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List of original names of bands

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Many notable bands originally went by different names before becoming successful.[1] This list of original names of bands lists former official band names, some of them are significantly different from the eventual current names. This list does not include former band names that have only minor differences, such as stylisation changes, with the band's final band name.

List

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This is a sortable list, ordered alphabetically, starting with the name that the band is best known as, followed by the band's original name, and any other names they previously used in chronological order.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
Current name Former name Other former names References Notes Origin
40 Below Summer 6 Degrees Of Degradation Mid-Green Pimp Machine;

Uretha Franklin

Acroma No Release
Alice In Chains Alice N' Chains
As I Lay Dying Against The Mark Life Once Lost
The Beach Boys The Pendletones [1]
The Beatles The Quarrymen Johnny & The Moon Dogs, The Silver Beetles
Bee Gees The Rattlesnakes Wee Johnny Hayes And The Blue Cats [2][3]
Black Sabbath The Polka Tulk Blues Band Earth [1]
Bloodhound Gang Bang Chamber 8
Blondie Angel And The Snake [4][5]
Blur Seymour [6]
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony The Band-Aid Boys B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e [1]
Breaking Point Broken
The Chicks Dixie Chicks
The Cure Malice Easy Cure
Coldplay Pectoralz Starfish Big Fat Noises [7]
Creed Maddox Creed Naked Toddler [1]
Creedence Clearwater Revival The Blue Velvets The Golliwogs [8]
Damageplan New Found Power
Def Leppard Atomic Mass [1]
Depeche Mode Composition Of Sound
Destiny's Child Girl's Tyme [9]
The Dillinger Escape Plan Arcane
Disturbed Brawl
Downset Social Justice
Faith No More Sharp Young Men Faith No Man
Fear Factory Ulceration
Finger Eleven Stone Soul Picnic Rainbow Butt Monkeys
Elbow Mr. Soft Soft [10]
Empire of the Sun Steelemore [11]
Godsmack The Scam
Goo Goo Dolls The Sex Maggots [2][10]
Green Day Sweet Children [1]
INXS The Farriss Brothers [11]
Joy Division Stiff Kittens Warsaw [12]
Lacuna Coil Sleep Of Right Ethereal
Lamb of God Burn The Priest [1]
Lemon Demon Trapezoid Deporitaz [13]
Lemon Joy Etaž 3 Lemon's Joy
Led Zeppelin The New Yardbirds [9]
The Libertines The Strand [10]
Lifer Bloodmouth Driver; Strangers With Candy
Light The Torch Devil You Know
Limp Bizkit Limp Biscut
Mango Man-Go
Maroon 5 Kara's Flowers Maroon [1]
Muse Rocket Baby Dolls [8]
Nickelback Village Idiots [8]
Nirvana Skid Row Pen Cap Chew; Bliss; Ted Ed Fred. [8][14]
Oasis The Rain [10]
Pearl Jam Mookie Blaylock [1]
Pink Floyd Sigma 6 Meggadeaths; The Screaming Abdabs; Leonard’s Lodgers; The Spectrum Five; Tea Set [15][8]
Queen Smile
Radiohead On A Friday [1]
Red Hot Chili Peppers Tony Flow And The Miraculously Majestic Masters Of Mayhem [1]
R.E.M. It Crawled From The South Twisted Kites Negro Eyes; Cans of Piss [16]
Savage Garden Crush [11]
Scars Of Life Redefined
Selena Gomez & the Scene The Scene
Seether Saron Gas
Sevendust Rumble Fish Crawlspace
Simon & Garfunkel Tom And Jerry [1]
Slade The N' Betweens Ambrose Slade [6]
Slipknot Meld [10]
Snow Patrol Shrug Polar Bear [2][10]
Sonny & Cher Caesar And Cleo [4]
Sparks Halfnelson
Spice Girls Touch [17]
Static-X Drill Static
Status Quo Scorpions The Paladins;

The Spectres; Traffic Jam

Sugar Ray Shrinky Dinx [1]
Tantric C-14
They Might Be Giants El Grupo De Rock And Roll [18]
Three Days Grace Groundswell
U2 Feedback The Hype [8][2]
Van Halen Genesis Mammoth [8]
The Who The Detours The High Numbers [2]
[19]

Other topics

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "25 Worst Original Names of Famous Bands". Rolling Stone. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e Acuna, Kirsten (5 September 2012). "15 Original Band Names Before They Were Famous". Business Insider. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  3. ^ Hughes, Andrew (2009). The Bee Gees - Tales of the Brothers Gibb. ISBN 9780857120045. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  4. ^ a b Conrdat, Stacy (14 September 2009). "The Quick 10: The Former Names of 10 Bands". Mental Floss. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  5. ^ Barker, Emily (3 February 2014). "Blondie: 25 Godlike Moments From One Of The World's Most Influential Bands". NME. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  6. ^ a b Rentoul, John (24 January 2016). "The Top Ten: Original band names". The Independent. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  7. ^ Wild, Debs; Croft, Malcolm (2018). Life in Technicolor: A Celebration of Coldplay. ECW Press. pp. 13–16. ISBN 9781787391093.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "The 12 worst original band names". Planet Rock. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  9. ^ a b Billboard staff (7 May 2014). "Original Band Names of 51 Famous Groups". Billboard. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Cicierega, Neil (2008). "Revealed – what bands were called before they made it big". Lemon Demon. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Adams, Cameron (18 September 2015). "The worst original Aussie band names". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  12. ^ Gray, Chris (9 February 2011). "25 Famous Bands' Less Famous Previous Names". Houston Press. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  13. ^ Barker, Emily (9 July 2014). "Lemon Demon (Info)". NME. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  14. ^ Azerrad, Michael (1994). Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday. pp. 61–2. ISBN 0-385-47199-8.
  15. ^ Barker, Emily (9 July 2014). "50 Geeky Facts About Pink Floyd". NME. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  16. ^ "R.E.M.'s first ever show: Opening band at a birthday party in a church".
  17. ^ Vincent, Alice (8 July 2016). "Here's the story, from A to Z: how the Spice Girls made Wannabe". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  18. ^ "They Might Be Giants full biography".
  19. ^ Denham, Jess (3 February 2016). "Starfish to Girl's Tyme: 12 famous bands with dodgy original names". The Independent. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
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