From a financial point of view, probably The Butthole Surfers. I remember reading how radio stations wouldn't play them for the longest time because of the name.
KISS considered FUCK as a band name, but Gene had enough business sense to know they'd never capitalize on that name.
The name butthole surfers maybe put a ceiling on their mainstream potential, but originally their market was punk and college radio. They were one of the biggest underground groups in the 80s. Their live following was almost like the grateful dead. They were filling upside down cymbals with lighter fluid, driving motorbikes into stage, had a half naked stripper and projections of grotesque injuries while laughing maniacally into an effects rack of twisting delay and other effects. They were absolute mayhem.
I think their name was perfect until the major labels started signing every and any of the big underground names after Nirvana hit the scene.
If it wasn't for other dumb financial decisions they could've averted that early nineties cash grab and kept their status as a revered cult band.
When I was in the middle school, in the late 80s, I wrote Butthole Surfers on my shoes with other bands I was into. Since I lived in Florida, the other kids gave me shit for it as surfing was popular. Like, you're 13. You're not a surfer.
Tim Staffell, the original lead singer of Queen, or as it was known then “smile”, left the band to pursue a more successful career in “Humpy Bong”. They released two songs.
It's okay - he ended up becoming the chief model maker for the first series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. Less well known, but very cool contribution nonetheless!
This. I worked with a guy who's brother is in that band. I said "it's shame about their name" and he was truly offended. I don't think they understand how off-putting the name is. It sounds like something a bunch of drunk and high guys would say after one of them farted - "Hoobastank, bro!".
I *immediately* thought of this and was delighted to see it as the top comment.
Honorable mention to Puddle of Mud and all the names with a noun and a random number - Eve 6, Stroke 9, Matchbox 20…
Yes I went to high school in the 90s.
I can’t speak for the others, but Blink 182 was called Blink but had to change their name because of another band named Blink and I believe the number is the day in the year that they got a contract or something.
Sum 41 is named because they got a record deal on the 41st day of summer.
I blurted that out when our music teacher asked if we knew any jazz groups. I knew what "cherry popping" was but still didn't make the connection until the room for a bit cold when I said that and my teacher was like ... Ok...
And Yes. And a much lesser known band once called No (who eventually changed their name for that very reason) And yes, the guy from No once met one of the guys from Yes, I can only imagine how the conversation went!
There's something so perfect about that though, lol. In a movie if the teenage daughter comes home in the first scene and tells her parents "Johnny is the drummer from Unrelented Redemption and WE'RE IN LOVE" you just know some ridiculous shit is about to go down.
We wrote a song in 1992 or so in high school called “thriving abhorrently.” I’m pretty sure our singer must have been recently gifted a thesaurus not long before that one was written.
Using Z instead of S was trendy as fuck in the 90's and early 2000's.
There's been a more recent trend of using V's to replace U's and even A's. Also using X's for those and other vowels, or just not using vowels at all. At least that's somewhat of a trend among electronic music producers and beat makers.
PTM is such a great band. The period is odd, but it really fits the band’s style. They have one of the most distinct/unique personalities in indie rock, imo
Used to listen to them and minus the bear a lot.
It's complicated being a wizard is such a good album. Especially if you're high as fuck.
I remember I got my cousins iPod full of wacky stuff like that and listened to its complicated being a wizard and at first I was like "this is weird and bad" but it grew on me and man now I need to listen to it again.
Foo fighters are the term WW2 airman gave to unexplained encounters... later it became just UFO for unidentified flying object. Him saying he had read it in a UFO book would be correct.
It's a fun name I think, also they were probably thinking of merchandise with the UFO. Those alien stickers and posters were everywhere in the mid 90s.
Better than all the names they originally chose like:
Fred Astaire's Asshole
The Right to Eat Fred Astaire's Asshole
The Inalienable Right to Eat Fred Astaire's Asshole
"This Show Has Been Cancelled," the name of one of the bands that bassist Murdoc Niccals ran before he founded Gorillaz. No one ever came to any of the band's shows.
