21 band names based on TV shows

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

You know how you occasionally hear an awesome turn of phrase and immediately think, "That would make the best band name?" These people did the same thing, but the difference between us and them is that they actually went on to name a band. Check out these 21 band names inspired by a little quality time flipping channels from the couch.

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The "Sugar We're Goin' Down" band is named after — yes — Fallout Boy, a minor character in The Simpsons. But it's not because the guys in the band were such Matt Groening fans; they didn't even get the reference when they adopted the name. The nameless band was in the middle of their second show when they decided to poll the audience for name ideas. A Simpsons fan shouted the name of Radioactive Man's sidekick, and the band liked it.

Everybody thinks the name is some kind of statement but it's a quote from David Brent in an episode of The Office. When me and James [Rushent] first started writing music together we decided to put it up on MySpace. We needed a name to put as our profile name so just put what was the first thing that was said on TV, we switched it on and Ricky Gervais said "Does it offend you, yeah? My drinking?" so we just went with that. No thought went into it whatsoever.

Honestly, before I settled on a name for the Bon Iver project in general, Chigliak was in the running for what I was going to name the band, just because I love him so much. He's my favorite in the pantheon of characters in the history of the world. So I was, like, "Well, that's the best name for the label." He just represents the best of art. In the show, he's penpals with Martin Scorsese, he's a big film buff and he's sort of a representation of what we're trying to do at the label: like good music that may not be box office-smashing. We want to try to spread some of the music that maybe didn't get out enough the first time around.

Children of the '80s may remember that "The Bloodhound Gang" was the name of a skit on the PBS show 3-2-1 Contact. "They were a group of nerdy kids that solved crimes with math puzzles," the band's guitarist, Lupus Thunder, explained in 2000. "It just made sense. We were a rap band so we needed to have a cool 'tough' sounding name, hence the 'gang'. But deep down inside we're a bunch of nerds who should be doing math puzzles and playing Dungeons and Dragons or something similar. So the name just fits. Plus, the reference to the old '80s TV show shows what we're all about."

Who remembers Thundarr the Barbarian? It was a Saturday morning cartoon that ran in the early '80s, and while it may not have had a profound effect on most of us, it definitely influenced Ookla the Mok. Ookla the Mok was a Wookiee-like character who traveled the world with Thundarr, battling evil sorcerers. "But what do they sing?" you're probably wondering. Here's a little sample: "Tantric Yoda" was the No. 1 requested song on the Dr. Demento radio show in 2012. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be seduced by Yoda, wonder no more.

I think being minorities at a liberal arts college and that type of environment had an impact on both the way we view race and our sense of humor, which people often use as a tool to deal with race. I always felt like Wonder Showzen was a television show that captured that type of thing perfectly. When I saw the little kid yelling "THAT'S RACIST" it blew my mind. And then it became a game...to take all the seriousness out of making legitimate commentary on race, because that can get very annoying. So when something veering on racially insensitive would pop off in a commercial on television or something it would be like, who could yell "That's Racist" first. And then we thought it would be a cool name.

An indie band from Seattle, Minus the Bear was inspired by a sitcom from the '70s that featured a truck driver and his escapades with his pet chimp named Bear. Someone who was friends with the band had gone on a date, and when asked how the date went, he said, "You know 'You know that TV show from the 70s, B.J. and The Bear? It was like that, minus the bear." And someone in the band probably said, "That would make an awesome band name," and then it was so.

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