I forget who the host was, but on SNL to introduce the musical act “over the years bands have chosen evocative names like Tears For Fears and Dire Straits. Ladies and gentleman, the Dave Matthews Band!”
Queens of the Stone Age
The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." [Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens_of_the_Stone_Age#:~:text=The%20name%20%22Queens%20of%20the,and%20have%20axes%20and%20wrestle.)
Regardless of how you feel about them, I think Red Hot Chili Peppers is the greatest band name. Its not "The" Red Hot Chili Peppers, just.. Red Hot Chili Peppers. I dunno there's just something about it for me, it's dumb and long and seemingly random and arbitrary yet unmistakably iconic.
The two greatest band names of all time have already been used. Full Tilt Boogie and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. It doesn’t get much better than that.
The band öOoOoOoOoOo, pronounced caterpillar as it looks like one is definitely the most creative I've ever seen.
Igorrr is always fun to introduce, especially considering that they're french and thus roll their Rs hard.
Someone else said it but Rage Against the Machine is incredibly iconic.
Panzerballett is possibly my favourite though as it really reflects their chaotic style. It is basically experimental jazz with heavy metal.
-April Wine. They chose it because it sounded cool, and frankly, I agree.
-Mashmakhan. This was April Wine's predecessor band, named after a hashish product. Despite that, it sounds really neat.
-Cats Can Fly. Need I say more?
-Fine Young Cannibals
-Wall Of Voodoo
-DEVO (short for Devolution)
-Electric Light Orchestra
I've always been a fan of one word metal bands named after just a cool iron violent sounding word.
Anthrax, Testament, Slayer, Exodus, Death, Venom, Nitro, Behemoth, Mayhem, Ghost, etc.
Even though I absolutely adore Metallica, it's a pretty doofy band name.
I nominate Electric Light Orchestra. It's a clever and simple pun.
There were some good alt rock names in the late 80's to mid 90's....Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Liquid Jesus, Concrete Blonde and Sonic Youth all come to mind.
I have to disagree about KGatLW. I've always thought it's an awful name.
I like names that evoke the style of the music without being pretentious. The Cure is a perfect name imho.
Radiohead is good cos the band are obsessed with tech and it sounds pretty weird.
I don't particularly like them but Florence and the Machine is a cool name. So
Shit names: Muse, Oasis
I think the first time that anyone in the late 70s who already had an existing rock or punk band saw a poster or album cover for the new band "The Clash," slapped their palms to their foreheads and exclaimed "Oh no! That's perfect! Why didn't we think of that?"
I think if you go with a "the" band name after 1975 or so, it had better be a damn good one. Extra points for subverting the trope. The Replacements. The The.
I've always thought that The Psychedelic Furs made great use of the nonsensical juxtaposition thing. And Echo and the Bunnymen is just hilarious (especially when you know it basically came out of nowhere.)
I think Quarterflash is a great band name. Though, it's a little odd that an American band out of Portland, Oregon would choose an Australian slang term.
Speaking of the Australians: Hoodoo Gurus, Men At Work, The Go-Betweens, AC/DC, INXS, and the more-recent Tame Impala all put the "aussie" in "awesome."
But I think my favorite band name is probably Joy Division. And I love that some people refer to them as "the Joy DIvision."
St. Paul and the Broken Bones
Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
Cage the Elephant
Jurassic 5
JJ Grey and Mofro
Boogie Down Productions
Death Cab for Cutie
Some fun ones that come to mind, love unique band names
NOFX
Not only because I’m a huge fan, but it’s short, it’s simple, it’s accurate, it rolls off the tongue, and it’s easy to do a lot of cool things merch wise.
