10 Bands Who Had Terrible Names Before They Were Successful
7. KISS
Well, this might feel like a drop in pace after the last entrant, and KISS may not be the greatest name on the planet, but could you imagine if the band whose bass player chops his own tongue off every night on stage were called... Wicked Lester?
Originally formed by Gene Klein - aka Gene Simmons - Brooke Ostrander and Stephen Coronel in 1970, the band were soon joined by Stanley Eisen - aka Paul Stanley - who had previously failed an audition.
After recruiting drummer Joe Davidson, the band formed as Rainbow. No, not that one.
To avoid confusion, the outfit soon became Wicked Lester, which sounds like a vegan alternative to a famous British cheese. Their brief existence saw the band only perform as Wicked Lester twice before disbanding in 1972 due to a lack of direction and vision. Although, just months later, Klein and Eisen - now known as Simmons and Stanley - revived the group with a new drummer and guitarist to form KISS.
KISS were named when new drummer Peter Criss mentioned he'd been in a band called Lips, which prompted Paul Stanley to suggest KISS.
While Wicked Lester may not be the worst name on the planet, it's hard to imagine KISS being called anything else - maybe, in part, due to how monumental the band have become, both in terms of their live shows and their image making them one of the biggest bands in rock over the past 50 years.