WHAT IS A LED ZEPPELIN?

What does Aerosmith mean? 10 legendary bands’ names explained

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Due to constant repetition, the names of successful bands become household names. But, when we stop to think about them, some of those names are downright strange or, at the very least, curious. What is an Aerosmith? Or a Supertramp? Find the answers to these and a few other existential questions by scrolling through the following stories.

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In case anyone wondered, The Ramones were not a band of brothers named Ramone. The name of the band was first suggested by Dee Dee, after learning that Paul McCartney would check into hotels under the fake name 'Paul Ramon'. He convinced the other members to adopt the last name, and The Ramones came to be.

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There are two versions of the origin of Alice Cooper’s name. In the early days, the story was that Alice Cooper was a spirit the band contacted via an Ouija board.

But in later years, the frontman himself has said that they came up with a name that could be someone’s grandmother – which made it a perfectly unorthodox match for a bunch of cross-dressing shock rockers.

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If the rumors are correct, Jimmy Page (guitarist and frontman for what would become Led Zeppelin), Jeff Beck (guitarist for The Yardbirds, a band Page had been part of), Keith Moon (drummer for The Who), and John Entwistle (bass player for The Who) came up with the idea of forming a supergroup, but Moon suggested this would "go over like a lead balloon".

Sometime later, Page remembered this expression and, after swapping "balloon" for "zeppelin", decided to drop the "a" in "lead" to make it clear how the word should be pronounced: Led Zeppelin.

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Billy Gibbons, the guitar player for ZZ Top came up with the band’s name thanks to his obsession with blues music. He thought of combining the names of two bluesmen: Z.Z. Hill and B.B. King. But when ZZ King didn’t sound all that great, Gibbons made the slight shift to ZZ Top.

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There are many bands whose names are literary references to authors and their works. Uriah Heep got their name from a character in Charles Dickens’ 'David Copperfield.' Uriah Heep was a man untrustworthy and unlikable in the extreme.

As guitarist Mick Box said "We were formed on the 100th anniversary of Charles Dickens. There was publicity all over London to celebrate his birthday."

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Being the American answer to The Beatles, the Monkees needed a moniker similar to that of the Fab Four. Accordingly, they mispronounced the name of a creature from the natural world just as the Beatles had done in the first place.

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Another legendary group that got its name from a book is Supertramp. The British art-rockers got their name from W. H. Davies’ 1908 memoir 'The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp,' in which the Welsh writer details his wandering early days.

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The fact that the Grateful Dead came up with their band name while under the influence surprises no one. Perusing a folklore dictionary, Jerry Garcia discovered the term, which related to the soul of an unburied dead person expressing karmic gratitude to someone who arranged for their eventual burial.

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Not many bands are named after the drummer and the bass player. But Fleetwood Mac is. The outfit was christened after the names of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. This was a ploy devised by guitarist Peter Green to keep them in the band. And it worked; 5 decades and countless lineups later, the pair is the only remaining members from the ‘60s.

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The curious name of this legendary hard rock outfit originated, according to drummer Joey Kramer, while he and his girlfriend were listening to Harry Nilsson’s "Aerial Ballet" and the couple began toying with cool band names that had the word "aero" in them.

He liked how "Aerosmith" sounded, but the band he was in at the time didn’t. So it was shelved until Kramer joined Joe Perry and Steven Tyler’s group. The convincing was done and the rest is history.

Vigilantes and rogues

Good or bad? Discover these 10 antiheroes!

For every knight in shining armor, there’s always an antihero hiding in the shadows: These characters are definitively do-gooders, but they usually lean towards a grayer sense of morality. Think about it: While Superman is brightly dressed, friendly, and warm, Batman works at night, fighting the underbelly with his very once sense of ruthless justice. In that regard, we have selected 10 of the most intimidating, dangerous, and morally ambiguous characters from films, shows, and comic books. These fighters of justice might sometimes be on the wrong side of the law, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy their adventures. Enjoy!

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We’ll start with someone who many believe to be the quintessential comic-book antihero. Wolverine is the code name of Logan, a mutant superhero from the world of Marvel Comics. His mutant powers give him the ability to heal from wounds. Not only that, thanks to his healing his body was infused with Adamantium, a fictional metal known for its indestructibility.

One of the key aspects of Logan is his wild and animalistic personality: Troubled by amnesia, Logan’s past is a mystery that keeps him at arm's length from his own humanity. This makes him prone to entering a feral and berserker state which makes him extremely dangerous to his enemies.

