Rock bands may differ in nearly every respect, but one hurdle remains the same for all of them: The need for a good band-name. Most of the time when we thumb through our CD collections we don't even register what some of our favorite bands' names are much less what they mean, but every band has a story. Here are 15 hugely famous bands and how they got the somewhat off-beat names we know and love.

Green Day

Source This supergroup started out its music-life as an unknown band playing gigs out of Berkeley as Sweet Children. Just as they were getting enough of a following to get signed and release their first EP, the decision was made that they needed to change names because of another band, Sweet Baby, so they went with what they loved. If you've ever wasted an entire day loafing around high on pot, you can say you had a "green day" too.

Green JellÓ±

Source Green JellÓ± started out life as Green Jello, but after the threat of a lawsuit, decided on going the even more ridiculous route by changing the "o" to a "Ó±," which technically has the same pronunciation. Too bad most of their fans don't know that, and most people just know them as "Green Jelly." To make things more interesting, the reason they even chose Green Jello to begin with was that it summed up their musical abilities; not one of them was any good at playing an instrument when they got together.

Muse

Source Muse is a ridiculously huge band that has followings on continents rivaling Radiohead, and probably thicker accents too. People stop to look when they see the name Muse, it just has that effect, but that's not why they picked it. They played around with the name because they had similar interests in the occult and old superstitions, but it wasn't until they won a goth-rock contest under a fake name (while trying to lose) that they realized they had something big on their hands. Can you picture the Muse of today as "The Rocket Baby Dolls?" Neither could they.

Blue Öyster Cult

Source Most people never, for one second, even stop to think about how truly weird this band's name is, because they're too busy wishing for more cowbell as they rock out and cry to Don't Fear the Reaper. For as odd as it comes off, there's really nothing too strange about this one. They took the idea from a 1960's poem (go figure) written by their manager, Sandy Pearlman. The "Blue Oyster Cult" was actually a group of aliens secretly running the affairs of Earth. Once it was used for the band's name, the requisite umlaut was added.

Queen

Source OK, so you stop dead cold in your tracks and drop whatever you're doing anytime you hear Bohemian Rhapsody. That doesn't detract from the fact that Queen has a name that...well...screams queen, doesn't it? Again, this is just one of those bands that we've grown up with, and never thought to question. Freddie Mercury put it this way: "I was certainly aware of gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it." The band stuck with the name because it's "regal" and "sounds splendid." Alright, that's fair enough.

Band of Horses

Source These guys are headed nowhere but up the charts, and if you aren't already listening to them, you probably have by accident. They're that indie, and they're pretty country too, if you can't tell by the beard on their frontman. Originally they started out as just plain Horses, but once they started picking up steam and it looked like rock-star t-shirts had to get ordered, they upped their caliber accordingly and slapped on the "Band of" just to make sure nobody got confused.

Interpol

Source Rocketing out of the New York indie underground scene faster than most people can clean their bedrooms, Interpol is now about as huge as their name sounds. With their rapid rise to the top, they barely had time to pick a suitable name to begin with; originally the nameless band was thinking of using either Las Armas or The French Letters, but finally settled on Interpol just in time for the crowds to get used to the monicker.

The Killers

Source People usually assume they know what's up with The Killers' band-name; it seems simple enough, it just sounds good. That's actually not the case, and it may be one of the most creatively picked band-names out there. They actually picked the name because it was a fictional brand of bass-drum used in a music video for The New Order's song Crystal. These guys love music, and that's one hell of a way to pay homage.

Butthole Surfers

Source Believe it or not, these guys started out in 1981, and didn't even have a name. They used a different one at every show, one of which being "Nine Foot Worm Makes Own Food." Try saying that one drunk; this nonsense all changed the night an announcer forgot the name they gave him, and simply called them by one of their 1984 song titles, Butthole Surfer. It may have hurt album sales initially, but over time, it's only helped make them more well known.

Linkin Park

Source Most people would never guess that the first album of LP to make it big was actually named after their old band name. Linkin Park spent some time as Hybrid Theory before they decided to change their image and pay their respects to local Lincoln Park in Santa Monica, California. With as many times as they've changed their sound, it's no surprise they went through several name changes before ever making it big to begin with; they originally called themselves Xero.

Murder By Death

Source Starting off with the ridiculously boring title of "Little Joe Gould," this band made the smart move of matching their name to their theme...which they claim is along the lines of "zombies, whiskey, and the Devil." They nabbed their new title off the 1976 noir-ish comedy-movie written by Neil Simon and featuring a rare appearance by Truman Capote.

Death Cab for Cutie

Source With a name like Death Cab for Cutie, one expects some severely emo punk action before they hear what's in store for them. The group's name is actually from a little-known song performed by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band during the 1967 Beatles movie Magical Mystery Tour. It's not as cryptic as it sounds, either, as the song itself was about a girl, Cutie, who got in a cab one night and was killed in a car-wreck at a street corner. That story was taken from an old pulp-fiction crime magazine.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Source Much like The Killers, most assume that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are just a fine example of how to name your rock band. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs might beg to differ, since they're about as far from corporate as a rock band can get before living in a garage. The band-members are such New Yorkers that they actually named their band with the oft-maligned local phrase "yeah yeah yeah!" As it turns out, that's exactly how a rock band should be named.

MGMT

Source These guys seem like the kind of band with a name so long that it took a 4-letter acronym to contain it. That's hardly the case, since they actually started out (oddly enough) as simply The Management. Considering their style and following, that was ironic enough, but making the move to MGMT only helped iconify them even further. Upping their street-cred wasn't difficult after that, and they even backed up their namesake by suing the President of France.

The Shins

Source The Shins may be huge but they have a name that just screams indie, and they hold to that preconception pretty well. Their frontman, James Mercer, actually started off in a band called Blue Roof Dinner (yes, like the meal), and his father's favorite musical play was The Music Man, an old Broadway act back in the 50's. In that play there are characters of the family Shinn, and from that obscure reference The Shins were born. Now that's indie.

Tags: list, rock bands, backstories