What are some clever band/artist names?
Third Eye Blind popped into my head this morning and I always thought their name was pretty clever. I started thinking about a few others I like and got stuck on "modified birth names"
City & Colour - stage name of Dallas Green
Corto Alto - stage name for Liam Shortall (Corto Alto means "short tall" in Spanish)
Dora Jar - stage name for Dorothy Jar (door ajar)
I don't love when artists pick names based on other artists, though. I love Chet Faker's music but wish he stuck with Nick Murphy.
Are there any that you really like?
[Edit] Please explain why you think a name is clever! I've looked up the origins of the unfamiliar names getting posted but I'm definitely missing what's clever about some of them
77 replies
Wow I didn't know that!
They Might Be Giants - a reference to the George C. Scott movie of the same name, where this is his character's answer to why Don Quixote jousted with windmills
Good one, I knew it was a movie but not the Don Quixote context!
Fair to Midland.
The Who
The Hu
Propagandhi
Minor Threat
Ruskaja
Circle Jerks
The Slits
Eagles of Death Metal
I'm on board with Propagandhi, Save Ferris, and EODM but I'm unfamiliar with the backstories on the rest. What makes them clever?
So The Who came around when all the band names seemed to be "The something", so The Who kinda poked fun at that trend.
The Hu is a Mongolian metal band (Mongolian as in Hun), and their name is phonetically the same as world famous rock band The Who.
Minor Threat has a double meaning: "Insignificant" Threat and "Youth" Threat. The song "Minor Threat - Minor Threat" really nails that point down.
Ruskaja is just blending "Ruski" and "ska" together, you can probably guess their sound. Fun fact the first time I heard "Energia" I jokingly, accidently guessed their name.
You're on the Internet so I assume you've heard the term "Circle Jerk", but a jerk is also a person, the asshole type, so "Circle Jerks" is just a play on words between those two meanings.
The Slits is an all female punk band, and the name is a reference to that.
Funny how The [Name] is cyclical. Sum 41 had a music video where they jokingly changed their name to The Sums to ride the trend
Jerk is also a play on "clerk" as in Soda Jerk. Circle Jerk referring to group hog cranking is from the 60s I think
Well, Green Day 75 stopped being popular around that time.
Circle Jerks were around long before the internet meaning of the phrase
The phrase was around long before the Internet.
Well I see someone is into punk rock. Propaghandi and MT are some of my favorites. CJ are great as well. Not punk, but EoDM rock.
Theres sooooo many. I'm really into bands.
Can't think of a lot at the moment but Some I think are clever or interesting:
So did you like Wham!
Yes I did hahha good one
Lol I agree with you on Deftones but I'm not sure I'd consider Limp Bizkit a "clever" name. For sure funny, though
Yeah its more silly than clever.
incor-fucking-rect
I know, but to me thats a clever part of it if you read it that way
Also just https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deft
Also not that
I don't know that it's clever but it always gives me a good chuckle, Steely Dan is named after a steam powered strap on.
Had no idea!
Similarly, it was years before I learned where Arab Strap got their name....
It's one of my dad's favorite pieces of music trivia. Probably because it made us kids uncomfortable lol
This led to a long conversation about Naked Lunch with my friend who I'd a big Steely Dan fan
Lol that's funny
The Beatles. It's a plural of people who can keep a beat.
Like the Oneders?
The lads actually just really hated a bloke called Les.
But seriously, it was also an homage to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
You know, I guess I don't give them enough credit for that one
There is that joke from Peep Show "we were thinking of calling ourselves 'Various Artists' just to fuck with people with iPods"
I've been listening to an artist who goes by [untitled] and I'm really hoping he changes that
[Titled]
Jack Off Jill
I've always loved the name Animals As Leaders. Humans ain't cutting it so fuck it, the dogs are in charge now.
Dunno if they ever did it but my friend wanted his band to call themselves Free Beer. He figured they would get gigs as an opening act. This Friday at the Paramount - Boy Genius, with Free Beer!
How do you think Barenaked Ladies got their name?
Case in point!
Save Ferris
Flogging Molly
TV on the Radio
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats
LCD Soundsystem
If I recall correctly, Flogging Molly got their name because they started playing in a bar called Molly's so when they played there they were Flogging Molly (or something like that)
Some bands I like with names I think are clever:
The Callous Daoboys
Drop Dead, Gorgeous
unpeople
Bloodywood
Excellent picks. Exactly what I meant by clever!
Unpeople reminded me of Unflirt on the opposite end of the music spectrum
The 13th Floor Elevators, based on the fact that many buildings don't have a "13th floor" because of superstition, so they named themselves after something that doesn't exist.
Leftöver Crack, same deal! There ain't no such thing as leftover crack!
