List of Band Name Etymologies - M

M

• The Maine - The band The Maine is named after a song by Ivory named 'The Coast of Maine', therefore the band shortened it down to The Maine".
• Marillion — The band was originally called "Silmarillion." The name was taken from the title of a J.R.R. Tolkien novel. The name was eventually shortened to avoid possible legal problems.
• Matchbox Twenty — originally titled "Matchbox 20," the band took its name from a softball jersey with a "20" on it and a patch that had "Matchbox" written on it. The band altered its name to "Matchbox Twenty" after the release of its debut album Yourself or Someone Like You.
• Megadeth — While Dave Mustaine was traveling back to his home in the Bay Area on a bus after getting kicked out of his former band, Metallica, he would write lyrics on the back of a handbill to pass the time. The handbill itself quoted "The arsenal of megadeath can't be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to," which inspired him to use Megadeath as his band name. He later found out "The Megadeaths" was the former band name for Pink Floyd and dropped the 'A' in 'Death' to keep the name.
• Modest Mouse — Their name derives from a passage from the Virginia Woolf story "The Mark on the Wall," which reads, "...and very frequent even in the minds of modest, mouse-coloured people..."
• The Moody Blues - Originally named The M&B 5 after a Birmingham brewery called "Mitchells & Butlers". This was changed and the new name was inspired by a Duke Ellington song named 'Mood Indigo'.
• The Mountain Goats — The name is taken from the Screamin' Jay Hawkins song "Yellow Coat", which contains the line "50 million bulldogs, 20 mountain goats, all gathered 'round at sundown to see my yellow coat."