Best bands with bad names

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Can

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:30 (eleven years ago)

The Beatles

brio, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:31 (eleven years ago)

so far: 1 great name, 1 bad band

beans on toast and ghosts (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:32 (eleven years ago)

beatles: not-the-best-band-on-earth with an ok name

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:33 (eleven years ago)

Can is a perfect name

beans on toast and ghosts (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:34 (eleven years ago)

Can: always finf that name boring and too simple as oppose to their music

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:34 (eleven years ago)

Prefer "The Can," as it appeared on Monster Movie.

Shart Week (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:35 (eleven years ago)

the beatles is a good name!

always thought 'the smiths' was an underwhelming name.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:36 (eleven years ago)

seriously? The Beatles is such a crappy pun.

brio, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:36 (eleven years ago)

band names on the whole shdn't strive to be "interesting" imo

beans on toast and ghosts (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:37 (eleven years ago)

The Band

MarkoP, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:38 (eleven years ago)

yeah thats bad

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:38 (eleven years ago)

tbf, not their choice. They wanted to be called The Crackers.

Shart Week (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:38 (eleven years ago)

Phil Collins

I tweeted too much and I am in jail. (crüt), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:39 (eleven years ago)

agreed on the band -- they should've kept calling themselves the hawks.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:39 (eleven years ago)

My Bloody Valentine

Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:39 (eleven years ago)

My Bloody Valentine: it's not a bad name per se but it's getting there

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:40 (eleven years ago)

roxy music

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:41 (eleven years ago)

Roxy Music and My Bloody Valentine are good - maybe great - band names.

brio, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:46 (eleven years ago)

didn't mbv wanted to change their name at some point?

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:47 (eleven years ago)

A word on band names from Ian Svenonius:

The powerful associative effect of names is often misunderstood. While fondly thought of, mammalian names are a mistake--unless one chooses a mythical beast. A wild animal is a graceful creature that needs no clothes or grooming to look spectacular, and your onlookers--their expectations heightened--will inevitably be disappointed by the oafish onstage display of whatever crew of humanoids you've managed to muster. "Oh dear," they will say, "they are nothing like wolves/foxes/etc." If one hangs sucha name on one's group, one is raising the bar too high.

Male groups with "Girls" in their name have a similar problem. In literature and film, the "girl" represents the reader's/viewer's pure self-image. The audience is supposed to identify with the "girl," who is innocent, brave, artless, attractive, and clever (e.g., Chihiro of Spirited Away, Pippi Longstocking, and Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz). Film noir is predicated on the opposite idea--that audiences like to identify with cynical, morally bankrupt, been-there done-thats. These roles are typically played by middle-aged men with five o'clock shadows (Humphry Bogart, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum). Most groups now resemble the stars of the noir genre, physically if not sartorially. Bands with "Girl" in their name are almost invariably these kinds of hairy and less attractive men. As a rule, then, males should avoid group names with "Girl."

#fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:48 (eleven years ago)

Oasis
Blur
The Verve
Animal Collective
Broken Social Scene
Fleet Foxes

brio, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 19:54 (eleven years ago)

bad
good
ok
ok
ok
bad

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:02 (eleven years ago)

ok bad name cop

brio, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:02 (eleven years ago)

jk i guess it's pretty subjective

brio, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:03 (eleven years ago)

i'm the judge of bad names!

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:04 (eleven years ago)

your thread, you dole out the street justice

brio, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:06 (eleven years ago)

~nirvana~

WE'VE MOMENTUM WE'VE MOMENTUM WE'VE MOMENTUM (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:14 (eleven years ago)

more like okay band, terrible name i guess

WE'VE MOMENTUM WE'VE MOMENTUM WE'VE MOMENTUM (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:15 (eleven years ago)

fugazi

nostormo, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:20 (eleven years ago)

The Books (not so much a bad name as it is an awkward one to say and an even more awkward one to google)

frogbs, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:30 (eleven years ago)

Joy Division
New Order

brio, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:30 (eleven years ago)

Metallica. Horrible name, a great band for a while there.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:57 (eleven years ago)

Fugazi is a decent name but I never thought of a post-punk/hardcore band when I first heard it.

