Aaahah! Big Thief is a Berklee band. That explains some of why they leave me cold. That grey competence. Wonder if they were aware of the Berklee band Big Wreck?
― bendy, Friday, 11 March 2022 13:26 (two years ago) link
Headrest would be a pretty good band name. Car Seat Headrest is just clunky and awkward.
― Hideous Lump, Friday, 11 March 2022 14:25 (two years ago) link
Car Seat (For Babies) would be a pretty good band name
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, 11 March 2022 14:33 (two years ago) link
i don't like car seat headrest, but doesn't it refer to where he would write/record his songs, in the back seat, leaning his head against the back of the frontseat headrest, so that he read the lyrics/record while looking down on his lap, or something? that'll probably get eyerolls from people but to me that's a classic lo-fi recording situation where you have no privacy, anywhere, ever, and you just have to find a spot and make it work. so...i like the name
― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Friday, 11 March 2022 16:14 (two years ago) link
car seat (for babies) is a better name though, lol
Meek and Lenker named the group Big Thief after an idea they learned in a songwriting workshop in Texas about “a trickster or thief that borrows from the collective conscious, and regenerates ideas and integrates them into his or her identity.”
― Thus Sang Freud, Friday, 11 March 2022 16:21 (two years ago) link
(per stereogum article)
Well I was fine with big thief as a name before and now I hate it
― ✖, Friday, 11 March 2022 16:56 (two years ago) link
The “Big” in Big Thief is what has always annoyed me. It’s just a bland and easily forgotten name. Not close to the worst mentioned on this thread, though.
― beard papa, Friday, 11 March 2022 18:12 (two years ago) link
yeah I agree with Paul's post above, Big Thief isn't offensive or annoying it's just a bad name that to me recalls prog bands like Big Big Train and Pineapple Thief, which they don't sound anything like. Black Country, New Road is another one of those, like what, if anything, does that mean?
― frogbs, Friday, 11 March 2022 18:24 (two years ago) link
Counting Crows.
― Loud Tsu (I M Losted), Friday, 11 March 2022 18:47 (two years ago) link
xp The problem seems to be that you know too many bands, lol
― u swear (morrisp), Friday, 11 March 2022 18:54 (two years ago) link
Grimes
― Otto Insurance (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 11 March 2022 19:16 (two years ago) link
Black Country, New Road is another one of those, like what, if anything, does that mean?
Supposedly it's a road in the West Midlands ... and a shit name for a band.
― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Friday, 11 March 2022 19:49 (two years ago) link
looks like a shit road too tbh
https://i2-prod.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article18729192.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/1_KA_BEM060820_BCNRJPG.jpg
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 11 March 2022 19:54 (two years ago) link
the black country area is named after all the pollution from the factories that used to be in the area btw. or the coal that was mined there or something
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 11 March 2022 19:58 (two years ago) link
I'm going nuts, I wrote a post a couple of years ago summing up why Car Seat Headrest is such a bad name for a band by comparing it to a band being named after a component in a cabinet or something but I can't find it at all. What the hell?
― Evan, Friday, 11 March 2022 20:22 (two years ago) link
There are several threads like this
― u swear (morrisp), Friday, 11 March 2022 20:30 (two years ago) link
I saw Component in a Cabinet open for Car Seat Headrest once.
― joygoat, Friday, 11 March 2022 20:33 (two years ago) link
xp Evan, I think this is the post.
― Kim Kimberly, Friday, 11 March 2022 20:51 (two years ago) link
Alfred Sisley
― Nordle (Noodle Vague), Friday, 11 March 2022 21:03 (two years ago) link
Component in a Cabinet I know, I know, they're openers ...
― nickn, Friday, 11 March 2022 21:31 (two years ago) link
there is an inverse relationship between how good a band name is and how good the band is. no good band has ever had a good band name.
― treeship., Friday, 11 March 2022 21:36 (two years ago) link
Well, that certainly isn't true.
― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Friday, 11 March 2022 21:41 (two years ago) link
― Kim Kimberly, Friday, March 11, 2022 3:51 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
Oh god thank you, search was truly failing me or I was just failing to focus. Thanks!
― Evan, Friday, 11 March 2022 22:58 (two years ago) link
hell yeah that post ruled
― Evan, Friday, 11 March 2022 23:01 (two years ago) link
let's eat grandma
― ciderpress, Friday, 11 March 2022 23:03 (two years ago) link
xps to Evan. words in quotes are unsearchable.
