History IAmNotShazam / Music

** Similarly, April Wine sounds like the name of a female solo artist, but is actually an all-male hard rock band. [[Note]]Music/AvrilLavigne literally translates to April Vineyard, and that could confuse things. [[/note]]

* "Music/PinkFloyd" is the name of the band (named after bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council), not the name of any of the members of the band. This misconception serves as the basis for a clueless record executive in the Pink Floyd song "Have a Cigar" from ''Music/WishYouWereHere1975'' asking, "Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?"
** That was TruthInTelevision, as they actually got asked that question to the point that it became a [[RunningGag running joke]] among them.
** Note that the central character in both the film and album ''Music/TheWall'' goes by "Pink", possibly adding to the confusion. As well, the end of "Young Lust" has an exchange with a telephone operator trying to place a collect call "From Mr. Floyd to Mrs. Floyd", implying that the character's name actually ''is'' Pink Floyd. It's also implied in the movie that his name is Floyd Pinkerton. Which contradicts the phone call, although it could be that Floyd Pinkerton took the stage name of Pink Floyd. The kids in his youth call him, "Pinky".
** Referenced in the season 4 finale of ''Series/{{Bones}}''.
---> '''Sweets''': Hey, so, uh, we're Gormogon...I mean, the name of the band is Gormogon. Some people think that I'm Gormogon, but I'm not. It's like, there's no one named Floyd in Pink Floyd.
* Music/JethroTull often had the same problem. They took their name from the Englishman (1674-1741) who invented the seed drill.
** This was referenced in ''Film/Armageddon1998'', when Oscar Choi (played by Owen Wilson) says to a NASA psychologist (played by the legendary Udo Kier), "I tell you one thing that really drives me nuts, is people who think that Jethro Tull is just a person in the band." (To which the psychologist replied, "Who is Jethro Tull?")

* Even though the name Music/{{Blondie}} was inspired by lead singer Deborah Harry's blonde hair, the name refers to the band as a whole and not to Harry specifically. Due to this, they produced T-shirts and buttons saying “Blondie is a group”.

* Even though the name Music/{{Blondie}} was inspired by lead singer Deborah Harry's blonde hair, the name refers to the band as a whole and not to Harry specifically.

* Music/Maroon5 is a band, not the stage name of singer Creator/AdamLevine. Subverted in a sense this has apparently this has come to be of the band in the 2010s since Levine gets all the public attention thanks to his stint as a judge on ''Series/TheVoice'' and his bandmates have been in lurking in the background to the point where the public has forgotten that there are other members.

* Similarly, Paul Revere of Music/PaulRevereAndTheRaiders was the keyboardist and never the singer. And "Paul Revere" was his given names; his real last name was Dick. Mark Lindsay was the lead vocalist during the band's commercial heyday.

** Similarly, April Wine sounds like the name of a female solo artist, but is actually an all-male hard rock band.

** Similarly, Sleater-Kinney are not the surnames of the two lead singers, but the name of an arterial road in Lacey, a town adjacent to Olympia, [=WA=], where the band formed.

* People often ask members of the band Music/HootieAndTheBlowfish "Who's Hootie?" No-one's Hootie, and the band is The Blowfish. Lead singer Darius Rucker is, however, remembered primarily as "Hootie" by most people.
** The name, ''Hootie and the Blowfish'', was actually taken from Darius's friends ("Hootie" has round eyes, while "Blowfish" would puff up his cheeks like a blowfish).

*** This trope could be averted now that Hootie & the Blowfish is on hiatus and Darius Rucker has made a name for himself as a solo CountryMusic artist.

* In one episode of the American ''Series/{{Whose Line is it Anyway}}?'', Ryan Stiles referred to Kid Rock as a band. After Drew Carey pointed out that he's "[[IAmTheBand just one guy]]", they spent the rest of the episode joking about the mix-up.

* A similar example: when Robin Trower left Music/ProcolHarum, he formed a new band. The band was named...Robin Trower. No real difference in practical terms, though it might be surprising to find their albums under "R" instead of "T".

* 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 Cee-Lo Green and producer and instrumentalist {{Music/Danger Mouse}}).

** It doesn't help that some of those artists are supported by backing bands, and those band members are assumed to be members of the "band"

** 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 publically Jon instead of John, except perhaps it looks good next to the Bon bit.

* Music/GunsNRoses is a rare aversion to this, in a sense; the band was named after Tracii Guns (of the LA Guns, born Tracii Ulrich), and Axl Rose. Of course, Axl Rose is the face of the band, but the only other member most people would be able to name is Slash. [[ArtifactTitle Guns, on the other hand, left the band before they released their first album]].

* The band Music/FountainsOfWayne (famous for "Stacy's Mom") was named after a lawn-decoration store. No one in the band is named Wayne.
** The store itself, sadly now closed, was named for the town of Wayne, NJ, 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!)

* Richmond Fontaine is an alt-country band. They are named after an American expat that had helped bassist Dave Harding when his car was stuck in the desert.

* Steven Tyler's name is not Music/{{Aerosmith}}. Aerosmith is the band, Steven Tyler is the singer. This is mostly a problem in people that only knows Steven for his work on American Idol and not with the band. It's usually a very bad idea to refer to Steven as "Aerosmith" in front of fans of the band.

