Provided they didn't take the easy way out and name themselves after a song (Rolling Stones), their hometown (Boston) or each other (Hall & Oates), almost every band that went on to sell millions of records, get tons of radio play and sell out arenas has had some form of the following conversation:
Band Member 1: Man, no one will come see us play/book us/buy our records if we keep calling ourselves [insert lame band name here].Band Member 2: [hits joint] Yeah, man... but what should we call ourselves?
Band Member 3: [the "quiet one"] How about...
And eureka, another star is born.
The other day, thanks to our trusty Rhino Records 2011 calendar, Rocks Off noticed that the anniversary of a Very Famous Band forming under a Much Different Name was coming up. We got to thinking, and a few mouse-clicks later, here are 25 famous bands and their not-so-famous original names, although a few are semi-famous enough that you may recognize them.
By the way, we say "original" - these are all names that at least some of the groups' core members took on before the better-known moniker, but not always the very, very first. One is a certain singer-songwriter's group before he (wisely) decided to strike out on his own. And sometimes the change to the more famous name was due to a key addition or subtraction of personnel, but just as often it wasn't.
But anyways. How many can you guess?
1. Chicago
2. U2
3. Radiohead
4. Oasis
5. Billy Joel
6. The Kinks
7. Grateful Dead
8. Paul Revere & the Raiders
9. Van Halen
10. The Beach Boys
11. INXS
12. KISS
13. Drive-By Truckers
14. Coldplay
15. Earth, Wind & Fire
16. The Temptations
17. Psychedelic Furs
18. Depeche Mode
19. Pearl Jam
20. Joy Division
21. Lynyrd Skynyrd
22. Poison
23. Huey Lewis & the News
24. Cameo
25. Black Sabbath
OK, that was the easy part. Who did they used to be?
