12 Bands Whose Names Conjure Up Images of Food

Those who’ve ever been in a band know how hard it can be to name your band. You start to look around—maybe Lamp? Dishwasher? Potted Plant? Hey, Lamp’s pretty good, right? Sometimes you open the refrigerator and say, Cake! How about Cake?! Well, one band likely did that—the band, Cake—and look how well it’s turned out for them? Here, we wanted to dive into 11 other bands besides Cake that also named themselves after food items found in their refrigerators.

[RELATED: 5 Bands Named After Other Bands’ Songs]

So, without further ado, let’s do just that.

1. Cake

Okay, okay, the Sacramento, California-born band didn’t really name itself after the traditional birthday food. Instead, it’s the other meaning of the word, like when something “cakes” onto your shoe.

2. Cream

As written about here, Cream named itself because they were so good at their instruments. Led by Eric Clapton, the band was the “cream of the crop.”

3. Red Hot Chili Peppers

The group named themselves after Louis Armstrong’s 1920s jazz quintet, which was nicknamed the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Southern California band has become one of the most successful in history.

4. Salt-N-Pepa

This historic rap group named themselves after one of their song lyrics, Right now I’m gonna show you how it’s supposed to be ‘Cause we, the salt and pepper MCs. That came from their 1986 hit, “The Showstopper.”

5. The Cranberries

Originally named the Cranberry Saw Us, the band changed its name when now iconic singer Dolores O’Riordan joined in 1990. Either way, we think of sauce and juice.

6. Blind Melon

The L.A.-born ’90s rock band got its name from a nickname mentioned among hippies. The moniker was also mentioned in music by the 1920s blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson and later in Cheech & Chong comedies.

7. Meat Loaf

Michael Lee Aday says he was born bright red. His father, he says, said the infant looked like “nine pounds of ground chuck” and even got hospital staff to write “Meat” on his crib. He was called M.L. because of his initials but when he gained a lot of weight as a kid, other children called him Meat Loaf. And one day he stepped on a coach’s foot who yelled in agony, “Get off my foot, you hunk of meatloaf!” Thus, he took the name for the stage.

8. Spice Girls

Originally named Touch, the gal group’s early days included writing the song “Sugar and Spice.” Seeing those words together lit the lightbulb and the singing group changed its name to the now iconic Spice Girls.

9. Blue Oyster Cult

The name of this seminal rock group does not come from the food, necessarily. Instead, it comes from a poem written by the band’s manager Sandy Pearlman. Pearlman also came up with the band’s earlier name, Soft White Underbelly, which stemmed from a turn of phrase by Winston Churchill.

10. Black Eyed Peas

First named Black Eyed Pods, the underground rap group that later became a global phenomenon changed its name to Black Eyed Peas. It may be a coincidence, but black-eyed peas are often eaten on New Year’s Day for good luck.

11. Bananarama

The English pop trio didn’t see the yellow fruit in their fridge and exclaim their name. Instead, the word comes from the song “Pyjamarama” by Roxy Music.

12. The Bacon Brothers

While it would be fun to think of a band comprised of guys who love bacon, this rock duo is named after the last names of its two brother members, Michael and actor Kevin Bacon.

Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images