Worst Band Names

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Spandau Ballet Blue Rondo à la Turk Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Gorky's Zygotic Mynci Prefab Sprout

the worst of all is Soul Coughing

What's wrong with Ladytron?

― Nick, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

---- What's wrong with Ladytron? ----

Nothing of course...excellent band.

But I remembered another very bad band name (since were into the question of 80s revivalism): Johnny Hates Jazz.

― Omar, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

is there a more stupid question that the one at the top of this page? i have to agree with whoever said 'prefab sprout', absolutely pathetic name. 'killing joke' is an excellent name. it implies so much that is reflected in the music. in fact, i can't think of a _better_ name for a band. more dreadful band names: daisy chainsaw, the las, travis, s club 7 and practically all manufactured bands, brilliant (youth's band after he left kj), flock of seagulls, sting (ok, not a band but what the hell), loud, the style council... plenty more where they come from

― the-last-laugh, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Which reminds me of: The Police! What a dreadful name.

― Omar, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Obscure and bad UK indie bands:

saidflorence - insisted on awful name being spelt lower case.

Fretblanket - no comment needed really.

― Tom, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

the worst pop name has got to belil bow wow

― yvette burgess, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Nelly is a pretty ridiculous stage name. I mean, it's not very hard ass, is it? He might as well be walking around calling himself Sharon.

― Ally, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

'the bush the tree and me'. sweet jesus on his bike, i should have known from the name they'd sound bad. 'manyeung' - i could never tell if it was a typo. 'sir bald diddley and his wigouts' (or something) . actually i find this one amusing. 'weeping jesus' - surprisingly NOT goth metal hell. stupid things like 'coldplay', 'travis' 'idlewild' that mean absolutely nothing. still, at least it's descriptive.

― alix, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Is there a worse band name than Killing Joke?

YES. I should think that Killing Jesus would be worse than Killing Joke. THERFORE, Killing Jesus is a worse band name than Killing Joke. Yes.

Yes, Virginia. There is a worse band name than Killing Joke.

Jester 86 Understands Something.....

Jester Eighty Six LOVES JESUS!

PEACE.

PS.....Cheese is Rice.

Yours In THEE LOVE of JESUS CHRIST,

CAL,

or in other words...

j86.

― Corey A Lyman, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Killing Jesus would be an awesome name, actually. Except that with a name like that, you know the music will be crap. Probably some sort of nu-metal.

― Ally, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

There was a "Creaming Jesus" of course.

― The Jester, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

By all accounts there was a band circa 1971 called Tractor. You can't get worse than that, surely.

Apart from Taunton, of course. But then they didn't really exist ...

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Mustard Plug. Ugh.

― Steven James, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

The Band I thought sounded pretty stupid. Warrant, Supertramp, Monster Magnet, bush, Linkin Park and weezer top off my list for worst band names.

Grand Prize Winner for this category goes to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Papa Roach. The name is about as bad as the music.

― Luptune Pitman, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Dio.

― JM, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Tool & Korn & those kind of things.

― D.Zarakov, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

...no wait, how about 4 Non Blondes. Or Sixpence None the Richer or Toad the Wet Sprocket...OK I won't go on.

― D.Zarakov, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Warrior Soul and Reigndance.

― Nicole, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Mainstream. The thought of a third-rate indie band placing themselves in the same category as Celine, J-Lo and the Spice Girls is something I find rather amusing.

― Madchen, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

U2 (not a reference to the spy planr, apparently - the idea was that the fans were integral to the what the band's identity or sommat - like 'You too' - yeach!)

Deep Blue Something (in the Sixpence None The Richer bracket)

Limp Biskit

(grim, but quite apt I suppose) Muse (hateful. conclusive proof that you can judge a book by its cover, unless it's by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and it's err.. not a book

Echoboy (yeah - cause that'll really make your band stand out)

The Style Council (was this self parody?)

Stereophonics (90s band name by numbers)

Dub Federation (might have been OK if there wasn't already a Dub Syndicate. at least ADF added an 'Asian' bit for interest)

Almost all those one-word names chosen by every shitpop chancer in mid 90s Britain.

