Entertainment For Lively Minds
Bands names that put you off
Posted by woodface on 10 April 2009 - 8:04pm.
For me it is 'Bat for lashes' and 'Deathcab for cutie'. They both sound like they were dreamt up by some disengenuous creative type with the sole aim of getting media attention way above the merits of the artist.
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Deathcab
are very good. Really. I'd give them a go.
I was put off them
for precisely the reason Woodface cites. I knew the Bonzos reference, but it just all felt a bit "knowing". I was wrong, they are really, really good.
Of course....
Death Cab For Cutie is the title of a Bonzo's song - specifically the one they do in the strip club in Magical Mystery Tour.
Pissed Jeans
Wow, what alluring images that calls up.
I really can`t stand...
My Morning Jacket or "M" Ward. smartarses one and all
ummmmm
you cant stand the name M ward???
but his name is Matt Ward - seems pretty logical to me
Clifford T Ward
So - there is indeed a parallel universe...
...in which Phil Oakey (a) can sing and (b) can play more than three notes on a monophonic synthesier. And that universe is called The Past.
By the same token...
It's The Eels and 'E'.
By the same logic
you should avoid The Beatles. Possibly the best band/worst name combination ever.
The name does not bother me,
The name does not bother me, I think their ubiquity kind of blinds me to their title. When a group is so obviously brilliant the name becomes irrelevant.
It's hard to imagine anyone...
...writing 'Toad The Wet Sprocket' on the back of their schoolbag. I feel sure the name-choosing session was a good laugh, filled with irony and postmodernism and ideas about music transcending silly names.... but it still just sounds ridiculous.
A personal tale involving a band name: I was involved in assembling a CD of unsigned N Irish bands many years ago (1995) and did a round of local radio interviews to publicise the finished product. One was with a very serious indie-patron chap called 'Johnny Hero'. We did some chat, he maybe played a track or two, then got a bit shirty, asking me on air what exactly my 'criteria' was, why all his own fave bands from the locale weren't on the record. I can't recall the whole final accusatory sentence, but it was a litany of 'what about X..? what about Y...?' climaxing in the immortal words '...and what about Bleeding Rectum?'
'Well,' said I, 'what can I say? Crazy name, crazy guys...'
I have, to this day, absolutely no idea who Bleeding Rectum are or were or what they sounded like. But I feel comfortable in the knowledge that, to subvert the Donald Rumsfeld ethos, from their choice of moniker alone, I don't need to know.
(As a matter of some post-scriptish validation for 'my criteria', which never ever existed by the way, the record in question featured early live performances from Cara Dillon - aged 16 - Snow Patrol co-writer Iain Archer, Snow Patrol member Jonny Quinn (drumming in two different bands), current soul-boy sensation Foy Vance, jazz maestro Linley Hamilton, subsequent Bob Harris fave Brian Houston, and Woodstock veteren Henry McCullough along with a few noble 'local heroes' who sadly never got much further. Such is life But I can't imagine that Bleeding Rectum's career would have blossomed significantly from the modest extra exposure they might have had from it had they been invited along...)
Toad The Wet Sprocket
was a steal from Eric Idle's 'Rock Notes' sketch
Does it offend you, yeah?
Yes, indeed it does.
Forgot about that one, truly
Forgot about that one, truly terrible.
I don't know if it makes it better or worse
that it's a David Brent quote. They were in fact a good band, and nothing like as wanky as you'd think; I'm pretty sure the name more than anything stopped them making it past one album.
I always thought The Jesus And Mary Chain was a ludicrous name. But I love the band.
Someone put up a post about Revolting Cocks
Ain't no way i'm going to find out, aurally or otherwise. Likewise the group I won't even repeat the name of, apart from by this euphemism, Bottomy Liddle. Why do they do it? To shock is fine, but it all looks daft when the career plan works and you are on your 30th anniversary tour. No thanks.
I have too say I found myself getting too many odd looks even wearing my Cowboy Junkies T shirt, and they are hardly wild and dangerous, so would be intrigued where that name came from.
And why the Fuck Buttons, whose melodic gentle electronica is quite nice?
Bottomy Liddle
;-)
I think it that you bothered to look. (Unless they are a staple in the antique synth room, chez Stimpy.)
