The late great BBC radio god John Peel gave me my answer. He once got a tape from a band called Kick the Pregnant. Nice.
It’s not Driving and Crying, it’s Drivin ‘n’ Cryin.
The Sea and Cake annoys me because their name is too easy to confuse with Cake.
In an interview I read, Garbage joked that when they went to the ministry that issues band names, there were only two left, and they declined Hootie and the Blowfish.
As a rule of thumb, band names should avoid misspellings, umlauts, and punctuation other than apostrophes and ampersands. Some more examples of artists that break these rules:
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
cry.on.my.console
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien
Dizzee Rascal
Dsico That No-Talent Hack
The Go! Team
Gorillaz
The Mirror, The Target
Phish
Prozzak
Redd Kross
Relient K
Those Darn Accordions!
UNKLE
8½ Souvenirs
I think some of these are bad enough to loop back to good, but I won’t say which:
Dan Bern & the International Jewish Banking Conspiracy
For Squirrels
Gravity Kills
Half Man Half Biscuit
Noothgrush
RIAA
The annoying thing for that name is it’s two members’ last names and the third guy’s first & middle names. Did someone miss the memo? It would be like CSN standing for Crosby, Steve and Nash.
That reminds me of “Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives,” which is bad enough to loop back into good IMO, because it doesn’t inspire blind rage but is pretty memorable.
But it also sounds like a phrase you might see in the paper and go “that would make a good…wait, no, it wouldn’t.”
There is a local band called Phil Dirt & the Dozers, billing itself as “the nation’s #1 requested vintage rock n’ roll show”. Somehow I doubt this.
You can go on a cruise with them. :eek:
They could have called themselves Almost Certainly.
Or Probably. Or Maybe.
Oddly, I can handle Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, but don’t much care for Hamilton Joe Frank & Dennison.
Sniff ‘N’ The Tears, though, is just repugnant.
Actually, Foetus Inc. (Jim Thirwell) used different variants of the name for either band/album names. My favourite being “You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath!”
And what’s wrong with the spelling?
Hunh. I had always heard 10cc’s name origin was an urban legend. Checking the Wikipedia thingee all the kids are raving about, I find not only an article the length of which seems staggeringly out of proportion for the band, but that the band members disagree on what it means. So now I am even more confused. Thank you soooo much Straight Dope.
Yeah, and I never figured out if Whitesnake was supposed to be a penis or a spurt of semen.
Buzzcocks had to be dildos.
**Dan Bern ** might have done better with **The International ** Baking Conspiracy. At least we would have had bagels.
Gruntruck (Is there any band out there with a made up word as a name that’s actually good? I defy you to find me one.)
Blonde Redhead
Magenta Skycode
IAMX
Frou Frou (gag)
dEUS
Shudder to Think (loved their music, though)
Stone Temple Pilots
Awesome. 
And as far as The Beach Boys being the ambassadors of “surf culture”, the late Dennis Wilson was the only of them who even surfed…
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Another one for Pearl Jam. I was a fan in the early days and saw them live a couple of times, and then one day it hit me that if they were a crummy band I would have noticed a lot earlier how stupid their name was.
…but what do I know? I like Hanson.
How about:
The Dayglo Abortions
and
Rod Torfulson’s Armada featuring Herman Menderchuck
Ok, the second one is fictional.
Oh, yeah, another semen band name.
Jon Cougar Concentration Camp, with members who went on to be in the Queers.
I meant (Post 85) the Beach Boys’ legacy, music-wise, will be Surfin’ USA, as opposed to Pet Sounds, not that they were themselves representatives of 60’s surf (or car) culture, although I was under the impression they were that. Interesting they were not; except, as you say, Dennis Wilson.
Brian Wilson wasn’t a surfer and John Lennon wrote “imagine no possessions.” Same thing. Doesn’t affect the song.