Maybe I’m the only one, but I actually care about the name of a band. It honestly took me a long time to force myself to get into Bloc Party, because I didn’t really like the name. Call me shallow (that seems to be a trend right now), but yes, the name of a band makes a difference. Names make a difference in other ways besides being bad/good. Let’s say I’m at the radio station and I want to play a song I’m really into, but then I look at the name of the artist or band and realize I’m not exactly sure how to pronounce it. I'm going to be less likely to play Beulah or Les Savy Fav, just because I don't want to sound like an idiot on air while trying to figure the name out.
Here are some band names I really like…
Radiohead
Velvet Underground
At the Drive-In
Led Zeppelin
Lemon Jelly
Jefferson Airplane
The Faint
Sex Pistols
Alkaline Trio
Daisy Chain
Jane’s Addiction
Pedro the Lion
Belle & Sebastian
Jars of Clay
The Rolling Stones
Band Names I Don’t Like
The Beatles (let’s all just admit it, not only is it a bad name, but the spelling is ridiculous)
The Cars
The Comas
The Hives
The Music
The Cranberries
The The
Heart
Stars
Death Cab for Cutie
Saves the Day
Maroon 5
Dashboard Confessional
U2
Her Space Holiday
Simple Plan
764 Hero
Let’s face it, if your band name is bad and you make good music-example: The Beatles- you're probably going to be okay. If your band name is bad and your music is bad, you're really screwed. For example, I’m writing this post while talking to a couple of friends, and one of them says: Maroon 5, what the hell does that mean? Not only do you have a terrible band name, but you make some of the worst music ever. And spelling, spelling is important too. Korn with a K is lame. Bloc without the K is lame too. And I don’t want a name that is a sentence or a phrase either, like “and you will know us by the trail of dread,” Volcano, I’m Still Excited!,” Numbers are lame, puns are lame...two things put together that don’t really go together is cool.
The other day I was working at my non-salon job, and right next door is a frat house. These frat guys could play catch with each other on the front lawn forever. Someone made a comment about it, and another employee said, “Frat boys playing catch would be an awesome band name.” And you know what, I think he’s right. The thing is, I start bands all the time and they never really go anywhere…and I’m starting to think it’s because I’m really bad at naming them.
Bands I’ve Started that didn’t go anywhere…
The Toasters-that was a few years ago, and it just didn’t work out. We were even creative about it, we used puff paint to decorate toasters to sell at our merchandise table instead of the usual T-shirt…I sold one to my mom, but that was about it.
The CYkopaths, I started this one after I started attending Iowa State University, because we are the cyclones, and I thought it would draw a large college audience…nope, didn’t really draw anyone.
For Here or To Go-This was a solo project, I’m a waitress and I thought this really showed where I got a lot of inspiration, I got a few gigs, and then nothing.
Anyway, my band in progress is a combination of experimental jazz, post-rock industrial something, and glam rock (and maybe a little bit of rrriot girl action too). I figure if I have a good name, I can’t go wrong. So I think I’m set, Frat Boys Playing Catch.
11 April 2005
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13 comments:
I think the best unused band name is "Free Drinks" I think it would look great on the Marque in front of a bar. Another great name is DLAK but thats allready is use.
Good blog Holmes, Ill check back.
Bloc Party
Not a big fan of it either, but it isn't a misspelling.
i know that bloc technically isn't a misspelling, but i still really just want the k on there.
how about the pillow biters?
the oxymorons?
camera shy?
broken belts?
even though i don't play in a band, i like to make up names for them.
I think we might have been separated at birth (despite the obvious age discrepancy).
http://www.livejournal.com/users/mbauer/6360.html
And, come to think of it, I did try to avoid getting into Death Cab for Cutie just for the sake of their name.
that's funny, i consistently read your blog and i totally missed that entry. anyway, i'm surprised you don't like belle and sebastian, because i think they are really good.
for anyone who reads comments, i completely forgot about the mars volta. that name is fantastic.
I've started a million bands only b/c we had cool names, but they never went anywhere. then I've had some pretty successful bands that had terrible names.
the best band name for a band that never went anywhere was Necrotizing Fasciitis for a death metal band in high school. Necrotizing Fasciitis is a skin tissue disease that eats away your limbs until it kills you. there has NEVER been a better death metal band name that that.
oh ya, and in college, we had one practice for a hard core band (in the vein of crimson curse, the locust, swing kids, etc...) called "slit wrist." that was pretty awesome too. if you know the genre, the name is really perfect.
it really is too bad the bands that exist only for the value of their name never go anywhere. the world would have a lot more bands with good names if they did.
jeremy i'd like a list of all one millions bands you have started, maybe i can steal a couple.
The worst band name of all time is The Doors, in my opinion. It's like they just looked around the room while they were thinking of a name. "The Tables? No. The Pencils? No. How about The Doors?"
And Bloc Party isn't a mis-spelling, but it's a play-on-words spelling, so I agree with Shea. It stinks.
The coolest name of all time is Radiohead, and the second is Crazy Horse. Why is Crazy Horse such a cool name? Because they were so frickin' Crazy Horse, that's why.
The Doors is supposed to be a reference to the Aldous Huxley book The Doors of Perception which was, surprise surprise, about experimenting with drugs.
Radiohead is one of those cool names that's just another group's song title: Talking Heads had a song with that name.
I know all this useless trivia and much, much more.
I'm sure no one is reading the comments for this post anymore, but I just wanted to say that Mike is right about Radio Head. I never knew this, but I'm very happy to. It's a tune on the True Stories Soundtrack and it actually was the inspiration for the name of the band, Radiohead (according to allmusic.com). So, I still think it's one of the coolest names ever, but I guess Byrne gets credit, not Yorke et al.
Sweet info, Mike.
You know The Toasters is already a band, right? Ska 4 life!
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