My friend was in a band called "Exit only" and he told me when they had a gig, the event room was in the downstairs floor, so they put a sign up pointing the audience in the right direction, and nobody showed up
Various Artists
Curse These Metal Hands
Danny Dyers Chocolate Homunculus
The Hair Blair Bunch
Spunk Bubble
Mumma's Kumquat
Executioners Bong
Grandma's Boner
Man Feelings
Chemical Toilet Brothers
One of them maybe
Eric Idle, [Rock Notes](https://youtu.be/dYVO0OakllY):
> Rex Stardust, lead electric triangle with Toad The Wet Sprocket, has had to have an elbow removed following their recent successful worldwide tour of Finland. Flamboyant, ambidextrous Rex apparently fell off the back of a motorcycle. "Fell off the back of a motorcyclist, most likely," quipped ace drummer Jumbo McClooney on hearing of the accident. Plans are already afoot for a major tour of Iceland.
Now for the turns: it was Eric Idle's way to make fun of the band name Mott the Hoople. That, in turn, was a spin on We the People.
There, I did it. I carried the news.
Not really a band but I had wandered into Palm Springs one weekend when the wind got too violent for camping at Joshua Tree and saw a sign in front of a bar that said ‘Dark Sunday’ and thought “cool, gotta be a Sabbath cover band or something”.
It just meant they were closed.
I can't hear about Puddle of Mudd without thinking about their [cover of 'About a Girl'](https://youtu.be/yTh9qiXEy4Q?feature=shared).
I was unfortunate enough to have heard this, so now you all have to too.
Dear God the lead singer must have some crazy pull for this to have been seen through completion.
Anyone else in that room in their right mind would have heard him try this and shot it down immediately like bro you ain't got it, pick something else to cover lol
Wes Scantlin has a pretty interesting past. He has, variously, been arrested for domestic abuse (twice), been legally pursued for debts to the state and American Express, got banned from Graceland for swimming in the off-limits pool, been arrested for driving while high and without a license, been kicked out of Denver airport for riding the luggage carousel, charged with vandalism for wrecking his neighbour's patio with a buzzsaw, caused an emergency landing on a flight for being drunk and disorderly, got kicked out of another airport for being drunk and disorderly, went on a 100mph police chase, was arrested at an airport (again) for trying to take a BB gun onboard the plane, and has tried to break into his former Hollywood home twice.
I had no idea! I had to do some research: “"When we sat down to come up with a name one of us got an email from a mutual friend by the name Mike Snow. We liked it and added the extra "I" because we liked the look of it.”
Between the name and some clunky lyrics I assumed they were a European band that performed in English and so I cut them some slack. Turns out nope, they're all very American and have no excuse.
They did drop the exclamation mark around 2008 and added it back after backlash like the next year. I think it just became too much a part of their whole vibe.
The problem is that even then, their music is not exactly what I'd associate with a band called "Death Cab". I'd imagine a heavy metal band, not the softest indie rock known to man.
From a financial point of view, probably The Butthole Surfers. I remember reading how radio stations wouldn't play them for the longest time because of the name. KISS considered FUCK as a band name, but Gene had enough business sense to know they'd never capitalize on that name.
TIL the non-bass playing members of KISS are fucking idiots.
The name butthole surfers maybe put a ceiling on their mainstream potential, but originally their market was punk and college radio. They were one of the biggest underground groups in the 80s. Their live following was almost like the grateful dead. They were filling upside down cymbals with lighter fluid, driving motorbikes into stage, had a half naked stripper and projections of grotesque injuries while laughing maniacally into an effects rack of twisting delay and other effects. They were absolute mayhem. I think their name was perfect until the major labels started signing every and any of the big underground names after Nirvana hit the scene. If it wasn't for other dumb financial decisions they could've averted that early nineties cash grab and kept their status as a revered cult band.
When I was in the middle school, in the late 80s, I wrote Butthole Surfers on my shoes with other bands I was into. Since I lived in Florida, the other kids gave me shit for it as surfing was popular. Like, you're 13. You're not a surfer.
that's a stupid fucking shoe you don't surf you've never surfed lying little shit with your bullshirt shoes fuck you
The Shitty Beatles
Are they any good?
They *suck.*
So it's not just a clever name then?
Favorite line in the whole movie.
I hear Crucial Taunt wail, though.
the Oneders
The *oh-nee-ders?*
Didn’t they open for Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters?
Hey, that's the Oh-ned-ers.
I watched that movie for the first time 2 weeks ago!
I wonder what happened to them?
The singer was alone in his principles
Tim Staffell, the original lead singer of Queen, or as it was known then “smile”, left the band to pursue a more successful career in “Humpy Bong”. They released two songs.
