Three Dog Night
Sniff 'n the Tears
and another vote for the Crystal Method
Thought of a couple more:
Half Man Half Biscuit
The Darkest Of The Hillside Thickets
and local band Springbok Nude Girls, but only a South African of a certain age and culture would get it.
Similar, but allusions from French lit: Pere Ubu (Alfred Jarry), The Magnetic Fields (Andre Breton) – and someone already mentioned Belle & Sebastian (Aubry).
I want to add:
Dead Kennedys
Parliament Funkadelic
Eric’s Trip
Weeping Tile
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Bad Meets Evil
One of the members of Weeping Tile, Luther Wright, later started a band called Luther Wright and the Wrongs, which is certainly a good example of using what you got as best you can.
Massive Attack gets bonus points for not only being a cool name but being a name that sounds like they’re a metal band but they’re totally not.
Also of course:
Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse)
My Chemical Romance (Irvine Welsh)
Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories (Salinger)
Sixpence None The Richer (C.S. Lewis)
The artist Moby gets the name from his middle name, Melville; he’s been nicknamed Moby since he was a kid.
Reverend Horton Heat
Saigon Kick
The Decemberists
The Who
Manic Street Preachers
Super Furry Animals
Half Man Half Biscuit
Mogwai
Pavement
Big Black
Sonic Youth
The Revolting Cocks
Lard
Bongwater
Alien Sex Fiend
The Cramps
In a “so bad its good” way I like Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
If only because it clearly irritates DJs so much when they have to remember how many pigs to say.
And You Will Know Us By the Trail of The Dead…
Funny name for a band.
Split Enz (the nz part refers to New Zealand)
Trio. A minimalist name for a minimalist band.
Sex Pistols. Perfect name. Allusions of depravity and violence instantly, provocation guaranteed, just like it should. And catchy.
MMM…this is what you asked for, Those are all legit band names…
Hungry??
Leftover Salmon (merger of Left-handed string band and the Salmon heads)
String Cheese Incident
My fave…RatDog (reminds me of a Chihuahua on steroids)
It’s old and lame and boring, but The Beatles really nailed it. A mild pun, short and catchy, a reference to their influences, and a name that really trips off an announcer’s tongue: “Welcome…THE BEATLES!” Just a great name.
I’ve always thought KMFDM was a name that really evoked what they sounded like somehow.