Would Girl’s Tyme have been as huge if they’d never become Destiny’s Child? Could Rat Salad, Mookie Blaylock or Polka Tulk Blues Band have ever turned into the huge rock bands they became if they never changed their names to Van Halen, Pearl Jam, and Black Sabbath respectively?
The world will never know. But based on the number of groups that initially went by other, often wackier names, it does kind of seem like there’s a little bit of good luck in changing your title once or twice somewhere along the way. Just take a look at Kara’s Flowers, the band that flopped so hard their record label dropped them in 1997. That might have been the end of the story had those four high school buddies not started a new chapter under the name Maroon 5 – a chapter that eventually led them to four Hot 100 No. 1 hits and hundreds of millions of records sold.
And then we have Green Day, who may have never stood out in their hometown music scene in East Bay, Calif. – much less become titans of the entire punk rock genre – had they not updated their moniker. Billie Joe Armstrong and his bandmates retired the title Sweet Children back in 1989 to avoid being confused with another local band, Sweet Baby. The rest, which includes three genre-defining Billboard 200 No. 1 albums, is history.
Here’s a look at 57 bands whose original names didn’t make it to stardom with them, for better or for worse – but let’s be honest, it’s probably better.
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Destiny’s Child
Original Name: Girl’s Tyme
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Fifth Harmony
Original Name: Lylas
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Maroon 5
Original Name: Kara’s Flowers
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Green Day
Original Name: Sweet Children
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Van Halen
Original Name: Rat Salad
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Pearl Jam
Original Name: Mookie Blaylock
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Nirvana
Original Name: Pen Cap Chew
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Outkast
Original Name: Two Shades Deep
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Beastie Boys
Original Name: The Young Aborigines
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Young The Giant
Original Name: The Jakes
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The Roots
Original Name: The Square Roots
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Radiohead
Original Name: On A Friday
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Queens of the Stone Age
Original Name: Gamma Ray
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Led Zeppelin
Original Name: The New Yardbirds
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Public Enemy
Original Name: Spectrum City
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Cypress Hill
Original Name: DVX
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Linkin Park
Original Name: Xero
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Black Sabbath
Original Name: Polka Tulk Blues Band
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Kiss
Original Name: Wicked Lester
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Coldplay
Original Name: Starfish
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Boyz II Men
Original Name: Unique Attraction
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Phish
Original Name: Blackwood Convention
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The Fugees
Original Name: Tranzlator Crew
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Creed
Original Name: Naked Toddler
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The Cure
Original Name: The Obelisk
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Insane Clown Posse
Original Name: Inner City Posse
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The Who
Original Name: The High Numbers
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U2
Original Name: The Hype
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Red Hot Chili Peppers
Original Name: Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem
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Cage The Elephant
Original Name: Perfect Confusion
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Barenaked Ladies
Original Name: Free Beer
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Goo Goo Dolls
Original Name: The Sex Maggots
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TLC
Original Name: 2nd Nature
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Animal Collective
Original Name: Avey Tare and Panda Bear
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Snow Patrol
Original Name: Polar Bear
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Talking Heads
Original Names: The Artistics
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Blink-182
Original Name: Duck Tape
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QUEEN
Original Name: Smile
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Def Leppard
Original Name: Atomic Mass
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Three Six Mafia
Original Name: Backyard Posse
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Stone Temple Pilots
Original Name: Mighty Joe Young
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Bee Gees
Original Name: Rattlesnakes
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New Kids On The Block
Original Name: Nynuk
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Pink Floyd
Original Name: The Tea Set
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Naughty By Nature
Original Name: New Style
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The Supremes
Original Name: The Primettes
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Earth Wind and Fire
Original Name: The Salty Peppers
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Depeche Mode
Original Name: Composition of Sound
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The Clash
Original Name: The Weak Heartdrops
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Wallows
Original Name: The Narwhals
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Journey
Original Name: Golden Gate Rhythm Section
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The Beach Boys
Original Name: The Pendletones
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Jonas Brothers
Original Name: Sons of Jonas
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Blondie
Original Name: Angel and the Snake
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Evanescence
Original Names: Childish Intentions and Stricken
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The Beatles
Original Name:The Silver Beatles
Want more on famous musicians' names? Check out our gallery of POP STARS' REAL NAMES