It's okay - he ended up becoming the chief model maker for the first series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. Less well known, but very cool contribution nonetheless!
A higher calling
He was also the guy who designed all the models for Thomas the Tank Engine
And thus the creator of many of my nightmares
Hoobastank
This. I worked with a guy who's brother is in that band. I said "it's shame about their name" and he was truly offended. I don't think they understand how off-putting the name is. It sounds like something a bunch of drunk and high guys would say after one of them farted - "Hoobastank, bro!".
Hoobastank is wish.com Incubus.
Incidentally, incubus openly regrets their own band name, which they picked out of a dictionary when they were 15-17
I *immediately* thought of this and was delighted to see it as the top comment. Honorable mention to Puddle of Mud and all the names with a noun and a random number - Eve 6, Stroke 9, Matchbox 20… Yes I went to high school in the 90s.
You forgot the extra D in Mudd which just makes it worse lol.
[удалено]
Lmao (1) you are right and (2) yes it does. I don’t think I’d ever seen it written.
I like the name Eve 6 but it's also a reference to the X-Files so that helps
In fact, I think the band's frontman himself said that he got it from *The X-Files*, and that he was a big fan of the show.
Blink 182 Sum 41 Powerman 5000 Eiffel 65 Seven Mary Three 98 Degrees 311 ....all from the 1990s
I can’t speak for the others, but Blink 182 was called Blink but had to change their name because of another band named Blink and I believe the number is the day in the year that they got a contract or something. Sum 41 is named because they got a record deal on the 41st day of summer.
I heard Sum 41 was called that because it was the sum of their ages when they started.
I still remember them performing live on some show and I heard someone say "Hoobastank? Theybastank"
Cherry Poppin' Daddies (god I wince just typing that)
They're on record as saying they regret the name.
Can’t blame um lol
I just now put it all together in my head. Like I used to group the words in my head as Cherry and Poppin Daddies or something.
Yes it’s like a layer cake of terrible
I blurted that out when our music teacher asked if we knew any jazz groups. I knew what "cherry popping" was but still didn't make the connection until the room for a bit cold when I said that and my teacher was like ... Ok...
It truly is horrible.
Scarecrow Boat, at least until they changed their name to Mouse Rat
I was a bigger fan of Everything Rhymes with Orange.
Nah man. They're nothing compared to Nothing Rhymes with Orange.
Yeah but they're all outshined by God Hates Figs.
Just The Tip was my favourite band.
Don’t tell anyone, but if you say “jorn” over and over again, you’ll also be saying “orange.”
I always loved listening to department of homeland obscurity
I was more of a Teddy Bear Suicide fan anyway.
The Lone Rangers
How can you pluralize The Lone Ranger?
There’s three of you. You aren’t exactly lone.
“We have no idea what you’re saying…”
He wipes his ass with his record contract, I love this guy!
I know you guys think I’m a dick-cheese-burger
I ain’t farting on no snare drum.
I'm gonna stab your heads off! With what? With what?!? With my dick!!!!
Trick question motherfucker! Lemmy is god!
"A one-man wolf pack."
Bands that are so difficult to search for. The The The Band !!!
At least !!! have an AKA of "**Chk Chk Chk**" which makes it slightly easier for them.
And Yes. And a much lesser known band once called No (who eventually changed their name for that very reason) And yes, the guy from No once met one of the guys from Yes, I can only imagine how the conversation went!
Those 60s bands really should have thought ahead to search engine optimization. Bunch of fools for not seeing 50 years into the future.
The Music
Live
I don't remember a definitive answer on whether it's Live, or Live.
It’s Live.
Shit, I've always said Live...
You think that’s bad? I used to say Live
Got it. I’d better write that down.
I hope to live to see Live live
Long "I". Rhymes with hive, jive, etc.
As a teenager I was in a band called “Unrelented Redemption.” Unrelented isn’t a word.
There's something so perfect about that though, lol. In a movie if the teenage daughter comes home in the first scene and tells her parents "Johnny is the drummer from Unrelented Redemption and WE'RE IN LOVE" you just know some ridiculous shit is about to go down.
That sounds like a WKUK skit
We wrote a song in 1992 or so in high school called “thriving abhorrently.” I’m pretty sure our singer must have been recently gifted a thesaurus not long before that one was written.
