Favourite band names [any genre]

Subject: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Feb 10 - 11:58 PM

The "If I Had a Band I'd Call It..." ongoing thread inspired this one. I was surprised that the filter didn't show any previous on the subject.

I think my favourite, for its multi-meaning ingenuity, was the Electric Light Orchestra ~ quite liked their music, of its kind which not really my best-loved genre: but always greatly enjoyed teasing out the various referential implications of their beautiful name.

So ~ what's yours?

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 02:42 AM

Old And In The Way.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 02:42 AM

Mine are all Mancunian: The Fall, Starless & Bible Black, The Woodbine & Ivy Band.

I do have a soft spot for some of the prog-rock band names of the seventies: Hatfield and the North, Matching Mole and so on.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: GUEST,ernest
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 03:26 AM

"One foot in the Grave"

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: cptsnapper
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 04:06 AM

Six Hands In Tempo, Decameron

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 04:31 AM

Matching Mole is even sweeter for its derivation; some choice Wyatt-esque wordplay punning on the French for Soft Machine, which is also a great name. Most contentious of the Mancs is, of course, Joy Division, who somehow managed to live up to it. In Gateshead there used to to a DIY sort-of-not-so-superstore which had a Joinery Division (I kid ye not) which I always thought would make a cool name, or at the very least a decent photograph.

One might be glad that the successful pop-covers cub band The Bystanders changed their name to Man, reportedly because it would look big on posters. To their fans, however, they will always be The Manband, which is just as well because they obviously weren't thinking ahead to Google. And I don't know why Simon Dupree and the Big Sound changed their name to Gentle Giant but I'm kinda glad they did. Whilst I'm perhaps the biggest & most indiscriminating Third Ear Band fan on the planet, I often ponder how things would have turned out if they'd stuck to The Giant Sun Trolley.   

Of all the bands I've been in, it is Rhombus of Doom I remember most fondly, not only for the name, but the music, the fractious internal politics, the opportunity to play with the finest rhythm section ever, some great vocalists, and in our sax player I had the honour of knowing, however so briefly, one of the nicest human beings that ever walked this earth. Our guitarist was one of the most innovative, open minded musicians I've ever met and he went on to form the equally great (in music as in name) Forkeye.

Favourite name ever? It's a toss up between Ace Brigode and his Fourteen Virginians and Sun Ra and his Omniverse Ultra 21st Century Arkestra...

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Terry McDonald
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:14 AM

My brother's re-emergence as a rock'n'roller in the late 1980s/early 1990s was as lead singer in a band called 'The Deckchairs.' The name relected their situation in that that they were a little frayed around the edges, always difficult to assemble,and liable to collapse at anytime.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:22 AM

I thought the young Asian band 'Cornershop' were very clever. I like people that can laugh at their own stereotypes:-) I like their music as well, which is an added bonus!

DeG

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: GUEST,Dáithí
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:22 AM

..Half Man Half Biscuit, closely followed by the Soft Machine, Fat Mattress...
D

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:38 AM

For someone who has posted 'Mancunians' what about

'Big John's Baekelite Nipple Band'.

Eh ?

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: GUEST,MC Fat (at work)
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:42 AM

Vince Wretch and the Pukettes, McKamikazie Highlanders, Willie Cutts and the Circumcisionists, Young Gifted and Fat, The Heaverly Brothers, The Two Rhetts, J Arthur and the Rankers, Driving Sideways......

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:21 PM

There have been a couple of older threads about band names. I posted links to them in the other thread.

I still don't see why you started this one.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: GUEST,guest lurkin'
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 06:16 PM

Hackney Martians :-)

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Mr Fox
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 06:36 PM

Edward II and the Red-Hot Polkas

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: melodeonboy
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 07:41 PM

Many years ago I played for a Cambridge band called "Algy and The Swimming Pools" (geddit?). And the guitarist's name really was Algernon!

What about "The Trouser Trumpets" and "The Fabulous Fezheads"? Both from Kent.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 09:28 PM

There have been a couple of older threads about band names. I posted links to them in the other thread.
I still don't see why you started this one.
=====================
Jim ~ I always, as enjoined, check filter before posting; did on this occasion & nothing came up: has happened to me twice recently {on other occasion found self repeating one of my own which most embarrassing!]. The filter needs to be more sensitive: one can surely never get the wording identical.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: GUEST,Captain Farrell
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 10:04 AM

Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers or the Mississippi Sheiks

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: frogprince
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 11:03 AM

Hadn't thought of this in years, and honestly I'm not making this up: When I was stationed on Guam, 1965-1966, there was a local group called "The Liberty Five". I doubt that I would even remember that, if it wasn't that the Lead singer's name was Toby Liberty.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Victor Mourning
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 11:24 AM

In the spirit of the original "If I Had a Band I'd Call It..." I'll mention that I do have a folk/Americana band and called it The Victor Mourning.

Anyway, some fave names (some of which work better if you know the bands' music) are The Gun Club, Roaring Jack (Alistair Hulett RIP), John Brown's Bodies (the 60s garage band, not to be confused with the modern reggae band) and of course The Dead Kennedys who pleasantly shocked us all by emerging with that name way back in 1980.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 08:55 PM

"The Flying Chaucers". And a former local band called "Jiggle the Handle". "Starboard List", of course. Oh, and another semi-local group, "Three Sheets to the Wind".

Linn

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: meself
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 09:20 PM

There is, or was, a rock band in Edmonton, Alberta, called 'The Joint Chiefs'. On the same theme, there is or was a blues band in Calgary called, 'Joint Effort'.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: DADGBE
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 10:14 PM

I can post this again now that my cookie has been restored.

