I keep seeing people say “Band name!” when they see letters of words together. I never get what would make it a good band name.
So, what does make for a good band name?
What are your favorite band names (either existing or potential)?
There was a young woman at a soccer match last night wearing a shirt that loudly proclaimed across the back “Clam of Death”. Of course I had to ask her what that meant. Turns out it was the name of her brother’s band. And it’s definitely a great band name.
I can’t decide whether the best band name would be “Top Kill” or “Junk Shot”.
In my embalming class, we were introduced to an instrument called an electric spatula, and my first thought was “band name!”
Free Beer, Nude Women (on a sign outside a bar this helps draw in customers)
Salad Bar Nightly (likewise, but less intensely)
There was a group called Free Beer. It didn’t help.
I always liked the name of the late seventies band “The Entire Population Of China”.
And I always wondered what would happen if, during a particularly energetic guitar solo, they all jumped up and down at the same time…
Yeah, but a band from Canada called Bare Naked Ladies had a little bit of success.
It depends a lot on how old you are. Up until the early 60s band names were pretty bland. Then things started getting weird, at least from the conservative perspective of the WWII generation who were the parents of the day. e.g The Electric Prunes, The Jefferson Airplane, Three Dog Night, The Beatles.
The Electric [fill in the blank with something inherently non electrical] genre got things going. The pattern was set as “The [adjective] [noun]” where the two words don’t go together. Ideally they sound sorta profound together when you’re drunk / stoned though.
Not long after that things branched out into 2 to 4 word phrases. Motley Crue (insert funky umlauts & such) is one example.
But the key point is still to create a noun phrase that’s nonsensical on its face, but short & memorable, and either punny or profound-seeming when you’re drunk/stoned.
I’m not sure how much that pattern still applies nowadays to new bands created for (or of) current teens and 20-somethings. But that pattern has applied from the early 60s through at least the late 90s by us older farts.
My ideal name for the next all-girl band is… Broadband.
That’s right. You heard it here first.
Skinner: We need a name that’s witty at first, but that seems less funny each time you hear it.
Apu: How about “The Be Sharps?”
Skinner: Perfect!
</OSS>
Band name creativity peaked with The The.
keeping with the theme LSLGuy the Strawberry Alarm Clock
My fave which I think I posted on another thread was They(You)? Will Know Us By Our Trail Of
Dead
Saw one years ago for potential names Jif and the Choosy Mothers
The best band name I have ever heard of is:
I’m rather cranky that they they thought of it first. It’s just the sort of name I would come up with. Curses!!
ETA-- beaten to the punch (in a way–the name is still my personal favorite) by campp.
Beerman– not sure if you’re saying you saw the band, their name, or just thought of it yourself, but there was (is?) a band called Jif And The Choosy Mothers. Out of Indianapolis, I think.
oh… In the past, I have suggested to bandmates the moniker “Adjective Noun” because so many band’s names follow that pattern (**LSL **refers to this in his post).
Years ago, we we travelling in the car with our 2 kids. They picked up a phone book we kept there and flipped through the Yellow Pages. Looking at the index words at the top of the pages, they came up with these band names:
Overhead Potato
Stereo Trauma
There were so many names called “The _____ Theory” awhile back that a band started named “The Blank Theory”.
My brother had a band called “Jamasaurus Rex” for some years.
Later, he was in a band that was (for about a month) named “the Friends of Ned Flanders.” I thought that was a great name, but he & his band-mates decided they liked the name “Uncle Sammy” better.
I think that the cry of “Band name!” often occurs in response to absurd juxtapositions. Hmmm… the Absurd Juxtapositions… nah, too hard to say when you’re hammered.
Another category is catch phrases. Like Parental Guidance. I’ve always wanted to have a band called The Lack Thereof.
Then there’s taking a well-known phrase or name and adding a syllable or word to create something that sounds (or is supposed to sound) funny. Like Upchuck Berry or Victoria’s Secretion. Or Death Ray Davies or Brian Jonestown Massacre (both real bands).
I’m a guy, but I was in a band with that name…