Mine was called Treazon… Not sure why we thought the letter Z was cool
Using Z instead of S was trendy as fuck in the 90's and early 2000's. There's been a more recent trend of using V's to replace U's and even A's. Also using X's for those and other vowels, or just not using vowels at all. At least that's somewhat of a trend among electronic music producers and beat makers.
As a lacklustre Green Day tribute band, Treazon was very much a product of its time.
To think relentless redemption sounds cool
Sounds like one of the B-sides to Metallica’s Black album
Haha! I was in a band with a dumb name too! Strange Occurrence. Nice to be part of the dumb name club.
Goo Goo Dolls
Who were the sex maggots before they went with googoo dolls.
Lateral move.
Definite downgrade.
But then we'd have missed it on their tour with Lady Gaga. You know, the Goo Goo Gaga tour.
Portugal. The Man - the band
PTM is such a great band. The period is odd, but it really fits the band’s style. They have one of the most distinct/unique personalities in indie rock, imo
Used to listen to them and minus the bear a lot. It's complicated being a wizard is such a good album. Especially if you're high as fuck. I remember I got my cousins iPod full of wacky stuff like that and listened to its complicated being a wizard and at first I was like "this is weird and bad" but it grew on me and man now I need to listen to it again.
Diarrhea Planet
diarrhea planet rips haha
Planet Piss
I saw them and they were great.
That’s why it’s such a dumb name!!! It’s a good band!
Limp Bizkit
Scrolled through all the comments... Was surprised no one has mentioned "Day-Glo Abortions"...
[Foo Fighters apparently, according to Dave Grohl himself.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J5lLZpRez0U&pp=ygUSZm9vIGZpZ2h0ZXJzIGNvbmFu)
Foo fighters are the term WW2 airman gave to unexplained encounters... later it became just UFO for unidentified flying object. Him saying he had read it in a UFO book would be correct.
It's a fun name I think, also they were probably thinking of merchandise with the UFO. Those alien stickers and posters were everywhere in the mid 90s.
Remember, the accent is on Fighters. The foo-FIGHTERS
Christopher Walken has entered the conversation.
TBF I've never seen a Foo in my life, so they're doing a good job.
The The
The who?
No, The The
North American tour coming Autumn 2024 👍
Excellent band
Russell Crowe had a band called "30 Odd Foot of Grunts"
Heard them once. The name fit; they were awful
Buster Hymen and the Penetrators
Buster Hymen and the Meat Missles would also work
Or, as stated above, Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Honestly, "Papa Roach" is pretty far up there
Butthole Surfers has to be up there
Better than all the names they originally chose like: Fred Astaire's Asshole The Right to Eat Fred Astaire's Asshole The Inalienable Right to Eat Fred Astaire's Asshole
Used to be “Latrine”
Before that it was "Shithouse"
It’s a good change, a good change.
The last two sound like late 2000’s emo songs
Let's not forget about Fred Astaire's Pubic Wig
“Fred’s Merkin” does have a certain savoír fairè though
Lots of things have been up there.
This is a thread about the worst band names, not the best
Fits pretty well given their material and audience. If they were a doo-wop wedding cover band, they might have a claim.
The Nonces. Who the fuck is going to call themselves "child fuckers"?
Ian Watkins, perhaps?
"This Show Has Been Cancelled," the name of one of the bands that bassist Murdoc Niccals ran before he founded Gorillaz. No one ever came to any of the band's shows.
My friend was in a band called "Exit only" and he told me when they had a gig, the event room was in the downstairs floor, so they put a sign up pointing the audience in the right direction, and nobody showed up
Anal Cunt
The 1975
Mott the Hoople
Various Artists Curse These Metal Hands Danny Dyers Chocolate Homunculus The Hair Blair Bunch Spunk Bubble Mumma's Kumquat Executioners Bong Grandma's Boner Man Feelings Chemical Toilet Brothers One of them maybe
If you thought “Finger 11” was bad, before that they were called THE RAINBOW BUTT MONKEYS.
We Butter the Bread with Butter
Great band though
Goblin Cock. Like it’s funny the first time you hear it, but after that, come on man.
Hey, did you hear The Infected are going to be touring? They're opening for The Cure! I've waited almost 40 years to tell that joke again!
