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Band names that indicate clearly the style of music of the band
I disapprove of this.
For the majority of bands it is so easy, merely by knowing their name, to have a clear idea of the style of music.
Such an approach by a band is an admittance of constraint, a targetted market and a limited musical creativity.
A band name should give nothing away about what the band sounds like, it should be outside of any musical epoch, and, crucially, should enable the band to progress and evolve without the name becoming incongruous.
Explosions In The Sky.
pretty much all "post-rock" bands
I once came up with an accurate formula for constructing a post rock band name but I can't remember it now.
Something like "must include:
1. The word "We"
2. Something to do with cosmic bodies (e.g. Sun, Sky, Heavens, Jupiter etc)
3. Something to do with death / fighting"
It wasn't quite that,, but you get the idea.
all the words put together without spaces
is mainly a post-rock thing.
What like
Mogwai? Your formula clearly doesn't work.
'pretty much'.
please try harder in future.
65daysofstatic
maybeshewill
Mono
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Slint
Tortoise
Yeah, pretty much ALL. Haha, some of these bands are the most obvious ones aswell.
Butbutbut
There is a band (artist) called Ladyhawke, and a band called Ladyhawk. They sound completely different. Does the 'e' make all the difference? Ahem.
i guess because ladyhawke named herself after an 80s film
maybe it's to do with that.
I was the same.
When my friend mentioned her I thought she meant Ladytron,
Extreme Noise Terror
......they kinda sound like that......
Yes
That name is an example of a wilful constraint and an absolute compliance to a style. The name gives no room for manouevre. Thus, either it fails, or, if it does succeed, it will succeed triumphantly. For this band, the success was glorious. The band were rammed into a very narrow crevice, musically. The contraints were wallowed in and the result was brilliant.
silver jews
Because David Berman is Jewish?
pretty much
aren't they named after a bllboard or something though actually
But this ulimately irrelevant
I don't (and nobody should really) base my opinion of something on what it's name is.
that's not even close to what he said
please explain what you think he meant.
Are Converge a good example
you can't really pinpoint exactly what they will sound like, but it's quite obviously going to be heavy. You could narrow it down to some kind of hardcore or metal band, don't you think?
I wholeheartedly approve of band names that tell you what a band sound like.
If a band name tell you nothing about the band it either isn't serving its purpose or the existence of a name is an irrelevance.
I don't necessarily think a band name should be constraining and clearly a bandname that's too limiting and doesn't allow the music to progress then that's a problem.
But a band name should (and does) give you some idea of the thinking behind a band. Otherwise it will be just be bland and pointless.
For example, the Divine Comedy are a perfectly named band
Regardless of whether you do or don't like their music you instantly know that the Dante reference suggests they're literary and pretentious whereas the literal meaning of the words suggests they've got a sense of entertainment and showmanship. Without actually limiting the band the name tells you exactly what to expect.
Clearly some people will hate the name but they'll probably hate the band too, thus entirely proving my point.
this man is talking almost unprecedented amounts of sense for this board
He often does
Converge
is a bit abstract
Most grind metal bands ie Napalm Death, Carcass, Wecamewithbrokenteeth, Extreme Noise Terror, Bolt Thrower etcetcetc
You're agreeing with me them
should've replied to my post
:(
What about band names that project a sound that is totally unlike what they are really like....
Savage Garden - Sound like thay are metal.
Bark Psychosis - Sound a bit punk.
The Knife - I think sound like Indie guitar....though The Knives wound be better.....
Destroyer
Joy Division
Couldn't think of a more spectacular example.
But they were Nazi enslaved prostitutes......which sounds dark and grim....
.......a bit like the band......
and before that, Warsaw...
Good thing they
gave up on the stiff kittens thing really lol.
Yes, they were...
but you wouldn't know it just looking at the name, would you ?
Death Cab for Cutie?
Another misleading semi-metal name.
Thursday is a weird one...I remember reading somewhere years ago that they chose the band name because it was very anonymous and didn't betray anything about their sound. Now a whole wealth of second-rate emo bands utilise calendar/timescale nomenclature, and it's become easy to tell the sound of a band with names like that. Or maybe choosing a band name with those particular connotations (anonymity, deliberate lack of show) was just an emo attitude in the first place, so by not wanting to betray sound through name, Thursday in fact did...
Most being
bands with names like xskullfuckerx
Pretty much most death metal bands
Napalm Death
Sepultura
Cannibal Corpse
Gwar
etc, etc, etc.
You
can figure most post rock bands imo. Most figure a part of nature, a month or have !'s
ska bands
why do they feel the need to shoehorn "ska" into their names? or make some ska related pun? see also; dub
??
the beat, specials, madness, the selector (okay those are the only ska bands I can name but hey) You couldn't spell ska with all there names put together. you could with specials AKA I guess..
factory floor
lots of post-punk bands actually
lots of twee stuff e.g tullycraft
does lightning bolt work?
or
stars?
