What’s in a name?

Recently, I noticed a double headliner at a local pub with two bands that had memorable names…memorable in my opinion for all the wrong reasons. The first band’s name was a two word concoction - consisting of a slang word for female genitalia and an act of violence, presumable to be acted upon the first word. The second band’s name was much in same vein, also a two word construction that described cunnilingus in a rather crude way. If you have seen these band names, you know which ones I am talking about, and if you haven’t, count yourself lucky.

While I think I understand the intent to shock and create a moniker that will get noticed above others, I wonder just how long bands such as these will endure under such novelty names. Firstly, a band name is a brand, a way to sell your produce (you and your music). A band name says who you are. When the name consists of graphic violence or profanity, I wonder what the band is trying to say about itself and its music and what crowd they wish to attract.

Secondly, what is the staying power of such a “branding”…will this be a band we’ll see on the cover of Drum Media, Rolling Stone, or reviewed in Sydney Morning Herald? Will such a name limit opportunities for coverage and exposure in wider media? Methinks it will.

We see lots of bands come and go in the Sydney scene…many with the same musos reforming or creating new collectives with new names. For more established bands, trivial stories of how they came up with their band name often become the stuff of rock lore (such as Keith Moon telling Jimmy Page his new band would go over like a lead balloon, birthing the name…..well, you should really know by now).

Picking a band name is no easy task, though some bands have treated the exercise with frippery (Canadian group Max Webster took their name by randomly flipping open a phone book and one of the members dropping their finger on a name on the page). Others deliberately try to think of a name to convey an image (think The Polyphonic Spree) . Or to not convey an image but rather to be ambiguous (think U2 or REM, names chosen for not bringing anything into mind in particular).

So what is in a name to you? How has your band gone about choosing a name and what are you trying to say or not say with that name? Which bands in the scene right now have great names and why?

EDIT: PS - Ha, I just stumbled across this amusing article about pretty much the same topic - worth a laugh

http://www.cracked.com/article_15118_25-most-ridiculous-band-names-in-rock-history.html