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Names -> Band Name Origins -> J, Page 2
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 J are split into multiple pages: 1 2
There are 4774 Band Name Origin entries on the site.
Name | Origin | Submitted by: | ||
| Jimmy Eat World | the story actually is that when lead singer jimmy was a kid, his brother got p***ed at him one day and drew a picture of him (jimmy) mouth wide open over a circle... the caption said "jimmy eat world" | belinda | ||
| Jimmy Eat World | the lead singers younger brother drew a picture on the wall of 'jimmy eating a world' - trying to show how fat he was.. they thought it was funny so used it as there band name .. | Monica | ||
| Jimmy Eat World | Ed and Jimmy, the younger siblings of Tom Linton, guitar and vocals of the band, were fighting. Ed is the younger of the two and took a blunt of the insults, eventually Jimmy just locked him out of their joint bed room. Ed, with the 8 year old brain at work, busted out the crayons and drew a masterpiece depicting the chubbier Jimmy as he shoved the world into his gaping mouth. The bottom of the page read "Jimmy Eat World", this picture was then placed on the fridge like all good pictures and the band got a kick out of it, then decided to name themselves after the caption. | eric miller | ||
| Jimmy Eat World | The band member Tom has two younger brothers and one of them has the name Jim. Well, his two brothers got in a fight and the younger one got so mad at Jim that he called him fat. Then he drew a picture of Jim being so fat that he could eat the world, and at the bottom he wrote, "Jimmy Eat World" and thats how they got their name. | Cat | ||
| Jimmy Eat World | jimmy eat worlds origin should be well known to those of you who are between the age of 16-21, it came from an episode of Tiny Toons, in which all the toons had to make a short film for class, all and all to make a long story short, Taz's film depicted him standing ontop of a giant globe, the segment was entitled Taz Eat World (taz then ate the globe) | seancore | ||
| Jimmy Eat world | One of the bands bro's named it 'James Consumes the universe' but they decided that was to long. Scince Jimmy is short for James and consume means 2 eat and world iz just shorter. It ended up being Jimmy Eat World!! | Natalya | ||
| Jimmy Sapienza's Five Guys Named Moe | This Pittsburgh based band is named for the Louis Jordan song by the same title "Five Guys Named Moe". Sapienza says, "Early in 1987, I heard a cassette tape packed with Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five performing several numbers from Jordan's Decca collection. As I listened to this pre-rock, rock and roll, I made up my mind to mine the vast catalog of Jordan songs and form a band. As I listened, I wondered what I would name this band that would play this style of jumpin' boogie, shuffle beatin' fun type music. That's when I heard the fifteen-note intro to the song that changed my luck. That song was 'Five Guys Named Moe'." The Moe's incorporate a loose approach to the musical form that employs blues and rhythm changes. In addition to covering over four sets of Jordan material, this group also plays pop standards, Latin, and classic rock. Moe's also cover Louis Prima, Sinatra, Dean-o, Satchmo, Ray Charles, Van Morrison and several of Sapienza's originals. Sapienza is an award winning singer/songwriter and a BMI publisher. His "I Love Pittsburgh" song has won the title of Official Song of that city. See this link for complete story: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06067/666614.stm. | Jimmy Sapienza | ||
| Jimmy's Chicken Shack | Apparently, the band members' favorite food is chicken, and they all lived in Richmond, VA, where they ate at a shack that sold chicken sold by a guy named Jimmy. | Johan | ||
| JIVAROS | Hellfire pornostar guitarist and singer of Jivaros says Jivaros was a word used to describe a wild, crazy and maybe dangerous person in Guayaquil, Ecuador. So I picked the name because punk and rock is wild and crazy and maybe(?) dangerous music. Another use for the word is the name given to the Shuar head shrinking Indians in the Amazon Jungles of Ecuador and Peru. | hellfire pornostar | ||
