The Connection Between This 'Groundhog Day' Character And Radiohead Is Wild

Radiohead got their name from 'Groundhog Day' — as hard as it may be to believe.

Source: Columbia Pictures

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who love the 1993 Bill Murray classic, Groundhog Day, and people who shouldn't be trusted.

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Not only is the film absolutely hilarious, and not only is it one of the Dalai Lama's favorite films (it's loved by the Buddhist community), but it also has a secret connection to the legendary alt-rock band, Radiohead.

In fact, Radiohead owes their band name to one of the film's most annoyingly lovable characters, Ned Ryerson, who's played by Stephen Tobolowsky.

Ned Ryerson. Bing! #GroundhogDay pic.twitter.com/s6gEAhtTWy

— Chancey Williams (@CWandYBB) February 2, 2018

If you've never seen the film, Ryerson is the overly familiar, annoying dude who just can't stop talking and gets on Bill Murray's character's nerves. Since Murray is stuck in a never-ending loop, reliving the same day, over, and over again, you can see how Ryerson continually annoys him.

As Murray's character evolves, however, his interactions with Ned alter greatly. Here's all of the scenes, in case you wanted some context.

So what does this nerd have to do with Radiohead? I'll let Christopher Cantwell tell the whole story in his series of enlightening tweets.

Since it’s Groundhog Day, here’s my favorite Stephen “Ned Ryerson” Tobolowsky: in the early 80’s, Stephen and his wife got to go backstage at a Talking Heads concert, where they met David Byrne. Then they went to David’s apartment and hung out.

— Christopher Cantwell (@ifyoucantwell) February 2, 2018

David had a a ton of tabloid magazines and newspapers everywhere, and was thinking of writing something about all these bizarre headlines. Stephen thought it was an amazing idea. They shared stories of bizarre—but true—tales they’d experienced.

— Christopher Cantwell (@ifyoucantwell) February 2, 2018

Among these stories was Stephen’s belief that in college, he had the ability to touch someone physically, and immediately understand their emotional state. Almost like reading their mind.

— Christopher Cantwell (@ifyoucantwell) February 2, 2018

Eventually, David and Stephen collaborated on a project that would become David’s movie TRUE STORIES. David basically entirely rewrote Stephen’s work, but Stephen’s mind reading story is still in the film.

— Christopher Cantwell (@ifyoucantwell) February 2, 2018

There’s a character that can touch people and read their emotional state. There’s even a Talking Heads song in the movie about it (the movie is a musical)... and the song is called “Radiohead.”

— Christopher Cantwell (@ifyoucantwell) February 2, 2018

Years later, in England, when Thom Yorke and company needed a new name for their record contract, they chose the name Radiohead. So...

— Christopher Cantwell (@ifyoucantwell) February 2, 2018

One of the greatest music bands of all time takes their name from another all-time great musician, who got it from a psychic power that Ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day believed he had in college.

— Christopher Cantwell (@ifyoucantwell) February 2, 2018

That's right, the almighty Radiohead gets its name from Ned Ryerson.

Needless to say, people were shocked.

One of the greatest music bands of all time takes their name from another all-time great musician, who got it from a psychic power that Ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day believed he had in college.

— Christopher Cantwell (@ifyoucantwell) February 2, 2018

But they're not the first rock band to have a strange origin story behind their name.

Some bands have pretty lame reasons for why they're called what they're called. Take Nickelback, for example.

Liners... not as easy as you think! #TBT

A post shared by Nickelback (@nickelback) on Dec 14, 2017 at 11:50am PST

Sure, they might get a lot of hate for churning out generic sounding rock music, but I can promise you that how they came up with the name for their band is worse than any of their songs. The band's bassist, Mike Kroeger worked at Starbucks and the change he'd give most customers when they paid for their coffee was a nickel. He got so used to saying, "here's your nickel back" that that became the name of their band.

How Steely Dan came up with its name has to be, by far, the greatest literary reference of all time.

A post shared by Vintage Socialite (@vintage_socialite) on Jan 31, 2018 at 5:09pm PST

William Burrough wrote a book called Naked Lunch, and in the book there is a giant self-pleasuring apparatus that is powered by steam. Its name? Steely Dan. Yup, that's what they named their band after. Incredible.

Led Zeppelin's origin story is pretty great too, and a big "screw you" to doubters every where.

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A post shared by Led Zeppelin (@ledzeppelin)

The legendary, Lord of the Rings-loving musicians, when starting the band, invited Keith Moon to come and drum for them. Moon, being very clever, commented that he thought the idea would go over as well as a "lead zeppelin." Guitarist Jimmy Page heard the phrase and immediately loved it, so he named the band just that, but changed the spelling because, being a clever Brit, knew that Americans would have a difficult time pronouncing it correctly otherwise.

So remember, when you're starting the next great rock band just keep in mind that the origin of your name doesn't need to be flattering or relevant at all. In fact, the more ridiculous or off-topic usually the better. It also helps if you make music people really, really like, too.

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