75 Bands

December 1, 2005

Deanna just pointed me to this really cool image. At first I didn’t understand what it was but I’ll let her explain it:

Deanna: there are 75 bands in that picture… for example, u2, smashing pumpkins, the rolling stones, gorillaz, dead kennedys, black flag, alice in chains…
Deanna: and i’ve been looking at this for 20 minutes

An illustrated image of several characters in a town, representing 75 bands' names.

From the looks of it I guess it’s a Virgin Digital music store advertisement, but I haven’t seen it before.

So there are, yes, seventy five bands in that picture, below I’ve listed what we’ve got so far.

I’ve gone through each and every one of your suggestions and double checked to see if it’s correct. They seem to all be plays on words, so if one of your suggestions didn’t get added, I might have thought it wasn’t correct. If you still believe it to be true, please comment below. Oh, and if we happen to go over the list and find some new things, either we missed something or we’re just more clever than the folks who drew this. ;)

So, dear readers, with your varied taste… can you identify the rest? Click to enlarge the image above.

75 Bands Answers

  1. 311
  2. 50 Cent
  3. Alice in Chains
  4. B-52s
  5. Bee Gees
  6. Black Crowes
  7. Black Flag
  8. Blind Melon
  9. Blondie
  10. Blur
  11. Cake
  12. Cornershop
  13. Cowboy Junkies
  14. Cranberries
  15. Crowded House
  16. Cypress Hill
  17. D12
  18. Dead Kennedys
  19. Deep Purple
  20. Dinosaur Jr
  21. Eagles
  22. Eels
  23. Eminem
  24. Garbage
  25. Gorillaz
  26. Great White
  27. Green Day
  28. Guns N’ Roses
  29. Hole
  30. Iron Maiden
  31. Jane’s Addiction
  32. Jewel
  33. KISS
  34. Korn
  35. Led Zeppelin
  36. Madonna
  37. Matchbox Twenty
  38. Nine Inch Nails
  39. Pavement
  40. Pet Shop Boys
  41. Phish
  42. Pink
  43. Prince
  44. Queen
  45. Radiohead
  46. Ratt
  47. Red Hot Chili Peppers
  48. Scissor Sisters
  49. Scorpions
  50. Seal
  51. Sex Pistols
  52. Skinny Puppy
  53. Smashing Pumpkins
  54. Spoon
  55. Talking Heads
  56. The Beach Boys
  57. The Carpenters
  58. The Cars
  59. The Cult
  60. The Doors
  61. The Go-Go’s
  62. The Killers
  63. The Lemonheads
  64. The Pixies
  65. The Police
  66. The Postal Service
  67. The Rolling Stones
  68. The Roots
  69. The Vines
  70. Twisted Sister
  71. U2
  72. White Stripes
  73. White Zombie
  74. Whitesnake
  75. Yellowman

Disagree? Suggestions? Comment below. I’ll keep updating the list. You can comment as many times as you want.

116 Comments

erin
December 1, 2005 7:39 PM

whitesnake is in there

erin
December 1, 2005 7:48 PM

hole, the cars, blind melon, the doors, styx

and i cant figure any others out right now. - calc test.

Gina
December 1, 2005 7:52 PM

Ok. just for the record, i had the ones that are repeated before erin. sujay can attest to it. i was saving up. but i’ll just post now and come back later. so here we go:

50 cent the postal service seal whitesnake the pixies the doors green day black flag the cars the police the beegees crowded house prince led zeppelin nine inch nails white zombie streetlight manifesto korn red hot chili peppers blind melon

El Rianne
December 1, 2005 7:52 PM

Red Hot Chili Peppers The B-52s STYX The Beach Boys Television Is the lesbian couple in the back T.A.T.U. or is it just band names?

El Rianne
December 1, 2005 7:54 PM

Eminem?

erin
December 1, 2005 7:58 PM

yes. i am still here. and still retarded. apparently i did not see the rest of your list, so some of my answers were repeats. oops.

RHCP, ratt, the police, rusted root.

damn it. this is such a huge distraction.

Gina
December 1, 2005 8:08 PM

big spoon, iron maiden, dead kennedys, twisted sister, the eels

ERIN
December 1, 2005 8:33 PM

COWBOY JUNKIES!

Gina
December 1, 2005 8:36 PM

this may be kind of far off, but don’t the queen’s guns look like dildos? therefore… sex pistols?

ERIN
December 1, 2005 8:48 PM

ahem. scissor sisters!

