[gmku]

I think the name is a conglomeration of the sometimes-genius former Rolling Stone who was the victim of "death by misadventure," an accidental drowning precipitated by drug and alcohol abuse (although as time passed, rumors gained momentum that Jones had been murdered); and of the name of the communal camp built in the jungle of Northwest Guyana, near where, on November 18, 1978, several United States politicians (Congressman Leo J. Ryan and four other members of his party) were shot and killed as they attempted to board a plane at Port Kaituma airstrip; and where, within hours later, more than 900 American citizens committed mass suicide. The dead were all members of a group known as “The People’s Temple” which was led by the Reverend Jim Jones.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre, obviously, is a name filled with death and mystery.