# Band Names: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043 "2006-05-02T02:29:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/81 "2006-05-04T02:11:58Z")
I like Fine Young Cannibals. My husband’s band names have included Raconteur, Carnaby Street, and Skillethead. I kept trying to get him to use Guatemalan Insanity Peppers, but he hasn’t been persuaded yet. ---
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/82 "2006-05-04T11:39:46Z")
[QUOTE=whitetho] I don’t remember who did it, but years ago I heard a Abbott and Costello-type routine based on the bands _The Who_, _Guess Who_ and _Yes_. [/QUOTE] [Animaniacs](http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Humor/Docs/WhosOnStage.html), maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/83 "2006-05-04T23:35:39Z")
[QUOTE=N. Sane] I like Fine Young Cannibals. My husband’s band names have included Raconteur, Carnaby Street, and Skillethead. I kept trying to get him to use Guatemalan Insanity Peppers, but he hasn’t been persuaded yet. [/QUOTE] You are right; your husband is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/84 "2006-05-05T05:29:59Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] Popped in again to mention one that I’m torn about: **Toad the Wet Sprocket**. I can’t decide if I hate it, or if it’s pure genius. Probably the latter. [/QUOTE] It’s a Monty Python reference. That makes it great in my book. 😃 [QUOTE=wolf in second hand clothing] Hey, you stole my entire post. [/QUOTE] Heh. Sorry. 😉 [QUOTE=wolf in second hand clothing] Another band name that I dislike is **Neutral Milk Hotel.** [/QUOTE] I strongly second that. Maybe I just don’t get it, but it just makes me groan a little whenever I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/85 "2006-05-05T06:18:49Z")
[QUOTE=Othersider] It’s a Monty Python reference. That makes it great in my book. 😃 [/QUOTE] I’m willing to bet you like **Ned’s Atomic Dustbin** then. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/86 "2006-05-05T06:23:57Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] I don’t really care for names with umlauts in them. [/QUOTE] Except for the band that originated that meme, surely? The amagrammatic origin of their name turns out to be a UL, much to my disappointment. To the OP, I never saw them play but posters for local ephemeral punk band **The Snivelling Shits** always got a smile out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/87 "2006-05-05T06:54:37Z")
Good: **Grandaddy** **Kings of Convenience** **The Peppersons** **Weaselsmith** **Anhydrous Ammonia** **The Slavedrivers** **Greco-Roman** Bad: **Arctic Monkeys** (I’m a little sick of people cashing in on the word “monkey” for its inherent “random humor” value.) **Infected Mushroom** - their music is kind of cool but I hate the name ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/88 "2006-05-05T10:05:18Z")
[QUOTE=WOOKINPANUB] I was gonna mention them, but not for having a good name. Don’t get me wrong, they’re one of my all time favorites. That’s the problem; I feel like a dweeb saying" I love “Oingo Boingo” Fellow fans get what an appropriate name it is, but everyone else assumes they’re some kind of lame novelty act or something. [/QUOTE] Yeah, [Happy Rhodes](http://www.myspace.com/happyrhodes) has that problem too. She’s a serious artist who belongs on the shelf next to Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, and it’s her real name, but people mistake her for a novelty act and won’t even listen to her. She probably would have been famous 15 years ago if she’d gone by her middle name, Tyler Rhodes, but she has a stubborn, independent streak and told labels who said they’d sign her if she’d change her name to stuff it. Some of my favorite band names: Bel Canto 17 Pygmies Babble Curve Dark Orange Fourwaycross Madder Rose Rose Chronicles Over the Rhine The Raincoats Single Gun Theory Stereolab This Mortal Coil Vaya Con Dios Charlie Chan The Innocence Mission Mediaeval Baebes Sahara Hotnights Big Hat My Scarlet Life Switchblade Symphony Two Loons for Tea Azure Ray Amazulu Grace Darling The Heart Throbs Penguin Cafe Orchestra Pooka The Ringling Sisters Deux Filles Love Spirals Downward Fetchin Bones Figgy Duff Hugo Largo Some favorite solo artist names Ella Blame Heather Nova Annie Anxiety Bandez Judie Tzuke (the T is silent) Kimberly M’Carver Tricky Emiliana Torrini April March Googoosh Shivaree Sophie Zelmani Zarah Leander Jah Wobble Hector Zazou Danielle Dax Diamanda Galas Lene Lovich Katell Keineg Kirsty MacColl Loreena McKennitt Milla (pronounced meeelah) Noe Venable Akiko Yano …among others. My all-time record label name is Aural Gratification! ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/89 "2006-05-05T10:15:28Z")
And yeah, **Hoobastank** is truly wretched. (the name…I don’t know what the band sounds like). ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/90 "2006-05-05T22:00:07Z")
[QUOTE=Yeeter] Good:Cracker Bad:Camper Van Beethoven - nonsense. [/QUOTE] Odd that these two bands both feature David Lowery. ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/91 "2006-05-06T01:15:34Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] And yeah, **Hoobastank** is truly wretched. (the name…I don’t know what the band sounds like). [/QUOTE] They’re pretty generic. Like, a more generic version of Incubus, circa _Make Yourself_ or _Morning View_. In fact, their singer sounds a good deal like the lead singer of Incubus. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/92 "2006-05-06T02:00:46Z")
\*\*Hoobastank \*\* is absolutely horrible. Because they bring nothing musically new to the table. This is how I judge whether a band is good or not, and this band is definitely not good, by these standards. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/93 "2006-05-06T02:00:52Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] Except for the band that originated that meme, surely? The amagrammatic origin of their name turns out to be a UL, much to my disappointment. [/QUOTE] Please explain ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/94 "2006-05-08T06:12:40Z")
[QUOTE=11811] Please explain [/QUOTE] [**Blue Öyster Cult**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Oyster_Cult) originated the umlaut/heavy metal connection. The band used to explain their name as being an anagram of “Cully Stout Beer”, which they were drinking at the time they were looking for a bandname (having played as Soft White Underbelly up til that point). However I discovered recently this was a joke; like much of their early material the name **BOC** was concocted by **Sandy Pearlman** , taken from his _Imaginos_ poetry cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/95 "2006-05-08T06:27:20Z")
[QUOTE=Team of Scientists] I hate hate hate hate **Audioslave**. So lame. “Dude, we love music so much, we’re like slaves! To the music! Audioslaves!”. [/QUOTE] If I remember correctly, even Chris Cornell isn’t the hugest fan of it. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/96 "2006-05-08T06:31:32Z")
Good: The Dregs King Crimson The Verve ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/97 "2006-05-08T06:32:51Z")
Forgot to add: I love the Dregs/Dixie Dregs for the same reason as I love the Who: they could (and did) make album after album with a title that puns on their name. “Night of the Living Dregs”, “Dregs of the Earth”, “Sects, Dregs and Rock ‘n’ Roll”… ---
**Author:** ![Denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@Denis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Denis)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043/98 "2006-05-08T06:55:07Z")
So bad they’re funny: Rancid Vat Throbbing Gristle Butthole Surfers Dead Kennedys Noxious Fumes Ram Jam Bad and irritating: Creed Gene(sp?) Loves Jezebel KISS The Guess Who Tragically Hip (though they’re pretty good) Good: Faith No More The Who Mothers of Invention Black Flag Pink Floyd Rolling Stones Toad the Wet Sprocket Soundgarden Rush Led Zeppelin [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/355043.md?page=4)