Some musicians meet at parties and find their groove. Some slowly hone their sound until their big break. Others steal your recordings and then ask you to form a band…
15 Bands With Unlikely Origin Stories
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Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend started as a rap collaboration between Ezra Koenig and Chris Tomson called L'Homme Run -
Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles' first single 'Alice Practice' was a secretly recorded rehearsal session by now full-time singer Alice Glass that producer Ethan Kath released on the Internet without her knowledge years after meeting her -
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones began as a covers band playing Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Chicago blues - their first three singles were all covers -
You Am I
Davey Lane joined You Am I after writing guitar tabs for their songs and posting them on a fan site -
The Hives
The Hives claim they were each sent a letter by mysterious sixth member Randy Fitzsimmons asking them to form a band - Randy is also credited as a songwriter on many of their tracks -
The Vines
The Vines started as Rishikesh after Craig Nicholls met Patrick Matthews flipping burgers at Maccas -
Bombay Bicycle Club
Bombay Bicycle Club bassist Ed Nash met the other members of the group at a funeral -
Flume
Flume started making music with Andrew G branded software he found in a box of Nutri Grain -
Nine Inch Nails
Trent Reznor started compiling the first Nine Inch Nails recordings in the studio where he worked a janitor after they'd closed for the day -
The Living End
The Living End's Chris Cheney and Scott Owen began in a covers band called The Runaway Boys, playing Stray Cats and Clash songs -
T. Rex
Marc Bolan had a far-out baroque folk band called Tyrannosaurus Rex, shortening the name to T. Rex and glamming up the sound after a number of unsuccessful albums -
Wavves
Wavves began as a solo project for Nathan Williams, who recorded his first two albums and preceding singles on his laptop using Garage Band and posted them on the net -
Kiss
Kiss drummer Peter Criss was tracked down by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons after seeing an ad in 'Rolling Stone' advertising a "drummer willing to do anything..." -
Parliament Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic started life as a smooth doo-wop group called The Parliaments -
Alice Cooper
Before his shock rock days, Alice Cooper's performed at a talent show with a bunch of cross country runners in a band called The Earwigs, who dressed up and mimed to Beatles songs. They won.