Lia
December 1, 2005 9:45 PM

that’s sweet. awesome.

alas, i don’t have time to look at it.. homework.

El Rianne
December 1, 2005 10:46 PM

Men at work.

Gina
December 1, 2005 10:51 PM

i just found a website that has all the answers. so when you’re all done, i will let you know where it is, and we can all check our answers together. most of which are right by the way.

oh also, there’s apparently a small strip on the left side that was cut off of this picture, and it has 5 of the bands in it, so in this portion there’s actually only 70 bands. the whole picture is also on the website i found.

deanna
December 2, 2005 12:50 AM

geener what’s the website? and sujay you made me seem silly, i had others found in that 20 minutes i didn’t mention. and yes gina, that is the sex pistols. and no one’s gotten matchbox 20 yet right?

deanna
December 2, 2005 1:00 AM

it’s just spoon, not big spoon, right? and i can’t imagine tatu is the lesbian couple, that doesn’t make sense, but i have no idea what that is. that or the gold man by him. now, where it just a finger…

deanna
December 2, 2005 1:04 AM

yes i do! it’s kiss!

Sujay
December 2, 2005 6:11 PM

No cheating Gina, or anyone else. By the way, are you certain of the cut off portion? I did a search and this is the only version of the picture I’m seeing anywhere.

Allen
December 2, 2005 7:55 PM

Bloc Party Yelloman The Carpenters

deanna
December 3, 2005 2:37 AM

yeah i found a bigger version of it, and the official virgin mobile website says 74.

deanna
December 3, 2005 11:58 PM

hot rod circuit! (ooh!) deep purple

Sujay
December 4, 2005 1:07 PM

I’m not so sure about Hot Rod Circuit… where is that?

Sujay
December 4, 2005 1:25 PM

Hm, that’s strange, the Virgin Digital website shows an extra bit on the left side of their poster, but when you download the image, it cuts it off. Either it’s not important or they’re just mean.

Tim
December 6, 2005 1:37 AM

You mentioned Iron Maiden twice in your list Sujay.

Tim
December 6, 2005 1:40 AM

I also think 311 might be one - three sets of roses, with 11 guns in them. Maybe?

Tim
December 6, 2005 2:00 AM

Oh, and on the missing part is “Cake”

Allen
December 6, 2005 4:45 AM

Great White.

Sujay
December 6, 2005 9:09 AM

Tim: Fixed, thanks. And good eye on Cake, I was wondering that was.

Allen: Could you explain where Great White is?

Sam
December 6, 2005 11:41 AM

The great white is on the poster behind the yellow man.

And two obvious ones: * The Streets * The Doors

jason
December 9, 2005 5:57 PM

Cypress hill

bored ass
December 27, 2005 4:02 PM

how’s about these too:

goldie lookin chain (like alice in chains but could be goldie-locks (in chains) instead) steely dan (another name for a dildo apparently- like those revolvers with big pink ends on then) reel big fish the subways pet shop boys (on cut-off part of picture) polyphonic spree (the people in white)

they’re a bit tenuous and might have been said already, but never mind.

happy searching!

Elizabeth
December 28, 2005 12:11 PM

I came to your site to cheat, but most of my answers are the same as yours!

“bored ass” I thought the people in white might be Nirvana? Polyphonic Spree seemed too obvious.

Here are the ones I think are missing:

Jewel Blues Brothers White Stripes (I was so excited when I found that one)

Am I the only one who can’t see the Bee Gees?

Sujay
December 28, 2005 5:15 PM

@Elizabeth: Bee Gees are right on the wall under the two gorrilas(z).

alicia
December 28, 2005 7:05 PM

jane’s addiction (jane is with one of the cowboys).

i’m trying to resolve it too, but it’s almost impossible! any official solutions?

alicia
December 28, 2005 7:16 PM

three more, scorpions (in the left missing part, next to the cake), skinny puppy (next to the cake, too), and blondie, upon the virgin logo.

excuse my english ;)

alicia
December 28, 2005 7:20 PM

… and the hammer could be tool. what do you think?

neil
December 30, 2005 1:42 PM

50 cent and eminem are not bands.

Dollar is tho. (if its a dollar)

Crowded House Rooster Manic street preachers The shadows

Sujay
December 30, 2005 7:56 PM

@Neil: You’re right about the technicality of those two. I don’t see the point of there being a half dollar (it says so on the coin) and the M&Ms (candy? skittles?) unless it was 50 cent and eminem. Too bad there isn’t a conclusive list of answers anywhere for this. We’ll keep those two anyways.

@Alicia: Not so sure about Jane’s Addiction and Blondie. Why would you think that the girl is Jane? And the girl atop the logo doesn’t look too Blonde. I think the focus is the bubble gum she’s blowing for some reason. And about Tool, that’s reasonable, even if it may not be what they meant.

No official solution yet… hope they release one soon.

Matt Lynn…?
January 1, 2006 1:21 PM

Yeah, it’s missing Modest Mouse and Les Claypool

but i still love you sujay

Matt Lynn…?
January 1, 2006 1:24 PM

And Weird Al should be in there to

If you don’t love Weird Al you should hang yourself

Sujay
January 1, 2006 1:42 PM

Matt I’m not sure you get the point.

LolaTheMusical
January 2, 2006 6:50 PM

You forgot Cake, The Cranberries and The White Stripes

Sujay
January 3, 2006 11:52 AM

Where are The Cranberries? We have the others.

jb
January 3, 2006 12:49 PM

I don’t think that there are 75 bands in the image above as you’ve shown the cropped ‘70 bands’ version. ie. Pet shop boys is an image to the left of the zombie which isn’t on the picture above. See http://omega.med.yale.edu/~pcy5/misc/75bands/ for more details…

Sujay
January 3, 2006 1:33 PM

Thanks for that website. @Bored-Ass had posted above with Pet Shop Boys, seen from the full pic from the Virgin Digital website I posted above.

gem n adam
January 10, 2006 6:08 PM

…if you take another look at the rooster you might find it actually resembles a seal.

sue
January 20, 2006 7:07 PM

WINGS?

lala
January 22, 2006 6:34 PM

I think it’s Nickelback, not 50 cent cuz that I know of, there is not a cent of a 50

lala
January 22, 2006 6:48 PM

woops, ok, there is a 50 cent, but it doesnt say 50 so i suppose it nickelback.

Sujay
January 22, 2006 6:49 PM

It can’t be Nickelback because it clearly says “half dollar” on the coin.

lala
January 22, 2006 7:07 PM

the alarm?

Sujay
January 22, 2006 7:59 PM

Where is that?

Kimdino
February 10, 2006 4:20 AM

You can add “Pink Fairies” to the list if you want.

Hensh
February 15, 2006 1:07 PM

You have crowded house listed twice

Sujay
February 15, 2006 1:19 PM

Hensh: Oops. Thanks for the observation!

d
February 22, 2006 5:38 AM

hey do you think king kong could be a play on “the king”…elvis presley?????????????

Sujay
February 22, 2006 9:03 AM

No it doesn’t look like that. They represent Gorillaz.

Don Juan
March 13, 2006 10:53 PM

i do believe one of those cars in the back (by the stones) is a Chevelle… making “Chevelle” your 75th band

Sujay
March 14, 2006 9:15 AM

Thanks man, good eye!

mandee
March 15, 2006 7:38 PM

T.A.T.U. the two girls kissing under the white snake!!!!

Megan
March 15, 2006 8:38 PM

The President’s of the United States of America

Megan
March 15, 2006 8:47 PM

I found, possibly, another few…

Dinosaur Jr., Prince, The Cars, Prince.

I’m not sure if anyone else suggested these.

Bubba
March 15, 2006 11:31 PM

best resolution

http://virgindigital.com/wallpapers/virgindigital1280x960.jpg

Jillian
March 16, 2006 3:29 AM

The hammer could also be Hammerfall

Andrew
March 16, 2006 5:31 PM

I’m stuck on the giant toy chimp, there’s two gorillas (obviously representing that gorillaz) but the one in the middle is clearly a chimp, and a toy one at that, he has those elastic band powered arms that beat his chest. Anyone have any ideas?

princess
March 16, 2006 9:09 PM

what about madonna?

in the picture by the shop

Megan
March 16, 2006 9:26 PM

Is Chevelle the 75th? I’m not so sure that any of those cars are Chevelles. The first two look like Mustangs by the headlights and grill, and I can’t quite distinguish the 3rd. (yellow)

Sujay
March 16, 2006 9:26 PM

@mandee: It could be, but the way all the others are presented, it doesn’t seem likely that Tatu would be the two girls.

@Bubba: Yeah, that picture is already up on the top of the post. Click on the thumbnail.

@Andrew: I’m not sure, that looks like a gorilla too.

