Band names

There are all kinds of stories of how a band came up with their name and some are great while some are just dull. Black Sabbath was an Italian horror movie from the early 60's and the band known as Earth decided to take it thinking it was a great name and they were right. Megadeth came from changing the spelling of a term found on a flier about the threat of a nuclear war. Then there are bands who are forced to change their name or even fight over a name. Below are a few examples of these kind of events plus others that are strange, but true.

Florida death metal band Xecutioner played under this name for a few years until they found out there was a Boston based band called Executioner who had released albums. The Florida band decided it would be in their best interest to change their name to avoid confusion with the Boston band. So Xecutioner actually chose a better name and became Obituary. They would go on to have some success between 89-95.

Wrathchild were a band from near where I live and they had played under that name for years. Then they signed to a major label and before they could release their debut album they ran into name problems. The British glam band of the same name threatened them with legal action so they changed to Wrathchild America and released two albums before changing their name to Souls at Zero. If you are going to change your band name then please change it to a better one.

Stephen Pearcy was in court as he fought Bobby Blotzer and Warren Demartini for the right to the name Ratt. Pearcy lost, but even playing solo he probably still gets as big of a crowd as the band now called Ratt. However, I am not sure at this point that the name Ratt was actually worth going to court over.

Mike Tramp went out on the road earlier this year and he was wanting to call his group White Lion, but he was threatened with legal action from his former band mate Vito Bratta. Tramp then had to call his touring band Mike Tramp's White Lion. That name really flows from your lips.

Saxon originally started as Son of a bitch back in the mid-70's, but changed to Saxon before releasing their debut in 1979. Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson were founding members then both left the band for various reasons with Dawson leaving after being the band for 10 years and Oliver for 20. In 1996 these two decided to form a band and they adopted the original band name Son of a bitch. Meanwhile Biff Byford and Steve Quinn were also founding members and they kept Saxon going. Then Oliver and Dawson decided to sue Byford and Quinn for the name Saxon. In 2003, Byford and Quinn won the right to keep the name and the other side was allowed to call their group Oliver Dawson Saxon. This one sounds like a soap opera.

German power metal band Grave Digger were advised by their label to change their name to something less dark with the thinking being that their name gave them an evil image. Even though they had played under this name for several years and released a couple of albums under this name they agreed thinking the label knew best. They changed the name to the very creative Digger and changed their logo to a brighter color. The result was it sold far less than any of their previous releases so they switched back to Grave Digger and they still go by that name today.

Once a band even had their name changed for them. Kick Axe recorded two tracks for the Transformers soundtrack, but the label changed the band's name on the record and listed them as Spectre General. This was done without the permission of the band and apparently the reason was that the label thought Kick Axe was too violent of a name to be included on a soundtrack for a kid's film.

Laaz Rockit had gone by that name for nearly ten years and several releases. Then in the early 90's their sound began to change so they changed their name to Gack and released one album before breaking up. Laaz Rockit was a little odd, but Gack sounds like some kind of kid's goo-type toy you would buy at the store.

Band names mean more to some people than to others. We all know it's the music that matters, but some names can keep people form buying your stuff and some might draw more people in. In writing about band names, I was thinking about my top ten favorite metal band names and least favorite. Here they are and I decided to limit it to bands from the 80's and early 90's. I wanted to include lesser known bands so Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Motorhead are not on the list because it's a given that they are great names and this list is geared towards the less obvious, I hope.

Top ten band names (in no order)

Killer Dwarfs- Not a fan of the band, but a cool name.
English Dogs- A name just dripping with power.
Death- Simple and to the point.
Mercyful Fate- I have always like this one.
At war- It gives the image of something heavy and aggressive.
Sea Hags- You could argue against it, but it's kind of cool while being different at the same time.
Bang Tango- Just has a good flowing sound to it.
Pestilence- Another questionable one, but something there that catches your attention.
Prong- Solid and simple, it just gives you this image that actually is reflected in the band's sound.
Armored Saint- A lot of bands tried those contradiction type names, but few are as good as this one.


Bottom ten

Noisy Mama- Too much like Twisted Sister only it sounds annoying.
Odin-Nothing like a little Norse Mythology reference to draw metal kids in, also it makes me think of odor.
Bitches Sin- They were trying too hard with this one.
Pungent Stench- Do I really need to comment on why this is not a good choice?
Tuff- A four letter word no one should name their band.
Acid Reign- Fortunately they didn't last long enough for this name to be outdated.
Cannibal Corpse- Sounds like the name of a bad Italian horror movie.
Q5-Just a little too out there, guys. Even though I must say that the few songs I heard by them were quite good.
Legs Diamond- Sounds like the name of a 50 year stripper.
London- No wonder they got nowhere and a bunch of guys left and found success with other bands (with better names).

There you have some meaningless nonsense about band names. Feel free to chime in with your favorite or least favorite. By the way, does anyone know exactly what a Krokus is?