xps isn't it (also) a play on Gunne Sax?
― kinder, Friday, 9 July 2021 18:15 (two years ago) link
Oh wow, this is some multi-layered genius
― Alba, Friday, 9 July 2021 19:28 (two years ago) link
Dry Cleaning is a chore not a band name.
There have been a lot of other bands over the last several years with similarly prosaic names, that by all rights I should avoid out of principle, expect that I kinda like them all: Real Estate, Tennis, Hockey, etc.
― henry s, Friday, 9 July 2021 19:47 (two years ago) link
Prolapse. Leftover damage from the porn biz, probably, but it’s just an instant “no thanks”.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 10 July 2021 01:30 (two years ago) link
scientific dreamz of u.Snarky Puppy.
― RobbiePires, Saturday, 10 July 2021 10:47 (two years ago) link
(xp) Yes, Prolapse is a great example.
― Wouldn't disgrace a Michael Jackson (Tom D.), Saturday, 10 July 2021 12:31 (two years ago) link
Oh wow, how could I have forgotten Fountains of Wayne??
― Alba, Tuesday, 13 July 2021 10:03 (two years ago) link
Snarky Puppy really puts me off.
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 July 2021 10:48 (two years ago) link
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci suits their music; or at least their earlier work up to Gorky 5
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 July 2021 10:51 (two years ago) link
To complete the 'puppy' triumvirate (after Skinny and Snarky), Bubble Puppy always sounded like a band I didn't want to hear.
― hosonono (Matt #2), Tuesday, 13 July 2021 11:30 (two years ago) link
Who? What? When? Why? & Werewolves is a name for an indie band which makes me want to punch their fathers in the dick
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 15 July 2021 17:35 (two years ago) link
They'll just reform as Dick-Punched Dads
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 15 July 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
The one that cracked me up was back in the 90s was Rhinos the all ages club in Bloomington booked John Cougar Concentration Camp unheard just so it could put it on the marquee.
― earlnash, Friday, 16 July 2021 01:46 (two years ago) link
Fun fact: I went to Disneyland with the guys from JCCC in high school
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 16 July 2021 01:54 (two years ago) link
bitchin bajasDanananakroydWe were promised jet packs BeabadoobeeCoheed and cambria Tapes n tapes
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Friday, 16 July 2021 03:13 (two years ago) link
I wrote off Bitchin Bajas for a long time, but they are well worth enduring their bad name.
― beard papa, Friday, 16 July 2021 20:24 (two years ago) link
I've written off bands whose titles come from cool and completely non-obscure choices: The Grifters and Twin Peaks are two that come to mind.
― ... (Eazy), Friday, 16 July 2021 20:26 (two years ago) link
*whose names
We Were Promised Jetpacks is a great name I think. And they're a nice wee band.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 16 July 2021 20:27 (two years ago) link
In defense of the Grifters, I don't think the Jim Thompson novel was "completely non-obscure" when they chose their name (tho I also don't generally favor band names that are just the name of something else "cool").
― aging goth couple™ (morrisp), Friday, 16 July 2021 21:11 (two years ago) link
It's interesting that the Scorsese adaption of that novel came out soon afterward; I guess something was in the air.
― aging goth couple™ (morrisp), Friday, 16 July 2021 21:14 (two years ago) link
khruangbin
...it just... i don't know. what even
― maelin, Friday, 16 July 2021 21:35 (two years ago) link
None of the band members actually speak Thai so arguably they don't know either.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 16 July 2021 22:13 (two years ago) link
re the Grifters tbh I just thought they were named after the bike (not really, but that was my reference for the word when I first heard them)
― bovarism, Friday, 16 July 2021 22:22 (two years ago) link
I feel like I heard of them not too long after the movie was in the theaters and thought they'd named themselves after a John Cusack movie, not unlike the rock band Say Anything.
― ... (Eazy), Friday, 16 July 2021 22:30 (two years ago) link
The Grifters is a perfectly good band name people. Having never heard their music, I have a pretty good idea what it's going to sound like based on that name (unlike Khruangbin). If I'm also assuming that they're a middling, anodyne band, it's only because I've never heard anyone rave about them, not because they got their name from a Jim Thompson book.
― enochroot, Saturday, 17 July 2021 01:17 (two years ago) link
Thrush Hermit. OK, I’d never actually heard of them before they popped up here but I’m just treating this thread as a repository for off-putting names at this point.