* At the height of their fame it was common to hear people call the two "vocalists" from Music/MilliVanilli "Milli" and "Vanilli", even though Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan had received plenty of individual publicity. Some of it was tongue-in-cheek but there seemed to be a lot people who thought those were their names.

* 90's R&B BoyBand Dru Hill. Many people thought lead singer Sisqo was "Dru," but the UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}-based band is named after Druid Hill Park, which sounds like "Dru' Hill" in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents local accent]].

* Davy Jones and the Lower Third ''never'' had ''[[Music/TheMonkees that]]'' [[Music/TheMonkees Davy Jones]] among its members. That's why the band became "Music/DavidBowie and the Lower Third."
** 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 (Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci) named after those artists.

* The yacht rock band Pablo Cruise is a band and not a particular person. It was meant to invoke a down to earth person (Pablo) who could have fun (Cruise).

* The lead singer of Music/TheJGeilsBand is Peter Wolf, with J. Geils being the band's leader and guitarist. Interestingly, Geils quit his own band in 2012 following a dispute...and they kept touring without him up through his 2017 death. When he died, there were more than a few news outlets that incorrectly referred to Geils as the singer of the band.
* An inversion of the usual with Music/TheWeeknd, in his early years many people thought that was the title for a band. The Weeknd is a solo artist who's birth name is Abel Tesfaye.

* Danish band Creator/MichaelLearnsToRock has been asked countless times regarding which member is the titular Michael by numerous reporters. The closest they have to the name is Mikkel Lentz (the Danish locale pronounciation of ''Michael''), and even then he isn't the lead singer of the band. According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, WordOfGod is that the band leader, Jascha Richter, picked up the phrase from an English textbook partially because it reminded him of Music/MichaelJackson.

** [[Music/AphexTwin Aphex]] ''[[Music/AphexTwin Twin]]'' is the name of ''one'' man, Richard David James. However, according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the "twin" refers to his twin brother who died at birth.

** This was referenced in ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'', when Oscar Choi (played by Owen Wilson) says to a NASA psychologist (played by the legendary Udo Kier), "I tell you one thing that really drives me nuts, is people who think that Jethro Tull is just a person in the band." (To which the psychologist replied, "Who is Jethro Tull?")

* "Music/PinkFloyd" is the name of the band (named after bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council), not the name of any of the members of the band. This misconception serves as the basis for a clueless record executive in the Pink Floyd song "Have a Cigar" from ''Music/WishYouWereHere'' asking, "Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?"

** The band referenced Alice’s name in the song "Be My Lover", however it is not the same as “By the way, which one’s Pink” in Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar”, nobody was Pink, & Vincent was/is Alice:

* The lead singer of the Spencer Davis Group was a pre-fame Steve Winwood; Davis was the guitarist.

* 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.

* Music/{{Jamiroquai}} is basically [[IAmTheBand lead singer Jay Kay's show]]. It's the name of the ''band'', not the guy in the [[NiceHat fuzzy chapeau]].

* The main character of the story-related songs on the Music/{{Genesis}} album ''Duke'' is actually named Albert, but you wouldn't know that from looking at song titles like "Duke's Travels" and "Duke's End".

* Canadian Band Max Webster also fits this trope. No one in the band is named Max Webster. Singer/guitarist Kim Mitchell explains the name this way:

* The Canadian indie-pop group Austra takes its name from the middle name of frontwoman Katie Stelmanis, who like Nena, also uses it as her stage name.

** The same applies to Music/EchoAndTheBunnymen; no one in the band has the stage name "Echo". The ''entire band'' is Echo and the Bunnymen. At least, not any of the human members. Before the band had a drummer, their drum machine was named "Echo."

** Lampshaded in a making-of video for the Ben Folds Five reunion single "Do It Anyway" featuring [[Series/FraggleRock the Fraggles]] - Red refers to the band as "Mr. Ben and his three, and the other two once they show up".

** The same applies to Music/EchoAndTheBunnymen; no one in the band has the stage name "Echo". The ''entire band'' is Echo and the Bunnymen.

* In 2003 the hip-hop duo Outkast released the hit album ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'', which led some people to believe that "Speakerboxxx" and "The Love Below" are their stage names. Their actual names are André 3000 and Big Boi.

* Canadian Band Max Webster also fits this trope. No one in the band is named Max Webster.
Singer/guitarist Kim Mitchell explains the name this way:

* In 2003 Music/Outkast released the hit album ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below''', which led some people to believe that the names of the duo's members are "Speakerboxxx" and "The Love Below". Their actual names are André 3000 and Big Boi.

* Canadian Band Max Webster also fits this trope, no Max, no Webster.

--> Max Webster's name came from Mike Tilka, the bass player. He was in a band called Family At Mac's, and they did a song called 'Webster'. We were looking for a Jethro Tull type name...a real human name but nobody in the band with that name

* Music/AliceCooper was both the name of the band, and the stage name of the singer. After the band broke up, lead singer Vincent Furnier/ Alice Cooper legally changed his name, thus averting this trope afterward.
** Before the band broke up, they referenced this trope in the song "Be My Lover":

* Originally Music/AliceCooper was just the name of the band. After the band broke up, lead singer Vincent Furnier changed his name, thus averting this trope afterward.