Master of Treacle, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 22:31 (eleven years ago)

Metallica is hard to think of anything else but metal.

(Insert 90s Load/ReLoad joke here)

Master of Treacle, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 22:32 (eleven years ago)

Spoon

Hadrian VIII, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 22:52 (eleven years ago)

Joy Division is a great name

Hadrian VIII, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 22:53 (eleven years ago)

The Flying Burrito Brothers

Hadrian VIII, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 22:53 (eleven years ago)

Starving Weirdos

Hadrian VIII, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 22:56 (eleven years ago)

Phew

Hadrian VIII, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 22:58 (eleven years ago)

Oasis
Blur
The Verve
Animal Collective
Broken Social Scene
Fleet Foxes

― brio, Tuesday, August 20, 2013 3:54 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

these bands are all much better at names than music

fuck your movie theater yacht (zachlyon), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 00:49 (eleven years ago)

well 'oasis' sort of sucks

fuck your movie theater yacht (zachlyon), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 00:49 (eleven years ago)

dog faced hermans
the flaming lips
mercury rev
pavement

nicky lo-fi, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 11:07 (eleven years ago)

Recently:

1975
Snakadaktal

Tim F, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 11:11 (eleven years ago)

Most of these names are OK. Roxy Music's a bad name??!?!? WTF?

Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 11:19 (eleven years ago)

Can is great. The Can isn't.

Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 11:20 (eleven years ago)

Prefab Sprout. I never liked their songs because of their stupid name, even though I like the sort of stuff they did.

my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 11:28 (eleven years ago)

Ween

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 12:38 (eleven years ago)

1975 is a really bad name.

What's the relatively recent band whose name is just !!!!! or something? Tried to look it up, pretty ungoogleable.

brio, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 13:32 (eleven years ago)

Moby Grape

Shart Week (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 13:33 (eleven years ago)

off topic and xpost but Tim F is that snakadaktal album worth hearing?

monotony, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 13:34 (eleven years ago)

They were originally "Moby Cock" but their label made them change it.

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 13:34 (eleven years ago)

is there at least ONE band that we all can agree about?

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:09 (eleven years ago)

Love (arthur lee)

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:10 (eleven years ago)

They were originally "Moby Cock" but their label made them change it.

― Treeship, Wednesday, August 21, 2013 9:34 AM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also, the label airbrushed the album cover so you couldn't see any cock

Lee626, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:15 (eleven years ago)

(xp) No, that's a good name. Prefab Sprout is silly but, I don't know, it works somehow, ditto Throbbing Gristle.

Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:23 (eleven years ago)

The The

scott seward, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:30 (eleven years ago)

Neutral Milk Hotel is a pretty dumb name

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:33 (eleven years ago)

Moby Grape
--Shart Week (Tarfumes The Escape Goat)

great call imo. for all i know they might be great but i've never even tried why because that name.

resulting post (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:35 (eleven years ago)

feel like there are tons of metal bands that outlast their youthful punk rock names. Septicflesh doesn't really reflect the latter-day grandeur of a great band.

scott seward, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:36 (eleven years ago)

Moby Grape are good xp

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:37 (eleven years ago)

ramones
radiohead

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:42 (eleven years ago)

Ducktails. Their buzzfeedwave nostalgia name belies the fact that their music is awesome.

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:46 (eleven years ago)

"Christmas" was an especially bad choice. Confused people at the time, and now it's impossible to google.

dlp9001, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:52 (eleven years ago)

ramones

Awesome name

Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:56 (eleven years ago)

what's so awesome?

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 14:59 (eleven years ago)

The Ramones' name

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:00 (eleven years ago)

why is it so awesome?

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:01 (eleven years ago)

Conceptually its cool they pretended to be related

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:02 (eleven years ago)

the concept is arguably cool, but the name is not.