My nephew (19)
is a big fan of all this 'Cannibal Corpse', 'Anal Cunt' stuff. I suspect (!) it's no more than a teenage affectation that he thinks shocks us old 'uns.
A guaranteed way to upset him is to play along to Vaginal Discharge (or whoever) on the piano in a jolly honky-tonk fashion saying "it's got a good tune".
It's easy to forget just how seriously kids of that age take their music - note *their* music - grown-ups are not supposed to like/understand/approve of it, remember :-)
If I may be extraordinarily pedantic once again
you can't count those two bands as part of "all this stuff" - they are poles apart. Anal Cunt are, as the clip above demonstrates, a joke punk band, barely a whisker away from frat-boy humour really. Cannibal Corpse on the other hand are death metal, and like all in that genre (most famously Slayer), although their schlocky horror imagery has elements of the ooh-mom-aren't-you-shocked about it, their musicianship is virtuosic and the whole package is put together with utmost seriousness in the same way a great horror movie is - a death metal track or show is a precision-constructed adrenalin ride, and as such, even though it may not be your cup of tea, has value beyond its ability to shock.
Silly name...
but what a fantastic song title! Obviously I'm reluctant to listen to it, as it's bound to be a disappointment.
Just watch the video
with the volume down; it's quite amusing in a 17-year old schoolboy sort of way :-)
Never judge a band by their name
You must give My Morning Jacket and M.Ward a good listen before you judge.The best way to experience MMJ is the Okonos DVD, it is absolutely one of the best concert DVD's you wil ever see.M Ward has backed up MMJ on several tours.I saw him once and I thought he was better than MMJ.His new album is great and so is his duet album with Zoey D, 'She and Him', a very good first choice to listen to M.Ward
PS.Death Cab for Cutie put me off before I heard their albums.Listen to the 'Plans' or 'Transatlanticism' album and then come back and repost a comment
Prefab Sprout
Fabulous band - dreadful name. Can't see that playing in Peoria. I'm convinced with a more beguiling appendage they would have had greater commercial success. Actually, Steely Dan too. It is odd, how some of the biggest bands, however, do have silly names-Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin.
But to pose the the opposite question - what's a good name? I think The Who is alomost perfect. As is The Faces. Perhaps, tellingly, both emanate from a Mod/Art School slant.
Steely Dan
The name was taken from a dildo in a Hunter S Thompson novel if I remember correctly.
The names 10cc and The Lovin' Spoonful don't sound so good when you know the origin.
Further pedantry
it was a William Burroughs novel, 'Naked Lunch' to be precise.
Lightning Seeds, of course, also take the inspiration for their name from the same, erm, wellspring as the latter two you mention.
re The Lightning Seeds
Thanks for that, Joe...I've now got a fair idea what Jollification is too!
are you sure?
Lightning Seeds take the name from 'raspberry beret' don't they? in the middle eight i think.
Pedantically,
William S Burroughs - a steam powered model to be precise
from Yokohama
Another from the Ejaculatory Class
is of course Pearl Jam.
Staying true to your dreams
Prefab Sprout is, and always was, a dreadful name. But I read somewhere that Paddy McAloon chose it because when he was a slip of a kid his games of fantasy and pretence, playing at rock starring, had him in a make-believe band called Prefab Sprout. When his dreams became reality, he stayed loyal to the name. It may be an apocryphal story, but I've always sort of admired his stance in the face of adverse critical reaction to the name. Great songs too.
Misheard lyric
I was always led to believe that it was as a result of a misheard lyric (possibly in a Frank Sinatra song). I hadn't realised it was a childhood thing as well.
Queen
that name put me off for a few years.
For me
It was the music...
I think they
covered both bases amply.
We butter the Dead
Sorry to put you off your boiled egge and soldiers - but I glanced upon this appellation nestling in the racks of one of the nation's few remaining CD emporia.
Never a big fan of Crispy Ambulance either.
There must be some other ghastly giblets in the Metal and Prog undergrowth.
You only need to look at the cover of any given month's
Terrorizer mag for a list of spectacularly silly band names.
This month: General Surgery! Amon Amarth! Wolves In The Throne Room! ARCHGOAT!!!
My Dying Bride?
Like someone who reads that mag is going to get married.
ARCHGOAT?
Now them I've got to hear.