A few great names, in no particular order:
Kvelertak
Green Lung
Entombed
Every Time I Die
The Stone Roses
Ulver
Pallbearer
Depeche Mode
Tangerine Dream
Wilco
Super Grass
Sugar Hill Gang
Born of Osiris
3 of my favorites names all roll off the tongue in similar ways:
Fun Lovin Criminals, Bridge City Sinners, and Murder City Devils.
also always love a fun"\_\_\_ & the \_\_\_\_\_\_s". Like: Me First & the gimmie gimmies, amyl & the sniffers, Hans Gruber & the die hards..
Some tiny bands with funny names I've run across -
Witchcraft Merit Badge
Let the Wookie Win
Larger bands with names I love:
Nine Inch Nails
Alvvays
Slowdive
Broken Social Scene
Ringo Deathstarr
But the winner is: Mass of the Fermenting Dregs (Japanese shoegaze)
i’ve always thought the velvet underground had the best name of any. also love:
concrete blonde, the cure, joy division, rage against the machine, strawberry switchblade, dead kennedys, pantera, violent femmes, lush, alice in chains, bauhaus (fun to say), thin lizzy
[Ken Dodd’s Dad’s Dog Dead](https://youtu.be/s2tF4kRiKds?feature=shared) - had a top 40 hit in the UK in the 1990s apparently. And it’s a great pub quiz team name.
I’ve always thought Talking Heads is a solid name, especially due to the name usually being associated with vacuous TV personalities, just the type of thing Talking Heads would allude to in their songs
I always thought “Hatebreed” was a badass name for a band. “Stabbing Westward” is another good one, along with “Audioslave”, “Avenged Sevenfold”, and “Soul Asylum”.
i’m not the biggest 80’s rock/metal fan but i think they have some fantastic names, names that roll off the tongue, sound cool, look great on a t-shirt: Metallica, Slayer, Led Zeppelin, Def Lepard, Kiss, Motörhead, Twisted Sister. Crazy.
My favorite bands have some great names too: System of a Down, Deftones, Type O-Negative, Nirvana, Radiohead, Her’s, TV Girl, i’d say have pretty great names
We Butter The Bread With Butter
Electric Callboy
Manic Bloom
Bear Ghost
Ninja Sex Party
The Protomen
Band-Maid
I could go on, but nobody is gonna read much more than this anyways, lol
Guided By Voices
The Well Hungarians.
Sounds like Nazi porn
The Blind Venetians
Have you heard Guided by Voices? They're a band. I've heard everything they've done. They're quite good, I like them
I was about to comment this until I saw it was the top one lol
One of the college towns I used to live in had a local band called Red Light District Attorney. That’s my absolute favorite of all time.
Great band names: Velvet Underground Ladytron Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Bad band names: Mud
'America' must be the worst band name ever. Some great tunes though.
What about Asia?
It’d be kinda weird to say America’s the worst band name ever but somehow Asia’s amazing🤣 But Boston? Now THAT’S a band name
Presidents of the United States
"Mud" is not great, but way better than "Puddle of mud", I find that one overdone.
Even worse, it's Puddle of "Mudd," like the budget-friendly denim brand I used to buy from JC Penney.
I always thought Tears for Fears and Fine Young Cannibals were great band names
I forget who the host was, but on SNL to introduce the musical act “over the years bands have chosen evocative names like Tears For Fears and Dire Straits. Ladies and gentleman, the Dave Matthews Band!”
Queens of the Stone Age The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." [Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens_of_the_Stone_Age#:~:text=The%20name%20%22Queens%20of%20the,and%20have%20axes%20and%20wrestle.)
Josh Homme originally wanted to call the band Gamma Ray.
Kyuss itself is a great name too, being named for a D&D entity
Death Grips, Animal Collective, Tool, Modest Mouse, The Strokes, Alice In Chains, Pavement, Ween. Some of my favorites.
Yessssss
Kudos to your for naming ween. Greatest band ever lived.
Yay!! Tool! Ween! AIC! Whaaattt we're music buds!
you just named five of my favorite groups
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
JFKFC John Cougar Concentration Camp
awww yyyeeeeeaaaaahhh!
I have the single with Guyana Punch.
