It was only because of Kurt Cobain’s shocking death, and Nirvana’s breakup, that the Foo Fighters exist. The drummer for Nirvana, Dave Grohl, left the band and formed his own outfit.
While attempting to get the band off the ground, he spent time reading about UFOs. Hey, everybody needs a hobby. At one point, he came across the term “foo fighters.” Apparently, during World War II, pilots used the term to describe unidentified flying objects and rogue aircraft, and Grohl liked the name. When his new band started to get some traction, he brought up the name, and the rest was history.
Nirvana
Though only active for seven years, any fan of grunge rock or Seattle music is familiar with this band. The original members include Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic in 1987, and it went through a few drummers before landing on current music legend Dave Grohl. Their intense style garnered them immense fame quickly, though the band had a legendarily sad end.
They went through a few names, such as Fecal Matter, Skid Row, and Ted Ed Fred, but Cobain shook his head at all of them. “[I] wanted a name that was kind of beautiful or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk name.”
Led Zeppelin
With strong imagery and memorable spelling, the name Led Zeppelin helped propel this band to the heights of fame and music. The name also has a cool beginning: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham formed the band in 1968, but two years earlier Page had an opportunity to play with Keith Moon – the legendary drummer for The Who.
The results were incredible, and someone in the studio mentioned the idea of forming a band together. Moon had no intention of leaving The Who, and said the idea would “go over like a lead balloon.” A few years later, Page formed his own band, taking inspiration from the musical great.
Guns N’ Roses
If you call yourself a rock music fan, no doubt Axl Rose and Slash have taken their time in your ears. This hard rock band is made of seven people, and have been blessing listeners off and on for thirty years.
Before coming together, they were two different bands, “L.A. Guns” and “Hollywood Rose.” When neither band made much of a splash, the two groups decided to combine their efforts and try again. They also combined their names, creating the perfect hard rock name that would soon go on to sell millions of albums, plenty of merch, and give us the hilarious antics of Axl Rose, as well.
Korn
What kind of self-respecting metal band would name themselves after a plant? Founding member Jonathan Davis grew up in Bakersfield, California, which is surrounded by cornfields. His band helped popularize the nu-metal genre. Mostly, though it's a big joke.
Davis spoke to "Kerrang" Magazine about the name: “I laugh my [expletive] off that my band is named Korn. That's the whole reason why we named it that [...] Your band name doesn't have to be mysterious.” As this article clearly proves, he's right on the money about that. Most of these names are just phrases the members thought sounded cool.