But because they named themselves The Airborne Toxic Event , the central plot element in Don DeLillo’s White Noise , I’ve sort of kept up with them anyway. When I phone-interviewed Mikel Jollett of the L.A.-based indie-pop-rock band the Airborne Toxic Event, it surprised me when he said: “We wanted a name that was a big fuck-you to names,” he said of the Don DeLillo-novel-inspired band name. “People say, ‘It really turned me off when I first heard that name.’ And I say, ‘Good, I’m glad.’”