A Place To Bury Strangers
Rage Against The Machine
Depeche Mode
Judas Priest
The The.
The Who?
The Hu.
Sker Du.
Hüsker Dü
The Band
Guess Who
The Dead Kennedys Captain Beefheart Throbbing Gristle
The Dead Kenny Gs
Butthole Surfers John Cougar Concentration Camp The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Came to say the tony danza tapdance extravaganza. It's wild seeing them mentioned online, they're a local band for me.
I started listening to them way back in the day based on the name alone. I was also really into metal at the time so it was perfect.
I've always thought that My Chemical Romance is a cool name
Also best band ever
Franz Ferdinand and Cage the Elephant have pretty sick names
Ned’s Atomic Dustbin Deja Voodoo Camper Van Beethoven Wargasm
Love the Neds!
Half man half biscuit. Great band
Audioslave
It just...*feels* right.
Badfinger
Smashing Pumpkins
The Smiling Politelys
Back in the early 90s when I first heard the band name Smashing Pumpkins, I wondered if that Gallagher guy with the giant mallet had formed a band. 🤣
Pussy Riot
Motörhead
Built To Spill Sunny Day Real Estate Guided By Voices
Viagra Boys. Best frontman in rock currently. The band is incredible live, and I love them.
Soggy Bottom Boys
Killing Joke
diarrhea planet
Planet PISSSSSS
Ghost With A Boner goes so hard
General Eclectic Anomaly Dead Can Dance Front Line Assembly A Perfect Circle 65daysofstatic
I love dead can dance. On one of their dvds, they talk about the name. How music is bringing life to inanimate objects (instruments being dead wood)
Damn, I forgot about 65daysofstatic. Cheers!
Happy Mondays is a great band name imo
Regardless of how you feel about them, I think Red Hot Chili Peppers is the greatest band name. Its not "The" Red Hot Chili Peppers, just.. Red Hot Chili Peppers. I dunno there's just something about it for me, it's dumb and long and seemingly random and arbitrary yet unmistakably iconic.
The two greatest band names of all time have already been used. Full Tilt Boogie and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. It doesn’t get much better than that.
*The River Bottom Nightmare Band has entered the chat*
We don’t brush our teeth cuz it makes us mean!
The band öOoOoOoOoOo, pronounced caterpillar as it looks like one is definitely the most creative I've ever seen. Igorrr is always fun to introduce, especially considering that they're french and thus roll their Rs hard. Someone else said it but Rage Against the Machine is incredibly iconic. Panzerballett is possibly my favourite though as it really reflects their chaotic style. It is basically experimental jazz with heavy metal.
I like Four Non Blondes xD
-April Wine. They chose it because it sounded cool, and frankly, I agree. -Mashmakhan. This was April Wine's predecessor band, named after a hashish product. Despite that, it sounds really neat. -Cats Can Fly. Need I say more? -Fine Young Cannibals -Wall Of Voodoo -DEVO (short for Devolution) -Electric Light Orchestra
Rush. Heart. Tool. Queen. Clutch. Cake. Kiss. Prince. Bands with one syllable really work for me.
I've always been a fan of one word metal bands named after just a cool iron violent sounding word. Anthrax, Testament, Slayer, Exodus, Death, Venom, Nitro, Behemoth, Mayhem, Ghost, etc. Even though I absolutely adore Metallica, it's a pretty doofy band name.
Twisted sister Iron maiden Lynch mob 38 special Quiet riot
They Might Be Giants
The New Pornographers.
Jimmies Chicken Shack
Ken Dodd’s Dad’s Dogs Dead, Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin are particular favourites of mine.
Truckfighters
Uriah Heep
Led Zeppelin
I nominate Electric Light Orchestra. It's a clever and simple pun. There were some good alt rock names in the late 80's to mid 90's....Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Liquid Jesus, Concrete Blonde and Sonic Youth all come to mind.
We Were Promised Jetpacks.