I thought of Lightning Bolt
they do play lightning quick music but I expected them to be heavier when I first played Hypermagic Mountain.
Minimal Man
does what he says on the tin
minutemen
sound just like what you'd expect too I'd say. Funky short littel weird songs
the fashion.
erm
for misleading names ...trail of dead is up there?
i always thought Between The Buried And Me would be a rubbish Suicide Silence esque scene metal band
And weirdly
they got their name from a Counting Crows lyric. Is there any band less hardcore?
Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Machine Head, etc
slayer is the best band name of all time
^ this, very much so
Satan's Laughing As You Eternally Rot
you know. It's not what slayer stands for but is amongst my favourite urban myths.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m381/iluvrockcsfu22/God_Listens_to_Slayer.jpg
that picture is amazing
If only the had followed through on blacking out the radio logo
and used red paint for the slayer and so becoming
Best Picture Ever.
Metallica has to be the obvious
One of the only bands who get away with having their genre in their name
Imagine if more bands did this!
Postrockica
Tweecorica
Spazzyposthardcorica
i listened to 'fuck' the other day
very misleading
i listened to 'fuck' the other day
very misleading
did it sound like barry white?
It's like an American Belle & Sebastian with more of a country-esque feel, or something.
But swearier, as in 'Fuck Motel'.
anal cunt
but then bands like 'women' who purposely give away nothing always seem kinda boring and it kills my inclination to listen to them
On a similar note
I'm sice of having explain to cretins that My Bloody valentine are not a shitty emo band.
I have this problem aswell
:(
Yes, me too
A lot of the norms seem to think they are the same thing as 'bullet for my valentine'. ARRRRGGGGHHH.
there's nothing wrong
with having a distinctive 'sound', and if you can think of a word or two to conjure up that feeling, then good for you.
unless your name is vaginal jesus.
I like names that reflect the sound of a band, such as these...
The Horrors
The Go! Team
Mona Lisa Overdrive
A Place to Bury Strangers (it's a bit dark and stuff)
And i agree with XYZIA about My Bloody Valentine. They're not emo, they're one of the greatest bands of our time!
I wish they'd
rename themselves in kind then, something like.... Fluffy Sky Monsters, so I can get on with liking them without the constant explanations.
Good shout on The Go! Team
Completely apt name, that. I like it
I disagree
because otherwise there would not be band names such as Chicken Noodle Funk, the Shitty Beach Boys and Methadone Abortion Clinic.
http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/2008_the_year_in_band_names/1
Low.
LowowowowowowLow.
bumsnogger?
I comptly disagree
I like a band name to betray something about the band. Part of the reason I was drawn to bands like Interpol, Kubichek! and The national is that they all had interesting band names. Interpol especially gives an air of mystery and darkness which compliments their sound.
Completely*
What other kind of band could
Neutral Milk Hotel have possibly been?
That's a good example.
They Came From The Stars I Saw Them
Low
Earth
Kill Whitney Dead
clearly a silly movie sample laden metal band
it took me AGES to bother listening to Mew
i thought they'd be bland and twee
I thought there were other reasons it was terrible.
Surely naming your band after a hit musical is a ridiculous idea. Would you call your band the Phantom of the Opera or Starlight Express or the Sound of Music? No. 'Cos it's a silly idea.
Blood Brothers could be percieved as misleading
but I think it's pretty spot on in summing up their sound, violent, chaotic and jekyll and hyde dual vocals, like brothers bound by erm... blood?
Mindless Self Indulgence is a good one (if you take the name literally and use it in reference to the music)
I repeat it's very misleading.
It is the name of a well-known musical. They don't sound like the musical. They are thus fucktards clearly incapable of doing even the most basic research into their bandname.
this is total bollocks really
At The Drive-In
Fugazi
Cap'n Jazz
the late great Meet Me In St Louis
none of these names would give any indication as to what the band actually sound like but they're all fucking amazing, who gives a shit if it's relevant to the music or not, did the greats of yesteryear actually sound like a Led Zeppelin or a Deep Purple, whatever the fuck that is, NO! they chose a name that would stick in peoples minds and they did their thing without snobby muso's critiquing the in's and out's of their cultural relevance
snore
The Swans
cattle decapitation
cephalic carnage
waddabout Gwar?
I can tell you immediately.
"Fuck Buttons" will sound when you hear that name, and what do you know, they do! Generally a swear word in the name besides maybe as or damn means the band has no intent to get famous, and their music reflects that.
Oceansize
65daysofstatic
My Vitriol
Spiritualized
Morphine
Surely...
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band is the winner
Some band names do give a grim predictability as to how they will sound
Any 'The' band back in '02/03 for example would have be a turgid, run of the mill garage rock band.
you mean like 'the' coral?
I agree, entirely predictable.
This will destroy you
suggests anything else apart from what the band actually sound like. I expected some sort of cheesey hardcore band. Luckily i was proven wrong.
kraftwerk