h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think the Jackson 5 are beyond help, arn't they?

For non-Brits, UB 40 were named after the form that must be filled in to claim unemployment benefit. Is it still called that?

Portishead are named after the commuter town that the band came from. The local burghers got very miffed that people kept nicking the road signs.

sprout

Right Said Fred were named after a comedic song by Bernard Cribbins.

Foo Fighters were named after WW2 slang for mysterious lights seen by American pilots over France.

AC/DC took their name from the back of a vacuum cleaner (with no idea what *else* the name might suggest...)

Green Day took their name from a local slang term which means to be stoned for a full 24 hours.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin were named after an episode of The Goon Show.

And Toad the Wet Sprocket took their name from the 'Rock Notes' Python sketch.

Saint Etienne are named after the football team (AS Saint Etienne, known locally as ASSE) that hail from the town in question, where the great Michel Platini made his name. They were a major force in European football in the late 7os and early 80s, and had a really cool kit - green v-neck with red/white/blue tricolore piping on the collar and cuffs. Actually, I think I might run along now and buy a replica of it...

Hüsker Dü comes from the Swedish phrase for 'Do You Remember?' which I'm told is also a board game in Scandinavia.

Hmmm

There is a very exhaustive list here, unfortunately: http://www.heathenworld.com/bandname/

Is there a way we can do it differently/better?

sprout

Well, they don't know about the Jam, they've got hold of the wrong end of the right stick about Dexy's (although spelt the band name and the name of the drug wrong) and they only know about a quarter of the story about the Clash.

So we could do it properly...

T'Pau were named after the race is Star Trek

The Beatles is (allegedly) a play on beat group.

Evanescence comes from the band's founders flicking through a dictionary, trying to find something to replace teir old name. It means "to disapear like vapour".

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Close but no cigar, T'Pau were named after a Vulcan character from TOS.

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Here's hoping...

The Doors - from Anthony Burgess' "The Doors of Perception"
House of Pain - from H.G.Wells' "The Island of Doctor Moreau"

Jane's Addiction - The singer and his girlfriend were sitting around thinking of band names. A friend of theirs, Jane, had quite a bad heroin addiction. As a spoof on "The Jimi Hendrix Experience", the girlfriend suggesting "Jane's Heroin Experience." The singer thought about it for a second and said "Jane's Addiction". And that was that.

Oh! You just reminded me of Everything But The Girl. That was the name of a junk (antique?) shop called EBTG.

I heard it was the name of a wedding shop where you could buy...

Garbage got their name from the reaction of a friend when this person first heard their music. Charming!

Oh, and Nickelback's name comes from the bassist. He used to work at a certain popular, global coffee shop chain. He got very used to saying "here's your nickel back" when giving change.