Name Origins of Our Favorite Rock ’n Roll Bands

Photo by Paul Jones

The Kinks

Larry Page once commented that Ray Davies and his bandmates had a Kinky fashion sense. Hence, "The way you look, and the clothes you wear, you ought to be called the Kinks.” This is how the frontman quoted the long time singer, and a name that Davies didn't particularly like, was born.

The Doors

Jim Morrison was a film student at UCLA, and the name came about after meeting Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in 1965.  The keyboardist was impressed with Morrison’s poetry and immediately suggested they form a band. Manzarek also had a name in mind.  Aldous Huxley’s, the Doors of Perception was the baseline, and the author had actually referenced another work for his title. William Blake’s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell stated: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is infinite.

Ladies and Gentleman from Los Angeles California - The Doors. 

The Beatles

Nothing too sophisticated, the Fab Four were looking for an insect name like the Crickets and simply added a play on words.  The Beat-les.

Led Zeppelin

In 1967, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones had been collaborating in numerous sessions and agreed to work on their next project together.  They then invited Robert Plant and John Bonham to tour in Scandinavia as the New Yardbirds. So supposedly, Page had eyes on creating a supergroup with Keith Moon, Jeff Beck and John Entwistle and Moon had a sarcastic take on the prospects. The eclectic drummer remarked that the project would go down like a lead balloon, and Page took the quip to the next level.  He opted for the biggest failed balloon of all, and Led Zeppelin had its name - misspelling and all.

The Rolling Stones

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards began together as a band called the Blues Boys. They eventually met Brian Jones and Charlie Watts and formed the basis for the group we know today. So soon offered a gig at London’s Marquee Club, Jones was on the phone with a magazine called Jazz News to promote the event.  But he suddenly realized the band didn’t have a name, and the leader was forced to improvise.  He noticed The Best of Muddy Waters album on the floor, and Side 1, Track 5 got his attention.  The Rollin Stones took the stage that night, and after the gig, the “g” was added to the most enduring band name in Rock history.

The Grateful Dead

Originally called the Warlocks in the Bay area, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir were making themselves a name in the mid 60s. But another band by the same name had put out an album, and Jerry needed a new one.  Thus, Garcia remembers it this way.  “We were standing around in utter desperation at Phil [Lesh]’s house in Palo Alto [trying to think up a name for the band]. There was a huge dictionary, big monolithic thing, and I just opened it up. There in huge black letters was `The Grateful Dead.’ It just cancelled my mind out,” Garcia claimed, according to FarOut Magazine.

Of course, the story was doubted, because it seems unlikely the phrase would be in a dictionary - especially since the two words were never really strung together until the band existed.  

Nonetheless, Straight Dope endeavored to find an answer and began examining dictionaries in 1989. The search bore fruit in Funk & Wagnall’s Dictionary.  “The motif of a cycle of folk tales which begin with the hero coming upon a group of people ill-treating or refusing to bury the corpse of a man who had died without paying his debts. He gives his last penny, either to pay the man’s debts or to give him a decent burial.”

A very Grateful Dead, the story is good enough for me.

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