The Best and Worst Band Names You've Ever Heard

The The is real. They sang This Is The Day.

I forgot Limp Bizkit on my Worst list. What the hell does it even mean?

And supposedly, Hoobastank means hopscotch in some European language.

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I think Fuck is sort of an example of why context is sometimes important for band names: If they were in any genre that lends itself to True Art Is Offensive I'd think they'd just be trying too hard (or maybe not trying hard enough considering how many more creatively offensive band names there are out there). However, they're an indie pop band with mostly inoffensive lyrics who mostly use clean guitars, but who nevertheless named themselves something that guarantees they'll never get any radio airplay.

edited 25th Apr '11 11:26:30 PM by MikeK

I always thought it was supposed to mean "Limp Biscuit"—which still doesn't make any sense. How can a biscuit be limp?

So I imagine a wet, floppy, soggy biscuit, which is really gross. Terrible band name.

I laughed at the album artwork for a solid five minutes.

Now, I'd like to see bands named The Jackets and Eardrum Assault.

edited 24th Apr '11 11:41:52 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

On the band name I Wrestled A Bear Once: it's a reference to a line from the short-lived series I'm With Busey. It also makes appearances in Gary Busey soundboards.

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Worst? Suffocate For Fuck Sake.

I've heard they're great, and I really want to listen to them, but I CAN'T BECAUSE OF THAT GLARING SPELLING MISTAKE. FUCK YOU GUYS.

You do not want to know how Limp Bizkit got their name. It's a reference to a masturbation game. Describing it further would be NSFW, go to Urban Dictionary.

Anything with punctuation just rubs me the wrong way. When you're typing about Therapy? or Does It Offend You, Yeah?, it just makes the sentence look awkward, although I think Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly win in this regard.

Funnily enough, my favourite and least favourite band names belong to my favourite and least favourite band respectively - Dream Theater (which I always thought was a pleasingly grandiose name that suited its users perfectly) and Emmure (what the fuck does Emmure even mean?)

Other good ones: Cyclamen (a species of flower; the name was chosen as said flower has both painful and poetic connotations in Japan), Heaven Shall Burn, Wintersun, Moonsorrow, Nevermore. As you can see, my tastes lean towards one-word prog metal band names; I generally don't go for tongue-in-cheek ones, though I like the name Modest Mouse and the aforementioned Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza.

Other bad ones: Five Finger Death Punch, The Swellers, Godsmack, Hate Eternal, Killwhitneydead, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Iwrestledabearonce, and Rose Funeral.

Edit: Oh man, I left out nu metal! Yeah, there's some atrocious band names there. Limp Bizkit, Staind, Drowning Pool, Mushroomhead, the list goes on.

edited 25th Apr '11 2:14:05 AM by AsTheAnointed

Because I choose to.

(Not that this list has little to nothing to do with whether or not I like the band in question.)

Good: NEU!, Swans, The Heartless Bastards, The Mars Volta, Ludus, Einstürzende Neubauten, Malaria!, Psychic Television *

, Black Dice, Kraan, Wire, God, The Legendary Pink Dots, The Pop Group, Public Image Limited, Scorpions, Mission Of Burma, Black Flag, Death, Love.

Bad: Smegma, Smell & Quim, Journey, The Cure, Dinosaur Jr., Pink Floyd, Hot Hot Heat, Gang Gang Dance, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Dead C, Fuck Buttons, The 4 Skins, The Grey Wolves, America, Bongwater, Bongzilla, Ween, Dead Kennedys.

So Bad It's Good: Jackie-O Motherfucker, Home, !!!, Vibrant Thighs!, Holy Fuck, Come, Royal Trux.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

How's about Children Of Bodom or Fuck... I'm Dead?

Regarding Limp Bizkit: There's a story behind their name, but it's kind of gross.

There are snakes in the grass, so we'd better go hunting!

Officially, it's because a friend-turned-roadie compared Fred's brain to a soggy, cum-soaked pastry.

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt." - Some guy with a snazzy hat.

Obvious retcon is obvious.

There are snakes in the grass, so we'd better go hunting!

Unofficially, nobody in Limp Bizkit has matured past the age of ten.

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt." - Some guy with a snazzy hat.

Admittedly, it's been seven years since Bizkit's last release. Who knows, maybe Gold Cobra will land and with it the revelation that the band's collective mental age has risen to eleven!

Best name? Or bestest name?

Extreme metal and grindcore band names are a font of (probably intentional) hilarity, especially ones that combine ultraviolence with scatological references.

edited 25th Apr '11 7:45:26 AM by DarkDecapodian

Aww, did I hurt your widdle fee-fees?

Fuck... I'm Dead have a song called Colon Commando that I think is one of the most amusing grind titles ever.

Because I choose to.

Total Fucking Destruction. And their album titles (Peace, Love, And Total Fucking Destruction and Zen And The Art Of Total Fucking Destruction).

As far as worst names, I nominate Anorexia Nervosa (enough said?) and Catamenia, even though I like both of them. For Catamenia, I'd imagine the founder thought it meant something like "haemhorraging blood". Brootul, right? Yeah... It actually means "menstruation".

There are snakes in the grass, so we'd better go hunting!

I nominate Star Fucking Hipsters for best F-bomb band name.

We must move forward, not backward. Upward, not forward. And always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.

Nah, that title goes to That Fucking Tank

Listen to Music with Tropers at The Troper Turntable!

Here's one that really could go either way: DevilDriver. It sounds pretty lame at first (especially the way it's typeset as one word- just remembered to NotAWikiWord it), but apparently it's a bell that witches used to use to drive away evil spirits before casting spells. But if you didn't know that already, it just looks awful.

There are snakes in the grass, so we'd better go hunting!

Camel case is lame by default... DevilDriver are okay though.

Yeah, I now sort of wish I thought of that Fuck album album back when the theme of the week was funny album covers. Although, since having swears in titles or signatures isn't allowed, having them in avatars might have been questionable anyway.

As far as band names with cursing in them, for whatever reason I quite like The Fucking Champs. Especially once I found out that they chose that name after finding out there was a band called The Champs already (the band that did "Tequila" in fact). I also like that the first time they collaborated with the band Trans Am, they called the project Trans Champs, and the second time they changed it to The Fucking Am.

Best: Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard (who I would put in the "worst" category if their name was spelt correctly), the Sex Pistols, King Crimson.

Worst: The The, Mr. Mister, !!! (how does one pronounce that one, anyway?).

!!! is pronounced "chk chk chk". They're happy to remind everyone of this at any given time.

edited 25th Apr '11 10:24:44 AM by Litis

^ Clicking sounds like chk, supposedly (it's what I've read, but I've never heard it spoken in person). It's taken from a real language.

Oh wait, IIRC that language features in The Gods Must Be Crazy. I didn't know about it at the time though, so I didn't really pay attention, just read the subtitles.

edited 25th Apr '11 10:27:15 AM by melloncollie

I figured it was a stomp followed by jazz hands.

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You do not want to know.

Trust me, you just don't.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....