All new rock bands with the prefix 'The'

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The Hives, The Strokes, The Vines, The Coral, The White Stripes, The Raveonettes, The Music, The Datsuns, The flavour of the fucking month ...

― Jay K (Jay K), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Why is it such a big deal that these bands have a "the" in their name? Hasn't that always been a fairly common occurrence in the history of rock and roll? Will every new band that decides to prefix their name with a "the" be stigmatized from now on?

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:10 (twenty-three years ago)

yup!

― Jay K (Jay K), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Are you a troll?

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:11 (twenty-three years ago)

fuck! that explains the nose, the ears and the weird clothes! and the reoccurring, strange urge to eat small children ...

― Jay K (Jay K), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:14 (twenty-three years ago)

fuck! that explains the nose, the ears and the weird clothes! and the reoccurring, strange urge to eat small children ...

― Jay K (Jay K), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:14 (twenty-three years ago)

If these bands were the worst thing that played on rock radio, the world would be a beautiful place. They're not Bob Dylan, but who is?

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Bob Dylan.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:19 (twenty-three years ago)

You mean THE Bob Dylan.

― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:21 (twenty-three years ago)

fuck! that explains the nose, the ears and the weird clothes! and the reoccurring, strange urge to eat small children ...

― the J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Will there ever be a better time than now for a The The reunion?

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:28 (twenty-three years ago)

The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, The Temptations.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Not really a new trend.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I wonder who the first "The" band/group was. Ideas?

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:49 (twenty-three years ago)

The Ink Spots?

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:50 (twenty-three years ago)

The Three Keys started in 1931, quite a bit before the Ink Spots.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:54 (twenty-three years ago)

I suppose this is an unanswerable question, since there were "The" bands as early as the first recorded music.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 28 November 2002 02:59 (twenty-three years ago)

The Mozarts.

― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 28 November 2002 03:04 (twenty-three years ago)

The Thomas Alva Edisons

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 28 November 2002 03:06 (twenty-three years ago)

The Pythagoras.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 28 November 2002 03:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Or is it Pythagorii?

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 28 November 2002 03:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the oldest "the" group still going is the Royal Philharmonic, founded 1813. There are older Euro ones but they're all "Die" or "Le" or whatever.

― B.Rad (Brad), Thursday, 28 November 2002 03:31 (twenty-three years ago)

The Goths and the Visigoths

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Thursday, 28 November 2002 04:14 (twenty-three years ago)

The Rolling Stones ...Formerly the wheels, but the concept was lost on Pangaea Indy scene.

― B, Thursday, 28 November 2002 05:09 (twenty-three years ago)

its a fair question i think, and the resurgence of 'the blahs' as a name does go hand in hand with the back to basics nature of the music (and the subtext of 'this is what proper rock bans should be called, like they were in the 60s and that')

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 28 November 2002 10:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the slayer

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 28 November 2002 10:12 (twenty-three years ago)

The Libertines' LP is pretty good. That's my token indie rock record for this year.

― Jeff W, Thursday, 28 November 2002 10:17 (twenty-three years ago)

The only problem I have is when know-nothing rock-o-journo's try to insist that the THE is an essential part of the band's name and should be capitalized even when mentioned mid-sentence. THEE, as in THEE GOBLINS, THEE HEADCOATS, etc., is a whole diff biz-zay.
In terms of being a trend, that's the saddest excuse for culture-watching I've ever seen. That's like saying that there's a trend in movies where cars blow up. Or a trend in shoes that go on the feet.

― E-to-the-Izzo, Thursday, 28 November 2002 16:57 (twenty-three years ago)

That would be FLAVAH OF THE WEEK, I think you'll find.

(Can you be accused of jumping on a bandwagon when you've had a "the" in your band's name for four years or so? I think the bandwagon has jumped on ME. Dammit.)

― kate, Thursday, 28 November 2002 19:11 (twenty-three years ago)

The Olonius Monk

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 28 November 2002 19:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Or a trend in shoes that go on the feet.