Literally me right now on the "14th" floor
Metalachi - It's a mariachi band that plays metal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_5y5KrBoO8
Barenaked Ladies - they wanted something that caught peoples attention when looking at random small town band posters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC_q9KPczAg
Bilmuri - he just was a big fan of Bill Murray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTsevoF23Y
Fair to Midland - a play on fair to middling, they were also from Texas who has a town called Midland.. A band created and revolved around little quips and folksy sayings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpTHbOkrSu0
I received the Stunt CD on Christmas morning and I will never forget my joyful grandpa's smile drop as he turned to me and said "shame on you..."
He know it was an album.... from a band making music people called "wuss rock"
People can call it what they want, it was catchy as hell and I think the writing was pretty great on lyrics and music. Can't say the same for most albums past that one, and definitely after Page left. Stunt was lightning in a bottle for me.
Don't get me wrong, I was just noting the genre because it makes it even further from pornography.
I got Maroon when it came out, too, and that was the end of my interest in the band...except for singing If I Had A Million Dollars and adding my own lyrics
Yo La Tengo - after a hapless baseball Mets fielding incident
Green Day - Named after something that should be cool and celebrated worldwide, but turned out kinda lame.
Beatallica, a mash-up band that combines the songs of the Beatles and Metallica.
Sex Pistols
Whilst not clever, but the band name is interesting.
Cease
Was an excellent local drone band.
I always thought the name was curious and succinct.
Did they....Cease to be?
Re-evolved I'm pretty sure.
There used to be a Christian band in Tassie called 'The Fish That John West Rejects'. (A reference to an ad campaign running at the time)
Also another aussie band that'd play bluegrass covers of rock classics called 'The Fargone Beauties'
Credit where credit's due. That's a good name.
There's a group that does live band karaoke events in my city. (For those unfamiliar, in live band karaoke instead of a recording you go up on stage with real musicians and you sing the song.)
The name of this band is the Nakatomi 5. There are four band members, but the 5 in their name is because when you go up and sing with them you're the 5th member.
City and Colour - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whx6dkmxIDA
corto.alto - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UMvlDHvq_k
Dora Jar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQznl0-rbR8
perhaps this is what you mean
Boiled in Lead
Very good band.
Had to look this one up -
Boiled in Lead is a reference to the Scottish murder ballad "The Two Sisters" in which one of the sisters is boiled in Lead.
One that sprang to mind I haven't seen mentioned is Gogol Bordello.
Also, while I've always thought Rainbow Kitten Surprise was a funny name, I didn't realize how clever it was until the "surprise" happened. Obviously it wasn't planned that way, but it's still cool
Holy shit I had the same moment. Devil Like Me is what got me (and most people) into them and if you listen to the lyrics....
could vary on the intents of the musicians involved. and whether they care. i never tried to hear Third Eye Blind until I read your post, and it's not my thing, and it's boring. But if that is your thing, go with something poetic. look up some goofy puns and riddles.
What was going through your head when you decided to write this word vomit?
No one asked for a review of Third Eye Blind nor is anyone choosing between band names and other forms of writing. Look up some guides on how to have a conversation.
On the other hand, "Word Vomit" would be a great name for a black metal band.
There's gotta be one already
(I checked) There's...not? At least none with a record. I found a Word Vomit EP but that's it
You said
I agree, it is a good name for a band
Oh right I definitely wasn't referring to rest of your comment.
i replied to the original comment. love all.
I fully support the urge to remind the world that Third Eye Blind sucks ass whenever they are mentioned in any context
I've found that people who go out of their way to talk shit about artists generally have pretty bad taste. Not everything is made for you, not liking it doesn't mean it sucks. Music is clearly not a hobby for you
How much of your personality is based of things you don't like?
Being afraid to state one’s opinion of a band because it might offend someone who disagrees only leads to incredibly boring discussions of music. Nobody’s take is objective, because that’s how opinions inherently work, and pointing out that “not everything is made for you” is a pretty silly thing to say in a discussion forum. Have the courage to state your likes and dislikes openly - otherwise why bother talking at all?
You’re right about one thing - music is not a hobby for me. It’s a career. Maybe that’s why I’m comfortable taking it seriously and not hedging what I think in case someone feels differently. That passion is positive as often as it is negative, just not when the subject is a particularly annoying third-rate corporate alt-rock band.
This is a post is about clever names.
Someone comes in and says "I looked up the band you mentioned and I don't like it." They don't comment on the name nor provide any of their own.
And then you drop in with the same vague opinion and equal amount of clever names in tow.
So what have you done here besides give yourself a little hit or dopamine from saying something mean? You've added nothing but negatively to the post. Congratulations on saving music discourse.
Hilarious that you think "they suck ass" is taking it seriously. With takes like that, something tells me your music isn't anything like Guthrie.
So brave.
🙄