Ongoing History Daily: Band names derived from other bands’ songs

Finding the right name for the band can be a torturous thing. One solution is to seek inspiration in the titles of songs written by other groups.

For example, Radiohead took their name from a Talking Heads song on their True Stories album. Deep Purple, the classic rock band, got that name from a song from the 1930s with that title. Motorhead is also the name of a song by Hawkwind. Prophets of Rage, which featured members of Rage Against the Machine and Chuck D of Public Enemy is, in fact, named after a Public Enemy song. And then Seether, the South African band, took their name from the Veruca Salt song.

But then there are coincidences. Yes, Alice in Chains has a song called “God Smack,” but that has nothing to do with the band of the same name. “Machine Head” is a song by Bush and the name of a band, but neither has anything to do with the other.