D-A-D began playing together in the early 1980s in Copenhagen, Denmark, under their original band name Disneyland After Dark.

D-A-D released their first EP in 1985 and has now been together for more than forty years, with only one change in the lineup, as Laust Sonne replaced former drummer Peter Lundholm Jensen in 1999.

When the group made their international breakthrough in 1989, they had to change the band name to D.A.D. to avoid an impending lawsuit from the Walt Disney Company. In 1995, the spelling changed to D:A:D, to make it more obvious that it was an abbreviation. Finally in 2000, the band story became one of advanced punctuation as the spelling was changed to the more internet-friendly D-A-D.