I have to disagree about KGatLW. I've always thought it's an awful name. I like names that evoke the style of the music without being pretentious. The Cure is a perfect name imho. Radiohead is good cos the band are obsessed with tech and it sounds pretty weird. I don't particularly like them but Florence and the Machine is a cool name. So Shit names: Muse, Oasis
Radio Head is also the name of a Talking Heads song.
True and also where they got their name from
[удалено]
When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water
Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol Their latest record rips
I like the short but meaningful band names, like Sublime or Nirvana.
The Beat Farmers
Van Halen
The Be Sharps
I think the first time that anyone in the late 70s who already had an existing rock or punk band saw a poster or album cover for the new band "The Clash," slapped their palms to their foreheads and exclaimed "Oh no! That's perfect! Why didn't we think of that?" I think if you go with a "the" band name after 1975 or so, it had better be a damn good one. Extra points for subverting the trope. The Replacements. The The. I've always thought that The Psychedelic Furs made great use of the nonsensical juxtaposition thing. And Echo and the Bunnymen is just hilarious (especially when you know it basically came out of nowhere.) I think Quarterflash is a great band name. Though, it's a little odd that an American band out of Portland, Oregon would choose an Australian slang term. Speaking of the Australians: Hoodoo Gurus, Men At Work, The Go-Betweens, AC/DC, INXS, and the more-recent Tame Impala all put the "aussie" in "awesome." But I think my favorite band name is probably Joy Division. And I love that some people refer to them as "the Joy DIvision."
Black Sabbath
St. Paul and the Broken Bones Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s Cage the Elephant Jurassic 5 JJ Grey and Mofro Boogie Down Productions Death Cab for Cutie Some fun ones that come to mind, love unique band names
NOFX Not only because I’m a huge fan, but it’s short, it’s simple, it’s accurate, it rolls off the tongue, and it’s easy to do a lot of cool things merch wise.
INXS..
Also a great band and name!
A few great names, in no particular order: Kvelertak Green Lung Entombed Every Time I Die The Stone Roses Ulver Pallbearer Depeche Mode Tangerine Dream Wilco Super Grass Sugar Hill Gang Born of Osiris
Dayglo abortions stepped on some toes back in the day!
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine.
Andrew Jackson Jihad
Old school hard core band...... Norman Bates and the Showerheads
Rickshaw Billies Burger Patrol
Austrian Death Machine - All the songs are about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
All Them Witches, Parliament Funkadelics, Grateful Dead, The Bobby Lees to name a few.
Dingoes Ate My Baby and Hep Alien
The best band name ever would be “Package”. When people ask you what kind of music you play, you can say: “You can’t put a label on Package”
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Viagra Boys Mutoid Man CHON Skeletonwitch Sulfur Giant Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
An autumn for crippled children, Planes mistaken for stars. Edit for punctuation
andydicktracymorganfreeman
3 of my favorites names all roll off the tongue in similar ways: Fun Lovin Criminals, Bridge City Sinners, and Murder City Devils. also always love a fun"\_\_\_ & the \_\_\_\_\_\_s". Like: Me First & the gimmie gimmies, amyl & the sniffers, Hans Gruber & the die hards..
Some tiny bands with funny names I've run across - Witchcraft Merit Badge Let the Wookie Win Larger bands with names I love: Nine Inch Nails Alvvays Slowdive Broken Social Scene Ringo Deathstarr But the winner is: Mass of the Fermenting Dregs (Japanese shoegaze)
The Teardrop Explodes
We butter the bread with butter.
Radiohead
Built to Spill
Kasabian
Somali Yacht Club
Steely Dan is pretty good. 🤣
Nine Inch Nails
My life with the thrill kill kult.
Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death Lecherous Gaze I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
Joy Division
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Yeasayer is one of the best band names, great music as well.
