What bands do you think made a poor choice in naming themselves? This is not about disliking the music, (although that can also be the case), just the band name.

There are a few that come to mind for me, but I will just mention 2 for now:

Imagine Dragons - sounds like a children's toy line.
Guided by Voices - good choice for a gospel group.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - I have no idea what these guys sound like. Maybe I'd like them more during a blizzard. Or with Eddie Izzard.
H.E.R. - I love Gabi Wilson's music, but the acronym H.E.R. (which means "Having Everything Revealed") is idiotic. I'm sure that sixth-graders think that it's deep, however.

Anal C**t

It's a goofy name, but it actually kind of fits their crazy music.

Anything that is so vague that it's next to impossible to do an internet search on.

I love their music, but I hate The New Pornographers name. I bought a T-shirt at their last show but am embarrassed to wear it in public.

Right? I was watching a music show and they showed a video by a great band with the dumb name of Susan. That's it. Susan. Luckily I was able to find their record while digging through the S section at a store, but man, you really don't want people to come see you, do you? What names did they reject? TBA?

King Gizzard's music is all over the place. If you like rock music, at least one of their 800 albums should work for you.

You could throw a dart at a metal festival lineup and easily find terrible band names.
Dying Fetus
Infant Annihilator
Cradle of Filth
Goatwhore
Any/all -grind bands

Most local bands, especially college bands, seem to out of their way to have idiotic names which are simply tiresome.

As for "real" bands (ones with actual releases) I'd have to go with the entire death metal scene. Cornball horror movie imagery and indecipherable logos.

Portugal. The Man

I don't hate that there's a band called The Verve and I don't hate that there's a band called The Verve Pipe. But I do hate that there is one band called The Verve and a different band called The Verve Pipe.
I do like Bittersweet Symphony, whichever one plays that song.

Yeah, that's a rough one, you'd think there'd be a group for bands that would help them avoid that. Like the kerfluffle with Lady Antebellum changing their name to Lady A and someone was already using that.


Man, R.E.M. is my favorite band ever, but yeah, it throws off any kinds of searches when it shows sleep issue stuff.


And this is my bleeding heart answer: I don't like the idea of Cage the Elephant. I can see a Tame Impala at a rescue zoo, but an elephant needs space to move.

Not a band, but I thought it was until I saw him on SNL: The Weeknd

Presidents of the United States of America

and if now you spend the rest of the day humming "movin to the country...gonna eat a lot of peaches", well, that's on me. Sorry.

The Birthday Massacre
Aesthetic Perfection
The Airborne Toxic Event
Apoptygma Berzerk

Bring Me the Horizon
Motionless in White

Good point. The SAG has that, which is why the actress who was widely known previously as the singer (and former Miss America) Vanessa Williams is credited as Vanessa L. Williams for some of her acting work.

I asked my Tesla to "Play R.E.M. on Spotify" and got a listing of dozens of albums that were listed as "Remastered" as well as songs that start with the word "Remember"

Oh that reminds me : there was this absolutely TERRIBLE opening act I saw last month before The Foo Fighters who go by the name of Kills Birds. That is a horrible name, just vile. But the band was worse.

Speaking of R.E.M., I was shopping at Walmart today and they were playing "Radio Free Europe."

Kind of weird, but Walmart actually plays some pretty decent music; I've heard everything from Judas Priest's "You Got Another Thing Comin'" to "Charlotte Sometimes" by The Cure.

I worked at a music store and someone called once asking for this band. Thought the asshole was joking and hung up on him. He called back and complained to the manager. Fucking dork.

Live?

The The. That search will get you exactly nowhere. Not that I've tried.

Yeah, love the band. But always hated that name. Sorry Matt.

That one is not a problem for the Googles (but I agree, a dumb name)...

Apoptygma Berzerk has no flow, and drives me up a wall. Love the music though. I don't really have a problem with the first two, and likewise enjoy both bands a lot.

Apropos The The (which was not quite as dumb before Internet searches) I would assume it's universally pronounced 'Thuh Thuh' but there are several ways you can go. Anyone pronounce it 'Thee Thee'?

Jools Holland had them (even though it's really only Matt Johnson) on his show, and he pronounced it "Thuh Thuh" (twice) so I'm assuming that he said it correctly (and he goes back a LOOOONG way with the band):