Wicked Lester

This is a list of bands that you may (or may not) know who once had a stupid name, but later changed that name to something more recognizable.

Wicked Lester is now known as KISS
Rat Salad is now known as Van Halen
The Polka Tulk Blues Band is now known as Black Sabbath
Free Beer is now known as Barenaked Ladies - This wasn't groundbreaking. Several bands in the 70s, 80s, and 90s called themselves "Free Beer."
Pen Cap Chew is now known as Nirvana. They also made music under the name Fecal Matter.
Rainbow Butt Monkeys became Finger Eleven - But nobody cared because numetal is queer.
Tony Flow and the Miraculusly Majestic Masters of Mayhem is now known as The Red Hot Chili Peppers. - Under any name, thou dost smell of a sire's ejaculate.

Rick Allen of Atomic Mass.

Atomic Mass turned into Def Leppard. - Best drummer of all time. ;)
On a Friday morphed into Radiohead and remained gay.
Sweet Children got signed but still changed their name to Green Day.
Duck Tape changed the band's name to Blink-182 because it was cool to have numbers in your band's name in 1990. They should have kept the original name.
The Young Aborigines changed their band name to The Beastie Boys because for some reason the word aborigines was problematic.
Megadeaths became Pink Floyd and then some idiots in metallica kicked a guy out of their band for drinking too much (metal + alcoholic = metallica) That guy went on to form the band Megadeth. Pink Floyd also used: Screaming Abdabs, The Tea Set, Jokers Wild, The Pink Floyd Sound, and The Screaming Habdabs. Yes, their original singer/guitarist was a schizophrenic.

Human Garbage

Naked Toddler became Creed. Both names suck and both bands suck too. Why in God's name would you name your band Naked Toddler? Fucking pedophiles. Also, Scott Stapp is a drunken retarded joke of a human.^[1]^[2]^[3]
Soft White Underbelly became Blue Öyster Cult. They also would tour using their previous name.
Unique Attraction turned into Boyz II Men
Chicago Transit Authority shortened their name to Chicago. They got rid of the other two words because they were receiving legal threats from the real Chicago Transit Authority.
The Golliwogs changed their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival but they had already been The Blue Velvets as well.
'Composition of Sound changed into Depeche Mode, but they should have changed their name to Depress Mode.
Pud became The Doobie Brothers. Probably a good idea.
The Salty Peppers added a few new members and became Earth, Wind & Fire.
The New Yardbirds were told by Keith Moon that their name sucked, so they changed it to Led Zeppelin.
Xero had a ton of names before they became Linkin Park. They chose "Linkin" because the domain name for "lincoln park" was already taken.
Smile turned into Queen.
Tom and Jerry became Simon and Garfunkel for some reason.

Mighty Joe Young first changed their name to Shirley Temple’s Pussy, but couldn't get a record contract until they formally changed to Stone Temple Pilots.
The Artistics became The Talking Heads when they added a bassist.
The Quarrymen turned into The Beatals, then became The Silver Beatles before finally settling on The Beatles. Too bad they sucked no matter what they called themselves.
Rattlesnakes became The Bee Gees. They should have kept the original name.
The Weak Heartdrops turned into The Clash. They also played as Psychotic Negatives.
Tranzlator Crew lost some members and changed their name to The Fugees.
I hate them in all of their incarnations, but The Warlocks changed their band name to The Grateful Dead.

Ballsac's Dream

The Primettes dropped a member and became The Supremes.
Detours had a bunch of names, including The Very High Numbers. They finally got sick of answering "who?" by changing their band name to The Who. They also took other band names including No One, The Group, and The Hair.
The Blue Flames morphed into The Jimi Hendrix Experience over the course of a few years.
The Larry Mullen Band became The Hype when a new singer was added. Later, somebody told them that their name sucked, so they changed it to U2.

References

Scott is shit. I only put three references here, but I could go on forever.

↑ Stapp has said he attempted suicide in Miami in 2006. According to Stapp, he jumped over a balcony and fell 40 feet, fracturing his skull and breaking his hip and nose.
↑ You can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255
↑ https://www.grunge.com/123100/scott-stapp-isnt-really-around-anymore/?msclkid=a9d51a83bc5011ec9139dacb8d00f714

Wicked Lester is a part of a series on Music