| JJ72 | "My parents got married in '72, I thought that was important. If they hadn't, the band wouldn't exist full stop. The 72 number crept up a lot when myself and Fergal formed the group, a few exams that were cheated in. As for the JJs, reading James Joyce as a 13-year-old was important to me," he expands. "It's so much about Dublin. Funny, very clever and still quite beautiful with a bit of a slap in the back. The Irish have a knack: someone dies and they have an almighty piss-up. That's what I got from Joyce and Finnegan's Wake. You can be serious about stuff but you can have a laugh in your own way." Mark Greaney | helsinkiwinner | ||
| JJ72 | When they were at school or something, they went to an art gallery and saw a painting of 72 jam jars... so, JJ (jam jar) 72- JJ72. | Hayley | ||
| JJ72 | Its the make/nimber of the front of Mark's washing machine (as read in NME) | Annie | ||
| JJ72 | Nobody knows what "JJ72" means except the lead singer Mark Greaney - not even the other members know, and he refuses to tell. | craic ho | ||
| JJ72 | They were drunk one night and started talking bullshit, for which "jamjars" is dublin slang. They read in FHM that 72% of what people say is BS. | Jon the 1 | ||
| JJ72 | This is the definitive answer. Jamjars being an Irish slang word for bullshit, the group (as a foursome in their earlier days) got absolutely hammered and had a bullshit-speaking competition. During this night, they saw on an Irish TV advert that 72% of everything that people say is bullshit (jamjars). Decided the name that night, and the next day played a gig at the local hole, under the name of JJ72. Do you smell it? | The Rosk | ||
| Job For A Cowboy | In Arizona (where the bands from) all the founding members fathers are farmers. Many times they would butcher cows for customers buying meat, and with the influence of death metal music and the daily life style, they became the death metal band they are now. | Julian | ||
| Job For A Cowboy | Originally, they wanted their name to be "This is a Job for a Cowboy" but it was too long. | Jenna | ||
| JODECI | The band Jodeci was named after the members of the band, JO-Jo, DEvante, k-CI | Jape | ||
| Jodeci | The name for the R&B group know as Jodeci was created by combining the names of the group members: (Jo) from JoJo Hailey, (De) from Devante Swing, and (Ci) from K-ci Hailey. Mr. Dalvin did not join the group untill after they had chose the name, but the group sometimes refers to their recording process as the Jodeci-Dal process, incorperating Mr. Davlin's name. | Tha Immaci flava | ||
| Joe Jackson | Originally born David Ian Jackson, his new name came from the British TV show Joe 90. They commented that he looked like the title character from the show, and he adopted the name as his first name. | Larcen Tyler | ||
| John Butcher Axis | Singer/guitarist John Butcher's own variation on "John Butcher Band." According to an interview in an episode of VH1's "Where Are They Now?" he thought that was very unoriginal, so he went with Axis in place of Band. On a side note, he often complained that interviewers frequently referred to him as "Mr. Axis," and his standard response was "If I'd named my band John Butcher Band, you wouldn't call me Mr. Band, would you?" | PeteFourwinds | ||
| John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band | I heard John Cafferty in a radio interview describe how they were drinking and getting silly while trying to come up with a name for their band, throwing off names such as "The Doorknobs" and "The Television Sets," and somebody spotted a can of paint labelled "Beaver Brown," and that name got chosen. | Tom Radigan | ||
| John Cougar's Concentration Camp | A parody of the pretentious Indiana rock star John Cougar Mellencamp. | Bobo | ||
| John Wesley Harding | The Bob Dylan album titled "John Wesley Harding". | Alternafolkie 91 | ||
| John West | A shortened, more catchy version of "John West Go to Degoba" | Grandmaster Simon | ||
| Johnny Hates Jazz | well al most right johnny in this case is phil thornallys brother who is married to liza mike nocito's sister and yes he hatess jazz | pugwah downunder | ||
| Johnny Hates Jazz | Mike Nocito's sister married his best friend, John, who does hate jazz. | Ginger | ||
| Johnny Hates Jazz | One of the members of this 80s band had a friend called Johnny, who hated jazz music; but his wife loved it, she put it on every day and she drove him crazy. The band chose that name to make fun of him. | Ugo C. | ||
| Johnny Shotgun | The bassist had a son named Johnny, who always carried around his toy shotgun, hence the name. | Todd Parker | ||
| JoJo | It was a childhood nickname and also short for her name Joanna. (P.S. Her middle name is Noelle not Joelle!) | Danicca | ||
| Jojo | Jojo, the teen sensation Jojo, picked her name because it has been her nickname for a long time and her real name is Joanna, so its short for that. | kris10 | ||
| JoJo | It's short for her real name, Joelle. | backstreetgrl | ||
| Josh Alan Band | The band was originally named "Crow Jim," a play on the Jim Crow Laws, and then the accoustic genius Josh Alan Friedman, frontman, simmered the fireworks of such labelesque naming and condensed the name to the Josh Alan Band. | Aaron Presley | ||
| Journey | The band had a contest but did not like any of the names submitted. One of their roadies suggested Journey and they liked it. | Peach | ||
| Journey | Originally, the members of the band at the time (1973) were holding a radio contest to name the band, since their current name wasn't catchy (The Golden Gate Rhythm Section). After some horrible names (i.e. Rumpled Foreskin, Hippiepotomous) a member of their road crew came up with Journey and it's been the band's name ever since. | Aurora | ||
| Joy Division | In WWII the Joy Division were a league of women forced to prostitute themselves or be sent to concentration camps. It's "post-modern, structuralist" as Tony Wilson says in 24 Hour Party People, in response to accusations the band were neo-Nazis. | nell | ||
| Joy Division | The band started in 1977, after the Sex Pistols played their first gig in Manchester. Guitarist Bernard Albrecht and bassist Peter Hook met while at the show and later formed Stiff Kittens; they placed an ad through a Manchester record store for a singer, and so added Ian Curtis and drummer Steve Brotherdale. Renamed Warsaw [from David Bowie's "Warszawa"], they made their live debut the May after, supporting both Buzzcocks and Penetration at Manchester's Electric Circus. They recorded several demos, then Brotherdale quit the group in August 1977, so came Stephen Morris. The name change to Joy Division in 1977 [because a punk band called 'Warsaw Pakt' existed already] was inspired by the World War II novel, Karol Cetinsky's "The House of Dolls". [In her book, the term "joy division" is used as slang for concentration camps where female inmates were forced to prostitute themselves for the Nazi soldiers]. | +samantha+ | ||
| Joy Division | From a sadomasochistic novel "The House of Dolls" by Karol Cetinsky.. Joy Divisions were lines of huts in which deported women were forced to prostitute themselves to Nazi officers on leave. | Bobo | ||
| Joy Division | The Joy Division was the corps of young women kept in the camp for the pleasure of Nazi officers on leave. Partly due to the name, Joy Division (and later New Order) often had problems with Nazi accusations spreading around in the press. These both puzzled and angered the band, and they did not wish to dignify them with a reply. Far from containing Nazi propaganda, their lyrics preach quite the contrary message. Many other punk bands used much more direct Nazi symbolism with much less press comment. | ank | ||
| Joy Division | Actually this was the term the Nazis used for the areas of concentration camps reserved for homosexuals (both German and Jewish). | dolamic | ||
| Joy Zipper | The band are a couple - a girl and a boy - and the name is one of their mother's maiden names. As read in The NME. | Angela Catton | ||
| Judas Priest | Interestingly enough, the band did not get this name from the popular curse. They were unnamed at first when they wrote "Blame It On Midnight." The song was about a man of long ago named Judas Priest. That's how they got the name. | Aaerni | ||
| Judas Priest | it's an old expletive. It meant "Holy S***!" or "Jesus Christ!". It appears in old movies and probably fell into disuse in the prerock 50s. My folks don't remember the use of this term. It was often used to convey disgust. | James Jupiter | ||
| Judas Priest | From the Bob Dylan tune "The ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest". Also a mild curse. | Bobo | ||
| Judas Priest | They took their namn from the Bob Dylan song Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest. | Krister | ||
