What makes a good band name? Discuss

It is often easy to see that a name is bad.. but often hard to come up with a good band name. And it also obviously depends on what style of music you play.

Discuss what makes a good band name.

 

Down to personal taste, I guess, and dictated by genre and the musical era you're operating in.

I always thought Oasis was a lousy, insipid name...hmmm. come to think of it, I always thought they made lousy, insipid music too, but they did alright for themselves.

The Beatles - there's another crap name, I bet by the late 1960s they were wishing they could dump it.

Maybe its only really important when you're on the way up - once you've achieved the degree of fame of the above mentioned, you're sort of an esthablished brand name and nobody really thinks about it any more.

Good band names [personal opinion]:

Velvet Underground
Sex Pistols
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Dub Collossus
Dr. Feelgood
This Heat

...my mind went blank at this point.:alien:

 

I love coming up with awesome band names. one of my favorite pasttimes...

Diet Medusa
Holiday (can't believe nobody has this one yet...or do they?)
DJ SharkJack (if your an electronic act...obviously)




Definitely depends on the style of music. All these indie band names are retarded IMO, and its a shame because often people will "check out" a band just because of their name. Happens at festivals all the time.

 

Then you need... Band Name Maker !

http://www.bandnamemaker.com/generator/

Among some of the better ones it just threw up for me were-

* Fast Sudden

* Mighty Muppet

* Thick Retard

* Belated Ecstacy


* Broken-hearted Drink

 

Yeah I definately agree that once you have made it big, the band name becomes a household name, and doesn't matter so much if it is lousy as shit.

'The Velvet Underground' is one of my fave names --oozes cool. Apparently the name was taken from the title of a book that was going around at the time. But it definately has that connotation of 'cool' to it.

The Sex Pistols as a name suits the music (not that i'm much of a fan)

I've never heard of or listened to 'This Heat', but their name sounds boring to me.

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Diet Medusa sounds interesting. BandNameMaker.com comes up with a lot of those joining of interesting sounding words together, that has no meaning whatsoever. Can be interesting, though after a while being called "Broken-hearted Drink" might become tiring.

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There are a lot of bands going around at the moment with a beach theme?

Wavves
Beach House
Best Coast
Beach Fossils
Surfer Blood
Washed Out


There are also heaps of names that have animals in them..

 

It's quite easy to say 45 years later that the Beatles is a bad name... i don't think so... but i understand that by 68-69 the members probably want it to change...cause it's as you know already...time they are a changin...and they were more kind of "psychedelic", original or weird name by that time...
But for the years from 62 to 67 the name the beatles was just normal and no-out of context ... it's a mix of beat and beetle ...those were the times...


here is the possible evolution of bands from the past (it's just theory)

past - modern

Gerry and the Pacemakers - Jerry and the Peacefuckers
Dave Clarke Five - Brave Clarke Jive
The Swingin' Blue Jeans - The Swingin' Blue Queens
The Easybeats - the Crazybeats or the Crazybats
Captain Beefheart - Captain Hollywood Project ...etc...

 

Nobody even thinks about The Beatles as a band name anymore, and I don't think too many people think of the Beatles as a 'rock band' either. Most people know all of their names, and they're taken too seriously and have had too much of an impact (or, at least, they've been given the credit) to be called 'just a band'. When you say something like 'so hey, there are some beetles outside', a lot of people probably imagine Paul, John, Ringo and George outside their house. 'The Beatles' just means 'awesome music made by four people that everyone likes'.

And 'Dr. Feelgood' is not a good band name by virtue of it having been stolen from a Motley Crue album... actually, any band name taken from someone else's song or album title ends up sound weak. My least favorite is:

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names

because they turned one of the best lines ever in a Silver Jews song into an ad for their band. I used to love hearing that line in the song 'People', and now whenever I hear it, I think 'wow I hate that band'-- I've never even heard them, I just hate them for that.

The best names are short and memorable or weird and nonsensical:

Brian Jonestown Massacre
Girls
Spoon
Low
Neutral Milk Hotel
Silver Jews
Animal Collective

 

Dr Feelgood were formed circa 1972... a bit before Motley Crue, I suspect.

I always assumed the band took it to be from the song of the same name [long, long pre-Motley Crue], not sure who originally wrote it, but Johnny Kidd & The Pirates certainly recorded it in the early 1960s, and they were sort of forerunners of Dr Feelgood [guitarist Mick Green was an influence on the Feelgood's Wilko Johnson].

Here's Wilko doing it live -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbGWupyPQLY"]YouTube - Wilko Johnson - Dr Feelgood ( live )

A Dr. Feelgood thread here -
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=390448&f=606

But probably the original Dr Feelgood was Piano Red - here doing a song that the Beatles later covered, thus neatly bringing things full circle...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1CXyJntsZg"]YouTube - Dr Feelgood (aka Piano Red) - Mr Moonlight

 

Rhinestone Lightning would be a cool glam band

 

Thanks for that Frankenstein... I had no idea.

 

I agree with Frankenstein that it has alot to do with personal taste and the sound, scene and image the group is trying to portray. I also agree The Beatles is a crappy band name and Rolling Stones definitely have the cooler name in that age old debate.

Good Band Names:
Velvet Underground
Guns n Roses
Outkast
Radiohead
Grateful Dead
Public Enemy
Infected Mushroom
Underworld
Wu tang clan

Bad Band Names:
Panic at the Disco
KC and the Sunshine Band
Yes
Presidents of the united states of America
Rainbow ( for a metal band especially)
Pretty much every 80's new wave band

 

You're right. The band name depends upon what kind of music you're playing. But also, it has to mean something to the band members. The best band name I ever heard (or maybe I only think it's a good band name because I happen to have read the story behind it) is "Kill Cheerleader" ... it's because every band member had sex, at some point in time but not all at once, with a particular cheerleader whom they all used to know.

 

Also, names can be hostages to fortune - there used to be a story about a review of Yes which simply read: "No." Never saw it myself, but probably true

 

the Rolling Stones is the finest band name ever

we were Davywankright and the Fuckwits ... not the best choice in retrospect :mickey:


ultimately tho' i don't think makes a great deal of difference... you can even call a rock band Queen and do well, innit :biker:

 

there's a popular metal band called Gay For Johnny Depp. That's the weirdest band name.

 

I actually had a single by a band called Johnny & The Self-Abusers...circa 1977 or 78.

 

I have a lo-fi psychedelic pop project called Zombie Girlfriend Hospital Attack Force... but it's not really a band it's more just me, my laptop and too much time on my hands.

 

Wow, that's a pretty accurate review, in my opinion.

 

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The only band I've been in with its own material was called Defin1eye, I also produced some electronic music for fun under the name electrolite, and I jammed with some friends and one of them chose the name old wives tail but we never really got anything going.