What's in a name?
Sep 14 '00
While some may consider picking the actual name of that band as secondary to actually playing something that people might want to hear, getting a name that's both memorable and an indication of the type of music that band produces is radically important.
I should mention, to begin with, that I can't claim any great success in the musical world. However, my college band was able to pick out a pretty darn good name, and that's an important step.
Of course, picking out a good name takes some doing. In my band's first incarnation, we just wanted to play loud music, jump around a lot, sound like the punk bands that we all loved, drink beer and meet girls. In short, we were never very serious about what we were doing -- we had some original songs and just wanted to play music to have fun and do something between classes.
As we were all cartoon fans, our guitarist came up with the name "Jumpin' Jehoshaphats." That phrase, of course, was one that Yosemite Sam used while frustrated in all those classic Warner Brothers cartoons, and what better name is their for a semi-serious college band that pounded out such classic tunes as "My Friend Rashid is Dead" and "Nazi Girl?"
When that particular guitarist split one day in a fit of pique, the rest of us felt guilty about using our beloved Jumpin' Jehoshaphats name. So, we decided to come up with something else. A couple of us were flipping through one of those trashy tabloids in a supermarket one day, and saw an article about the "Elvis Tribe. "
Now, the "Elvis Tribe" was supposed to be located in the jungles of Africa but, by some miracle, had come to worship Elvis. There was this photo of several native types, see, wearing Elvis wigs. The caption read, "Wacky Savages sing and dance like the King." So, we instantly became the Wacky Savages, and that name, too, was descriptive of a band that was just out to have a good time and play some loud music.
The point is, a name says a lot about a band. The Rolling Stones, of course, chose a name that described a band that studied the blues at great length. Fear, of course, wanted to be a hostile, angry punk band. Air Supply was, well, a bit romantic and "light" in their approach. The Beatles were both a bit beatnik in approach and had an odd sense of humor about certain things. The Flaming Lips were just plain weird. All of those bands were able to choose a name that was both memorable and indicative of the type of music one could expect.
A friend of mine once told me his secret to naming a band, and I can't help but think he was on to something. He said what he liked to do was get out a newspaper with a lot of classified ads in it and look in the section that featured just general stuff for sale. What he would do is look at the first two words of each ad, and come up with a band name.
His band finally settled on the name "Lumpy Rutherford" which was from an ad selling a Lumpy Rutherford lunch box. Lumpy, of course, was one of Beav's friends in Leave it to Beaver. Another one that was considered by his band was "69-Foot Claw," which was from an advertisement for a 69-foot claw table. That method, I've found, works quite well.
Finally, my brother and I came up with the ideal name for a band that was just plain offensive -- Hate Magnet. What would Hate Magnet's first album be called? How about I, Pimp. How about a follow up album -- The Pimp and I. Oh, but that's another story.
At any rate, have fun naming a band and good luck!
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Member: Ethan C. Nobles
Location: Benton, Ark.
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The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient.
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