ABBA
An acronym for the first names of the band members: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Anderson and Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad.

AC/DC
A band member saw AC/DC on a sewing machine. It stood for 'Alternating Current / Direct Current'. The band didn't realize it was also slang for bi-sexual, which caused a few misunderstandings in their early days.

Aerosmith
Taken from the 1925 book, 'Arrowsmith' by Sinclair Lewis.

 

Alice in Chains

A funny rumor is that they were named after a lost episode from The Brady Bunch series!

 

Anthrax

Scott Ian got the name "anthrax" from his biology class in high school. He thought it was a cool name. Although they got a lot of backlash during the anthrax attacks of late 2001.

 

Beatles
Original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe came up with the Beetles in 1960, which was a play on Buddy Holly's Crickets. John Lennon is generally credited with combining Beetles and Beat to come up with the Beatles spelling.

 

Black Sabbath
Named after a 1963 horror movie starring Boris Karloff.

 

Blue Oyster Cult
A combination of a recipe that the band's manager read in a book and the band's fascination with the occult.

 

The Byrds
A band called the Beefeaters was having Thanksgiving dinner when they tried coming up with a new name. Singer, Gene Clark offered "The Birdsies." Nobody liked that name and producer Jim Dickson said, "How about the Birds"? "Birds" was slang in England for girls and the band didn't want to be called "the Girls". Guitarist, Roger McGuinn came up with the B-Y-R-D-S spelling, and it stuck.

 

The Cranberries

Originally called Cranberries Saw Us (a joke on Cranberries SAUCE) they changed it to the shorter form later.

 

Creed

Creed is from the former bassist, Brain Mashall, and he was in a group before CREED and it was named Madox's Creed and they were playing around with the word creed and their names. They finally settled on just Creed. Alternate theory: They got their name from a book by Steven King titled " Pet Cemetery". Creed was the family's last name.

 

Creedance Clearwater Revival
Originally called The Golliwogs, unconfirmed reports say the band took their new name from Norvel Creedence, a friend of band leader John Fogerty. John's favorite beer was called Clearwater , which, after it disappeared from the market for a time, was re-introduced by another brewery. The result: Creedence Clearwater Revival.

 

Deep Purple
Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother liked the Bing Crosby song "Deep Purple".

Def Leppard
Inspired by a drawing Joe Elliot made of a leopard with no ears, a 'Deaf Leopard'.

John Denver
John Henry Deutschendorf adopted the stage surname " Denver " in tribute to the Rocky Mountain area he so cherished.

 

Dire Straits
Their name describes the financial situation they were in when forming the band. They had to hire instruments for their first show, they were in such a bad financial situation.

 

Doors
From a William Blake quote 'If the doors of perception were to be cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite'. The Doors were originally called the Psychedelic Rangers.

 

Genesis
The first book in the Bible. The name was part of their first album title 'From Genesis to Revelation', which was suggested by their original manager, Jonathan King.

Grateful Dead
Refers to a series of Old English folk tales with the same basic theme. A traveler enters a village and finds the villagers desecrating, or refusing to bury the body of a dead man because he died owing creditors' money. The traveler pays the dead man's debts and sees to a decent burial. Later in his travels, the man is saved by a mysterious event, which is credited to the dead man's grateful spirit. Hence, the Grateful Dead. The band was originally the Warlocks, and picked Grateful Dead out of a dictionary after realizing there was another band called the Warlocks.

 

Green Day

1) It may have come from the sci-fi movie Soylent Green when they said "Tuesday is soylent green day." Soylent green was a food produced by a corporation to feed the way overpopulated masses; turns out they were also making it from the masses! 2) Another story is that when they dropped out of school to be musicians, their principal said "It'll be a green day in hell before you make anything of yourselves". 3) Some say that in drug slang - if you smoked pot and goofed off all day, it was a "Green Day."

 

Guns 'n Roses

Originally two bands L.A. GUNNS and HOLLYWOOD ROSES. Hollywood Roses was headed by Axl Rose, Tracii. Guns headed the other band which also featured Slash. The two frequented clubs and played there and were friends. They were often ridiculed for the name as a logo with gun & roses signifies homosexuality.

 

Incubus

One day the guy's were thinking of names and Mike was reading a book that mentioned an Incubus and the band liked it. Later they read a dictionary and found out it means an Evil male spirit that violates sleeping women. An Incubus was supposedly some mythological creature that would come into villages at night and impregnate the women without anybody knowing.

 

Iron Maiden
Named after a medieval torture device. It was a box big enough to admit a man, with folding-doors which were studded with sharp iron spikes. When the doors were closed, these spikes were forced into the body of the victim, who was left there to die in horrible torture. They actually showcased a cartoon depicting the torture device as the cover photo of one of their albums: The X Factor.

