To secure a great band name, sometimes it helps to think outside the box and step inside the theatre instead. Movies create moments of awe and wonder and can even spark inspiration for your band’s next moniker. Below are 10 bands who found their names on the silver screen.
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[RELATED: 5 Bands Named After Other Bands’ Songs]
1. Black Sabbath
Before they were Black Sabbath, the Ozzy Osbourne-fronted band was called the Polka Tulk Blues Band, and then simply Earth. The moniker Black Sabbath came to them from the 1963 horror film of the same name that was reportedly playing at the theatre across from their rehearsal space at the time.
2. Duran Duran
School friends Stephen Duffy, Nick Rhodes, and John Taylor formed Duran Duran in 1978. The trio borrowed their name from the 1968 Jane Fonda-led sci-fi film, Barbarella, in which the title character is on a mission to stop Dr. Durand Durand.
3. The Misfits
Horror punk outfit The Misfits took their moniker from the 1961 film of the same name. Starring legendary actors Montgomery Clift and Clark Gable, it was also the final movie of Marilyn Monroe’s career before her death the following year.
4. Fine Young Cannibals
Another band to borrow their name from 1960s cinema was Fine Young Cannibals. The British pop-rock group took their band name from the 1960 Robert Wagner-Natalie Wood movie, All the Fine Young Cannibals.
5. The Fratellis
Scottish rockers The Fratellis drew inspiration from The Goonies’ eccentric crime family, Francis, and Jake Fratelli alongside their matriarch.
6. Five Finger Death Punch
The name Five Finger Death Punch is a nod to martial arts cinema in which a simple move could be the death of an opponent.
7. Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden borrowed their name from the medieval torture device depicted in the film adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask. This human-sized device has a spiked interior to bring a painful end to all who are imprisoned there.
8. The Searchers
British invaders The Searchers were invaded by American culture before they ever had an overseas hit. They took their band name from the 1956 John Wayne Wild West epic of the same name.
9. Mogwai
Scottish rock outfit Mogwai took inspiration from the 1984 horror-comedy Gremlins, in which the Mogwai creatures run amuck.
10. Faster Pussycat
The ’80s glam metal Faster Pussycat took their moniker from the 1965 exploitation film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! The brainchild of Russ Meyer, the movie follows three go-go dancers turned spree-killers.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage
