Band Names

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see below.
(no need to explain)

More than it should be, yes.

But most bands today seem to not be too worried about that, with such terrible names as f**k Buttons, f****d Up and Test Icicles knocking around. Admittedly the last ones have broken up.

A few bands I adore have a bit silly band names. Even the 2 bands I consider most important to me (Echo & The Bunnymen + The Smiths) have a bit pointless names.

It can get worse though. In Germany we got a band called Oomph! and there are more silly ones out there.Even The Beatles is a totally ridiculous name. Dito for U2.

But seems a lot of great bands have silly names , while some bands with really good names have rather pointless music.

In the end a name can only stir up first interest, it is the musical output that will decide about success or no success.

PS: of the bands I do like, the only ones whose band names I do like a lot are London After Midnight, A Perfect Circle and especially Orphaned Land (but that band is superb in every possible aspect). Those band names are so well thought off and suit their music well.

Best band name ever: Joy Division (especially given the contrast with their musical output)



Some other band names I like a lot (without necessarily liking the music):
After Forever
Black Sabbath
Boards of Canada
The Levellers
Ramallah
Mor ve Ötesi (nice playing with words !)



But generally bands seem more creative with thoughtful album titles than with band names.

Well the Joy Division name isn't actually referring to 'joy'...

I have worked at my local library for six years and my job involves collecting items for the interlibrary loan, including music CDs. I have seen my share of weird band names, ranging from the merely goofy to the downright nasty.

Funny this topic came up because at lunch I saw a big postcard flyer full of metal bands. Every single one had some variation of black, death, blood, devil, metal. I mean you could literally go down the list and it was like... Black Devil, Death Blood, Devil Death, Black Death, Devilblood... ya. lol. Would it hurt bands to come up with something more original?

I know where it comes from (the nazi bordello thing) but still the word joy conflicts with the lyrics of their music, so it is a great playing with words.

@ kxmode: extreme metal is a style of music which is known for its stereotypical and unoriginal side, and the good bands in those styles are easily recognisable from the mass of unoriginal bands. Most of those bands which have satanic-esque or gore names fall into that category that tries to score easily with some cliche extreme metal about religion etc

Yes and no:
There's several great bands with awful names:
Vampire Weekend (makes it sound like they're an emo band)
Los Campesinos! (my favorite band of the moment. They're Welsh, but they have a Spanish name that makes them sound like a Mexican folk group)
Echo and the Bunnymen (I actually held off listening to this band for years because their name was awful, a mistake I regret)
Prefab Sprout (ditto)
The Pigeon Detectives (ditto)

But, it can also make the band more interesting:
Joy Division (see crackedpleasure)
Does It Offend You, Yeah? (It was the band's name that got me interested because its an unintentional reference to the UK version of The Office but I would've liked them anyway)
Dogs Die in Hot Cars (I heard the "I Love You Cause I Have To" in the radio and remembered the band name from the first time I heard them)
Monkey Swallows the Universe (Intentionally memorable name)
Fall Out Boy (awful band, but you gotta love the Simpsons reference)

I would say so. If you have a good band name you seem to go much farther then if you don't.

Haha, I know one of the f**k buttons... and I have mentioned the dreadful name a few times, but they won't listen.

There are some truly dreadful names. But there are some great ones.

To me, there are ones I refuse to listen to because their names are dire, and regret because they turn out great.

Then there's the Ting Tings. Hey, at least they're consistent... s**t name AND s**t music...

My favourite band ever, Echo & The Bunnymen. I love all of them, their lyrics, their sound, the vocals, the artworks, ... Only not the band name. They may be my nr 1 band but their name is something I would have done differently.

IMO a band name should have a meaning, there has to be thought behind it. Not just randomly pick anything because you're out of inspiration.

For example when I look to my own favourite bands, the name Orphaned Land is excellent because it has a lot of thought and actually matches with their music and their backgrounds. That's a band that really had a reason for choosing that name and that made effords to think of a name that has its own story to tell. More bands should do that.




Some famous bands whose names I consider bad:

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Beatles
The Kills
The Killers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Metallica (how unoriginal can it be for a metal band??)
The Who
Echo & The Bunnymen (love them but don't like their name a lot)
The Smiths (dito)
The Cure (rather unoriginal for a goth band)
The Gorillaz (I hate that stupid deliberate spelling mistakes; crap band as well IMO)
A-Ha
Stiff Little Fingers
U2 (again: great music but very unoriginal name)
Cradle of Filth
The Darkness (sounds like an attempt to cater to the goth scene)




Some nice band names (will complete my earlier list a bit)

After Forever
Black Sabbath
Boards of Canada
The Levellers
Ramallah
Mor ve Ötesi (nice playing with words !)
Joy Division
Sigur Ros (= rose of victory)
We Are Scientists
Therapy? (that question mark gives it a different undertone)
Placebo (represents something fake and illusional, matches well with some of their songs)
Einstürzende Neubauten (= collapsing new buildings)
Breathe of Life
A Perfect Circle

On another forum I go on, they did a thread about names you wish you could call your band. Some of them had me in tears:

RAPED! By Dolphins
Your Lips, My Toilet Seat
f**k
The f**k
Dog Lipstick
Fluffy motherf****ng Bunnies

And my personal favourite was Sexual Anne Frank.

What I want to do, though, is call a band W.A.Y.L.A.F.

'What's your band called?'
'W.A.Y.L.A.F.'
'What does that stand for?'
'What are YOU looking at, fa***t???'

These are some standouts from my iTunes... bear in mind I like all the bands, some a lot. Names, however...


Good Names:

Alkaline Trio
Bat For Lashes
At The Drive-In
Biffy Clyro
Blood Red Shoes
Chromeo
Carpark North
Dirty Pretty Things
Envy And Other Sins
Fleet Foxes
Idlewild
iLiKETRAiNS
Justice
Kings Of Leon
Klaxons
Ladytron
mewithoutYou
moi Caprice
Mumm-Ra
Placebo
The Raveonettes
Secret Machines
Sigur Rós
Soulwax
This Will Destroy You
Yourcodenameis:Milo
Pure Reason Revolution

Bad Names:

Architecture In Helsinki
Arctic Monkeys
Beatsteaks
The Coral
Futureheads
Hard-Fi
Midlake
Minuit (only because I get sick of hearing 'min-you-it')
Mystery Jets
The Posies
The Postal Service
Snow Patrol
LCD Soundsystem
I Was A Cub Scout
Jakobinarina
Junior Senior
Spleen United
The Strange Death Of Liberal England
Vampire Weekend

One of my favorite band names is, not surprisingly, the Stray Cats.

Favorite band names:

Vengaboys
Soul Control
Lucky Boys Confusion
Savage Garden
Atomic Kitten
Angel City
Sugar Ray
His Infernal Majesty (HIM)
Third Eye Blind
London Bus Stop (makes me think of CockneyRebel)
Real McCoy
Ole Van Dansk
Starsplash

Least favorite band names:

Goo Goo Dolls
Hoobastank
Nickelback
Age Pee
Basshunter
Garbage
Superchick
Harry Chester
Jamiroquai