I know that, and it doesn’t mean they picked the number at random. I don’t know for sure it it refers to the movie Turk 182, but it’s at least possible. And damn this thread for making me talk about this band.
Or referred to Robert Plant as “Led”.
I’d always assumed the name had something to do with nuclear war.
Now that you mention it, perhaps “juvenile” is not the right word. “Lightweight” is more like it. I just thought the “number” thing fit them because nearly all the “number” bands are also lightweight IMO*, if more “juvenile” than Matchbox 20.
- Which isn’t to say I dislike the number bands too horribly much, in fact nearly all the “number” bands I like one, (and usually only one), song from, MB20 included.
I’ve heard Anderson talk about that, actually. He says it’s either amusing or annoying, depending on the tone.
If he’s walking by, and someone yells, “Hey Tull, come over here, man,” he’ll get ticked off and keep walking.
On the other hand, he’s had kids approach him saying “Mr. Tull, may I have your autograph,” and he finds that rather sweet. He used to find it hilarious when people would see him in public with his wife and address HER respectfully as “Mrs. Tull.”
Ah, thanks for responding. After I posted, I was afraid I came across as snarky.
I love the music from MB20 and Rob Thomas. Most of this music absolutely sings to my soul. Hand me down, Soul, Argue, Damn…all of these songs are almost orgasmic for me. But I do hate the name.
The 182 in Blink-182 is said to refer to the number of times the word “fuck” is uttered in Scarface (they were off by the little bit, the actual count is 207).
That’s because he was never “Hootie.” The band is named after two friends of theirs, “Hootie” and “The Blowfish.”
Harry Reser’s Cliquot Club Eskimos (1920s)?
I mentioned a bunch of 1920s band names back in post no. 4, but everyone seems obsessed with post-60s bands.
My mother-in-law always used to refer to them as “Spike Jones and His Awful Band.”
There’s “The Firehouse Five Plus Two”, from the 50s.
A partial list (what I can remember) from The Book of Rock Lists, bands of the psychedelic era:
Africa Creeps Up and Up
Bubble Puppy
It’s a Beautiful Day
Jesus Christ and the Nailknockers
The Charging Tyrannosaurus of Despair
Ultimate Spinach
Uncut Balloon
Yowza.
WHAT kind of band name did you mention?
Was it a 1920’s Band Name?
And, just to continue the obscure SDMB rituals:
Band Name!
Sorry, could not resist…
Straight answer to the OP: I’m going to go with the majority and say, in general, the psychedelic era ushered in the most weird/creative band names. The punk era took that to the nth degree.
Not long ago, I was wondering why so many bands have “black” in the name. (Black Keys, Black Lips, Black Kids… there’s so many more.) Then I realized that a lot of bands have colors in the band name these days. After exhausting my Google Fu, I managed to collect a list of something like 75 bands – actively playing out and recording right now – with a color in the band name.
That’s a whole other thread though.
Oh, and by the way, which one’s Pink?
I ‘ve told this one before, but in the “Glitter Rock Era”, my bandmates and I used to practice in my parents’ basement, sometimes, for dress rehearsals, in full regalia: platform heels, shoulder-length hair, lipstick and mascara with eyeshadow (Our girlfriends taught us how to put it on).
One afternoon, my Dad came walking through in his boxer shorts (he worked nights), just as we all asked ourselves what we should call the band?
He said, “Why don’t y’all call yourselves ‘Scum Of The Earth’? That’s what you queers are!”
Instant band name.
Thanks!
Quasi
I don’t know the answer to the question posed by the OP, but I have to consider “Hoobastank” the apex (nadir, maybe?) of the trend. I wouldn’t listen on principle.
One of the worst band names ever as far as I’m concerned, but I don’t know what trend it’s part of. And speaking of bad band names, that reminds me that my neighbor wanted to call his first band Genocide. He said they changed their minds after someone told them what Genocide meant. I’m not sure why they wanted it as a name if they didn’t know what it meant- maybe they knew and someone had the sense to point out that it made them sound like a white supremacist band. Anyway, even though they were mostly doing Ozzy covers at that point, they felt like Genocide would be in bad taste. I don’t remember what name they wound up with.
A “weird” band name today is one that contains no words and/or uses non-alphanumeric characters (sometimes exclusively). The oldest band name I can think of in this tradition is !!!, who according to Wikipedia formed in 1996 (though their first album came out in 2001). It’s currently common in the witch house/drag scene.
Likewise, Debbie Harry didn’t like being called ‘Blondie’, either.
? and the Mysterians (formed 1962) was mentioned upthread, and hell, how about Prince’s “unpronounceable symbol” phase?