― peace, man, Friday, 11 March 2022 23:07 (two years ago) link
I'm hungry too, but can we keep this thread on-topic?
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 11 March 2022 23:10 (two years ago) link
Idk I think “Rolling Stones” is a pretty great band name
― frogbs, Friday, 11 March 2022 23:26 (two years ago) link
any spoonerism band
like
Wevie Stonder
― i read to 69 position (Neanderthal), Friday, 11 March 2022 23:43 (two years ago) link
I was looking at the calendar for my local club today, and on back-to-back nights they are featuring bands with semi-amusing names and, I'm assuming, post-TMBG twee-ness that I never need bother trying to appreciate:Apr 11 - Great Good Fine OKApr 12 - We Were Promised Jetpacks (with Weakened Friends)
― enochroot, Saturday, 12 March 2022 04:27 (two years ago) link
My educated guess is that the members of We Were Promised Jetpacks are 65-70 years old, are all deeply involved in the Jonny Quest fan club, and buy Quisp cereal whenever it's temporarily reintroduced
― Josefa, Saturday, 12 March 2022 05:15 (two years ago) link
And they all wear Hawaiian shirts
― Josefa, Saturday, 12 March 2022 05:17 (two years ago) link
I know this from some other terrible band name thread: We Were Promised Jetpacks were named after a line in a Ricky Gervais podcast. What Gervais actually said in the podcast was "we were promised hovercrafts." However, the bandmates thought "jetpacks" would sound cooler.
― peace, man, Saturday, 12 March 2022 12:42 (two years ago) link
In a similar vein there is Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. This is made even worse by the fact it's a solo artist, I don't like when solo artists give themselves stupid band-like names at the best of times.
― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Saturday, 12 March 2022 13:01 (two years ago) link
“Funny” band names are a mistake unless your listeners are people who think the same joke is funny over and over again
― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Saturday, 12 March 2022 15:56 (two years ago) link
weakened friends is a great band name (and band) imo
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Saturday, 12 March 2022 16:39 (two years ago) link
Cocaine Piss
― should we think of a new name for krautrock (Matt #2), Sunday, 13 March 2022 00:47 (two years ago) link
Every single explanation behind every band name has made me hate the band name more
Ricky Gervais podcast ffs
― ✖, Sunday, 13 March 2022 16:25 (two years ago) link
Really hate it when bands take their names from sorta-but-not-really obscure film references, like Zuzu's Petals. "And you know where they get their name from?..." No, Einstein, feel free to enlighten me.
― henry s, Sunday, 13 March 2022 16:46 (two years ago) link
OK I just googled to check Ricky Gervais Podcast wasn’t the name of a band
― Alba, Sunday, 13 March 2022 16:48 (two years ago) link
It seems like the most durable bands have band names that have a whiff of shit to them. I'm thinking Arctic Monkeys, like, that has a whiff of bad to it, that whiff is necessary otherwise your band is just called Espers or Ida or The Vaccines and you have a couple albums and you're done
― flow, my crimson tears (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 13 March 2022 16:53 (two years ago) link
― henry s, Sunday, March 13, 2022 12:46 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
just remembered there's a band calling themselves spirit of the beehive
― ✖, Sunday, 13 March 2022 17:00 (two years ago) link
Yeah there's something peculiarly annoying about band names that are simply the name of an old film. You need to at least alter it, like 10,000 Maniacs.
― Josefa, Sunday, 13 March 2022 17:03 (two years ago) link
🎶 My love wears fordibben colours 🎶
― flow, my crimson tears (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 13 March 2022 17:26 (two years ago) link
> Really hate it when bands take their names from sorta-but-not-really obscure film references
my bloody valentine...
― koogs, Sunday, 13 March 2022 17:33 (two years ago) link
All three musical projects I had on the go a few years back were named after old films in one way or another, sorry. Kind of lazy I admit.
― should we think of a new name for krautrock (Matt #2), Sunday, 13 March 2022 18:38 (two years ago) link
Was it beloved cultural critic Marilyn Manson who said that every band with a number in their name should be avoided? On the whole I don't agree (Spacemen 3, Level 42, 10cc, Gang of Four, Dirty Three), but there are definitely many examples that would seem to support this theory
― Paul Ponzi, Sunday, 13 March 2022 19:08 (two years ago) link
can you name a band who have numbers in their name and aren't shite?
― Kim Kimberly, Sunday, 13 March 2022 19:17 (two years ago) link