Even knowing nothing about a band, it can be possible to make good decisions about their music merely from their name.
Obviously, some bands scream the genre in which they reside such as The Exploited (punk), Soul II Soul (soul), Metallica (metal).
However, the name of a band can be a strong determinig factor of whether or not they are crap. To avoid crapness,
beware of the following types of band name:
i) A demonstrative assertion of importance bereft of irony:
Hypothetical examples: The Attitude, The Important, The Scene, etc.
Invariably, such bands will be a limp, lifeless, soulless, emotionless, tuneless, derivative mob of music business whores who think no-one else has heard the Beatles.
ii) Stupid, "random" collection of words or nonsensical phrases:
Hypothetical examples: Some Mothers do 'Ave 'Em, Are You Being Served, Does It Offend You, Yes, etc.
Invariably, such bands will be peopled by silly posh boys whose abject lack of personality and usefulness will not be masked by cack-handed attempts at quirkiness and whose music will sound like a self-expression class for ten year olds at a private school.
for once mista T, i agree.
see: The Cool
THis is all very well and good
But what makes a good band name???
My songwriting partner and I are totally stuck on this one (especially seeing as we rarely agree on anything). She sings beautifully and picks at her guitar while I stomp the life out of my acoustic guitar (I use it more as a percussion instument in the vein of early Mountain Goats)and sing (when I'm allowed) tunelessly but with feeling. We are, of necessity, lo-fi. Our lyrics are literate and storytellyish.
Any ideas? Any at all?
And don't suggest that random band name generator. That's been no help.
"we kill people"
^5
How about
"Efrafa". I'm a big Watership Down fan and I've always thought it would be cool to use Efrafa as a band name.
What do you reckon?
I also like
"Owsla" from Watership Down. I think that would work well as a band name. If I didn't already have one I would use one of these.
Although the words are odd I reckon you could get away with it on the basis that almost everyone has seen Watership Down (haven't they?) and therefore they would know the words even subconsciously.
Hmm
http://www.myspace.com/theowslauk
There's already a great
crust band called "fall of Efrafa"
howabout
storyteller time
Jackanackanory?
i
second this
I like 'story time' but...
we are both English teachers and it does smack of taking your work home with you.
The Happy Story Corner?
.
The attributes?
Voiceless singing?
I do have some ideas
Remember that a band name will be with you for ever. Thus, something that seems mildly amusing when sixteen may be less os when older. Also, the style of music you play may evolve. Therefore, a name that gives nothing away is a good idea.
Another point to consider is access for the public online. The public will search for your band name; thus, a single word is preferable. The word must be simultaneaously a word that cannot be spelt more than one way and also not too common a word.
Mutadis Mutandis, a single word that appears to offer something interesting but gives no clues to the content and that is easy to spell corectly but not a common word.
A good example is Radiohead.
radiohead
is a bit of a sterile and boring name really, isnt it?
Precisely
that's the point. Bands who try to choose names that are not "sterile and borin" have a false sense of their own importance. In an attempt to mask their musical and creative inadequacies they have names that are "exciting".
Someone
very recently tried to tell me that KASABIAN was a brilliant name because it made you think of music without you having to think about it. I think its a pish name but that's maybe more to do with the fact that I don't like them as a band.
Black Beauties
You could put posters around your school: tell the faculty you're inspired by the story and tell the kids you like pharmaceutical speed from the 70s. Your popularity is assured!
THe kids wouldn't get the drug reference
the faculty would tell us to man up.
And the potential for being accused of racism from the school management would be too high.
Other than that, cool.
OK, then I'd pick an antique inanimate object
like, Letter Box or something.
I really like Black Beauties
I think it works well.
How about
Conjecture?
Dr Funkenstein's Monster
Definitely.
I'm sometimes guilty of judging a book and a band by its cover/name
But ordinarily I give everyone fifteen seconds of myspace time before rendering a verdict. I like to be fair.
i like to follow the fifteen second rule
to do an extra long "nnnnnnnnnnno!" with.
Only rarely would I agree.
Because there are many bands that I love with terrible names.
I love bands with bad names
I seek them out.
I once got an album by 'Birchville Cat Motel' based purely on a vague recommendation and the name.
but thats an amazing name!
i won't listen to bands because
i don't like the name sometimes. and sometimes they're what i would like, and i know this, but still refuse because the name puts me off.
oh and a good friend of mine's
band is called "english steel" they're not from sheffield and they're influenced by the libertines. WHY?!
