Music thrived in the 1990s. Notorious BIG and Tupac forever transformed hip-hop. Rock got its own makeover during the decade with the advent of grunge and rap-rock. Layering new styles on existing genres seemed to be the thing to do.
Many well-known bands, like Limp Bizkit, Korn, and Nirvana, had different names when starting. And those names were absolutely disgusting. Other bands stuck with their names, despite not being the best. And now those names are part of history, questionable meanings and all.
Limp Bizkit, Korn, and Nirvana started with disgusting band names
Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit explained to fans how the band picked their name during a Reddit AMA. The group didn’t take its name seriously because they were starting a band for fun. They wanted a two-word name, similar to Led Zeppelin. Some of the names suggested for the band? Most are too vile (or offensive to share here, aside from “Blood Fart.” Limp Bizkit was the least disgusting name on that list.
But Limp Bizkit didn’t actually use these names, unlike Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. According to NME, Cobain’s first band was called Fecal Matter. The name is gross, but it is also pretty much as far away from the name Nirvana as it gets.
The Goo Goo Dolls were originally the Sex Maggots, according to Forbes. But the band couldn’t get clubs to put the name “Sex Maggots” on marquees. So they decided to change it.
Korn also has a weird naming story. According to NME, the band’s logo came first, and they decided on the name based on that. Their manager hated the name Korn. He relented when the members threatened to name themselves “Larry” after him instead.
Incubus chose their name based on its sound, not its meaning
Sometimes a name is about meaning. But other times, bands simply choose what sounds best. Speaking in an interview at the House of Blues in 2000, Mike Einziger explained Incubus chose its name “because it’s a silly sounding word.” He found it in a thesaurus, where the definition read “a spirit that seduces women while they’re sleeping.” However, some disagree.
In 2011, religious groups in the Philippines objected to the band playing there, citing a slightly different definition: “male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons. Einziger told Rolling Stone it was “kind of an honor” to cause such a commotion. As for the objectors themselves, he said, “I feel sorry for them.” He added, “We’re actually promoters of peace.”
How did other 90s bands pick their names?
A lot of bands had different names in the beginning. But not all were gross. According to RadioX, Green Day was originally Sweet Children. They later changed the name to Green Day, which is also the name of one of their songs. It is reportedly a reference to marijuana.
Nine Inch Nails has no deeper meaning, according to Grunge. The band’s frontman, Trent Reznor, picked it because it was easily abbreviated and sounded tough.
As for Radiohead, their name is a reference to another band. Radiohead was a line taken from a Talking Heads song, according to RadioX. It seems like honoring the past did the group well. Their music is still heavily featured in movies and TV shows.
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