# Did Dave Barry invent the whole "would be a great band name" thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306 "2005-07-26T22:08:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [July 26, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/1 "2005-07-26T22:08:14Z")
I’ve read Dave Barry books ever since I was a little kid and I always noticed that every time a strange phrase would come up, he’d write: “note: wouldn’t ‘turkey rectums [or whatever]’ be a great band name?” Now I see it all the time on the Internet, especially right here on this forum. So did Dave Barry invent this, or has it always been around? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/2 "2005-07-26T22:13:57Z")
I never saw it before Dave Barry, I would say he at least popularized it. I do find myself thinking it every once in a while. You say or write something … Click: That would be a great name for a band!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/3 "2005-07-26T22:23:42Z")
Oh, and by the way… “Turkey Rectums” would most assuredly **not** be a very good name for a band. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/4 "2005-07-26T22:26:11Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > “Turkey Rectums” would most assuredly **not** be a very good name for a band. It would, however, be an accurate description of a great many existing bands. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/5 "2005-07-26T23:18:48Z")
_Touchez._ ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/6 "2005-07-26T23:28:04Z")
Personally, I think \*\* A Great Many Existing Bands\*\* would be a good band name. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/7 "2005-07-26T23:38:12Z")
As a bit of a hijack, I actually said “You know, that would be a good band name” today to my boss, his boss, and a co-worker. 🙂 They agreed with the sentiment, and laughed a bit. (The phrase in question?? I can’t remember exactly at the moment, but I think either ‘Nebulous fuel inventory’ or ‘Nebulous fuel surplus.’ 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/8 "2005-07-26T23:47:59Z")
Steve Allen on the old (read original) Tonight Show came up with some very similar way of naming bands and came up with some very similar names to Turkey Rectums, I might add. He did it by having a barrel full of adjectives and one of nouns. He would dip into each barrel and take one out. To this day I remember my favorite, Polish Sweatsocks. ---
**Author:** ![mrunlucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/9 "2005-07-27T05:05:13Z")
I’m sure this has been around since at least the 60s psycedelia genre began. A friend and I have been doing this continually since at least the 80s. I’ve always had friends who do this. It’s just a ubiquitous concept, whether among comedians or music geeks. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/10 "2005-07-27T12:29:39Z")
One of my lines used to be that I didn’t understand how bands or racehorses got their names. Now, because of Dave Barry, I understand how bands get their names. I’m still wondering about racehorses. And Japanese Anime (Bubble Gum Crisis!!!) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-dave-barry-invent-the-whole-would-be-a-great-band-name-thing/314306/11 "2005-07-27T14:38:42Z")
One of my friends and I used to say ‘That would be a great band name’ in the early-1980s. (Remember, this was when Punk was still going strong and the bands had some interesting names.) I never heard ‘Band name!’ used by anyone else until I came to SDMB. Since we came up with the phrase independently, I would say it’s ‘always been around’ and that Dave Barry just popularised it. (Or else, he _also_ came up with it independently.)