You would've thought
They'd at the very least have been influenced by the almighty Judas Priest!
^
this is exactly what i said! i was upset to find otherwise
There was a game you could play
...with a friend and a list of bands who'd recently recorded a session for John Peel.
To play: Read out three bands from the list and then make your own up by putting a noun and an adjective together (ie: truculent donkey, plumbed carrots, etc) Then the other person has to guess which one is fake. Tougher than it seems. And yes, pretty sad too.
Joe - www.anewbandaday.com
Why do people always say posh
as if it's a bad thing?
Because since Tom Clarke decreed that nobody was
allowed to sing about castles, inverted snobbery has become the new rock n roll!
i thought
Monkey Swallows The Universe were a Japanese death metal band for a while. I don't know how that fits into your system.
I always thought that was a terrible band name.
I definately use this
to help me in record shops, since I very regularly buy things I've never heard before based on rough trade's description and the band's name.
I think I am more fussy about song titles though...
Good Signs: Animals, Places (esp. Jungles and Space), Foreign Language, Little Known/Obscure Words, Very Long Song Titles etc
Bad Signs: Tearjerking references to mental illness and personal tragedy, anything obviously trying to be profound
Let's make up a load of indie "The" band names
The Writers
The Gamblers
The Denims
The Records
The Bored
The Late Nights
The Directors
The Umbrellas
The City
I'd dislike a band with name like that instantly
And I'm not sure which is worse - that I don't give bands a chance, or that I'm normally right.
.
Its impossible to separate bands from their name eg. the fact that DIOYY? have a shit name and are a shit band is coincidental. These New Puritans weird name, good band (imo). If radiohead were called DIOYY would you feel the same way. The point im trying (failing) to make is there is no formula to band names. The name and the music are separate and random.
But there *is* a formula sometimes.
There are a lot of indie bands with names like I mentioned. There are a lot of metal bands called "Bloody Skeleton", and there are a lot of REALLY metal bands called "Foetus Hymen Apocalypse". There are emoish bands called A Diary To Remember in Autumn.
Guessing a band's style from their name can never be a certainty, but it's definitely possible.
yeh
i see what you mean especially in the metal genre like "prostituted disfigurement" but i would say it has little bearing on the merit of the bands music.
I would so go to
a "Foetus Hymen Apocalypse" show. In fact, MrScagdenSir, I think this is a contender for your outfit?
She has rejected 'Tower of Flints'
(we both love Gormenghast) as being 'too much like a bloody metal band'. I think I might have problems with 'Foetus Hymen Apocalypse'. Still, when I inevitably start a solo project...
Oh dear
Bloody compromise, eh? Just try and find something neither fo you hates I suppose. Although Foetus Hymen Apocalypse could be your debut record? :D
No
People who choose terrible/unimaginative names for themselves are more likely also to create terrible/unimaginative music. The same people are responsible for coming up with both, so it is not random.
well
whos to say a name is awesome/imaginative?
I would put forward the hypotheses that band which are named after other bands/songs are often good (provided you admire the inspiration). Ie Radiohead - Talking Heads , These New Puritans - The Fall ,
personal taste?
I think if a name appeals to you then you are more likely to also enjoy the music. What you've said is the ultimate example because if you know the song the band is named after you immediately have a clue as to the bands influences.
I really should have prefaced everything in my last post with 'according to each individual listener'.
I think
the umbrellas actually were a band in the mid-90s. Not very big, couple of support slots etc.
How depressing.
Doesn't always work
I was majorly put of by Shut Your Eyes and You'll Burst Into Flames as one of those pop-punk shitebands, saw them at Leeds festival last year and it turns out the make rather good music.
But this is usually true.
i play in a band...
called Man-Flu
What style would you say we were?
Hip Hop/
Ska
Nope.
We used to be called Diskoboy though. If that doesn't scream DISCO-PUNK then i don't know what does.
We've completely changed direction from that now.
But the reason we like Man-Flu is that to us it doesn't give anything away too easily, unlike our previous moniker
i would say you think you are funny
and that you are not
and thus avoid you like the plague
truth
fail on the DIOYY? front
it's a quote from the Office.
Can't
remember that
pocket promise
that's right, we are called pocket promise. it was a name we decided on hours before our first gig almost 8 years ago..
A lot of friends hated it, saying it reminded them of polly pocket or something altogether less wholesome...