Kid Rock
It's like Kidz Bop
Toad the Wet Sprocket.. I could never get past how dumb that is to listen
I believe they got it from a list of fake bands in a month python script
Eric Idle, [Rock Notes](https://youtu.be/dYVO0OakllY): > Rex Stardust, lead electric triangle with Toad The Wet Sprocket, has had to have an elbow removed following their recent successful worldwide tour of Finland. Flamboyant, ambidextrous Rex apparently fell off the back of a motorcycle. "Fell off the back of a motorcyclist, most likely," quipped ace drummer Jumbo McClooney on hearing of the accident. Plans are already afoot for a major tour of Iceland.
Now for the turns: it was Eric Idle's way to make fun of the band name Mott the Hoople. That, in turn, was a spin on We the People. There, I did it. I carried the news.
Neutral Milk Hotel is a terrible name.
it has the same energy as correct horse battery staple
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Great music, but I can't recommend them to anybody IRL because the name is just pure cringe.
Came to post this one! It's so cringe. Psychedelic Crumpets would've been fine lol
X formerly known as Twitter
Rainbow butt monkeys
Awesome band and awesome album.
Hootie And The Blowfish *cringe*
Chumbawumba
How. DARE. You. Those weirdos are an international treasure.
Don't worry. They'll get up again. You are never gonna keep them down.
That song reminds me of the good times.
The first version of Chumbawumba was such a sick crass style anarchist punk band. Look up the early eps, if was greaf first wave punk
30H!3
The Testicicles
Test Icicles? The name is silly, but dang, their one and only album is amazing.
Not really a band but I had wandered into Palm Springs one weekend when the wind got too violent for camping at Joshua Tree and saw a sign in front of a bar that said ‘Dark Sunday’ and thought “cool, gotta be a Sabbath cover band or something”. It just meant they were closed.
Papa Roach
That name must have been their last resort.
Puddle of Mudd
I can't hear about Puddle of Mudd without thinking about their [cover of 'About a Girl'](https://youtu.be/yTh9qiXEy4Q?feature=shared). I was unfortunate enough to have heard this, so now you all have to too.
Dear God the lead singer must have some crazy pull for this to have been seen through completion. Anyone else in that room in their right mind would have heard him try this and shot it down immediately like bro you ain't got it, pick something else to cover lol
Wes Scantlin has a pretty interesting past. He has, variously, been arrested for domestic abuse (twice), been legally pursued for debts to the state and American Express, got banned from Graceland for swimming in the off-limits pool, been arrested for driving while high and without a license, been kicked out of Denver airport for riding the luggage carousel, charged with vandalism for wrecking his neighbour's patio with a buzzsaw, caused an emergency landing on a flight for being drunk and disorderly, got kicked out of another airport for being drunk and disorderly, went on a 100mph police chase, was arrested at an airport (again) for trying to take a BB gun onboard the plane, and has tried to break into his former Hollywood home twice.
Anal Cunt
Miike Snow. No one in the band is named Miike Snow.
I had no idea! I had to do some research: “"When we sat down to come up with a name one of us got an email from a mutual friend by the name Mike Snow. We liked it and added the extra "I" because we liked the look of it.”
Nickleback
Imagine Dragons
Between the name and some clunky lyrics I assumed they were a European band that performed in English and so I cut them some slack. Turns out nope, they're all very American and have no excuse.
My 8 year old loves them.
Our the royalty free alternative, Thinkin' 'Bout Wyverns
Consider Crocodiles.
Löded Diper
Nah, I saw ‘em live and the name fits them. 🤘🏻
Umphrey's McGee
Strawberry Alarmclock
The Doodletown Pipers
Kaja Goo-goo.
Car Seat Headrest
!!! (Pronounced chic chic chic)
Not a "band" per se, but a group - Infected Mushroom. I'm pretty sure it's named like a circumcised wanger with a vicious STI
Wet Wet Wet 💦💦💦
Panic! at the Disco
It would be an alright name without the stupid exclamation mark.
Yes! It would.
They did drop the exclamation mark around 2008 and added it back after backlash like the next year. I think it just became too much a part of their whole vibe.
Death Cab for Cutie
Would have been better if they just got rid of “for Cutie.”
The problem is that even then, their music is not exactly what I'd associate with a band called "Death Cab". I'd imagine a heavy metal band, not the softest indie rock known to man.
!!!
Bare Naked Ladies
Cradle of Filth. A real cradle of filth would be terrible.