Band names: The good, the bad and the origins

[Lookalike Mark Chapman]

I always thought 'Wings' was a pretty crap band name. Not as bad as 'Chumbawumba,' though. I almost convinced someone once that their name was taken from an acronym of the band members' initials - a la ABBA - but the lie stalled when I was called upon to a) list the actual names, then b) recall those same names a second time.

Sweden's group Abba is named after the first letters of its members' names: Alan, Brenda, Bill and Aunty Mary.

[alan nagsworth]

I heard the Pet Shop Boys got their name because putting small rodents up your botty was a fun practice amongst homosexuals back in't day.

I seriously heard this.

[buttgammon]

OK, maybe it's a bit more interesting than I first thought.

Perhaps their 'friends' in the pet shop were actually ferrets and gerbils that they enjoyed to perform gay sex with?

[Danger Man]

Looks like my Richard Gere comment was a bit too oblique....

[buttgammon]

I was following on from Nagsworth's suggestion if that's what you think. We're on a different line, right?

[Danger Man]

I was following on from Nagsworth's suggestion if that's what you think. We're on a different line, right?

Yes..it's confusing....probably because I'm on the train right now...

Anyway....'boys' refers to gay men (although I don't see why it has to be the preserve of homosexuals....unless they are inherently deviant or something) and 'pet shop' refers to animals that are small enough to fit snugly inside someone's bottom (generally members of the rodent family although anyone who has seen any of Gilbert and George's 'Naked Shit' pictures might be thinking elephants) making 'pet shop boys' = 'gay men with mice in their bums'

Would they have been so successful if they went for the latter name?

[buttgammon]

It would have a certain novelty value I guess. Hmm...

[Moribunderast]

I've always loved the band name "The Way Tight Bros. From Way Back When" for the sheer  silliness of it. Er, I once heard of a band with the grim name "Bathtub Shitter" which just conjures up bad images.

There's a local (Melbourne) band I see a bit called "Batrider" which I think rolls off the tongue very nicely.

[alan nagsworth]

I always thought 'Wings' was a pretty crap band name. Not as bad as 'Chumbawumba,' though. I almost convinced someone once that their name was taken from an acronym of the band members' initials

Hahaha that's brilliant! "Yes, amongst others, this 11-piece band featured members named Ulysses and Ulmer."

...refers to animals that are small enough to fit snugly inside someone's bottom (generally members of the rodent family)

Yeah... you wouldn't want to rush these things in the heat of passion, would you? I'd be de-clawing until I cut the poor bastard's feet off.

[samadriel]

Two album names lost to the ages:
Pavement's "Terror Twilight" was originally to be named 'The Vulture Street End', after one end of the cricket pitch at the Gabba stadium, which would have been fucking awesome.  For me, anyway.  Jebediah's rubbishly-titled album "Of Someday Shambles" was originally to bear the much more awesome name "Irish Wristwatch".  Cowards.

Les Claypool's name for his collaboration band was pretty good: 'Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains'.

I prefer the earlier 'Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade'.  Quality.

'Nirvana'?  Rubbish.  'Hole'?  Rather good!

I think the sheer obstinacy of naming a band 'France' would lend it a certain frisson.  And whatever they'd sound like, they couldn't be worse than Asia, Europe or America.

...Wait, were Asia good?

[Sovereign]

Thats why I like heavy metal bandnames, there's no anecdotal bullshit about Slayer, Pantera, Sepultura, Anthrax Megadeth etc they just sound like metal bands ought to.

Anyone know where "Godspeed you black emperor" comes from?

[chand]

Anyone know where "Godspeed you black emperor" comes from?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Speed_You!_Black_Emperor

God Speed You! Black Emperor (ゴッド・スピード・ユー! BLACK EMPEROR) is a 1976 Japanese black-and-white 16 mm documentary film, 90 minutes long, by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors. 1970s Japan saw the rise of biker gangs, known as Bōsōzoku, which drew the interest of the media. The movie follows a member of the bike gang and his interaction with his parents, after he gets in trouble with the police. The orchestral post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor's name is derived from the film's title.

There was an article in the Guardian last Friday by the guy out of the Broken Family band talking about band names which was mildly diverting while I was having my lunch: Does it offend me? Yeah. However, like most discussions of band names it ends up not really quite being able to explain the reasons why one name is shit and another is awesome, and becomes a case of going 'this one is great, but this one is shit'. Often it goes on your gut reaction and then you try and justify it from there; currently I'm struggling to understanding what I think about current popular noise rockers Fuck Buttons. It has a certain elan to the way it sounds, but at the same time it's a bit, y'know, wacky. 'I'm in a band...called Fuck Buttons!!!!'.