― Nick, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

...not that the meaningless one-word names favored by non-descript 90's US alt-rock bands were any better. Anyone have any fond memories of Wool ?

Also, any 90's band name with "Super" in it.

― Patrick, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Ladytron: never heard of them, naturally, but 96 is right: the name sucks a big one.

Radiohead.

Coldplay.

The Cranberry Saw Us.

― the pinefox, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

i dunno i never really payed much attention to band names i mean my fav band has a pretty crappy name if think about it Our Lady Peace? it has nothing to do with the theme or feel of the music yaddayaddayadda

― Mog, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Hear'Say (aka Popstars) - there is nothing remotely "word of mouth" about ITV's creation. Spliff Cub 7 anyone ? (I'm sure this has been touched upon but nowt unplanned about the "spliff" incident. Pure publicity stunt to ditch their "pre-teen" audience & move into another market). Arrgh, the music business, don't you just love it !

― The Jester, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Toad The Wet Sprocket is a fine name because:

a) It's a Monty Python ref.

b) They represent the West Side. Goleta Power.

― JM, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-five years ago)

answer to first abstract band-name (ie no "the"):

LOVE and TOMORROW are contenders.

but maybe THEM predates?

(non-rock answer - tho of course they played rock support slots at the key moment - wd be AMM: explanation of which acronym I notice Keith Rowe is still keeping shtumm abt, in current Wire)

― mark sinker, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

The Meat Puppets

― Nick, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

...I'm glad there's a band called TOOL tho' 'cause it's nice to see those guys walking around with their dreadlocks & their stupid pants with "TOOL" emblazoned across their t-shirts.

― Duane Zarakov, Tuesday, 3 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

one month passes...

Wang Chung

― Nick, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

My least favourite band name - echobelly I mean, who ever thought that was a good one?

Also "Northern Uproar" did suggest boring meat 'n' 2 veg britrock of the most ZZZzzz-inducing sort. Fortunately.

x0x0

― Norman Fay, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Don't know what it is about Commonwealth membership that makes people stupid, but any Aus/NZ/Canadian band who think their name is funny. Step forward Mental as Anything, Tragically Hip, Lowest of the Low, Barenaked Ladies, Hoodoo Gurus, Flash and the Pan, Beasts of Bourbon etc. (Although there is a band out of Toronto called Armed & Hammered, which I think is amusing, and something from Oz called I Spit on Your Gravy)

― tarden, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

The Ass Ponys. Horrid...

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

joshroom.

― fred solinger, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

the orb - if you cite the album titles as evidence.
(can't even bring myself to remember what they were.)

― K-reg, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Death Cab for Cutie. Tad. The Meatmen. The Bloodhound Gang.

Killing Joke is actually a pretty good band name.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

tarden, the better 'bourbon' band name than Beasts of Bourbon (better WORSE I mean), is The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. You also left out the more obvious Toronto choice - The Barenaked Ladies. (or was that on purpose?)

But hands down, the two most unforgivable band names I've ever heard are oddly enough, both 'soul' related - The Soul Attorneys & Blessid Union of Souls. p.s. Soul Coughing is a really bad name too.

― Kim, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Tarden - none of the bands you mention are from NZ, thanks. Split Enz are tho', & that name is pretty rude on 2 levels, (1) the obvious & (2) putting "NZ" in the name to inspire some sort of patriotic angle...what a "i come from some fucking little who-gives-a-shit country" fuckin hick thing to do.

― duane zarakov, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

The (International) Noise Conspiracy. Loses extra points for the parenthesis, and for the fact that they are basically the bastard child of the Dandy Warhols and the Manics, yet somehow still manage to create the worst music I've ever heard.

― Ally, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Yet more Canucks - Chixdiggit, whose name is so cringeworthy I wouldn't even look it up on Napster.

― tarden, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

80s metal had some good ones. Laaz Rokkitt, Main EE Axe, Roxx Regime (who went on to be Stryper). I doubt I spelled any of these correctly. The funniest thing is there was a Cleveland Kid Wykid who had an ugly rivalry with the Toronto Kyd Wykked!