There's an all female alternative rock band named, 'The Cunning Stunts'.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 11:07 PM

I remember a group entered in the Chorus Cup at Wagga Folk Festival in about 1978 that was called "Guru Murrumbidgee and the Stock Routers".

Think very carefully before pronouncing the last word.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Boston Bass
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 03:22 AM

I believe there is/was a band in Wales called "Cliff Rescue and the Helicopters" Wish I'd thought of that one.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Splott Man
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 06:16 AM

Beat me to it Boston Bass.

They still occasionally reassemble for a laugh.

They have the honour of being name-checked by Peter Kay on Phenix Nights.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: folkypaul
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 09:58 AM

How about "Me First & The Gimme Gimme's" a great band who only do covers.   Differently.

PaulO

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: fat B****rd
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 03:56 PM

Achilles and his Heels, Machine Gun Fellatio, Howlin' Wilf (sorry not a band, but still a great name)

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 04:59 PM

Les Miserables and the Proper Pissers.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 06:30 PM

In early music: The Callipygian Players

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 21 Feb 10 - 06:38 PM

My son's new band, "The Escort Knights": guess they get a few strange requests!

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: kendall
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 04:18 PM

Generic

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: mikesamwild
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 07:26 AM

The Stunt Kites played round Sheffield
I always liked a name in Annie Proulx's Shipping News - Bleak Joe Cove sounded a bit Billy Bragg on a pessimistic day away from Dorset

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 07:33 AM

I once had the (very brief) pleasure of being one of the line-up of the a capella trio - Flatt, Capp and Muffler

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 07:41 AM

My all-time favorite name was the band, "Bloodwyn Pig"... Not too sure why... Maybe if I knew more about the word Bloodwyn it might be a different story...

My second favorite was a short lived country-rock band that I was in in the 70s... We called ourselves, "Doctor Rupert and the Wiggly Digits"... Just say "no to drugs"... lol...

B~

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: GUEST,band
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 09:12 AM

I saw a flyer for a band in Copenhagen called 'throbbing gristle'.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: alanabit
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 09:32 AM

Ken Wood and the Mixers were a UK R&B band in the eighties.
I always liked the name "The Temperance Seven." There were actually nine of them, because, as they explained, "We are one over the eight!"

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 11:53 AM

Another I remember was Telephone Bill and the Smooth Operators, run in his youth by Cambridge singer Nick Barraclough who went on to be a BBC Radio 2 presenter.
(For furriners ~ a telephone bill here is the account for payment sent quarterly by the telephone company.)

In a different field, I always found Barenaked Ladies intriguing, as its members were neither.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Peter the Squeezer
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 04:56 PM

How about "The Betty Swallocks Band"?

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 07:13 PM

Yes, definitely heard THEM! You must be from near where I live P the S, where there is also a band called DISBAND.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Bounty Hound
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 07:18 PM

Several years ago, when ther trend was for a band to be 'Someone and the.......' there was a barn dance band called 'Gay Gordon and the Dashing White Sergeants' and equally brave, a rock band called 'Buster Hymen and the Penetrators'

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Dave Hunt
Date: 09 Mar 10 - 09:13 PM

Three friends had a band doing 30s/40s songs - Trio con Brio - great name!
Still very active - The Titanic Syncopators (A band on ship!)

Some of the bands I have worked with as a caller :-

From above - 'Les Miserables and the Proper Pissers' - that's got to be you Ian! or is it Baz??(and it was Les as in Dawson and Miserables as in English miserable)
Llandaff Hope(A band from South Wales), Syphon the Python, The Expanding Waist Band, Bass Insincts, Alf Alfa and the Wild Oats, Ceilidhography, Desperate Measures, Metric Foot, Cwm Dancing, Melons for Ecstacy, Hoover the Dog, Wall Star Village Band, Top Tup Band,(from Derbyshire), Used Notes, May Contain Nuts (another great name - and very appropriate!).

Miss Trunt

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: mikesamwild
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 08:18 AM

The Dashing White Privates were a short lived dance band ( maybe a Kippers title?)

The late great Tony Capstick would conclude a moving piece with 'Not a dry seat in the house'

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: glueman
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 08:31 AM

Butt Hole Surfers, Half Man Half Biscuit, The Pork Dukes, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, The Upsetters, Thirteenth Floor Elevators.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Splott Man
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 09:32 AM

Bobert...    Blodwyn is a Welsh girl's name. It means white flower.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: topical tom
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 09:52 AM

The Mother Folkers
The Four Bitchin' Babes

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Arnie
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 09:43 AM

I always liked The Dead Sea Surfers as a band name. Saw them once in High Wycombe and they all wore Hawaian shirts and shorts and brought a bit of sunshine to the club - they were as funny as the name suggests. At a bar in the same town, I also met Morris, from Morris and the Minors which is another great name. I think he told me that he wrote The Deserter that Simon Nicol and Fairport now perform.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: frogprince
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 10:51 AM

I still think that, for names that were really "right", and so well chosen as to be a real career asset, the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead are both hard to beat.

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Folknacious
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 12:23 PM

But never have a band name that's better than the band. Ceilidh Minogue spring to mind

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 08:00 PM

Slight thread drift here, but the talk of Gay Gordons reminds me that at Stonehaven Festival they have an aqua ceilidh every year in the town's outdoor (but warmly heated!) swimming pool. Dance list:
The Spray Gordons
The Splashing white sergeant
Slip the Willow
The Naval Two step
Aquarian Barn Dance
Highland Splattische
The Flyfishing Scotsman
The Spraysome Reel
etc, etc

Subject: RE: Favourite band names [any genre]
From: Allen in Oz
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 10:33 PM

There was an all-girl band playing in Tamworth , New South Wales, Australia known as:

Doris Dazed (their leader was Doris)

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