I guess it can depend on a lot of context; I wonder if I'd like the baffling insanity of Limited Express (Has Gone?) so much if they weren't Japanese. I probably wouldn't, which may be due to some cultural prejudice about how them Japs are genuinely crazy whereas if a British band with stupid haircuts called themselves that I'd think of them as posing, self-indulgent twats. I can forgive a name like My Cat Is An Alien if it's attached to genuinely out-there music made by a pair of Italian brothers with toy space guns, but I would hate that name if some boring indie band called themselves it.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I think a good band makes a name rather than the other way around. The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, all shit names, all great bands.

[Danger Man]

I guess it can depend on a lot of context; I wonder if I'd like the baffling insanity of Limited Express (Has Gone?) so much if they weren't Japanese. I probably wouldn't, which may be due to some cultural prejudice about how them Japs are genuinely crazy whereas if a British band with stupid haircuts called themselves that I'd think of them as posing, self-indulgent twats.

Yup. The closest thing the UK ever had to a Japanese group was 'Shampoo' and I don't remember many fanboys going on about how much they loved those two chancers.

Shampoo....good name or bad?   

[Don_Preston]

...Wait, were Asia good?

HEEEAAAT OF THE MOMENT!

I've never liked the name The Woodentops, even if it is after the acoustic guitar, rather than the puppets. Then again I'm not really a fan so it doesn't bother me that much.

I rather love the name "The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band" although not as much when they lost the "Doo-Dah" between the first and second album.

[samadriel]

Great band, but I find the combination of 'Dog' and 'Doo' gives their name an unavoidable mental smell.

Names with birds in them, or which are simply 'birdlike', are rubbish: 'The Byrds', 'The Black Crowes', 'The Eagles', The, uh... Patridge Family?...

I can't decide if 'A Flock of Seagulls' is a good name or not.  'Counting Crows' at least had the decency to whack a verb (or possibly adjective!) in there, but it's hard for me to look past their actual artistic tiresomeness.

[j_u_d_a_s]

RE: The Teardrop Explodes, was actually a full blown panel in Silver Surfer (Or it could be Fantastic Four come to think of it it) written and drawn by Jack Kirby who was known to knock out some stunning psychedelia back in the day.

808 State were named after a korg drum machine and apparently, a similar "state" of mind that the original 4 had.
Nine Inch Nails was at first thought to be a reference to the crucifixion of Christ but turns out Trent just liked the illiteration.

I'd love to know what the thinking was when it came to band names like The Atomic Bitchwax and Alabama Thunderpussy...

[Don_Preston]

G.

Names with birds in them, or which are simply 'birdlike', are rubbish: 'The Byrds',

I must say I disagree about The Byrds being lumped in with the rubbish bird names. I feel it reflects the typical 'sound' of the pastoral jangle of the music perfectly.

[simondykes]

I've come to really hate band names with swearwords in,though this could be down to the fact that when you work in a record shop and have to tell someone that the record they're listening to right now is by someone called Fuck Buttons or Holy Fuck,the joke starts to wear pretty thin.I guess it's also along the lines of 'you're going to get far with a name like that',but certainly Holy Fuck don't seem to be doing too badly (mind you,they are also pretty good,which sometimes helps.)

Having said that,I am a fan of Solar Anus,but again,if they'd been british rather than japanese,would I have given them a chance?Then again,if they'd been british rather than japanese,they probably would have been shit.

Along similar lines are the mighty Sunn O))),which is a great name.Who were named in tribute to the mightier Earth which is an even better one.(Never mind naming yourself after a continent,go for the whole planet!)

I'm trying to think of a great Bird-related band name to disprove the theory (excepting the Byrds who were great,but misspelt) but all I can come up with is the Pigeon Detectives,which rather bears it out.Eagles Of Death Metal?

[McQ]

I've come to really hate band names with swearwords in,though this could be down to the fact that when you work in a record shop and have to tell someone that the record they're listening to right now is by someone called Fuck Buttons or Holy Fuck,the joke starts to wear pretty thin.I guess it's also along the lines of 'you're going to get far with a name like that',but certainly Holy Fuck don't seem to be doing too badly (mind you,they are also pretty good,which sometimes helps.)

I was listening to a show on WFMU the other day and when they were reading out the local gig listings they referred to those bands as "F Buttons" and "Holy F" which I found unbearably cute!

