Take a look at the Moby Grape clip of last Friday, in which the host first pluralises their name and then prefaces it with 'the'.
It grated when someone introduced 'The' Cream back in the day.
I suppose it makes natural sense to add the DA in most cases, when the name indicates more than one, but I can't believe that list you've just mentioned above. I've never ever heard 'Buzzcocks' used alone. And as for 'Eagles'...
The Oasis doesn't work, but The Who does. The Them doesn't. Nor The Led Zeppelin.
Is there an expert in the house?

..... you may know us as "boys from the Ray" if that helps www.myspace.com/marinadelray

Note for self:

Where does this all leave The The ?

J

If I'm not mistaken, a certain Surrey-based blues combo have gone from "Rolling Stones" to "The Rolling Stones" to "Rolling Stones" again in the 80s, I think, to "The Rolling Stones" that we all know and tolerate today. They may even have gone under the ever so slightly Muddy Waters purist tag "Rollin' Stones" at one time too. Can someone confirm this? I'm meant to be working and can't be bothered to look it up...

I can see no definite article on the covers of Let It Bleed, Exile On Main Street, Tattoo You, Dirty Work, Flashpoint or Forty Licks. The early ones have the definite article, and there's a bit of confusion around the late sixties/early seventies, culminating in the Rutle-esque moment when they forgot to put their name on the album AT ALL. D'oh!

...were they? Always added 'The' when they wanted to sound a bit pompous.

I believe, have gone under both. What about Eels? Jools Holland quite often adds the definite article when he's introducing some bands. Right, I should probably stop now.

We're through the looking glass now, people. When the great Tony Blackburn hosted a national radio show in the 70s he used to entertain my pals and I by adding a definite article when none was required - so tracks were played by The Deep Purple, The Black Sabbath, even The Earth, Wind and Fire. Then, as '76 turned into '77 and the first shots were fired in the great punk rock wars, good old Tony turned the tide by announcing "...a new entry, straight in at number one, it's Jam with Going Underground..." Soon to come were records by Clash, Damned and, I do believe, Sex Pistols. Those were the days, eh?

... and yet "Word" sounds better to these ears than "The Word" - somehow more authoritative and less like rubbish-early-90s-yoof-tv.

"The Arcade Fires Combo" ?

Next you'll be telling us there's no I in Team...

A House.

Many years ago, stumped for a groovy name for our combo, we ended up with the conceptually brilliant (ahem) name of 'The'. Minimalist semiotic student prankster wit or what? Don't answer.

Then, of course, comes along group with national profile and calls themselves by the idiotic, very unwitty and blatantly ripped-off terminally dull title of 'The The'. Very poor, say we, and totally lacking in any sharp postmodern wit. Not unlike the music, you might say.

Now, however, after all these years, I realise we missed a trick, and maybe who knows, the bright lights and gold paved sidewalks. What we should have done is immediately write to all the rock mags and radio stations, insisting, for artistic and trademark reasons that we must be referred to without the definite article, and were thus 'The', while the upstart cloth eared doom merchants must always have the definite article preceding their unimaginative tedious moniker (or would this make them The 'The The'? ).

PS had they any imagination 'there there' would have been a much better name anyway. Then we might have supported them on a splendidly named double bill, and future ticket collector's ebay goldmine.

Every now and then, when browsing through the list of artists (sic) on my iPod, I notice inconsistencies in the use of '&' or 'and' in the names of bands. (And then I can't remember which ones they were when I am on iTunes so that I can make a correction.)

We obviously need an international convention on nomenclature.

(Don't get me started on the use of capitalisation.)

Never. Always just "Buzzcocks". Check the records.

Definite article required in a few cases though - always "The" Pink Floyd and "The" Status Quo (pace Teenage Fanclub) whatever the records say.

without the use of any of this he would have been in "M" ..... then he would have had to sing "Pop Music" all his career

The Pink Floyd and The Status Quo. Both names were better before the cut. However, the Verve is a stupid name for a band, even allowing for the ridiculous legal threats that lead to the name change. Verve's not much better either.

and this may be slightly off-topic, but are band names singular or plural? For instance, is it correct to say "Led Zeppelin is re-forming" or "Led Zeppelin are re-forming"? You certainly couldn't say "The Beatles is reforming" - er, not that that's possible... Furthermore, this implies that each member of The Beatles is a singular Beatle, so what does that make a member of Led Zep?

Is there an ISO standard to govern this? Should I get out more?

Canadian wall-of-soundsters, Arcade Fire, may be eschewing the definite article nowadays. However, I used to work for a label that owned a label which put out their first album. When, wrestling with a number of "artisitc issues", they decamped to a major label conveniently baiting its hook with a large cheque they were known by a number of names:THE W****ers, THE F***ers etc.