Recommendations of the editorial team
Have you ever dealt with band names? Without overdowing, I can say that I have already dealt a lot with band names. Finally together with Rasmus Engler when writing our novel “preheating”. A running gag of the novel is that our hero’s band cannot agree on a name. Anyone who was already part of a band knows that this struggle is not without a reference to reality. We also had a lot of fun thinking of all the names in the novel. I had the right partner with Rasmus anyway. Connoisseurs know that he put the name Kettcar. Adam costume, men’s magazine, mother’s patriotic washing machines and idiot Beard are also from him.
By the way, together with him I play the beer quake in the band (also his idea). I am a little ashamed to play in a band with this name. But be it. After all, I also played in bands that my parents or punkersch was called. It is important to a good band name that it fits the music and character of the band. Fractions can of course also be attractive. We chose our band name Tocotronic because it does not sound like guitar music. But it shouldn’t be exaggerated either. Hence the three OS.
Wit of the hairdressing salon level
There are important bands with poor names. The most famous example: The Beatles. This is basically a wit of hairdressing salons. After all, the name is short. That was not common in those days. In the meantime, the Beatles were therefore also called The Silver Beatles. Three words in the band name were the rule in the early 1960s. Such as The Rolling Stones. I like this name a little better. Incidentally, he goes back to a Muddy Waters piece from 1950. The name awakens thoughts of roar and restlessness. Similar to collapsing new buildings. This band name fascinated me. I wanted to know immediately what kind of music was hidden. I felt the same with the Dead Kennedys, Ton Steine Scherben and Joy Division. Today I find all of this a little too hard.
The best and most beautiful of the long band names is actually the Velvet Underground. A fantastic band name often joins a fantastic band. In the metal and hard rock area, the male musicians temporarily gave their chapels female names, just like seafarers their ships: e.g. Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden. Surprising. I also grill to this day what the LED Zeppelin should mean (I know you can read it on the net, but the answer does not satisfy me). Nowadays I like short band names best: The Fall, The Cure, The Plan, The Doors, Pur, Faust or down. It is ingenious how programmatically these striking terms are for all of these bands. In the soul, too, there are great names without frills: The Supremes, The Tempatungs, Commodores.
It is undisputed that the most original names can be found in the punk area
I have nothing against funny band names: the doctors: good! The cashiers: very good! The thirsty man: awesome. It is undisputed that the most original names can be found in the punk area: Dead Boys, X-Ray Spex, the Damned, pre-war youth, double plus, nudist beach wixer and Östro 430. Is it actually a coincidence that the most famous punk band of the GDR mucus was called and the most famous on the other side of the Iron Curtain called Slime? It is also cute that the most recent West German enemies of the state named themselves after a very popular children’s toy at the time.
Jens Rachut would have deserved his own column for all of his good band names: shit, Grandma Hans, Flowers on the ass of hell etc. The name of his current band: mouth group. By the way, I personally find it bad when punk bands use punk clichés in their names: piss roughly, or, even bad team shit. It is difficult for me to take music seriously under such Signa. I wish a little more truthfulness in finding the band name! Why do you hardly think of anyone as poetic-dark names as public enemy, bad brains, intestinal thrones or black flag? The discouragement of contemporary pop music often breaks in completely irrelevant band name. But with names like Wet Leg, The Last Dinner Party or the losers there is still hope.
In the end it should be mentioned: I support Anglo -Saxon band names with umlauts: Blue Öyster Cult, Motörhead, Hüsker Dü, The Accüsed and so on and so on. I like the very best (this name also fell in the novel mentioned above) Würm. Listen to this SST band. The music is a bit annoying. But no matter, the name is double plus.
This column first appeared in the music express edition 6/2024.