 

Jethro Tull
Named after a British farmer from the 1800's who invented the precursor to the modern plow.

Judas Priest
Taken from the Bob Dylan tune "The ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest".

 

Kiss
According to Paul Stanley, Kiss was a momentary inspiration that sounded dangerous and sexy at the same time. Band members deny the rumor that the name stands for 'Knights In Satan's Service'.

Led Zeppelin
The Yardbirds were just wrapping up their final US tour before splitting up. Guitarist Jimmy Page was determined to keep the act going, renaming a new line-up The New Yardbirds. Keith Moon of The Who is rumored to have said "...it'll probably go over like a led zeppelin", thus inspiring the final name change. The 'Led' spelling was to make sure people pronounced the name right.

 

Lynyrd Skynyrd
Named after Robert E. Lee High school gym coach, Leonard Skinner, who punished founding members Gary Rossington and Bob Burns several times for breaking the school's strict dress code, which did not allow boys to have long hair touching the collar or sideburns below the ears. Earlier band names were 'Noble Five' and 'One Percent'.

 

Marilyn Manson

All the members of the band have their stage names taken from one serial killer one movie queen.

Marilyn Manson = Marilyn Monroe (something short of an on screen goddess) + Charles Manson (hippie who along with his 'friends' carried out a number of infamous murders - of well known personalities. I think Roman Polinski was also on their list)

 

Meatloaf
The man with one of the most colorful stage names in show business was born Marvin Lee Aday. Over the years, he has given several different stories on how he got his nickname. The most common one is that he stepped on the foot of his high school football coach, who, instead of cursing, shouted 'Meat Loaf!'.

Metallica
Drummer, Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fan magazine. The publication chose 'Metal Mania' and Lars kept Metallica, which was one of the suggestions.

 

Megadeth

Dave Mustane was inspired by a government pamphlet he saw after leaving METALLICA. A Megadeath is a military term for one million dead (making World War II an 80 Megadeath)

 

Motley Crue
The band took their name after a friend remarked, "What a motley looking crew."

 

Motorhead

Lemmy Kilmeister originally wanted to name his band "Bastard" but was advised against it, so he named it after the song he wrote for his old band Hawkwind. "Motorhead" was 70's American slang for someone on speed.

 

Oasis

The band saw a poster advertising in lead singer Liam Gallagher's room about the Inspiral Carpets playing at a club called "The Oasis". The band also learned that the Beatles played their and chose that name. They were originally called "Rain".

 

Pearl Jam
1. According to lead singer, Eddie Vedder, "The name is in reference to the pearl itself... and the natural process from which a pearl comes from. Basically, taking excrement or waste and turning it into something beautiful." 2. Eddie's grandma supposedly made a peyote (hallucinogenic drug) jelly/jam, which as kids they called pearl jam. 3. "Pearl Jam" comes from NBA player Mookie Blaylock -- it's his nickname. Band members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were huge fans of Blaylock, loved his peculiar name and wished to just call their band "Mookie Blaylock" but Blaylock protested, so they used his nickname "Pearl Jam" instead.

Pink Floyd
This British band used various names, including "The Meggadeaths", "the T-Set" and "the Screaming Abdabs", before settling on "The Pink Floyd Sound", inspired by American blues artists, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. The name was later shortened to just Pink Floyd.

 

Queen
Freddie Mercury liked the name for the transvestite connotation and the glamorous image of Queens in royalty.

 

RadioHead

Named after a Talking Heads' song called "Radio Head."

 

Rammstein

1. German for 'battering ram', translates literally as "Ramming Stone".

 

R.E.M
'Rapid Eye Movement' is a state of sleep.

 

Rolling Stones
From the Muddy Waters song "Rolling Stone". The name was suggested by guitarist, Brian Jones.

Rush
They were rushing to think up a name before their first gig, and John Rustey's older brother yelled, "Why don't you call your band Rush?".

 

Skid Row

Slang for a rundown inner city neighborhoods where alcoholics, junkies, street people can afford to live.

 

Sepultura

The Brazilian death/heavy metal band Sepultura name is the Portugese/Spanish word for a grave or burial tomb.

 

SoundGarden

A garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when wind blows through them.

 

STYX
After the mythical river, Styx , that people crossed over to go into Hell.

 

U2
Although the U2 is a type of spy plane that was used by the United States, Bono explained that U2 grew out of thoughts of interactivity with the audience.... as in 'you too.'

 

UB40

Code number of a form people in Britain have to fill out to receive public assistance or welfare. Known in the UK as a signing-off form when you get a job. Hence the title of their first album Signing Off.

