Get tuned into the story behind the names
By Sean Doorly
Did you ever wonder how bands come up with their names? Is there a reference book that lists cool band names or a wise old retired rocker who spits them out daily? From Lillix to Linkin Park -- click through our photo gallery and find out the story behind how bands name themselves.
LINKIN PARK
Band Members: Rob Bourdon (drums), Brad Delson (guitar), Mike Shinoda
(MC/vocals), Joseph Hahn (DJ), Darren "Phoenix" Farrell (bass),
Chester Bennington (vocals)
Band Name Origin:
The band loves the Internet and many of their early fans were online junkies.
Therefore, they chose the unique spelling of Linkin so they could get
the band-name-dot-com.
LILLIX
Band Members: Tasha-Ray Evin (guitars), Lacey-Lee Evin (keyboards), Louise
Burns (bass), Kim Urhahn (drums)
Band Name Origin:
The band was originally called Tigerlily. They soon discovered another
band was also called that. The gals played around with different names
by combining different letters and words. They jumped from Tigerlily to
Tigerlily X to Lily X to Lillix. They later found out the name also refers
to a Norwegian forest cat.
NO DOUBT
Band Members: Gwen Stefani (vocals), Tony Kanal (bass), Tom Dumont (guitar),
Adrian Young (drums)
Band Name Origin:
Original singer John Spence named the band after his favorite expression,
"No Doubt."
OK GO
Band Members: Damian Kulash (vocals), Andrew Duncan (guitars), Tim Nordwind
(bass), Dan Konopka (drums)
Band Name Origin: Damian and Tim had an art teacher who would always say,
"Okay, go." For years this phrase was an inside joke between
the two friends. At one point they used the name for a fake grunge band.
When they finally created a real band, they felt there was no other choice
but to call it OK GO.
THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS
Band Members: Tyson Ritter (vocals/bass), Nick Wheeler (guitar/programming),
Mike Kennerty (guitar), Chris Gaylor (drums)
Band Name Origin: The band threw around a few names including The All
Americans. That wasn't cool enough. They liked The Rejects but there was
another band with a similar name. They finally put the two names together
and the All-American Rejects were born.
NICKELBACK
Band Members: Chad Kroeger (guitar, vocals), Mike Kroeger (guitar), Ryan
Vikedal (bass)
Band Name Origin:
Mike Kroeger used to work at a coffee shop and at the time a cup of joe
was selling for $2.95 to $4.95. He was constantly saying the phrase, "Here's
your nickel back." He couldn't get it out of his head and when it
was time to the name the band, he and his brother Chad thought it was
perfect.
3 DOORS DOWN
Band Members: Brad Arnold (vocals/drums), Matt Roberts (guitars) Todd
Harrell (bass), Chris Henderson (guitar)
Band Name Origin: The band was walking down a street and they noticed
a sign on old building that said, "doors down." They had three
band members at the time. So they decided to put it all together and call
themselves 3 Doors Down.