Somebody asked for ‘interesting examples of the origin of UK bands names’ like UB40 – 23 fascinating tales about our favourite musicians

The fact that Oasis named themselves after a disappointing Swindon-based swimming pool makes sense when you consider how uninspired their lyrics also are. But, with so many choices available, naming a band well must be a tricky endeavour.

They’ve been discussing this on the Casual UK subreddit after Exchangenudes_4_Joke asked this:

UB40 are famously named after an Unemployment Benefit form. Give me other interesting examples of the origin of UK bands names.

And lots of people chipped in with stories that are a lot more engaging than that of the Gallagher brothers, like these…

1.

‘Jethro Tull used to change their name from gig to gig to get rebooked. They were using the name Jethro Tull when a venue asked them to become the resident band so it stuck. The name came from one of their booking agent’s staff who was a history enthusiast: the band had unwittingly named themselves after an 18th century agriculturalist who invented the seed drill, something they regretted when they found out.’
–Jiminyfingers

2.

‘Manic Street Preachers are named that after someone yelled it at James Dean Bradfield when he was busking.’
–TrixieLaBouche

3.

‘Kaiser Chiefs are named after the South African football team that Leeds United signed Lucas Radabe from.’
–asymmetricears

4.

‘Orbital named after the M25 London orbital motorway and all the raves within and without.’
–peteski77

5.

‘Everything But The Girl are named after a shop that sold beds. The shop’s slogan was ‘For all your nighttime needs, we provide…’.’
–stevenjameshyde

6.

‘Half Man Half Biscuit is how one of their friends described Prince Charles.’
–DifferentWave

7.

‘Gorillaz are named that because in an interview during the Oasis Vs Blur Britpop days, Noel Gallagher had a dig at Damon Albarn and said that they were the Beatles and Blur were the Monkees.’
–Breakwaterbot

8.

‘The Smiths were named because of the commonness of the name Smith but Smith is also the name of someone who applies skill to their craft. e.g. blacksmith, goldsmith, etc.’
–MyKidsFoundMyOldUser

9.

‘Led Zeppelin. Originally, they were told their music would go down like a lead balloon. Lead = Led to not confuse pronunciation, and Balloon = Zeppelin because well, a zeppelin is a big balloon.’
–OohSpookyParty

10.

‘Frankie Goes To Hollywood are named after a newspaper headline about Frank Sinatra going to act in films.’
–darwin-rover

11.

‘Duran Duran are named after Dr. Durand Durand from Barbarella.’
–internetwanderer2

12.

‘The Stanton Warriors are named after a type of manhole cover.’
–TheClnl