| Judas Priest | On top of other things, lots of metal band portray themselves as devil worshipers. Judas was a man who betrayed Jesus, so the name Judas Priest is therefore a priest against Jesus, more in favour of the Devil. | Sax | ||
| Judas Priest | According to an article on wikipedia.org, "Judas Priest" is a mild form of "Jesus Christ", or using the Lord's name in vain. | Kyle | ||
| Judas Priest | This story starts out back in around 1970, when KK and Ian were looking for a man on vocals for their band FREIGHT. And to make a long story short; the lead singer became Al Atkins (they later recruited Glenn from The Flying Hat Band on 2nd lead guitar). Al however, did not like the sound of the name "freight", so he suggested to change it to the name of his previous band; Judas Priest. The guys thought this was a good name, and ever since Judas Priest has been associated with the Metal Gods. As a sidenote; Al's former band got their name from the Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest", as already mentioned on this page. The famous metal band however, got it through Al's former band. Source: Al Atkins' home page (for the moment N/A). | w0lfy_Mag | ||
| Juliana Theory | A group of scientists, known as the Juliana Group, came up with a theory, but the only way to prove that theory was through music. As the group searched through local bands to find a means to prove their theory, they stumbled upon two musicians who were attempting to form a band, and the Juliana Theory was born. Unfortunately, nobody knows what this theory is, since the band members are sworn to secrecy. | Darwin | ||
| Jump5 | They began the group as Fresh Start, which was a cat litter. Than they changed it to Jump Start but due to legal issues with a CD-ROM game "Jump Start for Kids" that name couldnt be chosen. They kept the jump and added a 5 for the # of members in the group. | Nat | ||
| Jump5 | They all met at gymnastics and were all very athletic, there are 5 of them, so they put 2 and 2 together to get Jump5. | Daniel | ||
| Junior MAFIA | Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes | Bobo | ||
| Junkie XL (aka JXL) | Dutch producer / recording artist Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg) got his stage name because he is a complete workaholic, driving bands and fellow musicians mad while pulling all niters at recording sessions. Addicted to music and work in an extra large sense, so to say. Slowed down (a little bit) after a minor hard attack at the age of 28. Had a huge international hitsingle in 2002 remixing the old Elvis classic 'Little less conversation'. To avoid any link between Elvis and illegal drugs, the record company asked him to change his stage name from Junkie XL into JXL. | In Sane | ||
| Junkies | The Hungarian Punk N Roll band got its name from a member of its own, because the original name (Jack Daniel's) was still in use, when the guy left the band. Then they formed as "New Jack Daniel's", but soon the singer arrived and the other left they said they'd be "Junkies"... that's all. If ya wanna know 'bout them more information, pleeze check out "www.junkies.hu" and download the videoclips. And try ta get some tracks of them. They got English music too. Try Ya Gonna Like It! And the story upthere is sure, do not believe anythin' else... I Am Sure of it, believe me! | Pomy | ||
| Junsu | Frontman's name Kim Junsu. Junsu means excellent in talent and wisdom. | Robert D. Arndt Jr. | ||
| Jurassic 5 | Jurassic is a reference to marijuana and 5 is cause there's 5 of them. | Alicia | ||
| Jurassic 5 | According to www.rapdirt.com, The Sydney Morning Herald spoke with Jurassic 5 and Charles 'Chali 2na' Stewart explained how the band was named. Chali 2na revealed, "I played the song to my friend's mother and she made a joke | Justin | ||
| Just William | A band from Perth, Western Australia. they were interveiwed in local radio. they said that thier lead singer has the same birthday as John Lennon, who's favourite books had a character called Just William | djurti_jhokson | ||
| The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu | The JAMs (aka The KLF aka The Timelords) got this name from the Bob Shea and Robert Anton Wilson 'Illuminatus! Trilogy'. 'The Justified Ancients of Mummu' (yeah, one word with a third m) were an ancient (and probably justified) sect of the Discordian movement. | Ralph Baker |
Entries starting with J are split into multiple pages: 1 2
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