How Canadian Bands Got Their Names: 20 Origin Stories

The twenty

1. Rush — the pet name (see our Rush features): a casual suggestion that stuck.
2. Nickelback — the day-job joke (see our feature): Mike Kroeger's coffee change ("here's your nickel back").
3. The Tragically Hip — the skit (see our features): a Python-esque skit reference.

a schoolyard rumor about an arcade fire.

1. Barenaked Ladies — the joke name (see our feature): the one-off gig that stuck.
2. Broken Social Scene — the descriptor: the broken scene they found — the honest name (see our feature).

a song title, borrowed.

1. Feist — the nickname: Leslie Feist's shortened surname (see our feature).

an obscure film reference, deliberately provocative.

1. Alvvays — the ungoogleable: the double-v as the search strategy (see our feature).
2. Godspeed You! Black Emperor — the film (see our feature): the title moved its exclamation point over the years.
3. Cowboy Junkies — the Michael Timmin's irony: the anti-country name for the country band (see our Trinity feature).
4. Blue Rodeo — the country-rock portmanteau: the blue + the rodeo — the genre in two words (see our features).
5. Great Big Sea — the Newfoundland idiom: the Atlantic itself (see our feature).
6. Spirit of the West — the Vancouver band's statement: the west coast identity (see our feature).
7. The Weakerthans — the Moles? no — the literary reference: the band name as the poetic downgrade (see our feature).
8. Death From Above 1979 — the year (see our feature): the 1979 as the arbitrary edge.
9. Grimes — the MySpace genre list (see our feature): a genre she didn't play.
10. The Weeknd — the weekend without the e: the Toronto kid's handle (see our feature).
11. Drake — the middle name: Aubrey Drake Graham (see our feature).

The naming truth

The pattern (see our features): the best names (see our features) are (see our features) stories (see our features) — the joke (see our features), the memory (see our features), the irony (see our features), the honest description (see our features). The name (see our features) is (see our features) the first song (see our album-titles feature): make it (see our features) mean (see our features) something (see our features). The canon (see our features) did (see our features). The sleeves (see our album-covers feature) remember (see our features). The names (see our features) sing (see our features).