@princess: Good one! I didn’t think of that.

min
March 16, 2006 11:54 PM

How about The Cult (gang in white) and The Vines (behind the queen)?

Kirk
March 17, 2006 6:29 AM

What about “The Scorpions” that are all over “Cake”. They were a hair metal band from the early 80’s.

Sujay
March 17, 2006 9:06 AM

@min: That gang in white was already recognized as the Manic Street Preachers. The Vines look possible, and I added The Roots as another possibility.

@Kirk: Thanks for the Scorpions. I had forgot that @alicia had already mentioned them, and I had forgotten to add it.

Jackie
March 17, 2006 5:52 PM

It’s not 50cent, it’s nickelback

Sujay
March 17, 2006 6:39 PM

@Jackie: How can it be nickelback?

jackie
March 17, 2006 10:24 PM

b/c it’s the back of a nickel… LOL

Sujay
March 18, 2006 9:27 AM

Actually, it’s not a nickel. If you look closely at the coin, near the bottom it says “Half Dollar”.

Malorie
March 18, 2006 12:11 PM

panic! at the disco. the building where the people are panicing at the window i dont know just thought it would be

Leon
March 18, 2006 7:36 PM

Here’s one that’s not so obvious - the guys with the surfboards with no beach and no surf:

Nada Surf - which I like better than the Beach Boys because there is NO beach :)

wc10
March 18, 2006 8:29 PM

The Gorillaz could also be The Monkees. What are the two red “u”s on the wall by the Black Flag?

Sujay
March 18, 2006 8:39 PM

@wc10: “U2”

Betherz
March 19, 2006 9:18 AM

Talking heads… on the TVs those are what they call talknig heads

Betherz
March 19, 2006 9:30 AM

Also Prince

Sujay
March 19, 2006 12:12 PM

@Betherz: Got Prince, thanks for Talking Heads.

nancy.
March 19, 2006 2:53 PM

I was thinking of Pink, because of the sky… and instead of Madonna I went with Jesus And Mary Chain. Oh and Dead Kennedys, rather than Presidends of the United States of America…

I was also wondering about the mannequin wearing a bikini in the window, the ‘main st’ sign, the three people running while holding hands, and the two gymnast type of people.

I stared at this picture all evening yesterday and I’ve got over 75 bands by now, so I’m trying to find an official answer somewhere…

GABBY
March 19, 2006 3:31 PM

Would you mind showing me where Madonna is and i think the girls kissing in the back is TATU, the like german lesbian band; they had a hit awhile ago.

Sujay
March 19, 2006 3:41 PM

@GABBY: Madonna is in the picture by the shop.

The Madonna is a Roman Catholic title for Mary, mother of Jesus.

GABBY
March 19, 2006 3:41 PM

nevermind about the madonna thing.

GABBY
March 19, 2006 3:43 PM

Oh, thanks. did you find an answer for the girl blowing gum and is their an answer for the blimp and 2 girls kissing?

nancy.
March 19, 2006 4:56 PM

The “blimp” is Led Zeppelin.

For the two girls kissing, i thought of either Kiss or Streetlight Manifesto… I don’t know if it can be both.

Sujay
March 19, 2006 5:11 PM

@GABBY: There’s no definitive place to find the answer for this poster, so we’re just going on instinct and guesses.

@nancy: Yeah, the two girls are most likely Kiss than Tatu. We have Led Zeppelin already.

BlackCloud
March 19, 2006 6:34 PM

it’s not Chevelle, it’s The Cars I think… I don’t think it’s the Eels, I think it’s Flotsam and Jetsam… The Lemonheads are the lemons with faces painted on them… It also didn’t say there were 75 bands, it said there were 75 “musical artists represented in the picture” Therefore, 50 Cent and Eminem would work just fine…

BlackCloud
March 19, 2006 8:10 PM

Here are the correct answers.. I know because I went and submitted them at the site and it told me I had 74 right… So here you go… I’ll end your misery…

EDITOR’s NOTE: Click Here For Answers

BlackCloud
March 19, 2006 8:12 PM

And it was only 74 bands… There are only 74 blank spaces to enter your answers into…

Becky
March 20, 2006 2:14 PM

Our Lady Peace? Pet Shop Boys?

cassidy
March 20, 2006 8:18 PM

jefferson airplane

Lindsey
March 20, 2006 9:41 PM

The 3 girls running holding hands are 3 Non Blondes… and what about the two guys in the black suits… I thought they’d be the Blues Brothers?