I bought a pair of those just last night, so maybe there's something to it.

― Rockist Scientist, Thursday, 28 November 2002 19:18 (twenty-three years ago)

the avril lavines

― duane, Thursday, 28 November 2002 21:26 (twenty-three years ago)

"In terms of being a trend, that's the saddest excuse for culture-watching I've ever seen. That's like saying that there's a trend in movies where cars blow up. Or a trend in shoes that go on the feet."

there was no presumption of culture watching about it, i'm merely befuddled by the fact that they are all sound the fucking same (except maybe the white stripes) and that record execs just *happen* to be spraying the whatevers out right now.

― Jay K (Jay K), Thursday, 28 November 2002 23:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree with the jel --.

― Helltime Producto (Pavlik), Friday, 29 November 2002 01:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, The Hives and The Music sound exactly like each other...

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 29 November 2002 01:27 (twenty-three years ago)

i cant think of one band that had a THE prefix in the grunge phase OR the britpop phase - i'm sure there were some but not many spring to mind - its clearly become a tokenist trend of this decade after not being particular popular for the previous 20 years

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 29 November 2002 01:34 (twenty-three years ago)

I really don't think the hives, vines, stripes, or strokes sound "the same" at all. They're all ripping off completely different bands/artists.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 29 November 2002 06:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree. There's a whole different set of references and sounds for the different groups. Which doesn't endear them to me, because none except for The Strokes are all that exciting to where I'm coming from.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 29 November 2002 18:20 (twenty-three years ago)

sure, the "the" bands have been around since the dawn of rock and roll, but its silly to pretend there hasn't been a huge jump in bands that are popular with "the" as a prefix in their names. Its a style thing. these days, when its very trendy have "all-out rocknroll" bands, nothing goes better with that than a "the" beginning the names of said bands.

look at popular rock from the early-mid 90's, even indie rock from that era, there's hardly as many "the" bands. Its just a fashionable thing to do these days.

― tinobeat (tinobeat), Friday, 29 November 2002 23:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Bands with The in their name vs. Bands without The in the name: FITE!!!

Funny thing is, up until about a year and a half ago, a band having a The in their name was almost a guarantee that they'd be good. I've got back in contact with this girl I used to be in a band with, back in NYC, and oh, the fights we used to have over bandnames, because I always insisted on a The and she hated The's. Hello! Your favourite bands are Echo and THE Bunnymen and THE Teardrop Explodes.

― kate, Friday, 29 November 2002 23:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Some band should call themselves the Hypes, if only for the sake of parody.

― man, Saturday, 30 November 2002 00:16 (twenty-three years ago)

'The -' suggests the band knows it's not going to be Art?

― maryann (maryann), Saturday, 30 November 2002 03:36 (twenty-three years ago)

"i cant think of one band that had a THE prefix in the grunge phase OR the britpop phase - - its clearly become a tokenist trend of this decade after not being particular popular for the previous 20 years "

Um, hello? u serious? Its so WEIRD to hear people make so much of the "the" right now when it's always been around, in every genre. It's just being *marketed* this way heavily at the moment (bands that have *nothing* to do with one another) - again, see said Sum41 video as reference. Yeah, last few years you had your Korn/LimpBizkit/Linkin Park ruling, but even then we had THE Executioners becoming big earlier this year, and they're hip-hop!

In the late 80s you had THE Beastie Boys, early 90s/grunge period: THE Stone Temple Pilots, and all along: THE Red Hot chili Peppers, none of whom have goe anywhere (well maybe THE Beasties?). So many bands that enjoyed some popularity in the 90s (for however long) come to mind:
THE Cranberries
THE Pet Shop Boys
THE Spin Doctors
THE Black Crows
THE Chemical Brothers (even THE Prodigy, no?)
THE Breeders
THE Smashing Pumpkins
The Verve (britpop enough for ya?)
THE Stone Roses
THE Digable Planets
THE Sneaker Pimps
THE Happy Mondays
THE Propellerheads
THE Rembrandts
THE Manic Street Preachers
THE Lemonheads
THE Afghan Whigs
THE La's
THE Get Up Kids
THE Offspring
THE Cardigans
THE Presidents of the USA
THE Boo Radleys
THE Dropkick Murphys
THE Magnetic Fields
THE Sundays
THE Clarks (ok, maybe only my hometown)
THE Promise Ring
THE Mighty Mighty Bosstones (ha)
THE Flaming Lips...and so on, etc etc etc

