So you’ve decided it’s time for you to start your very own metal band. You’ve got the requisite Marshall stacks and pointy guitars, you’ve assembled a group of like-minded metalheads with which to play and you’ve found yourself a cramped rehearsal space to start creating heavy sounds. Only thing you need now is a band name. Hmm…how about…Rainbow? Dew-Scented? The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza? YEAH, NOW THAT’S FREAKIN’ METAL!!! Wait…what? It turns out that some metal bands have decided to go a different route from the typical death, chaos and destruction themes and chosen handles that are a little, dare we say…lamer? And although these band names don’t exactly convey heaviness, once the songs kick in and you hear those pummeling riffs, there’s no mistaking that these are indeed HEAVY METAL bands. Here’s a list of 10 Metal Bands with Non-Metal Monikers – band names as atypical as the various types of metal they play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEaxow3PoO0Rainbow
A rainbow generally conveys a warm and fuzzy feeling, but there was nothing warm or fuzzy about this trailblazing ‘70s metal band, especially during the early Dio days.
Meshuggah
This Swedish extreme metal band took their name from the Yiddish word for “crazy” which makes sense since there’s nothing more metal than the Yiddish language.
Dew-Scented
Heavy metal can be described in many ways. Dew-scented is not one of them.
Strapping Young Lad
The name of this Devin Townsend-led Canadian band sounds more like an English grandfather bragging about his grandson than a brutal metal band.
Girlschool
There’s no denying that these NWOBHM girls sounded metal. Their name? Not so much.
Job For A Cowboy
To be fair, the death metal band formed in 2003, a whole two years before Brokeback Mountain hit the theaters and rendered their name even less metal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36NNnUbMQY0
The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
Enough said. And yes, this is, or rather was, a real band.
Abigail Williams
Upon first hearing the name? Nope, not metal at all. Upon learning that the name is taken from one of the accusers in the Salem witch trial? OK, that’s pretty metal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McxfgB1HhFk
Fozzy
It’s a play on Ozzy, the forefather of metal. It’s also a play on a brown bear muppet.
Raintime
Behold the furious wrath of…Raintime?