We even were close to changing it a few times. Now though, I think it suits us.. it took that long. i think that even though it doesnt really give away anything about the style of music, it actually sounds, right, maybe?
www.myspace.com/pocketpromise
Oh and MrScagdenSir,I think you should call your band 'lovely faces from scary places'
x
But eventually
the band name is transcended by the music, so whatever you call your band (within reason) will ultimately become something that suits your music.
Proviso: provided that its something that doesn't give too much away. An incongruous metal name with a folky aesthetic will never sit right.
thanks again.
Bearing in mind that she is from Stratford-upon-Avon and I'm from Rotterdam/North Carolina/Berkshire (and that we are both somewhat 'homely' to varying degrees) I think it might be a hard name to justify...
i always find it odd when a band has a name that just sounds nothing like the genre they are in..
Daft Punk rules ALL music. But if you didn't know who they were, you'd have no idea they were electro/house/dance....
Sometimes i am shallow and will not listen to an artist because of the name. There's so much music though, it's just one of many filter mechanisms....
i avoid bands that have a boys name
as a band name like "travis" "Keane" "William" etc, their music will be about as inspiring as their band name
There are quite few London bands,
and DiS favourites, which I haven't bothered looking up because of their names.
Except William are actually quite good
yep
My Latest Novel - awful name, music for people who only like black and white pictures of themselves and lust after humourless girls and fantasise about having been to public school
My Divine Comedy - the pretence of that name, rrrgh, sums up the pretentiousness of the band
Most recent bands with 'The' at the beginning of their names.
also
These New Puritans - named after a five minute literary manifesto that none of the writers involved in actually subscribed to
ex-Teachers
I really like it when...
...a metal band calls themselves something odd like 'The rad jazz box' or a twee indie act call themselves 'Doom Destroyers'. I think I like it for 2 reasons.
1. I dislike it when people say they won't listen to a band because of the name, so it pleases me to know that they might miss out on their favourite band ever because of their own prejudice.
2. It's just fun. I'd love to go to a gig with the impression that what I was going to see was some MOR *insert genre here* and end up seeing something completely different. This might not happen so much with headliners (as everyone checks out the band first on myspace these days), but it could happen with support acts.
I totally agree with you, however, there are exceptions.
One example that springs to mind is 'The Blood Brothers' I always thought that this was an awful name.
I tried to get...
...my friends to listen to Vampire Weekend around Christmas time and none of them would even try it - even after me stressing that they sounded nothing like their name!
I think Sonic Youth is an absolutely fantastic name and wish i'd come up with it!
I like the name 'Vampire Weekend'
but I have had the same problem as you, when mentioning their name to people who have never heard of them.
I tried to get...
...my friends to listen to Vampire Weekend around Christmas time and none of them would even try it - even after me stressing that they sounded nothing like their name!
I think Sonic Youth is an absolutely fantastic name and wish i'd come up with it!
Here is a good "The" name...
Considered using this one for a band when i was about 15 til we read it out loud..
The Gaze
Ironically now at 23 i've gone on to be in a band called Favours For Sailors...what can you tell from that band name? Do you think its any good? We like it...my nan didn't though. BITCH.
Sonic Youth
is an odd name for a band full of forty-somethings
hello sailor!(lifts back leg up)
favours for sailors has some connotations to say the LEAST!
a lot of bands have gone for latin phrases, as teachers, it would show some sophistication, so many latin phrases to choose from when all these "The" names are chosen and become very abstract
Good band names
Pink Floyd - although the band chose their name as the juxtaposition of two bluesman's names, the name transcended its origin. It is a good name beacuse it gives no clues to the music, is easy to remember and has not aged with the band.
The Jam - despite being a the band, The Jam is a good name because, again, it doesn't necessarily evoke any particular style of music. A more mod-sounding name may have seperated the band from the punk fans.
U2 - yes, a good name: Easy to remember, not an indicator of the style (or lack of style) and ageless.
Bad band names
Upcdowncleftcrightcabcandstart - a fine band but an awful name. Obviously, the name is difficult to remember accurately thus rendering many web searches fruitless. Equally, radio DJs will be put off from playing the band's music because they couldn't be bothered trying to say the name. Addiitonally, people with an aversion to computer games may be put off from listeing to the band.
The Clash - too demonstrably evocative of an attitude and of a style of music.
i asked
for suggestions for a band name a while back and someone came up with mountain of sock, which i liked.
hmmm
we have what appears to bea terrible name but it's more of a litmus test (i.e. if you know where it came from then you're possibly the type of people we want to hear us), though am sure we've been booke