Band names part two: How to pick them
There are a lots of ways to pick band names, but I was going to try and narrow down some basic rules that I wish bands would follow.
Misspellings- Spelling a word or phrase different from the traditional way is a common practice in band names. Some times it works well such as Led Zeppelin or Def Leppard. Somehow they look right, I think it's that the phrase is not that silly and it works. Then there are misspellings like Motley Crue and Ratt which are okay. They are not spectacular, but not quite silly either. The problem is when you try to get too cute such as Tuff, Tigertailz and Rough Cutt. Names that sound like something a 12 year old would think is cool.
Words not to use- Anyone could probably make fun of a name if they try hard enough, but don't make it too easy for them to do this. Avoid putting words like Awful, Horrible or something like that. Also avoid combinations that make it too easy like death metal band Brutal Truth as it's just too easy for someone to yell "The Brutal Truth is you suck". A good non-metal example is Hootie and the blowfish. Hootie is bad enough, but it's never a good idea to put the word 'blow' in your band name.
Movie titles- It's not done that often, but normally it works and some examples are Black Sabbath, White Zombie and Faster Pussycat. It's normally done because someone in the band liked the film and they were inspired by it. Of course you want to pick a cool film because you don't want to call your band 'Ishtar', 'Gigli' or 'Leonard Part 6'.
Joke names-If you wanna be funny then that's fine, but just remember that it may be difficult if you try to change styles down the road. Ugly Kid Joe chose their name as a joke and they got started with a joke song. Then they tried to make it with semi-serious songs and it was hard because they had established themselves as a joke band and people didn't want to hear serious songs or maybe they just weren't that good to start with.
Colors- Not too many bands use just a color without an object, but the best example is Deep Purple. Deep Purple is just a solid classic name. Another color combination is Black and Blue who I liked, but it sounds like a bruise. You want to use cool colors so a name like Salmon Pink may not be advisable. The more popular use of colors in band names is to combine a color with something else. Some that I like are White Lion, Crimson Glory and Blue Oyster Cult. Some color-object combinations that may not work would be 'Yellow Snow', 'Brown Stain' and 'Blue Balls'.
There's my advice on picking band names. I think that I will do a band names part three that will have some more good and bad band names.
Misspellings- Spelling a word or phrase different from the traditional way is a common practice in band names. Some times it works well such as Led Zeppelin or Def Leppard. Somehow they look right, I think it's that the phrase is not that silly and it works. Then there are misspellings like Motley Crue and Ratt which are okay. They are not spectacular, but not quite silly either. The problem is when you try to get too cute such as Tuff, Tigertailz and Rough Cutt. Names that sound like something a 12 year old would think is cool.
Words not to use- Anyone could probably make fun of a name if they try hard enough, but don't make it too easy for them to do this. Avoid putting words like Awful, Horrible or something like that. Also avoid combinations that make it too easy like death metal band Brutal Truth as it's just too easy for someone to yell "The Brutal Truth is you suck". A good non-metal example is Hootie and the blowfish. Hootie is bad enough, but it's never a good idea to put the word 'blow' in your band name.
Movie titles- It's not done that often, but normally it works and some examples are Black Sabbath, White Zombie and Faster Pussycat. It's normally done because someone in the band liked the film and they were inspired by it. Of course you want to pick a cool film because you don't want to call your band 'Ishtar', 'Gigli' or 'Leonard Part 6'.
Joke names-If you wanna be funny then that's fine, but just remember that it may be difficult if you try to change styles down the road. Ugly Kid Joe chose their name as a joke and they got started with a joke song. Then they tried to make it with semi-serious songs and it was hard because they had established themselves as a joke band and people didn't want to hear serious songs or maybe they just weren't that good to start with.
Colors- Not too many bands use just a color without an object, but the best example is Deep Purple. Deep Purple is just a solid classic name. Another color combination is Black and Blue who I liked, but it sounds like a bruise. You want to use cool colors so a name like Salmon Pink may not be advisable. The more popular use of colors in band names is to combine a color with something else. Some that I like are White Lion, Crimson Glory and Blue Oyster Cult. Some color-object combinations that may not work would be 'Yellow Snow', 'Brown Stain' and 'Blue Balls'.
There's my advice on picking band names. I think that I will do a band names part three that will have some more good and bad band names.
posted by Metal Mark at
5:54 AM
3 Comments:
I loved the bad color combos, that you gave.
Sometime name changes can be disasterous. Case in point: Green Jell-O bombed when they had to change to Green Jelly but of course they re-'tooled'.
fuzzbox- I almost forgot about that name chance.
Ben- I like Sheattle. There's an all girl AC/DC tribute band called AC/Dshe.
The bands with misspellings always catch my attention. Very smart on their part, it's a good way to catch a consumer's (my) attention.
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