The 25 Most Ridiculous Band Names in Rock History

[Brian Damage]

#25.Porno for Pyros

Former Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell came up with the name while watching coverage of the LA riots on television.

[Brian Damage]

#24. Nickelback

Lead singer Chad Kroeger was having trouble coming up with a name, and so approached his brother, who worked at a Starbucks. Coffee was $1.95, which meant every customer who paid two bucks got—waiiiit for it—a nickel back.

[Brian Damage]

#23. The Alan Parsons Project

Founder Alan Parsons started a "project" with other "project administration personnel" to "drill down" on this whole "music" thing he'd heard so much about. So he named it that.

[Brian Damage]

#22. Stone Temple Pilots

One of the band members thought the logo on the STP car treatment spray bottles was cool. So yes, in case you were wondering: a lot of thought went into this.

[Brian Damage]

#21. Matchbox 20

Explanations range from the name being the title of a song from an earlier band to the band's drummer seeing the word "matchbox" and the number 20 on a guy's shirt in a restaurant.

[Brian Damage]

#20. Smashing Pumpkins

More of a cautionary tale than anything else, bandmates Billy Corgan and co. reportedly dashed the name off quickly so they could get on with their lives, not realizing they'd be fielding lame pumpkin-based jokes about it for the rest of their lives.

[Brian Damage]

#19. Def Leppard

Singer Joe Elliott thought of the name Deaf Leopard while he was in school (presumably while failing something). The spelling was later changed so the band didn't become confused with punk bands

[Brian Damage]

#18. W.A.S.P.

Eager for a cool-sounding metal band name, Blackie Lawless, Rik Fox, Randy Piper and Tony Richards decided to take the word "wasp," then for no reason punctuate the **** out of it.

[Brian Damage]

#17. Puddle of Mudd

The 1993 Missouri River flood left the band's practice space a muddy mess, which led them to this name

[Brian Damage]

#16. Of Montreal

Frontman Kevin Barnes has told many conflicting stories about where this Athens, Ga. band got their name, but the one that seems to have gained acceptance is that he was dating a girl from Montreal and it didn't work out.

[Brian Damage]

#15. Goo Goo Dolls


The band found the name in an issue of True Detective Magazine after a club owner balked at their original name, the Sex Maggots.

[Brian Damage]

#14. The The

A British act decided to come up with a band name even more ironically detached than the Band.

[Brian Damage]

#13. Mr. Mister

The band's name references a record by another band called the Weather Report, which had the line "Mister Fister" in it.

[Brian Damage]

#12. The Mr. T Experience

The members saw Mr. T on television and thought, for some reason, it would be funny to name their band after him.

[Brian Damage]

#11. Panic! At the Disco

Named after the Smiths song, "Panic," which includes a line about a disco burning down.