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Wednesday Coffee Break: Bands Named for OTHER Bands' Songs

Posted at 8:45 AM on March 10, 2010 by Steve Seel (17 Comments)
Filed under: 9:30 Coffee Break

(updated below)

Yesterday on the 9:30 Coffee Break, we covered bands who have songs that are also their band's name. Today, we want to explore the phenomenon of bands naming themselves after other artsts' songs. (There's one big example you might pick - it's a band who's been seen over the years as the prime rival to The Beatles ... okay, as you can see, we're accepting suggestions that aren't exact, word-for-word copies of song titles).

Update: We played:

1) Spoon (song by Can), "Written In Reverse"
2) The Rolling Stones (song "Rollin' Stone by Muddy Waters), "Get Off of My Cloud"
3) Ladytron (song by Roxy Music), "Destroy Everything You Touch"
4) Pretty Girls Make Graves (song by The Smiths), "Pyrite Pedestal"
5) Radiohead (song by Talking Heads), "The Bends"
6) Death Cab for Cutie (song by the Bonzo Doo-Dah Dog Band), "The Sound of Settling"

Comments (17)

Eric’s Trip (song by Sonic Youth)

Velocity Girl (song by Primal Scream)

Texas Is The Reason (song by The Misfits)

Pretty Girls Make Graves (song by The Smiths)

Blonde Redhead (song by DNA)

Posted by Kevin | March 10, 2010 9:05 AM

Boys Don't Cry - named after a Cure song, though I'm not really sure how badly I want to hear "I wanna be a cowboy"

Posted by Cynthia | March 10, 2010 9:07 AM

Local Band - The TV Sound for a obscure DuranDuran lyric!

Play the tune 'Halston'

Posted by Chad | March 10, 2010 9:07 AM


Lady Gaga picked her name from the Queen song "Radio Gaga"

Obvious choise would be something from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Ideas stolen from the internet(s):

The Kooks- a David Bowie song
Bright Eyes-a song by Art Garfunkel
Pretty Girls Make Graves - song by The Smiths
Stiff Little Fingers - song by The Vibrators
Radiohead - Talking Heads
Velocity Girl - Primal Scream
Judas Priest - Bob Dylan
Deep Purple - Peter de Rose
Funeral For A Friend - Planes Mistaken for Stars
Death Cab for Cutie - Bonzo Doo Dah Band
Baby Lemonade - Syd Barret
The Ordinary Boys - Morrissey
Deacon Blue - Steely Dan
Urge Overkill - Parliament

Posted by Justin | March 10, 2010 9:08 AM

Hi! Brits band 'Starsailor' was named after some musician's album/ song title, I believe. Sorry don't have a detail right now. Got to go back to work!

Posted by Yuko | March 10, 2010 9:08 AM

the Wailin' Jennys from Waylon Jennings?

Posted by Christian | March 10, 2010 9:08 AM

John Wesley Harding (song by Bob Dylan)

Posted by Eric Stoller | March 10, 2010 9:11 AM

The Rolling Stones, Rollin' Stone by Muddy Waters

Posted by Megan Thompson | March 10, 2010 9:11 AM

Arab Strap--El Paso Song
(band named after the Belle & Sebastian song)

Posted by Zach | March 10, 2010 9:12 AM

Radiohead got their name from a Talking Heads tune.

Posted by chrispavlicChris Pavlich | March 10, 2010 9:14 AM

The Rolling Stones (Muddy Waters song)

Radiohead (Talking Heads song)

Posted by Matt | March 10, 2010 9:14 AM

The one Steve was hinting at was the Rolling Stones, who took their name from a Howlin' Wolf song.
Kevin mentioned the Smiths-inspired Pretty Girls Make Graves; there was also Shakespeare's Sister.
There was a band called "Head Like a Kite," after a Shins lyric.
The Big Pink is named after an album by the Band.
The Dum Dum Girls, whose debut album is coming out later this month on Sub Pop, named themselves after the Iggy Pop song "The Dum Dum Boys," which is about the Stooges.

Posted by Will C. | March 10, 2010 9:14 AM

"Spoon" by Can

Posted by hobson | March 10, 2010 9:18 AM

Why didn't anyone mention the Australian band "Jet" which is also a song by Paul McCartney & Wings? The lead singer gave an interview mentioning he liked that song name so much he name his band after it.