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The Wild West is the perfect environment for antiheroes: A place where morality and societal norms were often ignored. Sergio Leone’s "Dollars Trilogy" introduced the world to one of the most iconic antiheroes produced by the Western genre: The Man with No Name, played by Clint Eastwood in all 3 films.

Sometimes known as "Blondie" or "Joe", Eastwood’s character is instantly recognizable by 3 characteristics: His poncho, his fondness for cigarillos, and the fact that he seldom speaks. Not only that, but this man is an expert gunslinger, who should be feared by anyone that dares to stand in his path.

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Gotham City’s masked protector is known by many names, like the Dark Knight or the Caped Crusader. However, when Bruce Wayne chose the name he would take for his fight against crime, he adopted the symbol of the animal he feared the most, in the hope that he would inspire the same fear in criminals. And with that, Batman was born.

Batman’s origin story has become a classic at this point: Billionaire Bruce Wayne becomes determined to rid his city of evil after witnessing his parent's murder when he was a young boy. For years, Bruce trained endlessly in order to reach peak physical and mental performance and fight crime from the shadows.

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John Carpenter is known as an absolute master of horror, but that doesn’t mean he can make an incredible action film. Case in point: The amazing 1981 science-fiction film Escape from New York, centered around the roguish Snake Plissken, portrayed by Kurt Russell.

In this dystopian film, Manhattan has become a massive maximum-security prison. After the President of the United States is kidnapped, former war hero turned criminal Snake Plissken is tasked with rescuing the Commander-in-Chief, for which he will be granted his freedom.

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Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver introduced the world to the amazing talent of Robert DeNiro, who played Travis Bickle, the main character of this film. Travis is a Vietnam war veteran troubled with insomnia, who takes a job as a late-night taxi driver to make a living.

DeNiro’s superb performance makes Travis almost seem like a real person: His troubled mind and paranoia paint him as the tortured human being he is. Throughout the film, Travis often decides to walk his own path of morality, turning his back on the society that seemingly abandoned him.

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It stands to reason that Clint Eastwood, a man known for his ability to play tough characters, made it twice to this list. The 1971 film Dirty Harry follows Detective Harry Callahan and the vigilante ways he employs to catch a serial killer known as Scorpio.

What sets Dirty Harry apart is how easily he chooses to cross professional boundaries to get the bad guys: This is the exact definition of what makes an antihero. Eastwood’s wonderful performance of this tough-as-nails detective truly cemented him as a pop culture icon.

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Just like Travis Bickle, John Rambo is a lonely and troubled Vietnam war veteran: Rambo’s first film, based on the novel First Blood, shows him making his way to a small Washington town in order to meet a former comrade. However, after the local sheriff mistreats him and throws him in jail, Rambo becomes an unstoppable killing machine, guided by both his own moral code and his frail mental health.

After the success of First Blood in 1982, Rambo was featured in several sequels that saw him fight for freedom all around the world. Thankfully, the last two movies gave John a much-deserved home in which to grow old.

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Who says that antiheroes can’t be fun? Cousins Bo and Luke Duke are the main characters of this 70s comedy series, which shows their adventures in a small Georgia town. Thanks to "General Lee," their loyal Dodge Charger, Bo and Luke wreak havoc in their hometown, often foiling the plans of their corrupt town sheriff.

The Dukes of Hazzard was known for its action, comedy, and exhilarating narrative: Week after week, millions of Americans turned to their TVs to see what sort of troubles the "Duke Boys" had gotten themselves into.

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Al Pacino’s wonderful performance in the 1975 crime drama Dog Day Afternoon is truly something else: For many critics, this movie is Pacino’s greatest role, which is saying something considering that he is often regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation.

This film follows a failed 1972 robbery led by Sonny Wortzik, a bank robber who takes the entire building hostage. Pacino, who plays Wortzik, was able to superbly portray a layer of anguish and humanity to this extremely nuanced character.

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We’ll end this article with a bit of a controversial take. Up until now, we have mostly focused on antiheroes known for their brawns, their savagery, or their fighting skills. However, a point should be made that Charles Kane, the billionaire protagonist of Orson Welles's masterpiece Citizen Kane, has many of the feats that make a good antihero.

For starters, Kane’s morality seems to be guided by one defining factor: Greed. Kane is a character who covets status, power, and wealth: The movie follows him from his early childhood through his botched political career. However, by the end of the film, Kane turns into an almost irredeemable character into someone seeking his own lost innocence, which tortures him untill his last breath.