Did Your Favorite Classic Blimp Band Change Their Name For The Better?

It's possible we would have loved Soft White Underbelly or The Golliwogs, but it's hard to imagine Screaming Abdabs as stadium headliners...

The Detours: It was Roger Daltrey who formed The Detours with John Entwistle and Pete Townshend back in 1959, but come 1964 they discovered there already was a headlining act out there called Johnny Devilin & The Detours. Pete and a friend tossed around "No One". "The Group" and "The Hair" as possibilities; Daltrey convinced 'em to go with "The Who"...

The Weak Heartdrops: A wise (and rather obvious) decision for a punk band to leave the word "weak" out of what they were doing, so for a little while they were known as The Psychotic Negatives. Their ultimate name came along when bassist Paul Simonon kept seeing the phrase in current newspapers and they settled on calling themselves The Clash.

Tom and Jerry: Even though they actually scored a minor hit single with "Hey Schoolgirl" under the too-cutesy-poo cartoon cat-and-mouse name, the boys sensed the writing on the wall. When they got back together in college, they realized their real names would do just fine: say hello to Simon and Gafrunkel...

The Artistics: David Byrne and Chris Frantz started out as The Artistics in 1973. When they got a gig opening for The Ramones at CBGB's, they felt the time was right to alter the moniker; thanks to a nearby copy of TV Guide and a description of a TV news anchor's head-and-shoulder shot as "all content, no action", they decided upon Talking Heads...

Screaming Abdabs (or Screaming Habdabs): Brit-slang for heebie-jeebies was okay, but cumbersome. They played out as The Tea Set and Jokers Wild, but when they found themselves on a bill with another band called The Tea Set, it was time for an on-the-spot change. The decision to mix two blues musicians names was an inspired choice: thanks to Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, we now have Pink Floyd...

For now, we'll be skipping over the artists formerly known as Fecal Matter and Mighty Joe Young, butcha never know on down the line...