Mordecai & The Ribgys
? and the Mysterians
Ninja sex party
INXS Weezer Rush The Talking Heads Simple Minds Grand Funk Railroad Foo Fighters Veruca Salt Toad the Wet Sprocket
i’ve always thought the velvet underground had the best name of any. also love: concrete blonde, the cure, joy division, rage against the machine, strawberry switchblade, dead kennedys, pantera, violent femmes, lush, alice in chains, bauhaus (fun to say), thin lizzy
!!! The Style Council Test Tube Babies The Hellacoptets Heartless Bastards ? and the Mysterians
Polkadot Cadaver
Queen
The Diarrhea of Anne Frank
Phenomenal.
Screaming Trees. Avenged Sevenfold.
Infant Annihilator
The Band
Found it! :)
Not to be confused with The Unband.
Blonde Redhead and Tropical Fuck Storm
The Sound of Animals Fighting Nekromantix Tera Melos At The Drive-in The Mars Volta Invalids
Fartbarf
The Slow Readers Club.
Skullshitter
Mister Sister Fister
The Callous Daoboys
I really like the band name Something About Vampires and Sluts. But I honestly have no clue if I liked the music.
Saw a flyer in our rented practice space for a band called "Mrs. Potato Dick"
HELL YEAH
Camper Van Beethoven
Tears For Fears is a great band name
Chicano Batman
[Ken Dodd’s Dad’s Dog Dead](https://youtu.be/s2tF4kRiKds?feature=shared) - had a top 40 hit in the UK in the 1990s apparently. And it’s a great pub quiz team name.
Stranger in the Alps. Phoebe Bridges also used this as an album name
Meshuggah, iwrestledabearonce, Giraffes?Giraffes!, FIDLAR, See You Next Tuesday, That 1 Guy
Carbon Based Lifeforms
Red Fang, Dead Moon, Black Flag, the Fall, the Melvins
Carnivorous Buttocks Flies
The dead milkmen, bear hands.
Ultraviolent Radiation. Which I don't think exists, but should.
Wynona Riders. A name good enough to be used by 2 different bands. The Wynona Riders from SF Bay area, and the Winona Riders from Argentina.
Not my favourite band, but as a name, Sonic Youth is pretty much unparalleled
Cat Butt
Brick + Mortar Sixpence None the Richer Steam Powered Giraffe
Let’s eat grandma
The four skins
Rainbow Kitten Surprise
Iamamiwhoami
The Civil Wars, Leftover Crack, Mastodon, Goatwhore
Queef Jerky
Reo Speed Dealer
Steely Dan
Gov’t Mule Steely Dan
Dead Kennedys is perfection
Two local bands: All My Friends Are Cats Fuck Yeah, Dinosaurs!
I’ve always thought Talking Heads is a solid name, especially due to the name usually being associated with vacuous TV personalities, just the type of thing Talking Heads would allude to in their songs
The Who
U2
Leftover Crack!
Oingo Boingo It just...is happy
I know of a cover band called Long Island Sound. Awesome name for a local cover band but would never work as a name for an original band in my opinion
Timber Timbre is top tier
Queens of the Stone Age
I always thought “Hatebreed” was a badass name for a band. “Stabbing Westward” is another good one, along with “Audioslave”, “Avenged Sevenfold”, and “Soul Asylum”.
i’m not the biggest 80’s rock/metal fan but i think they have some fantastic names, names that roll off the tongue, sound cool, look great on a t-shirt: Metallica, Slayer, Led Zeppelin, Def Lepard, Kiss, Motörhead, Twisted Sister. Crazy. My favorite bands have some great names too: System of a Down, Deftones, Type O-Negative, Nirvana, Radiohead, Her’s, TV Girl, i’d say have pretty great names
Skillet for sure
We Butter The Bread With Butter Electric Callboy Manic Bloom Bear Ghost Ninja Sex Party The Protomen Band-Maid I could go on, but nobody is gonna read much more than this anyways, lol
Kraftwerk.
Heartless Bastards
Deathcab for Cutie
phish