Punning band names

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Been thinking recently about those bands like Camper Van Beethoven, that use bad puns as their names. Dave Eggers talked about them in 'A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius', about how they take something 'high brow' and mix it with something 'low brow' and come out with something decidedly 'post-modern'.

Examples please...

― Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Thursday, 6 November 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Jesus Chrysler

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:01 (twenty-two years ago)

the beatles

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:01 (twenty-two years ago)

There's the Brian Jonestown Massacre, which is a cleverish play on words, but I don't which is the low and which is high.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Led Zeppelin, come to think of it

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:03 (twenty-two years ago)

The Smashing Pumpkins

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

The Celibate Rifles

― gaz (gaz), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

The Dandy Warhols

(which name, following Eggers' logic, must be beyond PoMo in a special, special place of its very own.)

― cis (cis), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Brides of Funkenstein

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:09 (twenty-two years ago)

elvis costello
elvis hitler

(which aren't exactly puns but which both aim for that high-brow low-brow clash in one way or another)

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

1) Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, for one....though the highbrow part escapes me, somehow.

2) Temple of the Dog, for another.

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

The Crucifucks.

― David Allen, Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:23 (twenty-two years ago)

The 'high' and 'low' labels were used tongue in cheek. And thoroughly self-aware, as you'd expect.

― Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I read somewhere that Soul Coughing was a play on words, but for the life of me I couldn't see how.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 7 November 2003 01:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm confused as to why Camper Van Beethoven is the lead-off example. How is that a pun? It's always been my understanding that their name was a take-off on the acronym for their college dorm at UC Santa Cruz: College V, Dorm B.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 7 November 2003 01:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Camper Van + Ludwig Von Beethoven = CBV

You banana slugs and your manufactured myths.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 November 2003 01:40 (twenty-two years ago)

ALTERNATIVELY
http://www.new-zealand-motor-homes.com/img-camper-van/camper-van.jpg + http://classicalmus.hispeed.com/articles/beethoven.jpg = http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGPORTRAITS/music/portrait200/drp100/p113/p11342ju27v.jpg

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 November 2003 01:41 (twenty-two years ago)

that's not exactly a pun though? is it? it's just shit.

i thought we'd have a bit more dread zeppelin on this thread at least...

― dog latin, Friday, 7 November 2003 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

eh, I am not convinced, despite your fancy html skills! That doesn't quite seem to be a pun to me, anyway, although I guess that hinges on the use of the word "van" to imply a different meaning.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 7 November 2003 01:50 (twenty-two years ago)

it's not so much a pun somuchas an adventure into sniglet territory.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 November 2003 01:51 (twenty-two years ago)

The Smashing Pumpkins ?
The Celibate Rifles ? - I don't get it?

Yet to start a reggae band called 'The Token Jamaicans', but it will happen.

― Sasha (sgh), Friday, 7 November 2003 02:08 (twenty-two years ago)

smash·ing
adj.
Informal. Extraordinarily impressive or fine; wonderful: a smashing success

vs.

smash
v. smashed, smash·ing, smash·es
v. tr.
To break (something) into pieces suddenly, noisily, and violently; shatter.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 7 November 2003 02:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Bjorn Again and ABBAlanche
not a pun but deserves a mention: John Cougar Concentration Camp

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Friday, 7 November 2003 03:55 (twenty-two years ago)

celibate rifles = opposite of sex pistols geddit?

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Tiny: Wayne! How you doin'?
Wayne: Hey Tiny, who's playing today?
Tiny: Jolly Green Giants and the Shitty Beatles.
Wayne: Shitty Beatles? Are they any good?
Tiny: They suck!
Wayne: Then it's not just a clever name.

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:08 (twenty-two years ago)

anyone remember the Funking Barstewards?

― Conor (Conor), Friday, 7 November 2003 06:24 (twenty-two years ago)

*uc santa cruz*

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 7 November 2003 07:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Shitty Shitty Band Band!

― Poppy (poppy), Friday, 7 November 2003 07:29 (twenty-two years ago)

"It doesn't quite seem to be a pun to me, anyway, although I guess that hinges on the use of the word "van" to imply a different meaning."

Pun: 'the use of words or phrases to exploit ambiguities and innuendoes in their meaning, usually for humourous effect'

Van = van = ha ha.

― Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Friday, 7 November 2003 10:12 (twenty-two years ago)

REO Speedealer
(it's not that good but it wound up its intended target so gets 1,000 extra kudos points)

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 7 November 2003 10:19 (twenty-two years ago)

My favourite, if only cos I actually thought it was her real name for years:

Sandie Shaw

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 7 November 2003 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)

no highbrow involved, but Kathleen Turner Overdrive's name always made me smile.

or was that smirk?

― bucky wunderlick (bucky), Friday, 7 November 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

That's funny because I was just thinking of Bachman Turner Overdraft, which is a hilarious pun here the accounts dept. of your local Savings & Loan.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 7 November 2003 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Badly Overdrawn Boy?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 7 November 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Counting Escrow!

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 7 November 2003 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate names like Japancakes. I mean, funny at first but less and less funny every time after that. Just like the B Sharps.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 7 November 2003 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Friday, 7 November 2003 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

JFKFC

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 7 November 2003 18:28 (twenty-two years ago)

It took my brother about three years to realise about Manda Rin.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 7 November 2003 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Wait a minute, where is the pun in Sandie Shaw?

