There’s been quite a spate of name-changery going on in the indie rock ranks right now, as people like DIIV (FKA Dive), VÅR (FKA War), and POP ETC (FKA the morning benders) have decided to change stuff up (albeit for different, completely respectable reasons). So, we figured it was time to take a look back on other band name changes from classic bands. POP ETC, VÅR, and DIIV, in the context of this blog post, you’re in good company! Hit the gallery above.
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Really surprised not to see Warsaw -> Joy Division on here! Is it a lineup thing?
Nope, just a name change. There is some stuff recorded as Warsaw available out here I suggest you check it out.
Yup. It’s a similar story to how WAVVES was originally called Toolbag Kid Who May Obtain A Guitar In An Hour. Then 60 minutes later, it was WAVVES.
5 is the new 11.
355 ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
;) ;) ;)
I’m only seeing five photos right now. I can only assume you included The Quarrymen-> Beatles change
Wait, really you omitted the biggest band in the world?
355 – Up
;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
Wicked Lester-> KISS??
Good one.
And I have an old Wicked Lester cassette demo that isn’t even too many generations old. Had a friend who was the HUGEST kiss fan live at my house for a while. But dude went a drug nutty and left a bunch of his shit behind. Score. I think that demo was finally released in some kind of box set or something, though.
Also, Mookie Blaylock->Pearl Jam
In case you need to jog your memory, you may remember Mookie Blaylock as a footnote to one of the greatest NCAA title runs of ALL TIME:
Oh yeah and he played in the NBA for a long time, or something.
Another good one. Pearl Jam is a better name, but I still sometimes wish they could have kept Mookie Blaylock.
Pen Cap Chew -> Nirvana
The Originals -> The New Originals -> the Thamesmen -> Spinal Tap
HAHAHA
Warlcoks -> Grateful Dead
INTERESTING FACT: Velvet Underground also started out as the Warlocks. LESSON: Name your band the Warlocks
… than change it to something else
The Grateful Dead changed their name because another band with that name was signed to a label. I guess it’s possible Velvet Underground had to change their name for the same reason. The Dead and the Underground both existed as The Warlocks at the same time – one on the West Coast, the other on the East Coast.
The Management -> MGMT
Have you heard the original Management?
http://www.myspace.com/management
Goes by Neon Sound now, but worth checking out
Poop Factory -> Poop Factories ->Skrillex
You left out ->The New Poop Factories
(Because of when he found out there was already a Poop Factories)
the food -> the mouth -> esophagus -> poop factory -> shit tubes -> the colons -> da bowl.
->my mouth
Mind Power –> Bad Brains
Dinosaur–>Dinosaur Jr.!
or the greatest ever, Tity Boi–>2 Chainz
TRU.
The Hanson Brothers -> The Hansons -> Hanson
Used to give my sister SO much shit for thinking that was legitimate!
my friend’s house was broken into in the the 90s. they took all the valuables, including her CD player, which had a hanson cd in it, which the burglars smashed on the drive way.
if nothing else, they had taste
and standards.
That’s amazing.
The Morning Benders changed to Pop Inc. What a horrible name…
Pop Etc. Still a terrible name.
ahh yeah that name suck so bad I couldnt remember it….
Wasn’t Nirvana originally named Skid Row?
Seymour/Circus ->Blur
The Ravens -> The Kinks
The Artistics -> Talking Heads
wow – “the artistics”?? that’s terrrrible
Talking Heads’ original name was The Autistics, not The Artistics. They changed it to avoid offending those with autism.
I believe Led Zeppelin used to be called the Low Counties Merseyset Country Lane and Jug Band. But it’s cool, not a lot of people remember that anymore…
Also Black Sabbath? Used to be called White Christmas. True story.
you all should be ashamed for forgetting canada’s pride:
rainbow butt monkeys -> Finger 11
ROCK ON, MOTHAFUCKAS!!!!!!
don’t need a clear picture to see the rockthefuckoutingness of these sons of the true north, strong, and rocking the fuck out of you punx assx mothafuxxxas
“let’s get some XL khakis, blond highlights, and D’s blown because we’re about to take the world by da B’s.” – Rainbow Butt Monkeys
I have no idea what you’re talking about in most of this post, but it made me laugh so I gave you thumbs up.
dtitz is back in full force. Where the fuck you been, dtilla?
hey thanks loves. busy week bebs. busy week. no sign of letting up but i’m trying to make whatever mark I leave really really brown. thx.
-d.
