Comments on: Video Spawned the Radio Star

Question: Video Spawned the Radio Star

BE ADEQUITE — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:22:43 -0800

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?

By: gursky

gursky — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:26:51 -0800

Billy Talent, a Canadian band, got their name from the movie Hard Core Logo.

By: gursky

gursky — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:27:55 -0800

Veruca Salt took their name from a character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

By: chippie

chippie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:29:40 -0800

Duran Duran got their name from Barbarella. I knew I was saving that fact for the last 20 years for something!

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:35:01 -0800

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

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:36:53 -0800

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins have a song called "You are what you love," which is a quote from "Adaptation."

By: nadawi

nadawi — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:39:11 -0800

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)

By: [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST]

[NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:39:23 -0800

Rufus Wainwright has a song called "Grey Gardens" that even includes a sample of speech from the film.

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:40:12 -0800

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.

By: papayaninja

papayaninja — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:40:52 -0800

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.

By: Gucky

Gucky — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:42:48 -0800

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:44:16 -0800

They could be labeled humorists, but the group They Might Be Giants were named for the movie They Might Be Giants .

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:45:45 -0800

What papayaninja meant:

List of band name etymologies

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:45:54 -0800

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)

By: Help, I can't stop talking!

Help, I can't stop talking! — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:55:52 -0800

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.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:56:15 -0800

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.

By: HaloMan

HaloMan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:59:52 -0800

"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

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:02:19 -0800

Heaven 17 swiped their name from a band mentioned in A Clockwork Orange.
Girl Trouble
My Bloody Valentine

By: churl

churl — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:02:47 -0800

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".

By: churl

churl — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:04:08 -0800

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

Here's some more that google turned up.

By: papayaninja

papayaninja — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:05:50 -0800

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.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:16:12 -0800

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.

By: stefanie

stefanie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:16:41 -0800

Faster Pussycat and Mudhoney were both named after Russ Meyer movies.

By: shesbookish

shesbookish — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:19:37 -0800

Save Ferris from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

By: sharkfu

sharkfu — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:26:16 -0800

U2: "Alex Descends into Hell for a Bottle of Milk" is a reference to A Clockwork Orange.

By: lore

lore — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:28:44 -0800

Mr. Bungle is named after a children's educational film.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:29:40 -0800

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.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:30:25 -0800

er, "the album Cellar Door"

By: sinfony

sinfony — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:38:19 -0800

The tale behind Soundgarden's excellent "Spoonman" is quite amusing.

By: contraption

contraption — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:57:03 -0800

"Michael Myers Resplendent" by The Mountain Goats is about the character from Halloween.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:01:47 -0800

Shitty Shitty Band Band

The band is called Throw Me the Statue

Should be "Throw Me the Idol." Epic fail.

By: friendlyjuan

friendlyjuan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:03:56 -0800

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.

By: arishaun

arishaun — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:20:18 -0800

There's also London After Midnight, who named themselves after the Lon Chaney film.

By: whir

whir — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:26:27 -0800

Ladyhawk(e)

By: Venadium

Venadium — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:07:42 -0800

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.

By: bradth27

bradth27 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:12:21 -0800

One very obscure band worth mentioning because of their ridiculously bad name - Damien Thorne. (named after the main character in The Omen, Damien Thorn.)

By: Bella Sebastian

Bella Sebastian — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:24:26 -0800

The Fratellis got their name from The Goonies.
Fall Out Boy comes from an episode of The Simpsons.

By: naju

naju — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:03:05 -0800

Xiu Xiu

By: neckro23

neckro23 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:44:19 -0800

> 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.

By: idiotfactory

idiotfactory — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:46:02 -0800

Tuesday is Soylent GREEN DAY.

By: shortfuse

shortfuse — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:24:29 -0800

New Order named some songs after movies: In a Lonely Place, Cries and Whispers, Thieves Like Us.

By: kosher_jenny

kosher_jenny — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:27:33 -0800

Scottish band Travis named themselves after the main character from Paris, Texas

By: Nattie

Nattie — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:59:26 -0800

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.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:02:23 -0800

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.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:04:21 -0800

Damn. Botched Wikipedia link. Here's the real page for Carter USM.

By: jbickers

jbickers — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:01:30 -0800

Metallica is also the name of a terrible B-grade sci-fi film from the 70s.

By: jbickers

jbickers — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:02:20 -0800

Oh yeah, Zu Zu's Petals is a reference to "It's a Wonderful Life."

By: minifigs

minifigs — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:30:43 -0800

Moloko are named after the drugged milk in A Clockwork Orange

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:38:24 -0800

That'll Be the Day by Buddy Holly from the movie The Searchers.

By: mariokrat

mariokrat — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:51:44 -0800

3 Colours Red?

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:37:32 -0800

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).

By: whir

whir — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:28:52 -0800

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.

By: faunafrailty

faunafrailty — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:37:11 -0800

Deep Blue Something: "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

By: annoyance

annoyance — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:53:24 -0800

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

By: Menomena

Menomena — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:37:59 -0800

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".

By: marsha56

marsha56 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:08:45 -0800

Wiki says that the band "Fine Young Cannibals" took their name from the movie "All the Fine Young Cannibals".

By: citron

citron — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:21:49 -0800

"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)

By: namewithoutwords

namewithoutwords — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:44:31 -0800

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

I am ashamed to know this.

By: reductiondesign

reductiondesign — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:07:23 -0800

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's got their name from Margot of The Royal Tenenbaums.