Video Spawned the Radio Star

August 7, 2008 8:22 PM

I'm working on a list of movies that have spawned notable band names and song titles. Dead on is great, esoteric is just fine. No Weird Al or other humorists, please. Can you help?
posted by BE ADEQUITE to media & arts (58 comments total)

Billy Talent, a Canadian band, got their name from the movie Hard Core Logo.
posted by gursky at 8:26 PM on August 7

Veruca Salt took their name from a character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
posted by gursky at 8:27 PM on August 7

Duran Duran got their name from Barbarella. I knew I was saving that fact for the last 20 years for something!
posted by chippie at 8:29 PM on August 7

There's a (crap) indie band called Throw the Statue, which is from Indiana Jones. there's another not that great indie band called Math and Physics club, which is the clubs Anthony Michael Hall was in in "The Breakfast Club." And there's a Postal Service ripoff called "Uzi and Ari," which was the names of the twins in "Royal Tennenbaums."

i'll try to think of some actual good bands later
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:35 PM on August 7

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins have a song called "You are what you love," which is a quote from "Adaptation."
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:36 PM on August 7

pAperchAse
DARYL


and didn't steal it from a movie, but darnielle of the mountain goats suggests during changed lyrics of "best ever death metal band out of denton" that the killers stole their name from the song (there are also a few movies called The Killers and the band says they got it from a drum in a new order video)
posted by nadawi at 8:39 PM on August 7

Rufus Wainwright has a song called "Grey Gardens" that even includes a sample of speech from the film.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 8:39 PM on August 7

oooh Springsteen's "Thunder Road" is named after an old movie with Robert Mitchum, I believe. There was a 1946 movie named "Stairway to Heaven," but that one was just a coincidence.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:40 PM on August 7

Shaolin and Wu Tang is the basis for the Wu Tang Clan's name. Mystery of Chessboxing has a character after whom Ghostface Killah is named.

This list on Wikipedia should help a little more, but it's not perfect.
posted by papayaninja at 8:40 PM on August 7

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
posted by Gucky at 8:42 PM on August 7

They could be labeled humorists, but the group They Might Be Giants were named for the movie They Might Be Giants.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:44 PM on August 7

What papayaninja meant:

List of band name etymologies
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:45 PM on August 7

oooh ooh this is a good one: Jens Lekman has a whole EP about Rocky Dennis from the movie "Mask" (if you've never listened to Jens, do so right now)
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:45 PM on August 7

Toad the Wet Sprocket named themselves after a fake band mentioned in a Monty Python skit (who were so titled because it was the most preposterous name any of the guys could think of). I remember seeing an interview with Eric Idle in which he described nearly driving his car off the road the first time he heard them mentioned on the radio.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 8:55 PM on August 7 [1 favorite]

wikipedia says:

Ben Gibbard took the band name [Death Cab for Cutie] from the title of the song written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall and performed by their group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in The Beatles' 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour.

There's a (crap) indie band called Throw the Statue

The band is called Throw Me the Statue.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:56 PM on August 7

"Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" by Brand New is an allusion to Rushmore.

Taking Back Sunday's "Number Five with a Bullet" is likely a to High Fidelity

Godspeed You! Black Emperor took their name from a Japanese documentary called God Speed You! Black Emperor.

The New Pornographers derive their name from a Japanese film called The Pornographers
posted by HaloMan at 8:59 PM on August 7

Heaven 17 swiped their name from a band mentioned in A Clockwork Orange.
Girl Trouble
My Bloody Valentine
posted by hydrophonic at 9:02 PM on August 7

White Zombie is named after the movie.

Black Sabbath is is also named after a Bela Lugosi movie.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is named after the movie "God Speed You! Black Emperor".

Murder by Death is named after the movie.

My Bloody Valentine is named after the movie.

Misfits is named after the movie.

Ministry is named after the movie "Ministry of Fear".

Death by Stereo is named after a line from "The Lost Boys".

Sweep the Leg Johnny is named after a line from "The Karate Kid".
posted by churl at 9:02 PM on August 7

(Should've previewed, some of those were mentioned already.)

Here's some more that google turned up.
posted by churl at 9:04 PM on August 7

It looked right in preview :(

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is named after a movie.

Mogwai is named after the gremlins in Gremlins and the Pixies' song "Debaser" is based on the surrealist movie Un chien andalou which you should watch.
posted by papayaninja at 9:05 PM on August 7

Pop Will Eat Itself recorded an awesome song called "Harry Dean Stanton". On top of that (and more specifically an answer to your question), "Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies" is all about Total Recall - which I believe rates a mention in at least one other of their songs, though I can't recall just now.

Brainbug got their name from Starship Troopers.
posted by pompomtom at 9:16 PM on August 7

Faster Pussycat and Mudhoney were both named after Russ Meyer movies.
posted by stefanie at 9:16 PM on August 7

Save Ferris from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
posted by shesbookish at 9:19 PM on August 7 [1 favorite]

U2: "Alex Descends into Hell for a Bottle of Milk" is a reference to A Clockwork Orange.
posted by sharkfu at 9:26 PM on August 7

Mr. Bungle is named after a children's educational film.
posted by lore at 9:28 PM on August 7

John Vanderslice's song "A Promising Actress" is all about Mulholland Drive and his song "When it Hits My Blood" is based on Requiem for a Dream. They're both from the Cellar Door, whose title is a reference to Tolkien but possibly via Donnie Darko.
posted by ludwig_van at 9:29 PM on August 7

er, "the album Cellar Door"
posted by ludwig_van at 9:30 PM on August 7

The tale behind Soundgarden's excellent "Spoonman" is quite amusing.
posted by sinfony at 9:38 PM on August 7