Wow. Sucks for those other four original members of Oasis. You formed a band that went on to be hugely successful, some would even say influential, going so far as to have hits in America (that used to be a really big deal) and all anybody will remember about it is how douchey those Gallagher brothers were to each other and pretty much ever other person they ever spoke to (or about).
Damn that was a long ass sentence.
This is by far the most bland thing I’ve said at Stereogum that has received a down vote. People are strange.
fixed it yo
Sweet! *internet high five*
And people thought Red Hot Chili Peppers was a weird name. Something tells me Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem might not have made it to the RRHOF.
The Smashing Pumpkins –> Smashing Pumpkins –> The Smashing Pumpkins
fecal matter –> skid row –> pen cap chew –> bliss –> ted ed fred –> nirvana.
Pearl Jam -> Stone Temple Pilots -> Creed -> Nickelback
Am I doing this right?
Contrary to popular belief, not quite. Stone Temple Pilots were a band with a song called Plush before Pearl Jam was even a thought, making the early accusations of of STP (who were first known as Mighty Joe Young) copying Pearl Jam completely uninformed and ridiculous.
STP formed in 86? Either way I never heard that much of a similarity between the two…people needed a reason to complain like always.
They were about half-formed at that time (Robert and Scott), but STP had a bunch of their songs written and a lot of their style established even before Andy from Mother Love Bone died. People also forget that Pearl Jam and STP were playing their early shows miles and miles apart from each other. Frankly, I don’t know how anyone could mistake one band for the other. To me, STP were always edgier and artier. Kurt Cobain was right about Pearl Jam; they’re definitely more like a classic rock band.
I wouldn’t say STP were artier until Tiny Music. Everything before that was the same classic rock reinterpretation Pearl Jam was doing. I actually like STP, it was more of an off-hand joke. I think they would have become popular either way. It was more a matter of some record exec seeing they had a similar sound to Pearl Jam and trying to shoehorn them into the whole grunge thing. It became clearer on later albums when they started making blatant tributes to bands like The Beatles and The Eagles, but it was always there.
Good bands have always produced crappy imitators. It’s never seemed fair to me to judge a band/musician by some subsequent band/musician who tried to copy some aspect of their sound (and maybe did so poorly).
Although I did find that funny…
HAHAHAHAHA perfect!!!!!!!!
Helium Kidz ——-> XTC
Wire–>Wir–>Wire
Shrinky Dinx–>Sugar Ray
Classic Bands That Changed Their Name? All of them.
Coldplay’s original band name was “Pectoralz” (possibly the most BRO band name of all time)? It all makes sense now.
Well, it’s better than Hot Sharts, which is what God calls them.
My band in high school/college was called The Slurpees, I got a call on a hungover early Saturday morning my freshman year in college (IN MY DORM ROOM?!) from an attorney representing 7-11. Seems they’d noticed that http://www.theslurpees.com belonged to a band and they were none too pleased.
The lawyer said we needed to immediately change the name and dispose of all merchandise with the word Slurpees on it, since it was trademarked. So we “disposed of” all of our albums and t shits (The Slurpees: Cold), and changed our name to……
The Sauce.
Neither were particularly good names, but neither were that bad. It just still pisses me off that 7-11 didn’t a)realize that 40% of the people who came to our shows stopped off for a slurpee before hand, and b)invite us to become the “Official Band of the Slurpee”, because that would have ruled.
http://www.myspace.com/thesaucemusic
ooooh it’s pretty embarrassing, that power pop we made
It’s not bad man.
also, boycott 7-11, they are NOT supportive of young bands…
actually, you don’t have to, slurpees are really good
Flake Music >> The Shins
before they were Flake music…they were Orange Little Cousins. I have an OLC demo.
Remember when N.W.A. was called The Grundleratorial Exfarkricated Tittliciousness Buckets?
I really got downvoted for this? To who did that:
Lighten the fuck up.
fixed because I like the word “Tittliciousness”!
Telling downvoters to lighten up is like telling flies not to eat shit. It seems like a real asshole thing to do, yet they just can’t seem to help themselves.
So basically every band anywhere ever used to have another name or two before settling on their current one.
Next in Stereogum lists: BANDS WITH DRUMMERS
No Sleigh Bells!
The Sellouts – Nirvana ( the name they had right before changing to nirvana, if im not wrong )
I will never love you. Ever.
Maybe if money’s involved.
earth >> black sabbath
There must be very few famous bands ever who started with the same name. What sort of time-sink is this?
The Golliwogs – Creedence Clearwater Revival