I can thank the wonderful blogger Jen at Bossybabe for the idea of this post.
Jen had left a comment on a recent post of mine that looked at brand names, noting that how some bands take an ordinary word and use it in a different way. She used the examples of KORN and Coldplay.
So that got me thinking of odd band names, and I guess I am not the first person to have such a thought.
When I typed “strangest band names” in Google, there were over 1,000,000 responses.
After combing carefully through all one million, here is my list of the strangest names for a band, in no particular order. This first group comes from an online post:
- Camper Van Beethoven
- Congratulations on Your Decision to Become a Pilot
- Let’s Eat Grandma (purposely leaving out a comma)
- Let’s Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop
- Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head
- Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis
- Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
- Toad the Wet Sprocket
- Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH) (reminds me of the law firm on the Three Stooges: Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
It took a while to find a song to include with this post, since I wanted to choose a song from one of these bands. I made the mistake of going in the order I have listed above (which is the order they appeared in the two sources I used) and I was getting nervous because nothing really caught my attention. The songs from ABWH are OK, but they were a bit long.
Fortunately, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (now known as Jr. Jr.) came through with the song Gone, which I found quite good.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. was formed in late 2009 in Detroit, Michigan, by members Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott. The band also includes drummer Mike Higgins. The band initially began as a basement recording project with few intentions of reaching the public. On July 15, 2015, the band announced that they had renamed themselves to JR JR. According to ESPN The Magazine, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a fan. The band emailed him to assure him they were not making fun of him and sent him a few samples of their music. (Wikipedia)
Sources:
- 21 Unusual Band Names You’ll Wish You Came Up With
- 13 Dumbest Band Names in Rock History
- Ranker – but I am not going to provide a link because many of the names are just too gross to repeat here. Yes, Borden’s Blather does have some standards…
*image from Wikipedia
I always thought The Beatles was a strange name for a band. Why name your musical group after a creepy, six-legged species of animal? Surely that’s a recipe for disaster.
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the Beatles was actually the number one strange band name listed in the Rolling Stone article…
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No kidding? Maybe I should go to work for RS.
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maybe they can make a movie about you, along the lines of Almost Famous…
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Yeah, that’s my life story.
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That’s another one too… The Rolling Stone! Lol
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good point; I never even thought about it. but really, what does it mean?!
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That was Brad’s favorite band growing up, well the Beatles and The Beach Boys. 🙂
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The Beatles were my brother’s favorite. He has just about every album they made.
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I think Brad has every album and all of the Beach Boys one too. I like both of the bands, the Beach Boys more though. 🙂
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Ilike both as well, but probably the Beatles more…
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Charley Manson was a Beach Boys fan. I’m no murderer, so I’m going with The Beatles.
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🙂
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Oh gosh!! 😶🤚!
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and a head smack to end the day!
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You all had too good of a day I believe! Don’t count on it tomorrow!
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hope springs eternal…
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LOL! Oh gosh! Well you just go ahead and hope, smart aleck. 🙂
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if you say so… 🙂
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Hmmm…I believe I was right about your hopes being dashed. LOL!
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dang; but tomorrow is only a day away…
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LOL! Always the optomist!
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always look on the bright side of life…
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that would be quite a collection…
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Yes, but I’ve wondered sometimes if he doesn’t get tired of them.
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especially if they were the only albums he had…
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Brad had good taste in music…
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He still does…..well minus the bands that I don’t qgree with. LOL!
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and does he like Napoleon Dynamite?
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“No comment!”
Like I said , some of his taste is questionable. 😄
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your silence speaks for itself… 🙂
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…mmm…!!
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We may have a new Jeopardy category—Odd Music Group Names. I remember going with my parents to visit two of my brothers who were attending college at the same school—St. John’s University (not the one in New York but a small school in Minnesota.) I noticed that several of the roommates were calling my brother Tom by the name of Mott. This was a new one for us, so we asked where it originated. Tom spelled backward is Mot. One of the guys was a Mott the Hoople fan and gave my brother that nickname, and it stuck (at least when he was in college.)
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Mott the Hoople was mentioned in one of the web sites I browsed through: https://www.cracked.com/article_15118_the-25-most-ridiculous-band-names-in-rock-history.html
I’ve always enjoyed their music…
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Unless the band uses a real name like “The Jackson 5,” just about every band name is strange and a little bit ridiculous. The stranger, the better it seems.
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I agree that most band names are unusual to start with. and having a strange name may help you get publicity at the start, but unless you back it up with some good music, the band probably won’t get too far…
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It is kind of funny and interesting how we don’t question those names that seemingly make absolutely no sense… Oh oh! I guess I’m, agreeing with the point of your post. 😄
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It seems the more successful a band, the less I think twice about their name…
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I always enjoy following you down the rabbit hole. I do agree with Salsa, it does seem the stranger the better. For any newly forming groups out there, let me offer this as a name for your band, “Cork Rats”. Geoff can explain the origins.
