Thursday, June 12, 2008

I dig your music...Your band name sucks

Occasionally, when I'm trying to sleep, I lay awake making random lists in my head. Who are the top five guitarists from the 70's? Who are the five best defensive outfielders in the National League? What are my top ten breakfast cereals of all time?

Last night, I could not sleep due to the fact that I was thinking of band names. I started thinking of great band names and band names that suck all sorts of ass. So, I started listing. As therapy, I decided to list a few of these bands in cyberspace. My only criteria for a band to be on the list is I have to own at least one of their albums, so there will be no novelty bands on here. Reasons for loving a band name include witty puns, names that just role of the tongue, something deep or emotional is communicated in the name. Reasons for hating band names include exactly the opposite of what's listed above.

Here are some band names I love in alphabetical order

The Arcade Fire
Black Sabbath
The Clash
The Cure
Fleetwood Mac
Guns 'n Roses
Led Zeppelin
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Pink Floyd
Queen
Rage Against the Machine
The Rolling Stones
The Roots
Sigur Ros
Soundgarden
U2
The White Stripes
The Who
Wilco

Now, here are some names I strongly dislike...remember, these are all bands that I like/love, but I had to get over their name first. I mean, really, their are some awful choices here. Who makes the executive decision on these names?

Arctic Monkeys
Better than Ezra
Counting Crows
Death Cab for Cutie
Foo Fighters
Jimmy Eat World
My Morning Jacket
Pedro the Lion
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Smashing Pumpkins

I know, I know...these names probably mean something to the members of these bands...a clever inside joke perhaps. The simply don't translate well into band names. Fortunately for these bands, they make good music. A few of them make great music.

I'm interested in all of your thoughts. Do you disagree with any of my opinions? Doy you have your own band name love/hates?

3 comments:

Garret said...

i thought that this migh interest you ...
Considering one of your "dislike" titles...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Cab_for_Cutie_%28song%29

BJ said...

Extremely interesting, I still think it sounds dumb as a band name, but I appreciate their attentiveness to musical history. Sometimes an idea is intelligent and awesome, but it doesn't work out in reality, like Crystal Pepsi or Communism.

Lewis Cash said...

No trying to be disagreeable, but I think that Pedro the Lion is an awesome band name. I agree with the rest.