Choosing a band name is a big deal, and changing it later on is an even bigger deal.
So a lot of bands will choose a name that has a specific meaning to them.
Perhaps it’s a reference to another band, like The Beatles, or literally a lyric from another bands song (like how the second-wave Ska band Madness took the name from a song by Prince Buster).
There’s actually a whole wikipedia article about bands named after other bands’ songs, because there’s a Wikipedia page for everything these days.
But sometimes a band chooses a name that is secretly rude or offensive, I suppose because it’s fun to slip a rude joke past people who don’t realise.
So in this article we will discuss 5 bands with secretly rude band names that most people wouldn’t realise.
I say most people, because a lot of bands are obviously rude references that people most people do get, like how the Sex Pistols means dicks, and Dying Fetus means, well… yeah.
So these are 5 bands with names that reference something filthy or rude, but in a subtle way that unless you’re asuper fan, you probably didn’t know.
5 – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
We have all seen the filthy jokes about ‘Come on Eileen’, but that’s obviously a joke.
The song ‘Come on Eileen’ is actually about… uh, well sex, but it’s not a reference to Bukakke.
Actually the band is generally pretty light on any taboo references in their songs.
Except for their name. Which is turns out is hiding a drug reference.
Thinking about it now, it is just a very weird, long name: Dexy’s Midnight Runners..
Maybe thats why they rebranded to just Dexy’s way back in 2011.
So what does the original name, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, actually mean?
Well, it’s a reference to the drug Dexedrine, a brand name of Dextroamphetamine, which was a very popular party drug in the 1960s and 70s.
It is still a popular party drug today. Although it is prescribed for ADHD, it’s is often used to stay up late partying instead.
So Dexy’s Midnight Runners was a reference to party animals who used the drug so that they could stay up all night dancing.
4 – Joy Division
If you don’t already know what this name means, then hold on because you are in for a bumpy ride.
Bands will often name themselves after a random or obscure thing.
REM, for example, was chosen because Michael Stipe flipped the Dictionary open to a random page and picked the first word he saw (allegedly).
Joy Division did a similar thing. Its just that the phrase they chose had a much, much darker meaning behind it.
The name comes from WW2 concentration camps. Dark start to the story, right?
Well it just gets worse.
In some of these camps, there had ‘brothels’ in which some female inmates from the camps were forced to pleasure Nazi guards and some cooperative inmates.
These women were sarcastically referred to as the ‘Joy Division’ for… obvious reasons.
These ‘brothels’ were first brought to light in the 1953 novel House of Dolls
the ‘Joy Divisions’ also appears in the Nazi exploitation film (because that’s a thing, apparently) Love Camp 7.
Apparently the band chose the name Joy Division as a kind of sarcastic jab at the music industry, referring to themselves as the slaves who must perform for others.
Which is a pretty extreme comparison to make if you ask me.
After Ian Curtis sadly committed suicide, the band changed the name (For the 4th time), I suppose to reinvent themselves and distance themselves from the Nazi connotations.
…Oh wait, no they didnt.
They named themselves New Order, after Hitlers plan for the world after he won WW2.
3 – The Pogues
The quintessential Irish punk band, The Pogues!
Everyone knows them (or at least everyone knows Fairytale of New York) and everyone loves them (even if that one line in Fairytale of New York is a still very divisive).
But what does the name ‘Pogues’ mean?
I always assumed (I’m guessing a lot of people did) that ‘Pogues’ was just an Irish word that I didn’t understand.
And that is sort of true, but it isn’t a nice Irish word meaning ‘good pals or something (I don’t know why it would, that was just my first thought).
Basically, it comes from an Irish slang phrase meaning ‘kiss my arse’.
However, it’s not a direct translation. It’s a bit more complicated than that.
In 1982, Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer and Spider Stacy started a band. They called it Pogue Mahone.
Does THAT mean kiss my arse? Well, sort of.
Pogue Mahone is an anglicised (read: bastardised) version of the Irish phrase ‘póg mo thóin’ which does mean ‘kiss my arse’
So we went from ‘póg mo thóin’ to ‘Pogue Mahone’ to ‘The Pogues’.
A long walk for a short insult, but a fun backstory to a band name nonetheless.
2 – Steely Dan
I was never a Steely Dan fan growing up, as they were a bit before my time. I knew him as the music your dad likes; pretty chill, weed-inspired, pop-rock music from the ’70s.
And when I found out that the name was a literary reference, I assumed it was a straight-froward ‘character name of a famous book I’ve never read’.
However, finding out that the name references a William S Boroughs book should have been a tip off. I love his work, but it is quite out there.
Have you every read his book: My education: A Book of dreams? It genuinely took me over ten times across 15 years to actually finish it because its so bizarre and disjointed.
But it’s him recounting his dreams, so I guess that makes sense.
Anyway, back to Steely Dan!
What William S Burroughs book is the name a reference to? Naked Lunch.
One of his most well-known, and strangest works.
In the book ‘Steely Dan III from Yokohama’ is a steam-powered strap-on dildo, which is one hell of a sentence.
And a hell of a way to recommend the book, to be honest.
1 – Spandau Ballet
This one may be well known to fans, but I am an outsider, and when I learned the origin of this band name, I was absolutely blown away and this one shocked me far more than the others.
I think because Spandau Ballet is such a positive and fun band generally. I know them for their songs ‘Gold’ and ‘True’.
This is not a band I expected to have a hidden dark name, but hoo boy does it!
If you think about it, it is a very weird name: Spandau Ballet.
First off, and pretty much giving the game away, where is Spandau?
Well, it’s a place in Germany.
Specifically, Spandau is where they housed and executed Nazis after they were tried for war crimes.
The final nazi to be executed there was Rudolph hess in 1987.
Robert Elms suggested the name to the band after seeing a piece of graffiti in a nightclub in Berlin that read ‘Rudolph Hess, all alone, dancing the Spandau Ballet.’
Pretty gruesome name for a band that plays pop music!
The origin of the name is kind of disputed, as a Spandau is also a gun, and there is some suggestion that the phrase refers to the movements people made as they were hit with bullets from the gun.
There is also a suggestion that the band stole the name from a different band.
The graffiti story is better, but maybe take it with a pinch of salt.
Wrap Up
Some bands have just got some really weird names, but the more you listen to the band and hear the name, the more normalised it becomes.
It’s not until you really look into WHY they’re called it that you can find some shocking hidden layers!
Try looking into the origin of the names of some of your favourite bands, maybe you’ll be pleasantly (or horribly) surprised.