― Alba, Tuesday, 20 July 2021 17:15 (two years ago) link
khruangbin...it just... i don't know. what even― maelin, Friday, July 16, 2021 4:35 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglinkNone of the band members actually speak Thai so arguably they don't know either.― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, July 16, 2021 5:13 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink
― maelin, Friday, July 16, 2021 4:35 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, July 16, 2021 5:13 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink
When asked to play their first gig, Laura Lee, who was learning to speak Thai at the time, decided they should use her favorite Thai word "khruangbin" (Thai: เครื่องบิน; RTGS: khrueang bin), which means "aeroplane", as their name.
I don't know how far she got in her language lessons, but they definitely know the meaning. And given their influences and covers of non-Western music I think it's a fine name, just a little hard to remember. I like them a lot.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 20 July 2021 19:12 (two years ago) link
Hiatus Kaiyote
I see I have played some tracks by them in past, but it's just such an unappealing name
― tean mean poleand cheaseang theas means hamseak feasts (breastcrawl), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 20:14 (two years ago) link
in *the* past
steely dan
always irritated me in a way probably inextricable from my impressions of their weird/complicated/impenetrable cultural context. but i just looked up the origins of the name and fucking hell could these guys be any more not for me
― Left, Wednesday, 21 July 2021 23:28 (two years ago) link
Not a Burroughs fan?
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 22 July 2021 01:33 (two years ago) link
i don’t know enough about the beats to distinguish them stylistically but i anything even slightly adjacent is hard for me to bear (eg lou reed, patti smith) I don’t understand that version of cool whatsoever. also not a big fan of men who kill women in general
― Left, Thursday, 22 July 2021 02:09 (two years ago) link
^I'll remember that if I ever need a new reason to write off/pointedly ignore Chappaquiddick Skyline.
― Tubesocks Secure (punning display), Thursday, 22 July 2021 22:49 (two years ago) link
Wait who killed women
― xheugy eddy (D-40), Friday, 23 July 2021 02:03 (two years ago) link
Donald Fagen
― making splashes at Dan Flashes (Neanderthal), Friday, 23 July 2021 03:19 (two years ago) link
Left seems really annoying
― clouds, Friday, 23 July 2021 04:12 (two years ago) link
Burroughs killed his wife
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Friday, 23 July 2021 04:14 (two years ago) link
Fagen's?
― Max Ice (morrisp), Friday, 23 July 2021 04:17 (two years ago) link
So that's what Do It Again is about
― making splashes at Dan Flashes (Neanderthal), Friday, 23 July 2021 04:26 (two years ago) link
Sometimes I try to imagine having a conversation with a person like that in real life and I shudder.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 23 July 2021 11:53 (two years ago) link
Fagen does seem like a prick, it's true
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, 23 July 2021 12:06 (two years ago) link
Like I said, I've never actually done this, but among the off-putting names that probably marred my enjoyment of the music upon discovering it, be it only for a split-second, I could cite
AerosmithAmerican FootballArctic MonkeysThe BandBritish Sea PowerThe Flying Burrito BrothersJefferson AirplaneLynyrd SkynyrdMegadethThe Modern LoversModest MouseOf MontrealThe NationalRoxy MusicSoft MachineSonic YouthSteely DanSupertrampThin LizzyYo La Tengo
I like most of these bands btw.
― pomenitul, Friday, 23 July 2021 12:23 (two years ago) link
My friend's dad thinks Roxy Music are called Sexy Music.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 July 2021 12:25 (two years ago) link
Megadeth is the perfect name for Megadeth.
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Friday, 23 July 2021 12:27 (two years ago) link
Most of those are good band names. No accounting for taste I suppose.
― Soundtracked by an eco jazz mixtape. (Tom D.), Friday, 23 July 2021 12:28 (two years ago) link
puddle of muddalice in chainsstaind
― oscar bravo, Friday, 23 July 2021 13:45 (two years ago) link
i still wanna know who killed Donald Fagen's wife
― making splashes at Dan Flashes (Neanderthal), Friday, 23 July 2021 14:06 (two years ago) link
We were promised jet packs for sure fuck those people idc if they sound like Alice Coltrane never hearing a note
― kurt schwitterz, Friday, 23 July 2021 14:17 (two years ago) link
The Modern Lovers, Roxy Music and Sonic Youth are three band names I've always thought were really good, specifically. And yeah, I'm not really into Supertramp, Aerosmith, Thin Lizzy or Megadeth but they're pretty good for what they are too.
British Sea Power is a terrible name, no arguments.
― Alba, Friday, 23 July 2021 14:46 (two years ago) link