What's In A Name? - Band Version

The name of a band or artist can make or break their career. Sometimes the music can overshadow and even make
​a seemingly lame handle cool. Here are some of the best stories about band names: 

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​Keith Moon of The Who thought Led Zeppelin's sound would go over like a crashing, well.. but today that name stands for bombastic legendary hard rock. 

And ​as the cover of their debut album demonstrates, they have a sense of humour...



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​Chumbawumba sounds like the band pulled it out of their asses, but the band wasn't really a band - more of a anarchist collective, and wanted a name that represented nothing. So it could actually be the most profound band name ever. ​



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​U2 was named after a U.S. spy plane that flew during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but hardly anyone attaches that little nugget of trivia to the band. What, with being members of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and over 170 million albums sold and such.



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​But maybe the best band name ever goes to Springfield Missouri's own Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Not even the world's finest band name generator could come up with something as glorious as that.
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​​​​​Finger Eleven were originally named Rainbow Butt Monkeys, which limited them to watered-down Red Hot Chili Peppers fratboy rock. 

The new moniker gave them license to expand their musical 'horizons' and put out profound (at least the band would tell you that) yet accessible rock. 
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One could spend days learning about how bands came up with their names, but since your precious time's already filled with watching cat videos and looking at Facebook baby pics, here are some other noteworthy tales of musical nomenclature:
- Sigue Sigue Sputnik
- Yo La Tengo
​- Kajagoogoo
- !!!
- And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead