If anyone has anything else to add, just email me and I'll put it up.

AC/DC: A band member saw it on a vacuum cleaner and correctly figured it had something to do with power. It means "alternating current/direct current." The band didn't realize it was also slang for bi-sexual, which caused a few awkward moments in their early days.

Alice In Chains: A masochistic parody of Alice In Wonderland. The name evidently grew out of a joke of them being a Slayer cover band that wore dresses. Their original name, "Alice 'N Chains," mutated to the name we know.

Beatles, The: A few stories about this one... Stuart Sutcliffe came up with THE BEETLES in 1960, which was evidently a play on Buddy Holly's CRICKEY. They went by THE QUARRYMEN and THE SILVER BEETLES awhile later, then shortened and mutated that to The BEALTER. Lennon and Sutcliffe may have also been influenced by the film, "The Wild One," which featured a motorcycle gang called The Beatles. John Lennon is generally credited with combining Beetles and Beat to come up with THE BEATLES spelling. Lennon was also fond of saying he had a vision as a child of a flaming pie in the sky that said,"You are Beatles with an 'A'."

Black Sabbath: Named after a 1963 horror movie starring Boris Karloff. They released an album as EARTH before changing their name to BLACK SABBATH.

Blue Öyster Cult: A combination of a recipe the band's manager read in a book and the band's fascination with the occult. The name is also an anagram of Cully's Stout Beer.

Cooper, Alice: They were inspired by talking to a spirit named Alice Cooper while using their Ouiji Board. The singer hogged the name and went solo. He is (ironically) now a Christian family man and owner of a sports bar in Phoenix, Arizona.

Crack The Sky: They noticed a crack in the sky while driving through a rain storm outside New York.

Cream: These three good, but egotistic musicians considered themselves the "Cream of the Crop."

Deep Purple: Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother liked the BING CROSBY song, "Deep Purple."

Def Leppard: Inspired by a drawing Joe Elliot made of a Leopard with no ears, a "Deaf Leopard."

Dire Straights: It describes the financial situation they were in when starting the band.

Doors, The: In tribute to Aldus Huxley's novel, "The Doors Of Perception." They originally used the name, "The Psychedelic Rangers."

Faith No More: Named after a race horse they bet on.

Forever A.D.: Created out of an inside joke against a former band member.

Golden Earring: They were originally the Tornadoes, but there was a British band with that name. A movie called GOLDEN EARRINGS was an inspiration.

Guns N' Roses: From two of the group's members, who previously played in L.A. GUNS and HOLLYWOOD ROSES. Also, it has that Iron Butterfly "heavy/soft" contrast.

Iron Butterfly: The band wanted a name that sounded heavy and beautiful at the same time. Their biggest hit was "In A Gadda Da Vida," which was originally "In The Garden Of Eden." The singer was so trashed on LSD that it came out, "In A Gadda Da Vida" and the band decided that was a better name for the song.

Iron Maiden: Nasty Medieval torture device.

Judas Priest: From the Bob Dylan tune, "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest."

Led Zeppelin: Stories vary, but evidently Keith Moon told Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones that their new project would go over like a lead balloon, hence Led Zeppelin. Another story is that Jimmy Page stole the name from a band "Lead Zeppelin" that Moon and Entwistle almost started in the early 60's.

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Derived from the name of Leonard Skinner, an uptight gym teacher at their high school.

Megadeth: Dave Mustaine was inspired by a government pamphlet after getting kicked out of Metallica. A megadeath is a military term for one million dead people, so World War II was responsible for 80 megadeath.

Metallica: Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fanzine. The choice was Metal Mania and Metallica. Lars told him Metal Mania was better and kept Metallica for himself.

Mudhoney: A Russ Meyer movie.

Nine Inch Nails: It sounds imposing and Trent Reznor thought that NIN looked cool when he wrote it down.

Nirvana: In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained through the annihilation of the self. Evidently Kurt Cobain took the "annihilation to the self" part a little too seriously.

Osbourne, Ozzy: "OZZY" was a childhood nickname.

Pantera: Spanish for panther.

Pearl Jam: Eddie Vedder's grandmother's peyote jam. Evidently, they took it as kids and called it pearl jam. It could also be related to the sperm spewing slang "pearl necklace." The band almost called themselves "Mookie Blaylock" after their favorite basketball player.

Pink Floyd: Named after Georgia blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. They almost named themselves "Anderson Council" and "Megadeath."

Queen: Slang for flamboyant homosexual.

Radiohead: Named after a Talking Heads song called Radio Head.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: They were orignally called "Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem." Anthony Keidis says he was inspired to change the name to the Red Hot Chili Peppers by "a psychedelic bush with band names on it."

Skid Row: Slang for run down inner city neighborhoods where winos, junkies, street criminals, and various poor people can afford to live. Sabo originally liked the name SKID ROPE but Jon Bon Jovi convinced him Skid Row would sound more professional.

Slayer: Inspired by the movie "Dragonslayer." A paranoid theory had it that SLAYER stands for Satan Laughs At You Eternal Rot.

Soundgarden: A garden of kinetic sculptures that makes music when the wind blows through them. There was also a sculpture in Seattle called "Sound Garden."

Stone Temple Pilots: One rumor is that the band was fond of STP oil stickers, and came up with a name that had the same initials. They were also called Stereo Temple Pirates and Shirley Temple's Pussy for a while.

They Might Be Giants: They took the name from a friend's ventriloquist act, which was named after a film starring George C. Scott, which was inspired by a section of Don Quixote. Don Quixote's trusted servent asks why he is preparing to attack several windmills with his lance. Don Quixote replies, "Because they might be giants."

U2: A type of spy plane used by the United States. Bono explained once that U2 grew out of thoughts of interactivity with the audience, as in "you too." Another rumor states that U2 in an unemployment form in Ireland.

Van Halen: Named after Alex (not Eddie) Van Halen.

White Zombie: From the 1932 Bela Lugosi B-horror film.