When you go into the music business, it’s tempting to give your act an absurd and laughable name that’ll make you stand out, as proven by chart-toppers Celine Dion and Brian Adams.
But if you’re bereft of ideas, you can just name yourself after wherever you last went on holiday.
Here are some of our favourite bands named after places, needlessly listed according to population size.
Cypress Hill
The Latino rappers Cypress Hill named their band after a street in South Gate, the part of Los Angeles County where they grew up.
It all could have been so different if they’d grown up in Bellflower. This video is Insane in the Brain.
Portishead
Portishead is a small coastal town near Bristol.
If the namesake band’s music is anything to go by, it must be a little depressing there. Watch Glory Box in all of its, er, glory.
Monaco
A side-project by a member of New Order – Monaco was fronted by the band’s bass player Peter Hook.
In recent years, he has reportedly spent a lot of time DJing. This is What Do You Want From Me.
Beirut
Beirut’s charming modern folk doesn’t stem from Lebanon, but rather New Mexico in the USA. They must have decided New Mexico just didn’t cut it as a band name. In another music-destination twist this video is Postcards from Italy.
Boston
You love More Than A Feeling. Everybody does. Can you name any other Boston tunes though? If you can, you’ve probably played a lot of Guitar Hero.
Warsaw
Warsaw was the original name of Joy Division, the much-lauded post-punk band from Manchester. They went under the name of Poland’s capital for about a year until they changed it to something more intrinsically depressing.
Paris
Paris was the first project Bob Welch created after he left Fleetwood Mac in 1974. Its power-rock style was a way of Welch distancing himself from his former band’s folk whimsy. Black Book is the name of video.
Berlin
Although the city of Berlin is today associated with minimal house music that can only be listened to at 3am in a dungeon, the band Berlin made possibly the most sensuous pop tune ever. Take My Breath Away was the main reason people enjoyed the film Top Gun.
Texas
Despite being from rainy Scotland, Texas thought they’d name themselves after a US state that’s a lot of desert. You can Say What You Want about that.
Japan
Richard Barbieri’s synths coupled with David Sylvian’s impressively bouffant hair made Japan one of the most influential new wave bands of the 1980s. We’re seeing Ghosts.
America
These half-English, half-American chaps wanted to stamp their American halves on their music, and America’s music definitely evokes all sorts of Americana. This horse had no name.
Europe
With The Final Countdown, Europe penned the ultimate background tune for all sports-related television programming for the rest of time.
Asia
It seems catchiness is the bedrock for all bands with places for names. Asia’s Heat of the Moment is another monumental anthem that demands you stand on a desk, raise your hands to the sky and yell the lyrics.
Earth
Do you like drone metal? Of course you do, and you probably already know about the band Earth, whose all-encompassing name mirrors the way their sound washes over everything. Their later material, like His Teeth Did Brightly Shine here, is less fuzzy but just as atmospheric.
(Feature image: Stuart Seeger)