Lindsey
March 20, 2006 9:59 PM

Yea, and I think the girl with blonde hair blowing the bubble could be Blondie?

Don Juan
March 21, 2006 1:26 AM

okay i checked the answers that BlackCloud posted and i had all of the same ones except for i had Chevelle instead of D12… can anyone tell me where D12 is??

Sujay
March 21, 2006 9:10 AM

I’m really not sure where it D12 is either.

Alyson
March 21, 2006 8:19 PM

the blurry guy = Blur?

moeman
March 21, 2006 11:50 PM

wheres 311? its killing me!!

moeman
March 22, 2006 12:01 AM

wheres d12? is it maybe the airplane?? like model of a car or airplane??

Jamie
March 22, 2006 12:05 PM

Some solutions and where to see them here:

http://home.asparagine.net/jamie/blog/?p=7

Early Times
March 22, 2006 1:53 PM

Not the Blues Brothers…Killers, like in “Resevoir Dogs.”

Also, found a band on Amazon call “Pineapple Thief.”

Rox
March 22, 2006 4:29 PM

What about Cornershop? …the store that the yellowman is leaning on.

Stacy
March 22, 2006 8:01 PM

Well, if we are calling the two girls kissing “Kiss” we could easily call it “Squeeze”. One of the girls is squeezing the others butt. Right?

Rox
March 22, 2006 8:18 PM

I saw Black Cloud’s list but it doesn’t include The Styx and that one seemed pretty obvious to me. Could it be there are more than 74?

Also, I can’t find: The Go-Go’s The Carpenters Jane’s Addiction D12 The Roots

I’m up to about 86 now but that includes dual meanings for some.

I’m so addicted to this thing!! Help!

Mark
March 23, 2006 9:48 AM

I see that everybody missed the TV’s as being The Tubes

LauraBelle
March 24, 2006 8:49 AM

When is this game over? I’m glad I stumbled onto your informative site as it was driving a few of us NUTS with us being older… I’d like very much to know the final tally, if possible… thanks!

Sujay
March 24, 2006 9:42 AM

@LauraBelle: When I first started my list I figured we would reach 75 and that would be it. But a lot of the readers found multiple meanings from much of the imagery, so I decided, from the ones I saw seemed possible, why not go over 75. However, a commenter recently posted their answers here. There’s one missing, but I don’t have the energy to cross check them enough to come up with an answer. Enjoy.

SAMANTHA
March 24, 2006 5:24 PM

where is Jewel supposed to be anyway?

i wrote the names of the bands/artists on the actual picture next to the images. i’m going to post it on my blog if you guys want to check it out.

BlackCloud
March 25, 2006 9:06 PM

All of my answers are right, but you would have had to post them EXACTLY as they appeared… Anything added (for example “The”) into a band name will automatically make it incorrect when you go to the site to enter your answers… It had to be answered the exact way I posted them… I’m sure you could interpret FAR more than what Virgin had in mind but there are only 74 OFFICIAL answers and Styx isn’t one of them… I think I know where you see Styx, and that’s not Styx, it’s Nine Inch Nails…

BlackCloud
March 25, 2006 9:16 PM

Also, there aren’t any missing from my answers… According to Virgin, there are ONLY 74 bands… If you go to answer the questions, the page that comes up for you to answer has ONLY 74 blanks to answer your questions into… Like I said, I’m sure you could interpret FAR MORE than Virgin intended initially, but there are only 74 official answers according to the original game entry rules…

Rox
March 27, 2006 10:14 AM

The sticks I’m seeing are being the queen, in front of the half dollar. Is that supposed to be The Roots?

Who are the guys are on the roof? Rooftop Dancers? D12?

Blackcloud: do you know if virgin will post the answers? or do you have to submit them like you did?

Marie
April 4, 2006 9:55 PM

could u say:

Hot Action Cop (the 2 cops) Trapt (ppl look to be trapped in the building) or Soundguard (TV’s behind the glass)

*Marie

katie
April 6, 2006 2:33 AM

the three girls skipping are wearing white boots + clothes could mean they’re THE GO GO GIRLS=THE GO GOS

jimmy
April 8, 2006 6:12 PM

hole, smashing pumpkins, scorpion, u2, beach boys, machbox 20, sex pistols, queen, prince, eagles, the doors, the rolling stones, alice in chains, i c a lot of them…

75bnds
September 17, 2006 6:35 AM

there is also “the pet shop boys” where the two boys are standing outside the pet shop…

Comments are closed.