Did you ever notice how many rock and metal bands misspelled their names on purpose?
A moniker is one of the most important things to establish when forming a musical group, as it’s what’s on all of their releases throughout their career. Many of them changed their names before becoming famous, and intentionally spelled the title they settled on incorrectly.
One of the first groups that did this was The Beatles. Instead of spelling it the way the insect is spelled (“beetles”), they put an “A” in the name in reference to the word “beat.” Thus, The Beat-les. It was reportedly John Lennon who came up with the idea to spell it incorrectly [via Beatles Wiki].
From there, plenty of other bands followed suit with the misspellings. Some were inspired by The Beatles, others did it for legal purposes. Regardless, we compiled a list of bands who have oddly-spelled names, and noted the reason why underneath, as well as what the monikers would look like if they were written out properly.
READ MORE: Bands That Were Forced to Change Their Names
For some, there was less of a concrete answer as to why they misspelled them, and it was more for aesthetic purposes.
Funny enough, although you’re probably thinking that Rammstein should be on this list (they took the name after an air show disaster that occurred at the American airbase in Ramstein), their name was actually spelled with two “M”s on accident — thus, we can’t really say they made the error on purpose!
Scroll through the gallery below to see all the bands.
20 Bands Who Misspelled Their Names on Purpose (And Why)
These rock and metal bands misspelled their names on purpose, and some of them have explained the reason why.
Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner
56 Rock + Metal Bands Who Changed Their Name Before Getting Famous
Gallery Credit: Joe DiVita