Bands A-C

AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in 1973. They were founded by brothers Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar and Angus Young on lead guitar.

Name Origin: Malcolm and Angus developed the idea for the band's name after Angus' sister Margaret pointed out the symbol "AC/DC" on the AC adapter of her sewing machine.

Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, and Brad Whitford.

Name Origin: Kramer said that, when he was in school, he would write the word "aerosmith" all over his notebooks. The name had popped into his head after listening to Harry Nilsson's album Aerial Ballet, which featured jacket art of a circus performer jumping out of a biplane.

Asia are an English rock supergroup formed in London in 1981. The most commercially successful lineup was its original, which consisted of four members of different progressive rockbands who had enjoyed great success in the 1970s: lead vocalist and bassist John Wetton (King Crimson, Uriah Heep and U.K.), guitarist Steve Howe (Yes), keyboardist Geoff Downes (Yes and the Buggles) and drummer Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer).

Their debut album, Asia, released in 1982.

Trivia: Later Greg Lake filled in for John Wetton as lead singer and bassist for Asia. What band did they both also once from as bassist and lead singer?

__ANSWER: King Crimson__

Bachman–Turner Overdrive, often abbreviated B.T.O., are a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, founded by three brothers: Randy Bachman, Robbie Bachman and Tim Bachman; along with Fred Turner, in 1973.

Name Origin: While on their way back from a gig in Toronto, the group had spotted a copy of a trucker's magazine called Overdrive while dining at the Colonial Steak House in Windsor, Ontario. After this, Turner wrote "Bachman–Turner Overdrive" and the initials "B.T.O." on a napkin.

Bad Company were an English rock supergroup that was formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, drummer Simon Kirke, guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also managed Bad Company until 1982.

Name Origin: Rodgers stated in an interview with Spinner.com that the idea came from a book of Victorian morals that showed a picture of an innocent child looking up at an unsavoury character leaning against a lamp post.

Origin of name:  First The Quarrymen, then The Silver Beatles, then the Beatles.

The word "Beat" like in music. And the bug, a beatle.

Combine them and you get "The Beatles".

"The" is part of the name, unlike the band "Eagles"

Trivia Question: who was sometimes called the fifth Beatle?

__ANSWER: Billy Preston__

What was "The Beatles" nickname and who gave it to them?

__NAME: The Fab Four__

__WHO: Tony Barrow__

Band 1960-1969

When was the last year the Beatles had a number one song?  Name of the song?

__YEAR: 2023__

__SONG: Now and Then__

Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne.

Name Origin: Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, and Ward, schoolmates in Birmingham in the late 1960s, formed the blues bands Polka Tulk and Earth. These evolved into Black Sabbath, which was named after a Butler song inspired by a Boris Karloff movie.

Boston is an American rock band formed in 1975 by Tom Scholz in Boston, Massachusetts, that experienced significant commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s.

Name Origin: It was producer John Boylan and his engineer Warren Dewey who suggested Boston .

The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes, and David Robinson. Ocasek and Orr shared lead vocals, and Ocasek was the band's principal songwriter and leader.

Name Origin: Robinson, whose sense of fashion exerted a strong influence on the band's image, suggested the band's name.

Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos.

Name Origin:  According to Rolling Stone, the band adopted the name Cheap Trick on August 15, 1973. The name was inspired by the band's attendance at a Slade concert, where Petersson commented that Slade used "every cheap trick in the book" as part of their act.

An American hard rock supergroup formed in 2008. The group consists of vocalist Sammy Hagar, bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani, and drummer Chad Smith.

The chicken foot logo looks like a peace sign.

Name Origin:  Nobody in the group is entirely sure how the name took hold, but Satriani remembers it as “a joke that Chad and Carter started, only they were calling it ‘Chickenfoot IV.’ His attitude was, ‘Hey, as long as the music is great, we can call it anything.” 

The Clash were an English rock band that formed in London in 1976 and were key players in the original wave of British punk rock.

Name Origin: Simonon thought of the band's name; they had briefly named themselves the Weak Heartdrops and the Psychotic Negatives. According to Simonon: "It really came to my head when I started reading the newspapers and a word that kept recurring was the word 'clash', so I thought 'the Clash, what about that' to the others.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother, rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford.

Name Origin: According to the band, the name Creedence Clearwater Revival was derived from Tom's friend Creedence, a commercial for Olympia beer evoking the word “clear water” and the group's revival after a two year layoff when John and Doug were called to military duty by the draft board in 1966.