― tarden, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

duane, I'd have to agree that the Enz had a terrible name - despite the fact that I count myself as a fan. But to be fair, it must be one of the first to make use of deliberate misspelling as novelty memory hook (other than the obvious like Led Zep). I think it's the merciless barrage of 'creative' spellings since, that makes it so cringe-worthy in the rear view. I think Neil sensed this (as he began his 'take-over') and hence, at the very height of their commercial success and international name recognition, the Enz gave way to the House. In turn CH has also been scrapped so Neil can now peddle his songs as a relatively unknown solo act. I respect the fact that he refuses to cash in on a 'brand' for the sake of success. I wish I could say the same for the marketers which insist on slapping "THE SONGWRITING FORCE BEHIND..." labels on every damn thing he does now. I really *should* have posted this on the CH thread - but people seemed to bent on dissin' my boy Neil (despite his fabulous hair n' pants!) that I didn't want to spoil the fun.

― Kim, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

The Australian version of Popstars are called Scandal'Us - which is much worse than Hear'Say.

Also, Third Eye Blind is a bad bad name.

― Fidelma Maher, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

The Armageddon Dildos.

Band names that I like more than the band itself: Planes Mistaken For Stars (which I lifted for a poem) and Sweep the Leg, Jonny.

― bnw, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

OK Duane, here's a side-splittingly funny band name - THE DEAD C. Get it? 'C'? 'Sea'? Notes? Oh.

― tarden, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Kim-is-Grim claims Split Enz invented the band-name misspelling. Surely this can't be so? But I can't seem to get my Giant Unabridged Oxford Book of Totally Useless Facts open this morning, to check.

And yes, Led Zep certainly doesn't count (besides, they did this so as cleverly not to be mispronounced: as in Lead Zep and all the little follow-up Zeps).

Um, nor do the Beatles, tho I can't think why not.

― mark s, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

The Human Beinz - nobody but them!

― tarden, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

dates, Tarden, dates!!! Facts! A fellow needs facts!!

[incidentally, d'you actually work near Islington Sainsbury's car-park? Cuz so do I... ]

― mark s, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Hey, ho, well. Erm. mark, I did say "one of" not THE first, as in the clever-clever novelty simply hadn't gotten old and molden yet. yeh- yeah.

― Kim, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Tarden you are wrong!! Well, you could be wrong: I can't finetune my pedantometer precisely enough. The Cyrcle ("Red Rubber Ball") and the Cryan Shames ("Sugar'n'Spice" were both operational in 1966: the Human Beinz only really surface in 1967.

Kim: I wasn't trying to score a point (erm, no, not at all) — I was just certain that misspelling went back some way before the Enz era, even. So "one of" would be misleading.

This all only counts if we also discount the Surfaris, of course.

― mark s, Saturday, 2 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

what about the Sun Ra Arkestra? if you say it with a american accent it's just a mis-spelling rather than a neologism(?right?)(i'm trying it out now, saying "arkestra" & "orchestra" over & over w/ various "american" accents. [but real quietly 'cause my girlfriend's asleep]...uh yeah, OK, not *that* convincing....)

― duane z., Saturday, 2 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

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We the type of people who don't ruby the axe

― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes), Thursday, 23 May 2024 13:51 (two years ago)

ten months pass...

Sean Na Na

― enochroot, Friday, 4 April 2025 01:45 (one year ago)

I did not need to see those pasty white beer bellies on clicking that link.

― Dan Worsley, Friday, 4 April 2025 08:31 (one year ago)

three months pass...

Surely, Michael Cera Palin was named with the kind of lol self-awareness that they would end up on lists like this.

― enochroot, Wednesday, 23 July 2025 20:28 (eleven months ago)

Quite impressed with the double pun, but it's still not a good name.

― Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 23 July 2025 20:34 (eleven months ago)

Cera, Palin and Tall

― Iza Duffus Hardy (President Keyes), Wednesday, 23 July 2025 20:35 (eleven months ago)

Some more searching on whether Michael Cera Palin intended the double pun (alas, they didn't) led me to this thread-locker of a list:
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/mookid/artists-from-the-late-2000s_2010s-whose-names-are-an-ironic-parody-of-the-name-of-a-celebrity/

― enochroot, Wednesday, 23 July 2025 21:12 (eleven months ago)

Slightly ruin a celebrity name

― henry s, Wednesday, 23 July 2025 21:48 (eleven months ago)

Wait what’s the double pun with “Michael Cera Palin?”

― Black Sabaoth (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 23 July 2025 22:26 (eleven months ago)

Michael Cera
Sarah Palin
Michael Palin

― Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 23 July 2025 22:28 (eleven months ago)

why not just go all out:

Ruth's Chris Paul George Michael Cera Palin

― henry s, Wednesday, 23 July 2025 22:35 (eleven months ago)

this thread-locker of a list

wow.

have to admit tho i'd have chuckled seeing "Wayne Longer" as a rejected JBR screen name

― budo jeru, Wednesday, 23 July 2025 22:40 (eleven months ago)

Amazed that there's an Amy Grindhouse but nobody has claimed Amy Crackhouse yet.

― Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 23 July 2025 22:48 (eleven months ago)

The name "Scary German Guy" legit made me laugh out loud. Somehow the fact that they're from Long Island makes it funnier.

― obvious, Thursday, 24 July 2025 02:08 (eleven months ago)

The funny thing about Michael Cera Palin is that for a band with such a jokey/ironic name they seem remarkably earnest.

― husked, tonal wails (irrational), Thursday, 24 July 2025 13:55 (eleven months ago)

The singer openly admits in that article that he named the band that way for SEO (search engine optimization):

Take Brabant, who wasn’t even in a band yet when he came up with the name Michael Cera Palin, which he debuted in 2015. He reverse-engineered the moniker after he concluded that “celebrity names were very algorithm-friendly” and his music would thus “reach a nonzero amount of ears.” The musician wasn’t even aware his creation also parodied comedian Michael Palin until a Monty Python Facebook page accidentally auto-tagged his group in a post.

― enochroot, Thursday, 24 July 2025 13:59 (eleven months ago)

Eric American Idle

― Iza Duffus Hardy (President Keyes), Thursday, 24 July 2025 14:27 (eleven months ago)

Dr John Cleese

― mirostones, Thursday, 24 July 2025 16:38 (eleven months ago)

Graham Chapman Styx

― henry s, Thursday, 24 July 2025 16:56 (eleven months ago)

Terry Jesus Jones

― Posts That Witness Madness (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 July 2025 17:08 (eleven months ago)

Sister Carol Cleveland

― henry s, Thursday, 24 July 2025 17:51 (eleven months ago)

Vince Neil Innes

― Ashley Pomeroy, Friday, 25 July 2025 17:19 (eleven months ago)

Todd Terry Gilliam

― henry s, Friday, 25 July 2025 18:56 (eleven months ago)

The Knights Who Say Nils Lofgren

― Iza Duffus Hardy (President Keyes), Friday, 25 July 2025 19:36 (eleven months ago)

Judean People's Front 242

― Gavin, Leeds, Friday, 25 July 2025 19:41 (eleven months ago)

The Dead Jimmy Buffet Fan Sketch

― Iza Duffus Hardy (President Keyes), Friday, 25 July 2025 20:15 (eleven months ago)

one month passes...

Butt Mommy

― Mr. T's Ballroom (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 24 September 2025 12:03 (nine months ago)

Yeah, don't like that at all.

― peace, man, Wednesday, 24 September 2025 12:21 (nine months ago)

lol

― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 24 September 2025 12:26 (nine months ago)

five months pass...

It makes me really really angry that I'm enjoying music from a band called... Cootie Catcher. Should be illegal that name.
Got some super nice tracks though. RIYL Pavement, Vaselines, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8JOCAz4Ql0

― mr.raffles, Friday, 6 March 2026 02:54 (three months ago)

three weeks pass...

Ritt Momney

― Mollusk, Virginia (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 27 March 2026 20:42 (three months ago)

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