# Mannheim Steamroller worse name ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469 "2015-06-13T23:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dibbs)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/1 "2015-06-13T23:45:32Z")
Their Christmas music is wonderful but the name strikes me with an image of a big diesel-driven machine that throws out choking amounts of soot and horrendous noise while laying down stinky road tar and, for that reason, Methinks has to rank at the top as being the all-time worst naming of a musical group! Not the greatest question ever posted around here, probably should be asked at around Christmas, yet, I boldly take a chance and present it anyway to hear your important thoughts on the matter. 🙂 P.S. There is some justification mentioned at Wikipedia for the name, but still…☹ ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/2 "2015-06-14T00:25:21Z")
Maybe they were shooting for irony or something. I remember back in the late '70s I bought my first real component stereo system at a Hi-Fi store in Salt Lake City. The only album they played to demo their stereos was Mannheim Steamroller. Over and over and over and over until you never wanted to hear it again. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/3 "2015-06-14T00:32:35Z")
Having been fully perverted by the internet, for me the name invokes something kinky done being done with steaming hot feces. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/4 "2015-06-14T00:48:10Z")
Yes, the name to me absolutely sounds like it should belong to a Metal band. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/5 "2015-06-14T00:58:11Z")
Worse than the 1910 Fruitgum Company; even Pearl Jam…google what it means. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/6 "2015-06-14T01:04:31Z")
Anyone remember the Butthole Surfers? There was a band name you couldn’t say without sounding like a twelve year old boy. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/7 "2015-06-14T01:06:34Z")
None of these offerings so far can beat out Hoobastank. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/8 "2015-06-14T01:10:22Z")
I think it’s a perfectly cromulent name. It arguably follows the same pattern as “Electric Light Orchestra,” where you take a term from classical music and add something to it to give it a modern or “rock” twist. It’s admittedly a bit more obscure than that, but it makes sense to anyone with sufficient knowledge of the [history of classical music to be familiar with terms like “Mannheim Rocket.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannheim_school#Musical_innovations). [QUOTE=Wikipedia] Composers of the Mannheim school introduced a number of novel ideas into the orchestral music of their day: sudden crescendos – the _Mannheim Crescendo_ (a crescendo developed via the whole orchestra) – and diminuendos; crescendos with piano releases; the _Mannheim Rocket_ (a swiftly ascending passage typically having a rising arpeggiated melodic line together with a crescendo); the _Mannheim Roller_ (an extended crescendo passage typically having a rising melodic line over an ostinato bass line); the _Mannheim Sigh_ (a mannered treatment of the Baroque practice of putting more weight on the first of two notes in descending pairs of slurred notes); the _Mannheim Birds_ (imitation of birds chirping in solo passages); the _Mannheim Climax_ (a high-energy section of music where all instruments drop out except for the strings, usually preceded by a Mannheim Crescendo); and the _Grand Pause_ where the playing stops for a moment, resulting in total silence, only to restart vigorously. [/QUOTE] “We need a name that’s witty at first, but that seems less funny each time you hear it.” -Seymour Skinner ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/9 "2015-06-14T01:39:59Z")
I recall a punk band in the '70s was called The Very Idea of Fucking Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/10 "2015-06-14T01:46:34Z")
Dead Kennedys? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/11 "2015-06-14T01:51:10Z")
Wasn’t there a punk band called Sniveling Shits? On the **Dawn of the Dead** re-make DVD, one of the bonus tracks has music composed and performed by The Fucking Champs. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/12 "2015-06-14T02:03:19Z")
Two band names I never could accept were Sudden Infant Dance Syndrome (played a few shows in Seattle in the 00s) and Zyklon B (one of those extreme metal groups). ---
**Author:** ![Dibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dibbs)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/13 "2015-06-14T02:22:33Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think it’s a perfectly cromulent name. It arguably follows the same pattern as “Electric Light Orchestra,” where you take a term from classical music and add something to it to give it a modern or “rock” twist. It’s admittedly a bit more obscure than that, but it makes sense to anyone with sufficient knowledge of the [history of classical music to be familiar with terms like “Mannheim Rocket.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannheim_school#Musical_innovations). > “We need a name that’s witty at first, but that seems less funny each time you hear it.” -Seymour Skinner Cromulent. A new word for me, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/14 "2015-06-14T02:24:08Z")
> [@Dibbs](#): > > Cromulent. A new word for me, thanks! Embiggens is a good one, too. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/15 "2015-06-14T02:36:15Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > None of these offerings so far can beat out Hoobastank. How about Vomit Launch? ---
**Author:** ![Dibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dibbs)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/16 "2015-06-14T03:05:47Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Embiggens is a good one, too. Not sure; too much from the Simpons.☚ ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/17 "2015-06-14T03:21:04Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > even Pearl Jam…google what it means. Preceded by 10 CC and The Lovin’ Spoonful… ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/18 "2015-06-14T04:02:20Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I recall a punk band in the '70s was called The Very Idea of Fucking Hitler. Fucking being a verb or an adjective? ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/19 "2015-06-14T05:01:18Z")
If you really think about it, almost all bands have stupid names. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469/20 "2015-06-14T06:37:21Z")
Stark Naked and the Car Thieves Edgar and the Mad Shirt Grinders Eucharistic Chicken Fat Oh, wait. The last one was fictitious, I think. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannheim-steamroller-worse-name-ever/722469.md?page=2)