Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

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Count Machuki
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Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Count Machuki » 31 Oct 2017, 15:33

The Smiths are what spurred this idea. I couldn't decide if it was a great name or a terrible one. In the end, that "ths" sound put me off and I decided it wasn't a great name.

Same with The Beatles - it's pretty well acknowledged that one of the greatest bands has one of the worst names, right? A bad pun that made sense for a few years in the early 60s. Was it Lennon who said he thought the name was dumb, too?

Then you've got your proper band names, like, I don't know, Hawkwind or The Who or The Crown Heights Affair or Iron Maiden.

It's something we don't talk about much...bands sometimes pick really terrible names.

Anyway, what's a great band name? And a crap one?
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Moleskin » 31 Oct 2017, 15:46

To some extent with successful bands, the name - however poor - just seems right in the end. Although Limp Bizkit are an exception to that, a crap name that doesn't seem to be any better nearly 20 years after they first appeared.

I don't mind The Smiths. It's a deliberately plain name for a band that wasn't. A bit like The The, it's conceptual. Whether that still works 30 years down the line is another matter.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Moleskin » 31 Oct 2017, 15:47

If you google 'worst band names' you get lists of try-hard 'offensive' metal bands, mostly.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Moleskin » 31 Oct 2017, 15:48

Helloween. That's rubbish.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Moleskin » 31 Oct 2017, 15:50

I like Small Faces, though the reason for the name makes you think less of it.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Count Machuki » 31 Oct 2017, 15:55

Moleskin wrote:If you google 'worst band names' you get lists of try-hard 'offensive' metal bands, mostly.


Right, they sound like names that idiots thought up to amuse their friends for a few shows. I feel like Limp Bizkit's name just wasn't ready for the kind of success they achieved.

I like Small Faces, too, thought I'll admit I had to think twice about it.

You think preposterous hippy band names or preposterous metal band names are worse? I mean, pick one of those Picadilly Sunshine comps...some true howlers in the late 60s.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby naughty boy » 31 Oct 2017, 15:57

You get used to them, they lose their character quite quickly.

The 'the' thing is funny. Two people I know got irritated with me when I referred to their favourite band as The Pixies. Apparently there's no definite article.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Moleskin » 31 Oct 2017, 16:00

Count Machuki wrote:
Moleskin wrote:If you google 'worst band names' you get lists of try-hard 'offensive' metal bands, mostly.


Right, they sound like names that idiots thought up to amuse their friends for a few shows. I feel like Limp Bizkit's name just wasn't ready for the kind of success they achieved.

I like Small Faces, too, thought I'll admit I had to think twice about it.

You think preposterous hippy band names or preposterous metal band names are worse? I mean, pick one of those Picadilly Sunshine comps...some true howlers in the late 60s.


I think preposterous metal band names are worse. It's that 'trying too hard' thing.

Hippy nonsense is fine. I wanted to call my band The Daisy Chain.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Moleskin » 31 Oct 2017, 16:02

Carla Breakthrough-Lark wrote:You get used to them, they lose their character quite quickly.

The 'the' thing is funny. Two people I know got irritated with me when I referred to their favourite band as The Pixies. Apparently there's no definite article.


Clearly it is important to the relative bands. (Although there is a compilation called Death to the Pixies you can use in your next argument with your mates - surely it ought to be called "Death to Pixies"?)
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby naughty boy » 31 Oct 2017, 16:08

That's right, yeah! It's on the T-shirts too.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Count Machuki » 31 Oct 2017, 16:08

Moleskin wrote:
Count Machuki wrote:
Moleskin wrote:If you google 'worst band names' you get lists of try-hard 'offensive' metal bands, mostly.


Right, they sound like names that idiots thought up to amuse their friends for a few shows. I feel like Limp Bizkit's name just wasn't ready for the kind of success they achieved.

I like Small Faces, too, thought I'll admit I had to think twice about it.

You think preposterous hippy band names or preposterous metal band names are worse? I mean, pick one of those Picadilly Sunshine comps...some true howlers in the late 60s.


I think preposterous metal band names are worse. It's that 'trying too hard' thing.

Hippy nonsense is fine. I wanted to call my band The Daisy Chain.


Daisy Chain isn't bad. But, look, just limiting myself to that comp I mentioned:

Roger Bloom's Hammer
Zuider Zee
Pythagoras Theorem
Granny's Intentions
Persimmon's Peculair Shades
Crocheted Doughnut Ring


Can you imagine a Granny's Intentions t-shirt? Terrible...what were they thinking.


About the "THE" thing...I like it. I especially like "THEE" bands (usually garage rock).
Yet The The is not a good name. Conceptual, sure, but perpetually awkward and confusing. Yet The Who is a great name, so who knows?
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby naughty boy » 31 Oct 2017, 16:09

The Spanish thing of calling U2 'ooh dos' and the Rolling Stones 'Los Rolling' is funny.

And the way they pronounce 'The Ramones' :)
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Moleskin » 31 Oct 2017, 16:10

:lol: Those are some poor names.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby NMB » 31 Oct 2017, 16:13

Moleskin wrote:I like Small Faces, though the reason for the name makes you think less of it.


They were faces, ie mods, and they were small. Does what it says on the tin really.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Geezee » 31 Oct 2017, 16:14

It’s easy to forget what a terrible name U2 is.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Count Machuki » 31 Oct 2017, 16:15

Carla Breakthrough-Lark wrote:The Spanish thing of calling U2 'ooh dos' and the Rolling Stones 'Los Rolling' is funny.

And the way they pronounce 'The Ramones' :)


:)
Rah-dyo-head is contagious - I have trouble saying it the proper way now.

There's a good name - Radiohead. Nothing too dumb about that.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Geezee » 31 Oct 2017, 16:21

Carla Breakthrough-Lark wrote:The Spanish thing of calling U2 'ooh dos' and the Rolling Stones 'Los Rolling' is funny.

And the way they pronounce 'The Ramones' :)


Separate thing but this reminds me of how Tom Jones has a very affectionate nickname of "Tjuren ifrån Wales" ("the Bull from Wales") in Sweden which almost always accompanies his name there. While a bull may connote masculinity and strength in English, the nickname is definitely not very flattering.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Sneelock » 31 Oct 2017, 16:29

Helloween.
not dumb but ONLY for today.
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Rayge » 31 Oct 2017, 16:36

Dumb
The Four Skins
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Polyphonic Spree
Kula Shaker
Led Zeppelin
Splodgenessabounds
Ned's Atomic Dustbin (good name for a goon show episode, mind)
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Re: Band Names and Whether or Not They Are Dumb

Postby Count Machuki » 31 Oct 2017, 16:38

What about those million and a half local doo-wop bands named after birds?

The Smews
The Orioles
The Crab Plovers

give me a break...
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Then it follows that ∀ k ∈ K: K ∈ U ⇒ k ∉ D


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