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yes, Cork Rats would be the perfect name for a band. Perhaps Geoff should get a copyright on it…
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i love learning unusual band names. Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis might be a challenge to put on a bar coaster and would people recall it easily? i’m guessing it’s developed a nickname over time? living in the detroit area – dale e jr jr is on my radar and i love the name
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I wonder how many members of Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis can actually spell the name correctly? And I was wondering if you would have heard of Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr…
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Great question!
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I’ve no idea who Dale Earnhardt Jr is but his namesakes make catchy music and the video is fun. ABWH were four former members of the hugely successful prog rock band Yes, so it stands to reason that their songs would be long! They later morphed into an expanded 8 piece line up of a reformed Yes.
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Dale Earnhardt and his son, Jr., were two famous race car drivers in the U.S. on the NASCAR circuit. That’s about as much as I know 🙂
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That explains it. I don’t think I’ve ever watched that, or if it is even broadcast here. Watching cars going round and round isn’t my idea of fun 😊
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I was never into auto-racing wither, until I started watching the documentary on Netflix about F1. I thought it was pretty good…
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It would take more than a documentary to get me interested! Best cure for insomnia I know, as long as the tv is on low volume 😊
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the human interest side of things is usually interesting.
that’s why I liked the movie 8 Mile, even thought I don’t like that kind of music
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Another movie I wouldn’t watch!
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I didn’t think you would!
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I can’t pronounce Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis and I’d never learn how to spell it. (Well, I probably could if I tried, but I’d never bother.) If they thought they were being cute or memorable, they lost me as a fan just by the fact that I don’t have the energy to try to look them up.
Jr. Jr.’s song is great. Glad you included the video.
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I wonder if the band itself knows how to say or spell the name.
And glad you liked the Jr Jr song – I thought it was catchy…
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Haha thanks for the shoutout! You did quite a bit of research of this (listening to all the songs lol)!
I don’t recognize any of the bands you listed lol and some of them are strangely very specific LOL…
If I think of anymore mainstream band names I’ll be back to share 😉
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Bush! As in the band, Bush! 😅
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Ohhh Pearl Jam and Green Day! Ok I’m going to be annoying lol sorry but this is getting interesting lol
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I find sometimes, for me, it’s more the merging of two ordinary words that you wouldn’t normally put together to create a band name that I find more fascinating lol
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I agree, it’s the combinations that are odd, like Pearl and Jam…
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Pearl Jam is a strange combination, but GReen Day has an environmental ring to it 🙂
no need to apologize!
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I wonder if they were created while one of the Bushes were President?
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yes – thank you for the idea! and let me know if you come across any strange ones…
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Huh, Camper Van Beethoven has been one of my favorite bands for so long, it never occurred to me the the name was strange. It just fits the band so well.
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I think it’s like that with bands we are familiar with, we don’t even think twice about their name and how odd it may be if you think about it…
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I have often given Brad a hard time about some of the name sof bands he listens too. I say, What were they thinking?? LOL! Of course right now I can’t think of the names.
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if you step back for a second and just think about most band names, they might all be considered a bit strange…
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Totally weird!
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agreed!
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Lol these are hilariously horrible! Have you heard of the metal band that plays music revolving around Ned Flanders from the Simpsons? They’re called Okilly Dokilly and their existence always makes me laugh 😂
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I have not heard of that band, but now I have to go find them!
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You should! It’s so random and they use a lot of Ned Flanders quotes in their music.
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On my personal blog, I once posted about the worst song I ever heard.
It was by the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band, which I think comes quite high asd strange names go. Think Urban Spaceman, back in the Sixties.
The song, however, was called Canyone of Your Mind, and actually contained the lyric “I will wander through your brain” and “ventricles of your heart”. How poetic!
I think the chap might also get the best comb-over award, too.
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that was an interesting song to say the least, but any song that has two sax players in it can’t be all bad. thanks for the link!
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true, that
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👍
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Names can be crazy, not just band names, but real names. Jr. Jr. is a clever one.
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I agree; jr. jr. is an easy one to remember…
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Jr Jr..the song was catchy the video weird but cool…
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it was a catchy tune, and the video was certainly unique…
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Don’t forget: Itch Princess.
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I have not heard of that band… another strange name though…
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Jim, thanks so much for doing the heavy lifting in narrowing down the one million responses about strangest band names. Now I will have time for an extra cup of coffee in the morning. I hope nobody uses “Big Sky Buckeye” for a band name. Some things are better left alone.
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you are welcome; just my small contribution 🙂
that would be quite an honor if a band named themselves after your blog! and then you could sue them… 🙂
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Then I could call my attorney . . . Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe!
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I’ve got them on retainer!
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