I just can't get beyond that name for some reason - I could go there if they were called Groin, Armpit or Funny Groove-Type Thing Between Your Top Lip And Your Nose, but "Elbow" is a silly body part too far. It's irrational, yes, but no less real for being so.

From the Psapp website: "Encoutering Psapp chanteuse Galia Durant and her musical confrere,multi-instrumentalist and mixing desk wiz Carim Clasmann at their clandestine Kings Cross HQ-cum-studio-playpen is less like meeting a band and more like stumbling into a funny, hazy, miraculous parallel universe."

Google language tool: translate text from "Music Biz PR Bullshit" to "English"

"You have to go to a poky flat in a dodgy part of London to find Galia Durant and her mate Carim Clasmann who make hippy drippy records in their bedroom all by themselves because no one else wants to work with them."

Although I must admit I haven't actually heard them. But they claim to be "the only band endorsed by felines", and that makes them alright by me.

? and the Mysterons (or was it Mysterions?)
!!!
Ken Dodd's DAd's Dog's Dead

I can't bring myself to listen to any band with a five letter name starting with an 'O' and ending with an 'S'.

There's a band called Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and although I've no idea what they sound like, I'm very much inclined to find out.

pronounced Sapp. The seem to have an unhealthy liking for Cats but they do have a good tune called Hi.

Info Bulletin Over.

But The Trashcan Sinatras struck me as a name to avoid. That's what happens when you judge a book by it's cover.

I was once offered preview tickets for a movie called Fled. The only reason I didn't take them up on the offer was because of its title. To me it sounded like a nasal illness rather than a potential cinematic classic.

Never liked the New Fast Automatic Daffodils and the equally rubbish acronym either.

No thanks Sir!

So bad that they scrapped their album a week before release.

Is it 'Ort-ecker'? 'O-tech-r'? 'Or-te-cree'?

If I don't know how to pronounce their name, I'm not going to listen to their music.

Oh, and You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Another very off-putting name.

... I would offer Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, Carcass and Creaming Jesus. Never gone near them.

The The has always struck me as silly name, which never comes off the tongue in one piece. And there's something about the double "a" in The Kursaal Flyers that irritates me.

I saw some programme with Paul Carrack on TV last night, never heard of the bloke but I thought he had a really good voice (crap music though).

I was checking a bit more about him and discovered he released an album of covers - Hendrix, Who, Led Zep amongst others.

Seemed interesting until I noticed it was released under the band name Spin 1ne 2wo.

Interest ended very abruptly!

Although I have unfortunately heard their music on the radio, I would have avoided Elbow if I could, not just their name but their faces put me off too.

... or was it Spizz Oil? Or Spizz Energi? Or Athletico Spizz 80? Or The Spizzles? Or, who cares? If you can't settle on a decent name then I can't be bothered to listen.

What's that all about then?

Also, the (whisper it quietly, pretty good) Sub-Pop CD that came with a recent M*jo has a track on it by Pissed Jeans. I really can't imagine myself ever liking it...

John Cougar Concentration Camp, and I doubt I ever will.

Is it the worst name for a band ever, or the best? Hmmm....

I quite like them. They did a song called "Cosy In The Rocket" which is/was used as the opening credits music on Grey's Anatomy.

I look forward to Elbow being nominated once again for a prize in the same shortlist as the-soon-to-be-discovered Arse.

... always struck me as a band who'd be 'emo'. How wrong could you be?

The Dandy Warhols, which raises a smile at first hearing but grates every time subsequently. And their brothers in arms - The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

'The Strange Death of Liberal England' sound like a band whose music I'll never hear for fear of pomposity.

aren't they? Then you get used to them when they get successful. Like Dire Straits and The Beatles.

We could work this thread the other way round: like, how disappointed I was when I actually heard Pop Will Eat Itself.

D

Why? And why is their singer called Skin?

Puts me off I tell you.

Prefab Sprout - it just doesn't work for me. Yes, I know they're two words that aren't meant to go together, which may be the whole point, but it sets my teeth on edge. Never liked the music much, either.

Scritti Politti - "scritti" sounds too harsh. Green Gartside's voice used to drive me up the wall, too. And as for Wood Bees, don't get me started...

Stephen 'Tintin' Duffy - two two-syllable names do not lend themselves to a two-syllable nickname. And surely the point of a nickname is that everybody comes to know you by it. But as far as I can remember, he was always Stephen 'Tintin' Duffy, never just plain old Tintin Duffy. AND he dropped out of Duran Duran just before all the hits and supermodels. Back to the drawing board...

For years I missed out on Loudon Wainwright the Third simply because I thought he had a stupid name. I hope I'm over silly things like that now?

The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir from last months freebie would be something I'd probably skip over in a record shop simply because it's such a mouthfull. Great track on the cd though....I bought their "Ten Thousand" cd yesterday.

is a name that is a deterrent. Elbow also got off to a bad start chez moi and I can't adjust my initial feelings for them. (Also, if you're going to put 'bloke with beard' on the cover - why chose a picture when he's looking like his dog's just died? Surely a smiling snap would garner more sales?)
Erm...back to names, The Raspberries is a terrible name but I love the band.

...because of the name. Dogs Die In Hot Cars, good mention johnsey, awful name. Can I also chuck in;
- The Ting Tings
- Does It Offend You, Yeah?
- Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
- Selfish C%nt
- Honestly Mr Ganglesprocket, you won't think we're very good at all.

Surely a band name should make you kind of curious at least? Listening to any of this would take me about 10 minutes on myspace but I've never done it. Why? Cos I don't care, the names are too awful. Admittedly I may have made up one of them.

I'm sure you will all agree though, that a grown adult who calls himself ganglesprocket is well qualified to pass judgement on crappy band names.

They really put some thought into making that name as off-putting as possible, didn't they? Toad: an warty amphibious creature. Wet: damp, fetid, quite possibly cold. Sprocket: some kind of mechanical component; fiddly, technical and almost certainly greasy.

If they were called Turd The Putrefying Stinkhorn that would almost be an improvement.

Way before Prince's symbol phase, there was a band that simply had a squiggly line as their name. They released a song called "Doot Doot". That was enough for me to give them a wide berth.

I usually cross the road to avoid any band with a name that substitutes a z for an s.

In my record label days I actually signed a local band called Electric Blue Peggy Sue And The Revolutionions From Mars. After some pretty succesful releases they were picked up by a major label for two more albums. Their original drummer used to play in a band called Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio, for obvious reasons more than often regarded as KTMK.