER! they only added the 182 cause they worked so hard to make Blink a recognized name in the California area. BLINK 182 HAS NO REAL MEANING ITS JSUT RANDOM | Brandon | ||
| Blink 182 | They were originally just Blink, mainly because Tom likes short verbs. But when an Irish techno band who also were named 'Blink' threatened to sue them they decided to add '182', which has no significance, it's just a number they picked randomly. | Jess | ||
| Blink 182 | Blink - Tom once said that "Blink" was the name of one of his neighbors dogs growing up. There's other stories about what this came from. There was an Irish Techno band, also named Blink, who threatened to sue if they didn't change their name. 182 has no significance what-so-ever. Mark has repeatedly stated "182 was just a number that i pulled out of my a__" (I want to say that was on the Urethra Chronicles). Nobody knows for sure what the band's name means. Tom and Mark have made up SO many stories, all of which are different. | Jazzy | ||
| Blink 182 | blink was the name of the dog that lived next door to mark or tom or scott. also the song name josie was also taken from a dogs name. | tom copious | ||
| Blink 182 | Blink 182 supposedly has no meaning at all but the band fosters stories on origins. Example: used to be just "Blink" but was going to get sued by a little Irish band with the same name, so they added the 182 which is the number of times the f-word was said in one of the members favorite movies. | Fred | ||
| Blink 182 | Taken from TRL on MTV: When asked how they came up with the band name, and what the 182 stands for, Mark Hoppus responded; "We originally wanted it to just be "Blink", but, some Irish band had the same name, and they threatened to sue us, so, we just added the 182 on the end, it has no significance, we just added a number." There was nothing about a movie relation, or how many times one of them blinked; the number has NO significance. | Robert | ||
| Blink 182 | blink 182 is called so because, 'blink' is an irish band and although many people on this site have made up things, the real thing is that there are 364 days in a year...half it...182...bada bing | jonny | ||
| Blink 182 | they were calld blink but then an irish techno group threatened 2 sue, so they added 182, which is the radio contact number for homicide | joe | ||
| Blink 182 | They were originally called 182 FOR NO REASON then Tom (the singer/guitarist) saw someone blink FOR NO REASON and so he named the band Greenday BUT there was already a band called GREENDAY, for no reason, so then Tom called his band Blink 182 | elf Pavingstone | ||
| Blink 182 | This is just a guess, but the name Blink 182 is proabably a distortion of the title of the 1980's movie "Turk 182!" (about a boy who undertakes a graffiti campaign to obtain a pension for his older brother, a former firefighter.) | Tom Radigan | ||
| Blink 182 | Jess is the only one that got it right. Tom likes short verbs, hence "blink." The Irish techno band threatened to sue them, hence the RANDOM number "182." I promise it's not any more deep than that. Jeebus. | Luci | ||
| Blink 182 | Originally named 'Blink' but some Irish group had already beat them to that name and the dispute went to court. Their name then became Blink 182, why 182 you ask? Al Pacino swears 182 times in Scarface. | Optimus Prime | ||
| Blink 182 | Dunno if it has any real significance since they themselves say it was random, but I always thought it had something to do with the mid-80's film Turk 182. Maybe the number choice was subliminally based on this film... | Phil Kayes | ||
| Blink 182 | While Blink 182 was trying to figure out a name Mark was blinking and Tom DeLonge said he counted how many times Mark blinked in 3 minutes. So they called themselvs Blink 182. | Sexxxy | ||
| Blink 182 | This name was derived by the simple fact that people actually blink 182 times a second while asleep in R.E.M | Christie | ||
| Blink 182 | Originally they were called just Blink, but then another band came out with the same name, Blink. So the members of Blink 182 all sat around and pulled numbers out of a hat and the first number they picked happened to be 182, so here you see now, Blink 182. | Sara | ||
| Blink 182 | They originally wanted to make it Blink but there was another band with the name. So they used 182 for no reason. | Hadas | ||
| Blink 182 | I just watched a recent interview and they were skateboarding one day and they said: Why dont we name our band blink,, they had been debating between ductape, scar face stuff like that.. Then the 182 is how many times Al Pachino says "f*ck" in "Scar Face. | Steph | ||
| Blink 182 | Since there already was a band named Blink, 182 was added because that was the ideal weight for lead singer Mark (who was overweight in his youth) | Nathan | ||
| Blink 182 | They originally wanted to make it Blink but there was another band with the name. So they used 182 which is how many times Al Pachino says "f**k" in "Scar Face" | Eric Podzemny | ||