On a another
thread, I was recommended a band by the name of 'Spocks Beard', now that is a dreadful name
Aaaaah
Just "got" the moniker of Poster No.12743, Spec's Beard.
Very droll, sir.
Dreadful music
as well.
May I suugest Anal Cunt, Cancer and Cannibal Corpse?
Oh, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The Band
- if they weren't going to try then neither was I... and yet I was happy to try The Pop Group.
The opposite is also true
I LOVE these names: "And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Our Dead" and "Gay Dad" - both shite.
I HATE this name: "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" but absolutely adore this band.
A Pedant Writes
it's "And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead" and they're great if you like barely-bridled guitar noise. Gay Dad, however, were and always will be shit.
An abortion by any name...
Were Foetus Under Glass a band, or was it just one guy with Foetus moniker variations?
The latter
Jim Thirlwell aka Foetus Art Terrorism; Foetus Über Frisco; Foetus Corruptus; Foetus In Excelsis Corruptus Deluxe; Foetus Inc.; Foetus Interruptus; Foetus Over Frisco; Foetus Under Glass; Philip and His Foetus Vibrations; Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel; The Foetus All-Nude Revue; The Foetus of Excellence; The Foetus Symphony Orchestra; and You've Got Foetus On Your Breath...
Joe, haven't you forgotten...
...Grabbing De Foetus From The Jaws Of Victory?
And, given your extraordinary knowledge of this man's alter egos (does it say 'professional memory man' on his passport?) are you, in fact, him?
Yes,
my memory is STUPENDOUS.
Fantastic!
Very amusing Joe! - indeed, I believe the phrase is 'LOL' :-D
Bonnie Prince Billy
Bonnie "Prince" Billy...
to be precise. It's those quotation marks that really rankle. Is his name Bonnie Billy and his nickname Prince? (And I like Will "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy" Oldham quite a lot, by the way.)
I still can't believe there's someone, somewhere, who considers The Rolling Stones a bad name. How could a band name be any better?
But it was a good job they changed it from
The Rollin' Stones. That just doesn't work as well somehow
Not to mention
encouragin' bad diction
I don't know....
...if it's a 'proper' band or a collaboration, but Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip gets my goat. So much that I hate reading the name! I couldn't tell you why I hate it, but it's possibly related to the images that 'Le Sac' conjures up.
Peter Doubt & The Big Finish
I always thought that would be a great name for a band. But I'm afraid they exist only in my imagination.
Arctic Monkeys...
... is a rubbish name, especially when you know that they were trying to emulate The Stone Roses (which is a fantastic name). I was put off sharing my passion for Mr Turner's band early on because the name was so terrible. Still, hasn't done them too much harm as far as I can see.
"The Monkeys"
I've actually heard them being referred to as "The Monkeys", surely this is not allowed?
Annoyingly...
Mike Pattenden's book on the Beautiful South (Last Orders at the Liars' Bar)has several references to "The Monkeys" i.e. Nesmith, Tork, Dolenz and Jones. Made me want to throw the book in the bin.
It's a Northern Monkeys gag, surely?
.
I am not fond of
The Hold Steady, The Ting Tings or The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes or The Decemberists or Coldplay
Elbow...
not a good name. Music is OK.
some
don't know their Elbow from their Aphex Twin
If a little dull....
!!
Elbow's music, I mean..
.....
never heard anything by them but....
Dumpy's Rusty Nuts. surely not?
Their appeal remained select
When I was at poly in the early 1980s, an indie (in the sense of what it used to mean) fanzine informed me of a Leicestershire band which gloried in the name The F***ing Pieces of Shit.
You could get their material by mail order, but eager fans were warned to put simply "The Pieces" on the top line of the address, as the band's full name on an envelope would see it seized as obscene mail.
What with Take That, the Spands, The Specials, et al, surely a Pieces revival is due.
Of course the "Peel bands" of the mid 80s
had some spectacularly silly names. I don't know if they were offputting as such - they just required that one have a well-developed sense of the absurd. Stump and Bogshed are the ones most often cited. I don't know I've ever heard Bogshed but Stump were an incredible band, full of influences (Beefheart, Balkan music, sea shanties) and wit that probably make them ripe for a revival. Then there were the Butthole Surfers (I recall Peel being very tickled one night when a researcher had typed their name on his playlist as Buttonhole Surfers).
