Indie pop singer-songwriters including Regina Spektor and Sufjan Stevens have tons of songs with literary and religious references. Kendrick Lamar was the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. Taylor Swift has lots of literary allusions in her early lyrics and even more on her recent Folklore and Evermore albums. While many bands have literary or religious references in their lyrics, the bands listed below took it to the next level and put their literary influences right in their names. Several theories speculate on the origin of the Beatles’s name, and one is that they were channeling the Beat movement. American Authors had a few hits starting in 2014. All the band names below, though, are much clearer, more specific references than those two. Some of these bands also have literary album and song titles, along with their bookish names. Those are some of my favorite examples of literary band names. I’m sure you can think of more, so you can let me know your favorites on social media! You also might like this list of must-read books about music.