Posted by J. Wagner | March 10, 2010 9:19 AM

No one has posted Ladytron (song by Roxy Music)

Posted by Mikee | March 10, 2010 9:21 AM

In case you need any last minute additions, here they are...

* A Day in the Life (now known as Hawthorne Heights), after the Beatles song "A Day in the Life".
* After Forever, after Black Sabbath's "After Forever"
* Aqualung, after Jethro Tull's "Aqualung"
* Between the Buried and Me, in the song "Ghost Train" by Counting Crows The lyrics say "Fifty Million feet of earth between the buried and me"
* Blonde Redhead, after the DNA song "Blonde Redhead"
* Bonded by Blood, after Exodus's "Bonded by blood".
* Boom Boom Satellites, after Sigue Sigue Sputnik's "Boom Boom Satellite" from their album Dress for Excess
* Boris, after Melvins' "Boris" from their album Bullhead
* Bury Your Dead, after The Haunted's "Bury Your Dead"
* Cross-Eyed Mary, from Jethro Tull's 1971 album Aqualung
* Death Cab for Cutie, after Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's "Death Cab for Cutie" on their album Gorilla[1]
* Deacon Blue, after Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues" on their album Aja
* Deep Purple, after Peter DeRose's "Deep Purple"
* DumDum Boys, after Iggy Pop's "Dum Dum Boys"
* Ella Guru, after Captain Beefheart's "Ella Guru"
* Eric's Trip, after Sonic Youth's "Eric's Trip"
* Firehouse, after Kiss's "Firehouse"
* Funeral for a Friend, after Planes Mistaken for Stars's "Funeral for a Friend" (although some believe it's after Elton John's "Love Lies Bleeding (Funeral for a Friend)")[who?]
* Godsmack, after Alice In Chains' "God Smack"
* Head Like a Hole, after Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like A Hole"
* Hello Goodbye, after The Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye"
* Hit the Lights, after Metallica's "Hit the Lights"
* In Fear And Faith, after Circa Survive's "In Fear And Faith"
* Jet, after Wings' "Jet"
* Kashmir after Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir"
* The Kooks, after David Bowie's "Kooks" from his album Hunky Dory
* Ladytron, after Roxy Music's "Ladytron"
* Little Birdy, after Ween's "Little Birdy" from the album Pure Guava
* The Living End, after The Stray Cats' "The Living End"
* Madness, after Prince Buster's "Madness"[2]
* Merciless Death, after Dark Angel's "Merciless Death"
* Mr. Big, after Free's "Mr. Big"
* The Musical Box, after the Genesis song on the 1971 Nursery Cryme album
* Nickel Creek, after Byron Berline's "Nickel Creek"
* Nine Below Zero, after Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Nine Below Zero"
* The Ordinary Boys, after Morrissey's "The Ordinary Boys"
* Overkill, after Motörhead's "Overkill"
* Powderfinger, after Neil Young's "Powderfinger"
* Pretty Girls Make Graves, after The Smiths' song by the same name.
* Roxette, after Dr. Feelgood's "Roxette"
* Ruins, after Henry Cow's "Ruins"
* Scary Kids Scaring Kids, after Cap'n Jazz's "Scary Kids Scaring Kids"
* Seether, after Veruca Salt's "Seether"
* Shook Ones, after Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones"
* The Sisters of Mercy, after Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy"
* Spiral Architect, after Black Sabbath's "Spiral Architect"
* Spoon, after the 1970s German avant-garde band Can's song "Spoon"
* Stars of Track and Field, after Belle and Sebastian's "Stars of Track and Field"
* Stiff Little Fingers, after The Vibrators' "Stiff Little Fingers"
* Stockholm Syndrome, after Muse's "Stockholm Syndrome"
* The Sunshine Underground, after The Chemical Brothers' "The Sunshine Underground"
* Uh Huh Her, after PJ Harvey's unreleased song "Uh Huh Her" that was cut from the album Uh Huh Her
* Winds of Plague, after Unearth's "Endless"
* Wow & Flutter, after Stereolab's "Wow and Flutter"

Posted by Robin | March 10, 2010 9:26 AM

It's too late for the Coffee Break, but Twin Cities band Communist Daughter is named after a Neutral Milk Hotel song.

Posted by Phil | March 10, 2010 11:16 AM

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