| Blink-182 | They were first named the Spanish name for "Tom and the two balls". Then later they decided on Blink because it was the name of Tom's neighbor's dog, and a venue refused to let them play with that name. So it was changed to Blink. Later an irish techno/punk band threatened to sue if they didn't change it; so they added "182" because it was the round trip mileage from Tom's to his girlfriend's and back. | greggrindit | ||
| Blink-182 | Before the final name, members Tom Delonge, Mark Hoppus, and former drummer Scott Raynor had many discussions and disagreements on the band name. They finally sat down and thought about it when Tom Delonge blurted out "blink". He chose the name because he like short, fast, verbs. It also had a feel to it that added excitement. LAter on, after their name started getting out, an Irish Techno band, also by the name of blink, threatened to sue if the name was not changed. Since the band's naem had already gotten out, they didn't want to change it entirely, so Mark Hoppus added "182" at random, creating the name "blink-182". | Neil | ||
| Blink-182 | The guitarist for the band, Tom, just picked out blink because he likes short verbs. Then there was this irish-techno band with the name Blink, too and they said that if blink(182) didn't change their name within the next 3 motnhs or something they would sue them, so the guys picked out 182 at random, and they have a good time when they get interviewed making up stories for the meaning of the 182. | chelly luvs blink | ||
| Blink-182 | Blink stands for "boys lusting impartially nude kids" and 182 comes from how many time Al Pacino says "f***" in Scarface | Larry McToe | ||
| Blink-182 | Blink comes from the name of an English band, and 182 is the number of times Al Pacino said f*** in Scarface. | Taylor | ||
| blink-182 | ok- theres all this crap about how mark was blinking 182 times in 3 minutes or that the 182's about scarface. just to clear it up- the 182 has no significance. if you dont believe me- e-mail them! | caitlin | ||
| Blink-182 | "Blink" was taken because Tom Delonge (singer, guitarist) likes short verbs. An Irish band named "Blink" threatened to sue them, so they added "182" at the end. Mark Hoppus (singer, bassist) has said that the number has no signifigance. | BlinkFan182 | ||
| Blink182 | Actually, I'm pretty sure you are all wrong about the 182 meaning nothing. They're originally from a crap ass town where I'm from, Poway, and the whole thing about the irish techno band thing is true, so to add something to change it, they added 182... they're from Poway / Rancho Bernardo R = 18, B = 2. There you go.... now shutup. | Aaron from San Diego | ||
| Blink182 | Tom liked single syllabled words, and randomly chose "Blink". However, an Irish band had already claimed the name, so they were forced to change to blink182. According to newfoundpunk.com its 182 only because it was randomised and holds no significance what-so-ever. | RobbyVV | ||
| Bliss-Krieg | A play off of the style of warfare known as blitzkrieg, "blitz" was changed to "bliss" to signify the band's mission of attacking the world with blissful sound. | Major Bliss | ||
| The Blockheads | Ian Dury's backing group was still unnamed when they recorded the "New Boots And Panties" album, which featured the song "Blockheads". Drummer Charley Charles commented on the line, "shoes like dead pigs' noses", saying that his shoes looked like that, so he himself must be a blockhead. This inspired Dury to sing "we're all blockheads too" towards the end of the song, and then to name his expanded touring group after it. I'm sorry but I don't know where the factory story comes from. | neptunevsmars | ||
| The Blockheads | the guys were working in a factory packing childrens clothes. the conveyor belt would always breakdown and one of the team was sent to replace the block headers that braced the belt. as it was always breaking down the guys got the name the blockheads. when they turned pro the name stuck. | suzy quatro | ||
| Blondie | Blondie had two blonde backup singers in their early days. That made three blondes (with Debbie) and the name stuck after the singers quit. | Evenreven | ||
| Blondie | First Deb was in 'wind in teh willows' but she left and formed 'the stilettos.' then she and chris started a band called 'angel in the snakes' but the name didn't take. Truckers and construction workers were constantly calling out things like 'give us a kiss blondie!' because of her bottle blonde hair. Chris and Deb decided to give it a try, and the rest, as they say, is history | Olivia | ||
| Blondie | Adolf Hitlers second dog (German Shepard) was called Blondie which is where they took the name from. | Li | ||
| Blondie | Debbie Harry mentioned in an interview that they settled on Blondie because it would place them close to the Beatles in the record racks, and they hoped people would stumble onto them. | MoJo | ||
| Blondie | They picked this name because gorgeous bleach-blonde lead singer Debbie Harry was always being called "Blondie" by men on the street. | ChrisPC | ||
