List of Band Name Etymologies - R

R

• Radiohead – originally known as "On a Friday", the band was given two weeks after signing to Parlophone to change their name. The band renamed themselves after the 1986 Talking Heads song "Radio Head" on the album True Stories, claiming it as the "least annoying song" from the album.
• Rage Against the Machine - when the band formed in 1991, they chose the name of a song Zack de la Rocha had written for his old band, Inside Out.
• The Ramones – Paul McCartney used the alias Paul Ramon when booking hotel rooms. So the band decided to use the last name Ramone even though it's not their given name.
• R.E.M. — vocalist Michael Stipe drew the acronym randomly out of the dictionary. The term refers to the rapid eye movement phase of sleep. Stipe says that is not the reason why the band is named R.E.M.
• The Residents – In 1971 the group sent a reel-to-reel tape to Hal Halverstadt at Warner Brothers. Because the band had not included any name in the return address, the rejection slip was simply addressed to "The Residents". The members of the group then decided that this would be the name they would use, first becoming Residents Unincorporated, then shortening it to the current name.
• REO Speedwagon - named after Ransom E. Olds's REO Speed Wagon, which band founder Neal Doughty studied his transportation history class at the University of Illinois.

• The Rolling Stones – from the Muddy Waters song, "Mannish Boy".
• Russian Circles - Originally the title of their first piece, which was later called "Carpe". Russian Circles are a drill in hockey.