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:03 (eleven years ago)

What's wrong with it?

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:04 (eleven years ago)

i don't like the name "ramone"

if they called themselves The Smiths for example, not that would be awesome!

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:06 (eleven years ago)

i think subconsciously people are prejudiced and sometimes tend to like a band name if they are fans of their music.

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:12 (eleven years ago)

Souls of Mischief

What the fuck is it even supposed mean?

Tuomas, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:17 (eleven years ago)

I agree. I also think most names sound at least a bit forced and awkward until a band establishes itself and its name becomes inconspicuous, like individual's names are. This is also true of other things, like the "iPod"

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:17 (eleven years ago)

Sorry xp to nostromo

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:18 (eleven years ago)

ok so let's try all over again:

Best bands with bad names: pretend you never heard the band.

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:20 (eleven years ago)

Japandroids

Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:21 (eleven years ago)

i'm fine with that name

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:24 (eleven years ago)

every band with the name "family" in it

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:25 (eleven years ago)

Ramones also cool because of the Beatles reference. xpost.

dlp9001, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:25 (eleven years ago)

Ducktails. Their buzzfeedwave nostalgia name belies the fact that their music is awesome.

― Treeship, Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:46 PM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have had this argument before, but what you're thinking of is DUCK TALES, not DUCKTAILS. If you were going to name your band after the cartoon rather than the haircut or the tail of some actual ducks, surely you wouldn't double-bluff pun back to the non-pun version? I mean, fair enough, if this is what he did then the name is even more stupid than *you* think and is just a tidal wave of stupid.

emil.y, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:27 (eleven years ago)

ok Ramones is a cool name, i'm convinced.

nostormo, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:27 (eleven years ago)

if they called themselves The Smiths for example, not that would be awesome!

I think I've disagreed with every post you've made on this thread!

Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:38 (eleven years ago)

The only deal-breaker for me with band-names is when people spell their names in all lower-case. k.d. lang did it and that was for a good reason. the cranberries, moe., fun., all not ok. Everything else is cool, fuck. I like Fuck. I like Diarrhea Planet.

ship who you wanna ship (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:49 (eleven years ago)

I mean, I don't actually like the band Fuck's music but their band name is fine. I'd love to be in a band called Fuck (but we wouldn't sound like Fuck). I think the highest quality music to lowest quality band-name in my listening experience is Carissa's Wierd. That's a pretty bad band name tbh

ship who you wanna ship (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:52 (eleven years ago)

totally agree re: punctuation and all lower-case names - Fun is a dumb but OK name, fun. is terrible.

Misspelling is a deal-breaker too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/ShampooCell/traxx/yktr.jpg

brio, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 16:05 (eleven years ago)

Starfucker is a pretty shitty name, I think, much as I love the Rolling Stones song. But their music is good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE-C8dgpDb8&list=PLDA52A31463A8A0AC

Treeship, Saturday, 24 August 2013 22:33 (eleven years ago)

puddle of mudd

markers, Saturday, 24 August 2013 23:21 (eleven years ago)

all band names that take the form of sentences, rather than noun phrases, suck.

I realize that we are running out of noun phrases, but that's no excuse.

Godspeed You! And The Trail of Dead You Rode In On, Motherfuckers!

Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Sunday, 25 August 2013 02:44 (eleven years ago)

flamin groovies

Spikey, Sunday, 25 August 2013 03:11 (eleven years ago)

... is a great name

fuck your movie theater yacht (zachlyon), Sunday, 25 August 2013 03:19 (eleven years ago)

Uncle Acid

nostormo, Monday, 2 September 2013 08:36 (eleven years ago)

The only deal-breaker for me with band-names is when people spell their names in all lower-case. k.d. lang did it and that was for a good reason

Which was?

Mark G, Monday, 2 September 2013 09:38 (eleven years ago)

Pretty & Nice

many machines on ilx (MaresNest), Monday, 2 September 2013 10:31 (eleven years ago)


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