[marwood]

I've come to really hate band names with swearwords in,though this could be down to the fact that when you work in a record shop and have to tell someone that the record they're listening to right now is by someone called Fuck Buttons or Holy Fuck,the joke starts to wear pretty thin.

Ever had anyone ask for !!!? I like the description on last.fm;

!!! is pronounced by saying a one syllable sound three times in a row. The most common pronunciation is "chk chk chk" or "chik chik chik", but can also be pronounced "pow pow pow", "bam bam bam", "uh uh uh", etc.

I think a good band makes a name rather than the other way around.

I've wondered before how the career of "On a Friday" would have progressed had they not been persuaded to change their name to Radiohead.

Madlib has quite a fitting name, but I don't think there are many artists that can get away with calling themself something like "Mind Altering Demented Lessons In Beats".
_{(It would be very disappointing if this turns out to be another backcronym, made up by wiki-fiddlers.)}

[samadriel]

Sweary names aren't fantastic, but I do like The Fuck Fucks.  On a musically superior note, TISM stands for 'This Is Serious, Mum' -- excellent name.

[chand]

Ever had anyone ask for !!!?

I bought a 'Myth Takes' promo from behind the counter before it came out properly, and I kind of agonised over what I should ask for, just in case he didn't know what I was on about, so I just asked for 'that copy of Myth Takes' with very precise pointing. He looked confused and then replied 'ahhhh you mean Chk Chk Chk', and I felt a bit stupid.

[Captain Crunch]

Shampoo....good name or bad?

To paraphrase, Shampoo said they got their name because whenever boys at school asked them out they would always do the old "not tonight I'm washing my hair" line.  They subsequently became known around school as 'The Shampoo Girls'.  When they became the spunky pop-duo rabble-rousers we all know and love they kept the word Shampoo but dropped the phrase 'The Shampoo Girls' as it sounded too sixties and cutesy.

Along similar lines are the mighty Sunn O))),which is a great name.Who were named in tribute to the mightier Earth which is an even better one.(Never mind naming yourself after a continent,go for the whole planet!)

I've heard that Earth are so called because it was Black Sabbath's original name before they were forced to change it by a folk outfit active at the time.

It's nice to hear SunnO))) talk about their name:

"...so like, y'know how like, normally, like the er, Earth like, goes around the Sun, but we, we uh, kinda flipped, the er, the er like, tradition to make uhhh, the Sun, like follow the uh, er, orbit of like, the Earth like, you know...?"

One of my favourite names is not of a band at all, just one member.  Yes, I refer to everyone's favourite metal dwarf IT from the classic bell-ringing nutter-troupe Abruptum:



A man so evil he cannot posses a human name, waaaargggh!

Lastly, bands who take their names from songs.  So for example Sennen (Ride), or The Black Angels (Velvet Underground).  Any others?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Mansun (see above).

I thought Sunn O))) took their name from the amplifier manufacturer.

[quadraspazzed]

Britpop was all one word names wasn't it. Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Mensweat, Sleeper, Echobelly.

[pedant]Except Pulp existed for about a decade and a half before the NME invented Britpop[/pedant]

Also, you left out Cast and Supergrass ;-)

Ride were (according to wikipedia) named after a piece of graphic design Mark Gardener produced for a typography workshop - which is rather disappointing.

[Mary Hinge]

[pedant]Except Pulp existed for about a decade and a half before the NME invented Britpop[/pedant]

Err....mmm...yeah but they weren't allowed to have any commercial success until NME allowed short,sharp,one name bands... [/failoffacesavingbollocks] Whoops on my part. Hands up. You got me.


Bands named after songs.
Slowdive is a Siouxsie and the Banshees track.
Then...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bands_named_after_other_performers'_songs

[Captain Crunch]

I thought Sunn O))) took their name from the amplifier manufacturer.

Yeah that too (Earth's favourite type) with the O being silent so that pedants can phone up radio stations whenever a DJ introduces a track by 'sun-oh' (if that ever happens?).  The ))) can either be sound or light or heat depending on your mood.

Another band name etymology website here:

http://www.heathenworld.com/bandname/nav1.aspx

I didn't know this one (assuming it's true):

BEASTIE BOYS - "Beastie" is an acronym for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Toward Internal Excellence".

[Identity Crisis Ahoy!]

I think that band names should be well-considered and in some way reflect the state of mind of the band as a collective, or in some way define the music they make.

No, go home. Bands make music. PR agencies make snappy slogans.

[Identity Crisis Ahoy!]

The worst ever is "SINGER X PLUS WACKY NAME BAND Y" like Lars Fredrickson and the (careful readers!) BASTARDS!
Get the fuck out.