| Blondie | The group was named after lead singer Debbie Harry's hair, not after Hitler's dog, which, incidentally was a German Shepard named Schotzie not Blondie - therefore, if Liz is correct, the group's name is really Schotzie. | John T | ||
| Blondie | Truck drivers would always holler "Hey Blondie" at Debbie Holly and so Chris Stein decided to use it as a band name. Originally as "Blondie and the Banza Babies", then shortened to "Blondie". Most tend to refer to Debbie as "Blondie" yet she has always insisted that it is the name of the band. | Xoffender | ||
| Blood, Sweat, & Tears | The first incarnation of the band was playing after hours at the Cafe Au Go Go. Leader, Al Kooper had a cut on his finger, and after playing for several hours, his keyboard was covered with blood. He went on to describe his playing the gig as "Blood, Sweat, and Tears". | J-Bird | ||
| Bloodgood | Serious Christian heavy metal band. Name from the last name of the bassist and the drummer, brothers I think. | johnnyrev99 | ||
| Bloodhound Gang | The Bloodhound Gang was kids show PBS where kids solve mysterys | Mr.T | ||
| Bloodhound Gang | Actually 'The Bloodhound Gang' was a segment on the science for kids show '3 2 1 Contact'. It did feature kids solving mysteries, like the OP said, though. | bcullman | ||
| Bloomtrip | Named after a stone mason in Austria, Irvine Bloomtrip, who was a friend of the father of the band founder | Graham Gorrie | ||
| Blore | a compilation of two words blood and gore. blood+gore= BLORE! | gonzo | ||
| Blotto | The band was named after a dog with magical powers in Thorne Smith's 1931 novel "Nightlife of the Gods." | F Lee Harvey Blotto | ||
| Blue | They were originally going to be called 'L.A.D.S' which are the initials of the four members (Lee, Anthony, Duncan and Simon) but in the end Simon came up with the name 'Blue' and they chose it because it 'sounded cool and chilled'. | Katie | ||
| Blue Cheer | Some like to give credit for this name to the laundry detergent, but actually the band got its name from a type of LSD that was widely popular in the 60's. | Lootron | ||
| Blue Diamond Band | My Father got the name from a Diamond That is Blue and the name was catchy . His band played music by the eagles. And now I use it to play Hard Rock. | Raymond Allen Jr. | ||
| The Blue Jays | This one's so obvious once you know why! The band was founded by Justin Hayward and John Lodge (half of the Moody Blues.) The first name initial of them both is J Hence Blue Jays. DEAD EASY | Bobbus Cattus | ||
| Blue October | The front man of Blue October, Justin Furstenfeld, spent a brief stint in a mental hospital in October 1997. Furstenfeld stated that afterwards he wrote songs to keep depression away which led to the forming of the band. | Robert D. Arndt Jr. | ||
| Blue Oyster Cult | Don't know how they wound up with this one but they at one time called themselves Soft White Underbelly. | lihpster | ||
| Blue Oyster Cult | The Band Got The Name From Their Manager Sandy Perlman Who Combined The Name Of A Recipe From A Book And The Occult. | Mike Blancett | ||
| Blue Oyster Cult | The band was named by Sandy Pearlman, “Blue Oyster Cult.” (The umlaut being added later by Allen Lanier). Initially, the band was not happy with the name, but settled for it, and went to work preparing to record their first release at David Lucas’ studio. | Justin K. | ||
| Blue Oyster Cult | The band is named after their favorite beer, Blue Oyster. | Jason M | ||
| Blue Oyster Cult | They figured that by naming themselves after a local bar "The Blue Oyster", the owner would let them play there regularly. | magic will | ||
| Blue Oyster Cult | They were originally Soft White Underbelly, but decided to change the band name after a particularly disasterous live performance netted them a bunch of bad press. After a brief stint as the "Stalk-Forrest Group", they settled on a name suggested by their manager, Sandy Pearlman. The umlaut was added later by Allen Lanier. (this is from the official BOC website) | BaudKarma | ||
| Blue Oyster Cult | The band got it's name from Sandy Pearlman, who got the inspiration from a recipe for blue point oysters. | Taboola Bubbaganouche | ||
| Blue Oyster Cult | An anagram of "Cully Stout Beer", on which the band was inebriated whilst trying to come with a name..... | Mark Rushton | ||
| Blue Pelican Frenzy | the drummer, Mitchel and the lead singer, macy's favorite color was blue.... their grandma's fave bird is a pelican... the bass guitar and backup singer had the word frenzy in her mind | macy | ||
| Blue Öyster Cult | It's an anagram for "Cully Stout Beer", discovered by a band member while killing time at the pub. | Jackby Nimble | ||
| Blueprints | The lead singer had a dream that they were called that they were called the blueprints. | ed |
Entries starting with B are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3 4 5
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
Submissions
Got something that should be added to this page? Check out the submission form.