The one that really stuck with me, though, was WCKR SPGT. They were the authors of the astounding 'Francois Mitterand Do You Leave The Heater On?', so the band name was less about putting people off and more a signposting of the silliness one could expect from them.
Fat Lad Exam Failure...
... was, I think, a Bogshed song. I have never heard it anywhere (God knows I've tried) but I think the title alone is evidence of their worth. Shouldn't it appear on a Word cd at some point?
A Cold Dead Body
is one example of the repulsive names I've seen in MySpace. The idea of that music and band LIVE on stage is definately not interesting.
Life Of Agony, anyone?
I was promoting an Andy Irvine/Andy Roberts gig (a classic amateur-promoter 'great show but alas not enough punters for the bottom line' night) in a rather soulless place in Belfast a couple of years back and noticed a poster for the above named on the wall.
It seemed so ludicrously teenage-angsty it was hard to imagine anyone in any band could have ever thought it a good name to go through life (however agonising it may be) with in any way.
I wonder how a journo kicks off an interview with such an act? 'Well lads, how are things with you at the moment...?'
I mean, what do thay say? 'Yeah, mate, not too bad - albums doing okay, kids are turning up at the gigs, couple of good festivals coming up in the summer...'
Or is it all: 'Aaaaaagh! It's terrible! Constant misery! Dreadful music! No luck at all! Flatulence in the tour van! Mediocre food at the hotel! Agony, agony - it's all agony!'
I f*ck a nun
- gigged with them bitd. classy act.
Has anyone mentioned
Selfish Cunt yet?
(Never knowingly heard, and I feel I'm unlikely ever to seek them out, such is my narrow mind...)
Do you think
Rod Liddle would like 'em? No mention of private education, after all.
No, Nigel, I think...
...Rod Liddle is probably IN them...
Between rock and an art place
The Handsome Family. Neutral Milk Hotel. Lambchop. The Eels.Vampire Weekend. Of Montreal.
Of Montreal...
...a BAD name? As a Montrealer, I object.
Well I suppose that makes Montrose
a good band to some residents of, um, Montrose.
Kansas? Nah, that's just silly.
But...
we're not talking here about the quality of the band, are we? Personally I find Of Montreal (the band) a bit shrill but Of Montreal (the band name) fine and dandy, and I don't think that's just because I live in Montreal. Though that may be part of it.
No...
but it's an interesting sub-thread.
Horse with no name, anyone?
Tho' uncertain if talking landmass or country.
Boards of Canada? Who they?
Any band whose name begins with 'A'...
... the word 'A', that is. It just looks wrong, pretentious and, particularly, stupid on a poster. I saw one recently for 'A Camp', apparently featuring an ex-Cardigan, with the two words spread over two lines and vast swathes of embarrassed space around the first 'word'. Similarly, there was a band in Dublin in the 80s called 'A House' whose frontman was called Dave Couse. Something about that House/Couse thing just always annoyed me. I've no idea what they sounded like but the name was just wrong, wrong, wrong...
A Flock of Seagulls
Buck's Fizz
Geneva
Scouting For Girls
White Lies
Coldplay
and of course the worst name ever is Ben's Brother
"and of course the worst name ever is Ben's Brother"
...Oh? What's he called?
!!!
I'm not trying to get your attention, that ("!!!") was the name of a band around a while ago.
Almost as silly as Prince's squiggle-thing "name", but then he already had the profile to (just about) get away with it.
Chk Chk Chk
Thing is though, !!! are really good. Honestly. Well, I love them. It's a fact though that that name is indeed thoroughly toxic and shite. A shame.
(Interesting that you make the Prince comparison: for extra 'wanker' points I like to refer to !!! as 'the band whose name is represented by three exclamation points' in conversation. Note, that's exclamation 'points' and not 'marks' because 1. they're American and 2. saying 'exclamation points' gets me double wanker points.)
There was a late-70's band who had a squiggle for a name
I remembered it as being prunounced as Fruupp but, having researched (i.e. 30 seconds on Wikipedia) it's not them.
Er....
Could it be
Freur (squiggle unavailable)? They had a minor, quite good hit called "Doot, Doot", tried to make "Freur" the official name and vanished, only to re-emerge years later as the fantastic Underworld.
Not sure what became of Fruupp, but what if Fripp had joined them? (Sorry).
Are you thinking of
Freur, perhaps?
