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Names -> Band Name Origins -> C, 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).
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Entries starting with C are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3
There are 4774 Band Name Origin entries on the site.
Name | Origin | Submitted by: | ||
| Crash Test Dummies | Brad Roberts has said that a medical school friend of theirs was throwing out names to them one day when the band was still sort of a weekend gig. He threw out Crash Test Dummies to them, and it stuck. | Entil'zha | ||
| Crass | A reference to the David Bowie song "Ziggy Stardust" (specifically the line "The kids was just crass") | Robert D. Arndt Jr. | ||
| Cream | Ginger Baker, Jake Bruce and Eric Clapton were thought of at the time to be the best musicians around. In other words they were thought of to be the cream of the crop. This is where their name came from. | Stew | ||
| Cream | courtjester is right, but to be anal retentive and exact, they thought they were the best musicians, with cream coming from the saying 'the cream of the crop' | mark p | ||
| Cream | Eric Clapton and the other two guys in the band were really good musicians...Therefore they would 'rise' to the top like cream. | courtjester | ||
| Credence Clearwater Revival (CCR) | "Credence" was a friend's name, "Clearwater" from a beer commercial, and "Revival" for the Revival of Rock and Roll. I heard this from a DJ on 93.3 WMMR in Philadelphia. | Nick G. | ||
| Creed | They got the name Creed when Jesus came to Scott in a dream and said "Spread my word. Spread my Creed." Then Jesus gave him the lyrics to "Higher" | Robert Jones | ||
| Creed | Scott Stapp originally wanted to name the band Naked Toddler, after a newpaper clipping that he kept in his walet. Brian Marshall was in a band called Marshall's Creed, and as they were tossing out names they decided to go with Creed, as it is a strong belief in something, and they believed in what they were doing, the music they were making, and it all being about the super jackpot. | John | ||
| Creed | Creed's former bassist, Brian Marshall, had belonged to a band called Marshell's Creed (named after the street their garage band played on). So when he joined Creed, they were trying to use Marshall's previous band name but Phillip's Creed, Tremonti's Creed, or Stapp's Creed didn't sound right. So they just dubbed their band CREED. | Nicole | ||
| Creed | I'm sorry, but everyone so far has been wrong. In an official interview, they said that there were no divine undertones to their name, but that it was taken from the surname of the family in Stephen King's Pet Sematary. | Aisha | ||
| Creed | Scott Stapp and the other band members tried to come up with a name. They tried Scott's Creed,and a bunch of other ones. So Scott said let's just stick with Creed. Creed means a belief in something, so since Scott was going through troubles in life,he struggled with what HE believed. | DARKSOUTHERNPOET | ||
| Creed | The Stephen King Book titled "Pet Cemetery". It was the family's last name. | B Real | ||
| Creed | at first they called themselves Naked Toddler, after a newspaper clipping Tremonti had, but then they decided that name sucked,so they went back to a band one of them had previously been in, Marshell's Creed, and decided to shorten it to just plain Creed! \m/ | sandi | ||
| Creed | fist they tried the naked todler but they said it scared people so they got the name creed from the definition of creed which means the conffesion of faith scott stapp wanted the name to mean something about him and his life of confussion with faith so he wanted to confess his faith | K Wade | ||
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | The name inspired by a logo on Olympia beer cans. | Sean Smith | ||
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | According to John Fogerty, the name is a combination of a beer commercial and a friend's name. | Amy | ||
| Creedence Clearwater Revival, (CCR) | After playing together for almost ten years, under a few names, they adopted the name Creedence Clearwater Revival, after a friend of a friend of Tom Fogerty, Credence Nuball. The first name, with its connotations of believability and integrity, appealed to the group. Clearwater also had two meanings. It came initially from a beer commercial, but also resonated with the burgeoning environmental movement of the time. Revival, however, had one meaning. It was the band's aspiration, that after four years as the Golliwogs, after ten years of playing together, this new change in their fortunes would take the band where they all knew it could go. John Fogerty would often say, "The most important part was revival." (most of this came from their history on, creedence-online.net) | Jeff Carlevaro | ||
