(via MSN) by David Matthews
Led Zeppelin
Weirdly, Led Zeppelin wasn’t named by anyone in Led Zeppelin. Rather, the band’s name was inspired by a crack made by Keith Moon, drummer of The Who. In a recording studio, Moon and several other musicians who went on to great things, like Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, laid down a new song. Moon remarked:”Yeah. We’ll call it Lead Zeppelin. Because it will go over like a f***ing Lead Balloon.” Two years later, when naming a new band, Jimmy Page remembered that story and spiced it up a little bit, changing the spelling to Led so people wouldn’t be confused and pronounce it Leed Zeppelin.
Guns N’ Roses
This one’s simple enough. Tracii Guns and Axl Rose were in a band together called LA Guns. Axl left to start Rose, which became Hollywood Rose. Tracii joined that band, and they named it Guns N’ Roses. Tracii and Axl didn’t get along so he left to reform LA Guns. Slash replaced Tracii, and the name stayed. OK, maybe not so simple.
Primus
The story of how Primus was named is one of the best ones on this list. Les Claypool once used a Primus grill. Once when out at the beach grilling up some fish, Claypool remarked to the fish, and those around, “Now you’re cookin’ with Primus, you bastard.” The grill immediately ran out of gas, and his friends never let Les live that moment down. Les Claypool has great friends.
