What's In A Name?

Sometimes don't you know a band is going to suck just from their name? I've gone so far as to make a little mental list of (flexible) rules to that effect.

-- If they have the words "super", "all stars", or "american" in their name. Notable exceptions: Super Furry Animals, Supergrass, etc.

-- Numbers in their name, other than to represent the number of members in the group.

-- A one syllable band name. Note: I consider the word "The ____" a second syllable.

Also, if you are not a band consisting of Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, and DJ Bonebreak, any unusual emphasis of the letter "X" is lame...

or if your name is preceded by the word lil'....then you pretty much kick ass up and down the street

XTC?

See King's X, Static-X, etc.

*edited because my reading comprehension sucks*



[Edited on Aug 30, 2003 by Shalome]

I tend to think the American Analog Set are pretty great, and they definitely break one of you rules.

Other indicators of suckitude:
-Intentional misspellings
-Making new compound words (cf. Fishbone)

Borderline cases:
-Punctuation that calls attention to itself (... and you will know us by the trail of the dead, Therapy?)
-Bandleader's name + band (pro: Iggy & the Stooges, con: er, I'm sitting next to my record collection and it doesn't have any examples, so...)

The definition of the band's name hints at one-hit wonderness; e.g., see below:

Evanescense: "1. a fading from sight; vanishing 2. a tendency to fade from sight; evanescent quality; transitoriness".

{edited due to sticky space bar}

[Edited on Aug 30, 2003 by CE20934]

intentional misspellings and bad puns are a no-no
though i am a death metal fan, i tend to pass over cliche death metal band names
the number thing sucks, but also referring to a year you were not at all involved in musically '77, '69 whatever
pseudo-deep sentance names that actually mean nothing, see From Autumn to Ashes, Between the Buried and Me, etc...

i think rule one is a bit amiss
i present for your perusal:
George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic All-Stars!!!
i mean, come on, man..............

oh yeah, you're also forgetting about Fear and Ween!!

other than that, you're pretty right on

the number thing is right on
the "american" thing is right on

one word names in general have been ruined by nu metal
and for gods sake SPELL CORRECTLY

(I still dig the whole "nospacesinourname" thing though)

there are bands, movies, etc that i will avoid on the basis of a terrible name.

even if i eventually concede that it's ok, i still insist they could have tried harder coming up with a name.

"emo-core" bands come up with some pretty awful names for things. usually stuff that is way to long.
like:

that bright eyes album "the story is in the soi..."
"they will know us by the trail of really long name"

deathcab for cutie get's my boobie prize for most retarded name (even though i kind of like it)

MC5, if I'm not mistaken, refers to the 5 members of the band. Also, I mentioned X, if you'll look. I named every member of the group.

X-ray Specs works because the letter X is not short for anything in that word. X-ray is really spelled X-ray. XTC does seem to be an exception. U2 as well.

[Edited on Aug 30, 2003 by Keith]

"sigh" i love the MC5

what about gwar?

Including Add N to X?

what about INXS?!