Why are so many JoJo names taken from music?
Because the names are not invented. They are pulled off records. From the first part onward, Araki named characters, and later Stands, after the Western music he listens to, a system so consistent that spotting the source became part of reading the series. The examples below are the widely documented ones; the full fan-compiled lists run far longer, and this page treats those lists as what they are, a Tier 2 fan reference, not a citation.
IT STARTS BEFORE STANDS
Part 1 and 2: the cast is a record shelfThe naming begins with the very first villain. Dio Brando takes his name from heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio. Around him in Phantom Blood: Robert E. O. Speedwagon, from REO Speedwagon; the Zeppeli family, from Led Zeppelin; Tonpetty, from Tom Petty; and Dire and Straizo, the two halves of Dire Straits. The music was in the cast list years before the first Stand was drawn.
THE STAND ERA: THE SYSTEM GOES FULL TIME
Part 4 onwardOnce Stands arrive, the system takes them over. Josuke's Crazy Diamond is Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond. The JoJolion hero's Soft and Wet is Prince's first single. Part 5's boss carries King Crimson, a name the band's own Robert Fripp has publicly discussed; the same part fields Notorious B.I.G and Spice Girl. Stone Ocean adds Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson, and a Stand named for cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The taste widens as the series ages, rock giving ground to R and B, pop, and hip hop, but the method never changes.
ARAKI ON HIS OWN TASTE
Tier 1: the 2017 playlistThe habit is the author's own, on the record. For the series' 30th anniversary in 2017, MTV Japan asked Araki for a playlist of his favorite 1980s rock. He noted his writing was influenced by Prince, Guns N' Roses, and David Lee Roth, and that he wanted to capture the solid and sexy sound of Prince's When Doves Cry. A man who writes to that shelf will name from it; the surprise would be if he had not.
One honest limit: no opened source prints Araki itemizing the system name by name, and the giant reference lists online are fan-compiled, with entries of varying certainty mixed together. The system itself is beyond dispute. Individual obscure entries should be checked before they are repeated.