10 Rock Bands With Three Word Names

The Magnetic Fields is an underrated three word names band. Led by the elusive Stephen Meritt, this group has been active since 1989.

Over a recording career spanning more than thirty years, the group has released 12 albums. For their first two albums, the instrumentation was completely handled by Merrit while the vocals were provided by Susan Anyway.

From their third album, 1994's The Charm of the Highway Strip onwards, Meritt started singing too, and the group has since had a revolving list of members with Meritt at the center. The band is known chiefly for their 1999 opus, 69 Love Songs.

As the name suggests, it is an album of love songs, 69 of them, spanning different genders, genres, viewpoints, and moods. Though the band has never had a hit song or much commercial success, they are one of the biggest cult bands to come out of New York.

Neutral Milk Hotel is another cult band with three names. Led by Jeff Mangum, they are one of the most influential indie bands of the 90s.

Known for their lo-fi and psychedelic sound, the group spun out of the Elephant 6 collective, which was a collective of musician friends who made and promoted each other's music back in the late 1980s.

Initially a solo project, after the release of their first album, 1996's On Avery Island, Mangum's best friend Robert Schneider recommended he turn it into a full band. So, Mangum enlisted Julian Koster, Scott Spillane, and Jeremy Barnes to enlist their second and last album.

This album, 1998's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea would become one of the biggest and most beloved albums of the decade. However, it also led to Mangum feeling frightened by the fame he had accumulated, so he broke up the band.

The Stone Roses are one of the best bands with 3 word names. Though short-lived they are one of the most influential groups of their era.

The classic lineup of the band consisted of Ian Brown, John Squire, Man, and Reni. They were the singer, guitarist, bassist, and drummer of the band respectively.

The Roses are most known for their iconic self-titled debut album which was released in 1989. Coming in at the tail-end of the Madchester movement of the 1980s, this record mixed the Jangle Pop and Shoegaze elements most prominent in groups of the day.

Due to various controversies and in-fighting, their second and last album Second Coming wouldn't come out until 1994, and the group would split two years later. However, they would go onto inspire not only other popular British bands like Oasis and Blur, but the Britpop movement as a whole.

The Flaming Lips might be the wildest three word band names. Initially formed in 1983, the group is led by singer Wayne Coyne.

In their 40-year-long career, the band has amassed a truly sensational discography. It consists of 16 studio albums, 10 compilations, and 18 EPs. 

They have specially made a name for themselves due to their experimentation and for pushing the psychedelic Rock genre into hitherto unseen directions. However, the process of this occurring was an arduous one for the band.

Despite releasing her first album Hear It Is in 1986, they wouldn't find commercial and critical success until 1999's The Soft Bulletin. Most bands and artists have entire careers shorter than the amount it took for the Lips to even find a steady footing in the industry.

However, since then they have become one of the most respected and beloved acts in Rock history.

Nine Inch Nails is one of the best-known 90s bands with 3 word names. The band has a revolving door of members led by Trent Reznor.

Formed in 1988 by Reznor alone, the band is best known for being one of the pioneers of a subgenre of Rock music called Industrial Rock. It is a style of music that incorporates Electronic sounds while adding more grittiness and grime to the drums and bass.

From 2016 onwards the group now solely consists of Reznor and long-time collaborator Atticus Ross. The two have turned the band into less of a recording outfit and more of a soundtrack creation unit who have worked on various movies like The Social Network.

However, the band will always be known best for their decade-long material which started from 1989's Pretty Hate Machine to 1991's The Fragile. They still release music regularly, with their most recent album being 2020's Ghosts VI: Locusts.

Third Eye Blind is one of the best 90s bands with 3 word names. Led by Stephen Jenkins, this band is known for its poppy, bubbly sound.

The first half of the 90s was known for many things, chief among them Grunge. Grunge was a sub-genre of Rock that was popular for having a dour, depressing, and angsty sound.

However, after the passing of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain in 1994, the rest of the decade, in a sort of over-correction, started making cheerier songs. Third Eye Blind led the charge of this new post-Grunge sound that was not only poppy but dealt with even the saddest topics with a cheery and cheeky smile.

Plus, they were completely sincere too, which made 3EB a great success at first, something of a joke in the middle, and now one of the most enduring bands of the decade with a loyal fanbase.

Alice In Chains was one of the Big Four of Grunge alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The group was led by the late Layne Stanley.

Though the least popular of the four, the group is no less talented than them, and their music is no less dour and depressing. However, what set AIC apart from its counterparts is that their music went heavier and more depressing than any of the other three.

As Grunge started becoming more popular, all three of the other bands started, though unintentionally, polishing their sound. Alice in Chains, however, went the opposite direction and though it cost them popularity, it made their music one of the most underrated pieces of Grunge media from the 1990s.

The White Stripes were an iconic duo with an even more iconic name. They were made up of Jack White and Meg White.

Jack was the singer, frontman, and guitarist of the group. He came up with the lyrics, the amazing riffs, and basically everything that the band is known for and as such is held in high regard by most casual fans.

Meg is derided because people think her drumming was very simplistic, and also because she is a woman. However, she was the secret weapon of the duo as her drumming perfectly complemented Jack's virtuoso playing.

Together, the two kicked in the Garage Rock Revival of the early 2000s and brought Rock back into the limelight, if only for a second. Though they've long since disbanded, their music is much missed and still well-regarded by newer fans.

Tears For Fears are a popular duo who were most prominent in the 1980s. The group is made up of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.

Formed in 1981, the duo is known mostly for the three albums they released in the 80s which are:

• 1983's The Hurting
• 1985's Songs from the Big Chair
• 1989's The Seeds of Love

In these three records, the group took the nascent genre of New Wave and pushed it to the boundaries of what one could do with pop music. They influenced the entire decade and singlehandedly introduced the use of synthesizers to the mix.

Though they would lose relevancy in the 90s owing to Smith leaving the band until the next millennium, they have continued releasing albums. They released an album in 2004 called Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, and, their most recent album, The Tipping Point came out in 2022.

The Rolling Stones might be the most famous three-name band in existence. Formed in 1962, the band has been in existence for over 61 years now.

Powered by the songwriting partnership of singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, the Stones have created some of the most iconic songs in the history of Rock music. Alongside the Beatles, The Who, and The Kinks, they also started the British Invasion of the 1960s.

However, all those bands have either disbanded or retired but the Stones live on. In fact, they are still touring to this day, and will probably be doing so until all of them bite the dust.

They are a true inspiration to anyone who wants to rock as they rock on and hard.

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