and from the past few years: THE Shins, THE Avalanches, THE Beta Band, THE Coup, THE Dismemberment Plan, THE New Pornographers, THE Hellacopters, THE Queens of the Stone Age, THE International Noise Conspiracy - I'm sure you can think of more; none of these are being marketed as one of the four "the" bands! Don't fall prey to marketing!

― V or maybe Vee, Saturday, 30 November 2002 04:14 (twenty-three years ago)

PSB and Happy Mondays aren't "The" - a lot of bands get it affixed when you're talking about them who don't actually include it in their name. Magnetic Fields too I think but I can't be bothered checking.

― Tom (Groke), Saturday, 30 November 2002 11:47 (twenty-three years ago)

did we ever nail the first NON-the group (= possibly the dawn of ROCK as something distinct from rock'n'roll)?

"Them" wz I think the critical suggestion (DO YOU SEE etc): has many reasons for being a liminal moment in music

prior to a certain date, the "the" occurs thusly always:
The [something/someone] Jazz/Dance Band/Orchestra
The [xx] Brothers/Sisters [= vocal harmony gp]
The [some bird or other]s [=doowop-tinged vocal harmony gp]
[Proper Name] and the [xx]s [= pop and/or rock'n'roll combo]
The [noun]s [= surf combo: us.noun inc.some "surf"-esque pun]
>>The Beatles/Stones/Who/Kinks/Byrds/Beach Boys<< = key borderline time between late 50s conception of rock (redivivus) and late 60s conception
>>Them<< = actual real liminal moment?
=> Love, Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, etc etc etc

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 30 November 2002 12:02 (twenty-three years ago)

in other words the "the" question has real actual content in re the history of ahem "rock"

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 30 November 2002 12:10 (twenty-three years ago)

=> Love, Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, etc etc etc

B-b-b-b-but THE DOORS!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 30 November 2002 12:26 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah i know the old nomenclature continued also (the great society, the grateful dead etc etc), i wasn't saying the entire world switched

to challenge my argt — which is sort of serious but sort of jokey — you just have to find earlier non-the group names than Them (= 1965 i think), that's all...

there may be many

(also interesting: rock-group type names for eg jazz combos: weather report, oregon blah blah...)

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 30 November 2002 12:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Have The The broken up? I just saw them fairly recently touring in support of Naked Self, they were pretty good. In fact, since Marr's been out, I've liked everything they've done. Too bad if they have hung it up.

― webcrack (music=crack), Saturday, 30 November 2002 20:31 (twenty-three years ago)

For the record, Afghan Whigs didn't pick up a "the" until Gentlemen, Verve didn't until maybe Northern Soul, Smashing Pumpkins didn't have a "the" until Mellon Collie, and STP had no "the" for a while at least. Why do bands become "the" when before they had no need for a definite article?

― webcrack (music=crack), Saturday, 30 November 2002 20:38 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

is it factual that bands that start with "The" get hyped more than bands without the "The" prefix? (in the NME-ish scene)

― rizzx (rizzx), Saturday, 23 July 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

Except the Pulps, the Blurs and the Oases, that is.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Saturday, 23 July 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

Yeah I hate the "The" syndrome currently prevalent, but then as Cotten indirectly points out, it wasn't too long ago when people were complaining about the very LACK of "The's" in band names. I say please, people, let's have a balance.

― Hydrochloric Shaved Weirds (Bimble...), Saturday, 23 July 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

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