History IAmNotShazam / Music

* ''Music/TheWho'''s "Baba O'Riley" isn't called Teenage Wasteland. The song is named for guitarist Music/PeteTownsend's inspirations at the time of the recording, "Mama Baba" and "Terry O'Riley".

* Music/FranzFerdinand named themselves after the archduke whose assassination served as a catalyst for UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.[[note]]Well, they say that they named themselves "Franz Ferdinand" after a racehorse named The Archduke. Either way, they're ultimately named after Franz Ferdinand of Austria.[[/note]] However, surprisingly few people make the assumption that it's a person rather than a band, perhaps because "Franz" sounds like an unlikely name for a Scot and the archduke was a rather famous figure.

** Probably contributing to this was a ''Series/InLivingColor'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJhLudFTgXE sketch skewering the duo]] in which Creator/{{Damon|Wayans}} and Creator/KeenenIvoryWayans called themselves "Milli" and "Vanilli".

* Nobody in the band Herman's Hermits was named Herman. The guy people usually refer to as Herman is actually lead singer Peter Noone.

* Many people are shocked to discover that Gnarls Barkley is a duo rather than the name of a large African-American singer (that duo being singer and songwriter Music/CeeLoGreen and producer and instrumentalist {{Music/Danger Mouse}}). They likely assume it to be a stage name, since it's an obvious {{pun}} on NBA legend Charles Barkley.

* Music/BonJovi is a band, Jon Bon Jovi is the lead singer of that band, who has also released solo material. A lot of people refer to Jon as just 'Bon Jovi'. In 1986 they had a big hit with a song called "You Give Love A Bad Name", which is [[RefrainfromAssuming often referred to as]] "Shot Through The Heart" (the first line of the song/chorus, the title is the third). Interestingly, on their first album there IS a song called "Shot Through The Heart".
** Even better when you consider that "Jon Bon Jovi" is actually his stage name - his original name is John Bongiovi. The band was named after a deliberate misspelling of his name, at which point he began to spell it that way too. No clues as to why he's publicly Jon instead of John, except perhaps it looks good next to the Bon bit.
** Fun fact: Bon Jovi's opening act during the band's Lost Highway tour was Daughtry. See the above example.

** "Doobie", in fact, not being the name of a person, but 1970s slang for a marijuana joint. Unlike, for example, the [[Creator/KevinBacon Bacon Brothers]], who actually have guys named "Bacon" and whose food preferences are undetermined.

** The store itself, sadly now closed, was named for the town of Wayne, New Jersey, where it was located. The town was named after American Revolutionary War general "Mad" Anthony Wayne (who is the namesake for a lot of towns around the US, as well as Batman's last name!)

* OneHitWonder Danny Wilson ("Mary's Prayer") is actually three Scotsmen. Their name came from a 1952 Frank Sinatra movie.

* Now that country trio Music/LadyAntebellum is having crossover success, the misconception that there's a brunette singer named "Lady Antebellum" backed by a couple of dudes is spreading rapidly. Her name is actually Hillary Scott. The band have now officially changed their name to Music/LadyA, as the previous name carried some negative historical connotations.

* The lead singer of the Spencer Davis Group was a pre-fame Steve Winwood; Davis was the guitarist. Davis was the only member who was interested in doing interviews and the other members decided that the best way to divert press attention to Davis was to name the band after him.

** Likewise, Music/GarfunkelAndOates is not a collaboration between Art Garfunkel (from Music/SimonAndGarfunkel) and John Oates (from Music/HallAndOates). It's a female comedy folk duo (Creator/RikiLindhome and Creator/KateMicucci) named after those artists.

* Daisy Chainsaw is yet another example of a band where people mistake the name as a stage name for the frontwoman. Her name is =KatieJane= Garside.

* Daisy Chainsaw is yet another example of a band where people mistake the name as a stage name from the frontwoman. Her name is KatieJane Garside.

* One of Jens Lekman's earliest recorded songs was "Rocky Dennis' Farewell Song To The Blind Girl", which was inspired by the film ''Film/{{Mask|1985}}'' and its portrayal of the life of Rocky Dennis. The song picked up some airplay despite not being commercially released yet, but [=DJs=] apparently weren't familiar with the subject matter and announced the song as though Rocky Dennis was the name of its performer. Jens' first officially released EP featured the aforementioned song and two more songs inspired by the film, but in attempt to clear things up, he pointedly titled the last track "Jens Lekman's Farewell Song to Rocky Dennis" and spoke of Rocky in the third person in its lyrics. Even so, some remained under the impression that Rocky Dennis was an early StageName for Jens.

* Music/BarenakedLadies are all men, and (most of the time) all fully-clothed as well. They came up with their name when they signed up for a music competition and realised they had to pick a name right then and there, so they panicked and chose that name.

* None of the members of The Marshall Tucker Band were named Marshall Tucker. They found the name on a discarded receipt in a bar.
** The real Marshall Tucker was a blind piano tuner.

* In one episode of the American ''Series/{{Whose Line is it Anyway}}?'', Ryan Stiles referred to Music/KidRock as a band. After Creator/DrewCarey pointed out that he's "[[IAmTheBand just one guy]]", they spent the rest of the episode joking about the mixup.