Five bands who took their name from other acts’ lyrics

Related Artists: Death Cab for Cutie

Naming a music act is a tricky thing - after all, it’ll be with you for life and hopefully be the moniker which people will remember you by for ages - and there are lots of different ways to choose one.

Some bands, like US pop-rockers Bowling for Soup, literally picked words out of a hat. Some, like British legends Led Zeppelin, were inspired by popular phrases or sayings (the phrase “lead balloon” is commonly used to describe an ill-conceived idea).

Many more acts take their cue from their musical heroes, often imitating them not only in how they look or sound, but also borrowing song names or lyrics to be known as.

Below, we’ve run through a few of those cheeky artists who took their alter egos straight out of another musician’s lyrics.

Death Cab for Cutie

Death Cab’s lead singer and songwriter Ben Gibbard took the name for his Washington indie rock act from Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band’s song of the same name, released all the way back in 1967. The song featured in the Beatles movie ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, dontchaknow.

The Lightning Seeds

The English pub-rock lineup, best known for their collaboration with Baddiel and Skinner ahead of Euro 1996, is so named after a misheard lyric from Prince’s 1985 single “Raspberry Beret”. The real lyric was “Thunder drowns out what the lightning sees” - we’re not sure if it’s an improvement.

The Mountain Goats

The project of prolific - if nasal - singer-songwriter John Darnielle, the Mountain Goats have a cult following around the world and write rich, layered stories into their songs. Their name is borrowed from blues legend Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ song Yellow Coat, which warns of the advances of “twenty mountain goats”. Spooky.

Panic! At the Disco

Whether spelled with or without the exclamation point, Panic! At the Disco are a feature of many millennial’s secret emo shame period. The Las Vegas rock group took their inspiration from Manchester’s moody sons The Smiths and their song ‘Panic’, which asks listeners to ‘Hand the DJ’ and ‘Burn down the disco’. Sounds like a cause for panic to us.

At the Drive-In

Jim Ward, the band’s co-founder and guitarist, liked the lyrics from Poison’s 1986 song so much that he nicked some to name his post-punk band. The 80s rockers famous song said to its listeners “Baby we’ll be/at the drive-in”, and the inspiration was had.