| Creeper Lagoon | Guitarist Sharky Lagauna worked the graveyard shift at a seedy hotel in San Francisco. The place was an absolute dive, so he called it Creeper Lagoon. | Corey | ||
| The Crickets | Buddy Holly ( originally Holley, but he accepted the common mis-spelling ) misunderstood an agent's question as to the background in his songs, thinking it referred to the crickets that ended up on some recordings. "That's the crickets" he said, and that's how he got billed. | John Malcolm | ||
| The Crickets | When the band was recording a song in Buddy Holly's garage, they played the tape back and discovered that a cricket was chirping in the background. | Cletus Alreetus Alrightus | ||
| The Crickets | Buddy Holly's backup band was named after the insect. However, John Lennon thought the name was a double pun on the insect and the sport, and the idea of having Beatles as a pun was born. | Mr. Bun | ||
| Crimson Iris | They got their name after winning the Iris Crimson belt in a talent show, the leader Brad Kronic won by playing his guitar infront of his friends and hundreds of other people, later Mark decided to put together a band with Brad, I miss them.. | Shawn Key | ||
| Crimson Suffering | They originally intended to call it Crimson. Realising that was taken, they said they will suffer without a name. Lucy the drummer said Crimson Suffering as a joke and the name stuck. | Bella | ||
| Crosby Stills Nash & Young | It is the last names of the band members. Note that Neil Percival Young was born with that name on 11-12-1945 in Toronto, Canada. | DJ | ||
| Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young | Despite Joeseppi Verdi imaginative mind, CS&N, followed by CSN&Y were named after the band members last names. | Daviddd | ||
| Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young | The 'story' by Joeseppi Verdi is actually true and has been confirmed by several members of the band. The Atlantic Gazzette also published an article in 1990 documenting this. | Armond Turwile | ||
| Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young | The story in here from "Joeseppi Verdi" is funny but total fabrication. ... | Greenbeer | ||
| Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young | Despite popular think, this was not the original last names of any of the members (they later changed them). A "Crosby" is a British marijuana joint...the name derives from Bing Crosby who smoked plenty. "Stills" is the device to make moonshine, "Nash" was for American poet Ogden Nash (1902-1971); an author especially of humorous and prosodically unorthodox verse. And finally "Young" which describes the types of women the band members liked. NOTE: By the time the band formed they had already changed their names from David (Crosby) Hedberg, Steven (Stills) Kweller, Grady "Graham Nash" Fasnacht, and Neil "young" Gooch. | Joeseppi Verdi | ||
| Cross Canadian Ragweed | The band did use Cross and Canadian's last name. But Ragweed comes from a combination. At the very beginning the group had another member named Weediman (not sure I am spelling that right). Anyway 'ragweed' stands for both of them. The name was suggested to them by my brother Johnny Ragsdale (Randy's Dad). | Linda 'Ragsdale' Hutchins | ||
| Cross Canadian Ragweed | Rhythm Guitar - Grady Cross Lead Guitar and Vocals - Cody Canada Drums - Randy Ragsdale This one is kinda self explanitory...the guys just combined their last names and used Ragsdale's high school nickname (Ragweed). At least that is what I've heard. Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong. | Statler Kramer | ||
| Cross Canadian Ragweed | The name is derived from the players names: Grady Cross, Cody Canada, & Randy Ragsdale. | Patrick | ||
| Crossfade | It is what you call it when a DJ merges two songs with each other in a disco. | sonikal | ||
| Crowded House | While recording their first album in L.A The boys lived in a small house in the hills of L.A Nick Seymour was always inviting people over for parties. Someone said that they were living in a "Crowded House" Their only other names considered were "The Mullane's" which is Neil Finn's middle name and "Largest Living Things" which is something Paul came up with | leigh | ||