― Sean (Sean), Saturday, 8 November 2003 08:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Sandy Shore? Why she went barefoot?

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 8 November 2003 12:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Correct. It was a joke made by, er, her manager or something, and it stuck.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Saturday, 8 November 2003 20:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll be the dimwit to ask: how is "Led Zeppelin" a pun?

Isn't it just a misspelling, to make sure people don't pronounce the first word "LEED"--based on some joke about how the band's music would go down like a lead zeppelin in the marketplace? Which I guess is something people used to say.

"Soul Coughing," FWIW, is not a pun; it's a euphemism for vomiting. Supposedly Doughty wrote a poem about Neil Young puking that had that title or used that phrase.

And I'll offer Deathray Davies as part of that BJM-style combopun sweepstakes.

― wl (wl), Sunday, 9 November 2003 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Matching Mole.

("Soft Machine" in French is "Machine Molle"....)

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 10 November 2003 09:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Just remembered another one: Perry Farrell.

Took me ages to realise he was commenting on the essential ephemerality of pop.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 10 November 2003 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd never thought of that *smacks forehead*

And to think I slagged my brother off about Manda Rin.

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 10 November 2003 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Dif Juz

― tod (tod), Monday, 10 November 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

The Who

― Jay Kid (Jay K), Monday, 10 November 2003 19:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Harry Pussy

― tod (tod), Monday, 10 November 2003 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

For records labels, I've got a VU botleg on Lurid Records. (lurid = Lou Reed)

― nickn (nickn), Monday, 10 November 2003 21:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I just had a great new idea for a band name, 'Hot Mail'.

― maryann (maryann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 07:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Dif Juz

OK, I now feel dim. Explanation, please?

― OleM (OleM), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 08:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Dif Juzi is pronounced 'diffuse.'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Juzi? JUZ.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Gaza Strippers.

― janni (janni), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 17:19 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

"Modest Mouse" is probably a pun on "Modest Mussorgsky," the 19th-century composer who wrote "Pictures at an Exhibition."

― Jim, Friday, 26 December 2003 20:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, you're giving Isaac Brock a lot of credit with that one...

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 26 December 2003 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Auntie Christ.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 26 December 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't figure out Bowie's Aladdin Sane for the longest time.

As far as the Soul Coughing reference goes, it's apparently taken from a poem the lead singer wrote about Neil Young vomiting on a tour bus. No punning involved.

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Friday, 26 December 2003 22:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Re Isaac Brock and Modest Mouse: "The Moon and Antarctica," the first Modest Mouse record I heard, is FULL of "high-brow"-ish puns and references--- to Carl Sagan's novel "Contact," contemporary theories of astrophysics, etc. So the Modest Mussorgsky connection didn't seem so far-fetched at the time.

But generally I'd have to agree-- most of Brock's other music is waaay less intellectual.

― Jim, Saturday, 27 December 2003 02:39 (twenty-two years ago)

XTC...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 27 December 2003 04:59 (twenty-two years ago)

the Sid Presley Experience

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Saturday, 27 December 2003 05:54 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

Pro-Pain
Non-Prophets
Lostprophets

(A*Teens, OP8...)

― tod (tod), Friday, 6 February 2004 08:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Naked Raygun (reagan, get it?)

― Orbit (Orbit), Friday, 6 February 2004 09:01 (twenty-two years ago)

eight months pass...

Joe,

Regarding: "Van = van = ha ha."

Suspect that there is more intended meaning than just that "camper van" and "Ludvig van Beethoven" both contain "van". In the spirit of highbrow-lowbrow mentioned above, try thinking of it like "trailer-park Beethoven", only now substitute in the "Camper Van" for trailer-park. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems like it would be a slightly self-deprecating commentary on their own contributions, or something along similar lines.

"If you haven't found the mark after 20 minutes at the table--it's you."

― Mike Carr, Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Alladin Sane?

John Cougar Concentration Camp

― Sasha (sgh), Monday, 11 October 2004 03:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Not exactly a pun, but The Aluminum Group was a furniture line from Charles and Ray Eames.

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Monday, 11 October 2004 04:10 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

All girls. All twang. from Cleveland -- "Poontwang"

― Dave will do (dave225.3), Friday, 3 February 2006 14:29 (twenty years ago)

Joanie Loves Trotsky

― nancyboy (nancyboy), Friday, 3 February 2006 14:39 (twenty years ago)

Jake and the Family Jewels
Steely Dan (reference to dildo in Burroughs novel, but also dig at British folk-ers Steeleye Span)
Spin Doctors
Reel Big Fish (not so clever)
U2 (ditto)
The Folk Implosion

― Vornado, Friday, 3 February 2006 16:22 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Hairway To Steven was an album by the butthole surfers. I guess that doesnt count though.

― Welsh, Sunday, 21 May 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

Syndrome Of A Down

― liam, Sunday, 21 May 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

Poodle of Mood

― autovac (autovac), Monday, 22 May 2006 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

http://www.myspace.com/johnscandy

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 27 July 2006 23:02 (nineteen years ago)

Gang Green...they even had an album called "Older...Budweiser"

― hank (hank s), Friday, 28 July 2006 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

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