"Michael Myers Resplendent" by The Mountain Goats is about the character from Halloween.
posted by contraption at 9:57 PM on August 7

Shitty Shitty Band Band

The band is called Throw Me the Statue

Should be "Throw Me the Idol." Epic fail.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:01 PM on August 7

Harkonen, which is a slightly different spelling from the House name in Dune, but probably the same.
Shai Hulud, also from Dune.
Those are the only two that spring automatically to mind.
posted by friendlyjuan at 10:03 PM on August 7

There's also London After Midnight, who named themselves after the Lon Chaney film.
posted by arishaun at 10:20 PM on August 7

Ladyhawk(e)
posted by whir at 10:26 PM on August 7

Blood Freak was named for the movie, and a lot of their song titles are inspired by other, similar movies.


...and that's all I got, since someone else already mentioned Murder by Death.
posted by Venadium at 11:07 PM on August 7

One very obscure band worth mentioning because of their ridiculously bad name - Damien Thorne. (named after the main character in The Omen, Damien Thorn.)
posted by bradth27 at 11:12 PM on August 7

The Fratellis got their name from The Goonies.
Fall Out Boy comes from an episode of The Simpsons.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 11:24 PM on August 7

Xiu Xiu
posted by naju at 12:03 AM on August 8

> Pop Will Eat Itself recorded an awesome song called "Harry Dean Stanton". On top of that (and more specifically an answer to your question), "Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies" is all about Total Recall - which I believe rates a mention in at least one other of their songs, though I can't recall just now.

"Token Drug Song" mentions Quaid. Also, the lyrics of "Pretty Pretty" consist entirely of Dennis Hopper's lines from Blue Velvet.
posted by neckro23 at 12:44 AM on August 8

Tuesday is Soylent GREEN DAY.
posted by idiotfactory at 12:46 AM on August 8

New Order named some songs after movies: In a Lonely Place, Cries and Whispers, Thieves Like Us.
posted by shortfuse at 1:24 AM on August 8

Scottish band Travis named themselves after the main character from Paris, Texas
posted by kosher_jenny at 1:27 AM on August 8

Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply" was named after the movie. Darren Hayes blogged about it on MySpace a few months ago, so it's confirmed.
posted by Nattie at 1:59 AM on August 8

Always good ones for puns, Carter USM have song titles including:

The Taking of Peckham 123 (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3)
GI Blues
Skywest and Crooked

Wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot more I haven't spotted.
posted by Jimbob at 2:02 AM on August 8

Damn. Botched Wikipedia link. Here's the real page for Carter USM.
posted by Jimbob at 2:04 AM on August 8

Metallica is also the name of a terrible B-grade sci-fi film from the 70s.
posted by jbickers at 4:01 AM on August 8

Oh yeah, Zu Zu's Petals is a reference to "It's a Wonderful Life."
posted by jbickers at 4:02 AM on August 8

Moloko are named after the drugged milk in A Clockwork Orange
posted by minifigs at 4:30 AM on August 8

That'll Be the Day by Buddy Holly from the movie The Searchers.
posted by marxchivist at 5:38 AM on August 8

3 Colours Red?
posted by mariokrat at 6:51 AM on August 8

It's from a TV show as opposed to a movie, but the band Eve 6 was named after a particular mutant on an X-FILES episode (a government project tried to genetically modify kids, and all the boys were named Adam and all the girls were Eve...I think Eve number 6 was the one that claimed to have bit out someone's eyeball).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:37 AM on August 8

Oh yeah, for an obscurer one Jets to Brazil is named after a poster which appears in the movie version of Breakfast at Tiffany's.
posted by whir at 8:28 AM on August 8

Deep Blue Something: "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
posted by faunafrailty at 10:37 AM on August 8

Down by Law are named after the movie
Goldfinger too
Destroy All Monsters also
My Bloody Valentine
Atreyu was a character in the Neverending Story
None More Black was a line in Spinal Tap
Say Anything
Nerf Herder was from a line in Star Wars
Horace Pinker was a character in Shocker
the Devotchkas and Devotchka are both Clockwork Orange references.
Lanemeyer was a character in Better off Dead

that is all i got right now
posted by annoyance at 12:53 PM on August 8

Not quite a movie, so I'm not sure if this helps, but...

My Metafilter nickname, Menomena, is an indie-rock band and a reference to the Muppets skit "Mahna Mahna".
posted by Menomena at 2:37 PM on August 8

Wiki says that the band "Fine Young Cannibals" took their name from the movie "All the Fine Young Cannibals".
posted by marsha56 at 10:08 AM on August 9

"Days of Wine and Roses" (film) -> "Days of Wine and Roses" (album by the Dream Syndicate) -> "Days of Swine and Roses" (song by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult)

"Mildred Pierce" (film) -> "Mildred Pierce" (song by Sonic Youth)

"Alphaville" (film by Godard) -> Alphaville (band)
posted by citron at 1:21 PM on August 9

Blind Guardian's "The Quest For Tanelorn" is a Michael Moorcock/Eternal Champion reference.

I am ashamed to know this.
posted by namewithoutwords at 6:44 PM on August 9

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's got their name from Margot of The Royal Tenenbaums.
posted by reductiondesign at 10:07 PM on August 9