| Crowded House | Formerly known as the Mullanes(from Neil Finn's middle name and his and his brother Tim's mother's maiden name), the band changed their name to "Crowded House," which alluded to the cramped quarters the three members shared at 1902 N. Sycamore St. in Los Angeles during the recording of the album. | Jennifer | ||
| Crush 40 | Guitarist Jun Senoue wanted to name the band after a word he liked, and he choose the word "Crush". Vocalist Johnny Gioeli suggested putting the number 40 after the name, and the two agreed on it. | kelly | ||
| Crystal Method | back when they were getting started niether of the members of CM had a car to get to the studio across town, one of them had a friend that was a girl named "Crystal" and she took them to and from the studio. One day they were talking to each other on the phone and one of them said "How are we gonna get to the studio today?" and the other one said "The Crystal Method" | Hurricane | ||
| The Crystal Method | According to an interview with Scott and Ken (which, if I recall correctly, was printed in the liner notes of one of their albums), they both had a crush on a girl named Crystal, who was causing them some heartbreak. They told this to one of their friends, who was a rapper, and he said, "ahhh, the Crystal method." They liked it so much they adopted it. Despite what many people think, it has nothing to do with methamphetamines. | JazzDuck | ||
| The Crystal Method | The first explanation (the girl named 'Crystal') is almost accurate. They both had a crush on her and when learning of this a rapper friend of theirs said "Oh, the Crystal Method?" They do not support or endorse drug abuse in any way. | god's swollen testicles | ||
| Crystal Method | According to a friend who knew them before they got big, Crystal Method wanted to have a name that stood for something rebellious or offensive, but sounded innocent. They thought of various drug names and eventually decided on "Crystal Meth". However, they didn't want to simply be named after a drug, and eventually the letters "o" and "d" were added, which are an acronym for Overdose (crystal-meth-overdose). They have also stated that the name makes their group sound more eclectic and deep. | BLIMP84 | ||
| The Crystal Method | The members of the band were in Las Vegas and they were being chauffered around by a girl named Crystal. Later on, they called this "the Crystal method" and that how they got their name. (According to the members when they were on Loveline). This is not about "crystal methanthetamine". | Arai | ||
| The Crystal Method | A play on the term "crystal methamphetamine" or "crystal meth". Along with "Ecstasy", the drug of choice among illegal rave parties. | electronic | ||
| Crystalline Pirates | Monica E originally wanted it to be Crystalline Tires because of the scientific stuff (crystalline, as in diamonds and amorphous, as in tires). Carl E wanted it to be the Pirate Monkeys. They fused the names to compromise. | .-^->Darienne<-^-. | ||
| CSN(Y) | Their birth names, according to Wikipedia, are as follows: David Van Cortlandt Crosby, Stephen Arthur Stills, Graham William Nash, and Neil Percival Young. Any relation to other things/items/concepts/people is just coincidence. | Bill Graves | ||
| The Cult | Originally called Southern Death Cult after a Native American tribe (not sure which one, sorry) whose beliefs and practices concerning exhaltation of one's ancestors held fascination for singer Ian Astbury. When Southern Death Cult disbanded (releasing one retrospective album of singles, demos and live performances), Astbury formed a new band with guitarist Billy Duffy, and bassist Jamie Stewart, called Death Cult. Death Cult released two 12" EPs before changing their name to The Cult - they were about to appear on British TV for the first time and were concerned the name would be misinterpreted. | Michel | ||
| The Cult | They Started out as the Southern Death Cult. The band members changed and for copyright reasons, they couldn't keep the name. They shortened it to Death Cult, but for similar reasons they had to shorten it again to simply the Cult. | Chris | ||
| The Cult | They were originally called the Southern Death Cult and simply shortened it | Phred | ||
| Culture Club | Boy George and Jon Moss say they came up with the name at random while brainstorming whatever dumb names popped into their head. It seemed to fit because they were a mix of cultures: a black man, a Jew, an Irish drag queen and a big old blonde Anglo-Saxon. However, the name might not be quite that random: English grammar school boys of George et al's vintage were required to choose a club (e.g., the Chess Club, the Photography Club, etc.) to join for a class period or two per week--- and the "Culture Club" traditionally attracted a disproportionate number of gay kids. | Tim Horrigan | ||
| Curb Service and The Curvettes | 50's and 60's music. Taken from Drive-In Resturants that had "Car Hops" that provided curb service to your car with your food order on a tray. | Johnny Jennings | ||
| The Cure | At first Robert Smith named the band 'The Easy Cure', over a little time the easy term was dropped and the band decided to stick with 'The Cure'. | GazZ | ||
| The Cure | This band was a "Cure" for top 40 radio. | Sanford | ||
| The Cure | The Cure owns this name to an early (and awful, according to Robert Smith himself - singer and guitarist of that formation) demo song, "easy cure". They also used the name "Easy Cure" before being signed by Hansa Records/Small Wonders in 1978. At that moment, the band stuck to "The Cure". Robert Smith admits that the band name got absolutely no deep meaning at all nor stands as pointer to his very autobiographical lyrics. As he said: "I would have name the band 'Psychotherapy' if it was the case."!!! | the Grey | ||
| The Cure | Robert Smith began playing music as a kid in the early 70s when he received a guitar for Christmas. By 1975, he had begun playing cover tunes with his friends, Lawrence Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey. The trio originally called themselves the Obelisks and then Malice after a few years. The name Easy Cure was used when they did their first studio work in 1976 and 77. Robert shortened the name to the Cure when they signed with Fiction Records in 1977 because the original name sounded too "hippyish and American west coast." | Charles - http://www.sixdifferentways.com | ||
| The Cure | Originally named "the Easycure" when signed to Hansa, Smith later decided that it sounded too american and so dropped the 'easy' bit. Showing his usual intelligence. | MD | ||
| The Cure | The earliest incarnation of The Cure was The Obelisk - a highschool band from a Catholic school during the early 70s who attempted to sound "mock-religious", hence the name. Later in 1976 some of the members from The Obelisk played a couple of gigs as "Malice", so named in keeping with their heavy rock sound. The following year the band became more influenced by punk and changed their name to "Easy Cure", which was the name of one of their newer punk-style songs written by drummer Lol Tolhurst. When guitarist Robert Smith became the permanent singer/lyricist he convinced the band to change their name to The Cure because he thought "Easy Cure" was stupid and he liked band-names beginning with "The". | Michel | ||
| The Cure | a psychiatrist told Robert Smith that music was the only cure for his madness | fede | ||
| Cursive | Tim Kasher was forced to learn cursive writing when he was younger, and he hated it. | Guitardude101 | ||
| Curved Air | This phenomenal progrock band of the 1970s took its name from the avant-garde minimalist composer Terry Riley's composition called "A Rainbow in Curved Air." | Dandrum | ||
| Cyanide | Olly Theakston (lead singer and guitarist) back in chemisty when cyanide was mentioned. This was to be the new name taking over ''Tained' in which did not sound grunge enough. | Andrew Minnett | ||
| Cymarron | The one-hit wonder (for "Rings") named themselves after a local TV show in Memphis called "Cymarron Strip". | old | ||
| Cymarron | Named themselves after the TV series "Cimarron Strip" which aired on the CBS network in the U.S. from September 1967 to March 1968 | Candy Welty | ||
| Cypress Hill | It's the name of a subway station in N.Y. | jens | ||
| Cypress Hill | the story i heard was that the band went to school at HSU(humboldt state univ.) where they stayed in the dorms. the dorms they stayed in was cypress house which is on Cypress Hill. | joel | ||
| Cypress Hill | Cypress Hill was a street in Southgate where the band is from and a place where they use to hang out. | Robert Jones | ||
| Cypress Hill | The band was named after Cypress Avenue, the street in South Gate, California where they all grew up. | Mark | ||
| Cypress Hill | It's also a place in Alberta, Canada. | Taloraan |
Entries starting with C are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3
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