Mid-eighties, apparently, and the name was "spelled" thus:
Synchronicity!
How rare.
Yes yes yes!!
That's them... thanks :-)
Imagine what their tribute bands could be called...
...if, obviously, !!! were famous and popular (which will NEVER happen with a 'name' like that):
it could be ??? or !?! or "!!!" or The Australian !!!
and imagine if a member left (like the CSNY / CSN scenario) - they'd be merely !! and then could the now solo guy go out as ! ...?
Or what if a situation happened like the recently well-documented (on this site) acrimonious split within the Bachelors, whereby you have 'Con & Dec The Bachelors' on the one side and 'The Bachelor[s]' on the other. Could we see one duo of this lot renaming themselves: !! The !!! ...?
and the other guy following in the long tradition of 'Mike Pender's Searchers' and 'Les Holroyd's Barclay James Harvest' by calling his now barely-authentic rump !'s !!! ...?
I've left extra speces in all of the above to try and make it easy to distinguish 'proper name' punctuation from mere, er, punctuation. Those idiots haven't made it easy for themselves (or anyone else), have they?
Crazy Penis anyone?
Imagine my surprise when Crazy Penis turned out to be a St Germain style nu-jazz band, playing instrumental numbers which your gran wouldn't object to.
Wilco also springs to mind, as a crap name for a brilliant band.
I always imagine
people in bands with crude names like that struggling to explain it explain it to their grans at family reunions.
'So what are you up to now darling?'
'I've started a band!'
'And what's its name?'
'Erm... Crazy Penis'
Half Man Half Biscuit
It just seems a bit 'wacky' to me. I've never given them (/him?) a go. I probably should put my scepticism aside.
Bum Gravy
Probably never sold much merchandise.
Q. What's that on your t-Shirt?
A. It's bum gravy.
The Dave Matthews Band
I know people who love them and yet I just can't be bothered investigating because of that achingly dull name. It's just lazy.
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Rubbish name tips off listener that their music is also rubbish.
The Wannadies - well you said it, luckily I don't have to listen to it
Joan As Policewoman - actually rather good, but stupidly unmemorable name
The Revolting Cocks - definitely don't want to listen
Afghan Wigs - sorry, find it hard to believe they could be any good with that name
Oh, i could go on, but I am feeling better for a little venting...
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Strange, I've always thought that it was a very clever name. I have no idea what they might sound like though, my guess is a bit of Americana with a sprinkling of R&B... off to Spotify to find out....
River City People is the
River City People is the dullest name ever for a band after Love.
Afghan Whigs
tragically overlooked band - entirely down to that God awful name. Greg Dulli's current band are called The Twilight Singers, which isn't much better, alas, because they're pretty good too. Some people actually need branding consultants.
The The...
...just annoying!
Wet Wet Wet - as above.
To add to the Great Band Shit Name / Shit Band Great Name theme:
GBSN: The Blue Nile
SBGN: Champagne Vauxhall Nova (probably defunct Oasis tribute)
I`ve got a single..
by Clive Pig and the Hopeful Chinamen, great single, terrible name, never a hit.
any relation to
Blodwyn Pig?
Those Proggy types of yesteryear were a rum bunch weren't they?
Fat Matress, Heavy Jelly, Mighty Baby, Van der Graaf bleedin' Generator? Do me a favour...
Also American college bands - Hoobastank, Hootie and the Blowfish...dreadful. In so many ways...
American jam bands...
Umphreys McGee - great band, shitty name
Those prog monikers are
Those prog monikers are great band names. You forgot Ugly Custard.
Those Proggy types of yesteryear were a rum bunch weren't they?
Maybe so, but for every Bacardi there's a Captain Morgan (or Wray and Nephew, for that matter). Some damn fine music back in the day of The Ridiculous Loafmasters of Elsinore.
(American college bands? Unspeakable bollox)
Punk bands
Prog rock is an easy target, what about all those awful punk band names? OK...this'll get you going...I always hated the name 'Sex Pistols'; it's another name that is so tied up with the image that we forget it's absolute rubbish.
While I'm on...why is The Jam a great name and Marmalade not??
A Few Of Mine
Kiss the Anus Of A Black Cat
Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts (old laughing chops Russell Crowe's band)
Porno for Pyros
Dumpy's Rusty Nuts