Uriah Heep
After using several names during their developing years, manager Gerry Bron suggested "Uriah Heep", based on the 'horrible little character from Charles Dickens' novel, "David Copperfield".

Van Halen

After Alex and Eddie Van Halen - suggested by David Lee Roth as being better than their original name "Mammoth." They might have been called 'Daddy Longlegs' if Gene Simmons of KISS had gotten his way - he partially financed and produced one of their original demo records and suggested names and artwork.

Velvet Underground
The name of an S&M magazine that a band member found on a sidewalk in New York .

 

White Snake

From a white albino ball python snake owned by David Coverdale while in DEEP PURPLE.

 

White Zombie

An old horror "B" movie.

 

WHO
While taking suggestions for a new name, someone noticed that the band members were already so hard of hearing that they kept saying, "The who?"

 

YES
While the group members searched for an appropriate name, guitarist Peter Banks suggested they called the group Yes, a very short and positive word. The others agreed that the name was not meant to be permanent, but just a temporary solution.

 

3 Doors Down

the name came from when one day the band was walking down a street and this door had a piece on wood across the door that said "doors down" and the time there was 3 in the band so they called there band 3 Doors down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are from a book called Disorder in the Courts of America, and are things attorneys actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters, which had to suffer from the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.   ATTORNEY:    Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning? WITNESS:     Did you actually pass the bar exam? ________________________________________ ATTORNEY:    Were you present when your picture was   taken? WITNESS:      Would you repeat the question? ______________________________________ ATTORNEY:      She had three children, right? WITNESS:        Yes. ATTORNEY:      How many were boys? WITNESS:        None. ATTORNEY:      Were there any girls? ______________________________________ ATTORNEY:    How was your first marriage terminated? WITNESS:      By death. ATTORNEY:    And by whose death was it terminated? ______________________________________ ATTORNEY:      Can you describe the individual? WITNESS:        He was about medium height and had a beard. ATTORNEY:   &!   Was this a male or a female? ______________________________________ ATTORNEY:    Do you recall the time that you examined the body? WITNESS:      The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m. ATTORNEY:    And Mr. Denton was dead at the time? WITNESS:      No, he was sitting on the table wondering   why I was doing an autopsy on him! ______________________________________ ATTORNEY:   Doctor, before you performed the   autopsy, did you check for a pulse? WITNESS:     No. ATTORNEY:   Did you check for blood pressure? WITNESS:     No. ATTORNEY:   Did you check for breathing? WITNESS:     No. ATTORNEY:   So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy? WITNESS:     No. ATTORNEY:   How can you be so sure, Doctor? WITNESS:     Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar. ATTORNEY:    But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless? WITNESS:     Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science,

AAFS President Dr Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with

the legal complications of a bizarre death.



Here is the Case:



On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald

Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the

head. Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a ten-story building

intending to commit suicide. He left a note to the effect

indicating his despondency . As he fell past the ninth floor his

life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a

window, which killed him instantly.





Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net

had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect

some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been

able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.



"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "A person, who sets out to

commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the

mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as

committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shot on the way to

certain death, but probably would not have been successful

because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel

that he had a homicide on his hands.

In the room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast

emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were

arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun.

The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger he

completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the

window striking Mr. Opus. When one intends to kill subject "A"

but kills subject "B" in the attempt, one is guilty of the

murder of subject "B".



When confronted with the murder charge the old man and his wife

were both adamant and both said that they thought the shotgun

was unloaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to

threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention

to murder her.

Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident;

that is, if the gun had been accidentally loaded. The continuing

investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son

loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident.



It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial

support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use

the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation

that his father would shoot his mother.Since the loader of the

gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder even though

he didn't actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of

murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.



Now comes the exquisite twist. Further investigation revealed

hat the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become

increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to

engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the

ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun

blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had

actually Murdered himself, so the medical examiner closed the

case as a suicide.





A true story from Associated Press, Reported by Kurt Westervelt

Juan comes up to the Mexican border on his bicycle.He's got two large bags over his shoulders. The guard stops him and says,"What's in the bags?" "Sand," answers Juan. The guard says,"We'll just see about that ~get off the bike."The guard takes the bags and rips them apart; he empties them out and finds nothing in them but sand.He detains Juan overnight and has the sand analyzed,only to discover that there is nothing in the bags. The guard releases Juan,puts the sand into new bags,hefts them onto the man's shoulders,and lets him cross the border.

A week later, the same thing happens.The guard asks, "What have you got?" "Sand," says Juan.The guard does his thorough examination and discovers that the bags contain nothing but sand. He gives the sand back to Juan,who crosses the border on his bicycle. This sequence of events is repeated every week for three years. Finally, Juan doesn't show up one day and the guard meets him in a cantina in Mexico. "Hey, Buddy," says the guard, "I know you are smuggling something. It's driving me crazy. It's all I think about. I can't sleep. Just between you and me, what are you smuggling?"

Juan sips his beer and says, "Bicycles."

 

 

This elderly lady went to the doctor for a check-up. Everything checked out fine.

The old lady pulled the doctor to the side and said, ''Doctor, I haven't had sex for years now and I was wondering how I can increase my husband's sex drive.'' The doctor smiled and said, ''Have you tried to give him Viagra?''

The lady frowned. ''Doctor, I can't even get him to take aspirin when he has a headache,'' she claimed.

''Well,'' the doctor continued, ''Let me suggest something. Crush the Viagra into a powder. When you are giving him coffee, stir it into the coffee and serve it. He won't notice a thing.''

The old lady was delighted. She left the doctor's office quickly.

Weeks later the old lady returned. She was frowning and the doctor asked her what was wrong.

She shook her head. ''How did it go?'' the doctor asked.

''Terrible, doctor, terrible.''

''Did it not work?''

''Yes,'' the old lady said, ''It worked. I did as you said and he got up and ripped his clothes off right then and there and we made mad love on the table. It was the best sex that I'd had in 25 years.''

''Then what is the problem, ma'am?''

''Well,'' she said. ''I can't ever show my face in McDonald's again.''

 Li'l Johnny Jokes!!!

 

 

 One day Lil Johny says to his father:

 

 I want to get married.

 

 Father: Oh, so do you have someone special in your mind?

 Johny: Yes , Grandma

 Father: What? There is a problem now, you want to marry my Mother?

 Johny: Why not? You married my mother

 

 __________________________________

 

 L.Johnny: Can I go to the toilet?

 

 Teacher: Johhny, MAY I go to the toilet?

 

 L.Johnny: But I asked first!

 

 __________________________________

 

 

Summer vacation was over and the teacher asked Little Johnny about his family trip. "We visited my grandmother in Minneapolis, Minnesota."

 The teacher asked, "Good, can you tell the class how you spell that?"

 Little Johnny thought for a while, and then said, "Actually, we went to Ohio."

 

 __________________________________________________

 

 

 "Johnny, did your Mother help you with your homework last night?" the teacher asked.

 

 "No, she did it all," Little Johnny replied.

 

 __________________________________________________

 

 

"Dad," said Little Johnny, "I'm late for football practice. Would you please do my homework for me?"

 

 Little Johnny's father said irately, "Son, it just wouldn't be right."

 

 "That's okay," replied Little Johnny "At least you could try, right?"

 

 ________________________________________

 

 

Teacher: If you had one dollar and you asked your father for another, how many dollars would you have?

 

 Little Johnny: One dollar.

 

 Teacher(sadly): You don't know your arithmetic.

 

 Little Johnny (sadly): You don't know my father

 

 __________________________

 

 

Teacher: "Hello boys, Remember!!! Nothing is impossible."

 

 Little Johnny: "OK sir, could you please squeeze out all the toothpaste and put back it into the tube again."

 

 

This letter came to me after the Mumbai terror attacks... it had a subject with Editor Mumbai times..and i suspect, even signed in his name....but with the kind of english on display, i think this is the handiwork of a Nationalist guy from the hindi hinterland... don't ask who cos even i don't know..am posting it only cos i support many of the thoughts that he/she writes about ...though not necessarily all...

LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER

Dear Mr. Prime minister

I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that.

Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bolywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement 'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India .

Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys I realize that if same thing continues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima .

We the people are left with only one mantra. Womb to Bomb to Tomb. You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug.

Today only your home minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker? Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family. Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent people, isn't it?

I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eight years. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar . Look at all the politician, Sharad Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Bal Thackray , Gopinath Munde, Raj Thackray, Vilasrao Deshmukh all are rolling in money.  Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief minister I have seen. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those house , enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will.

Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black. A common person like me knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your finance minister are not aware of it. Where all the black money goes? To the underworld isn't it? Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it. If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything.

If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison. I am everything Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Schedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only what I am not is INDIAN. You politician have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.

Take example of former president Abdul Kalam. Such a intelligent person, such a fine human being. You politician didn't even spare him.  Your party along with opposition joined the hands, because politician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person.

Dear Mr Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR. First and foremost expose all selfish politician. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holder. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find wolf among us. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day.  Just give us ambient where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of.

Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. Do you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 Crore people?
Prakash B. Bajaj
Chandralok 'A" Wing, Flat No 104
97 Nepean Sea Road
Mumbai 400 036
Phone 98210-71194