By Raffaela Kenny-Cincotta
So you want to start a band, huh? First thing you need is a name. It’s what will be printed on flyers, posters and t-shirts, it’s what will be scrawled on the front of your drummer’s bass drum, and hopefully it will be immortalized on the Billboard Top 100 between Justin Timberlake and a flavor-of-the-week rapper. Get ready, because all of your dreams are about to come true.
Some bands pay tribute to where they come from, like California surf-pop band Best Coast. Unfortunately Boston, Chicago and Alabama are already taken so cross those off the list. Maybe you should go literal. Electronic megastar Pretty Lights is quite obviously named for the overwhelmingly pretty lights that dance along to his live performances. The Beach Boys hung out at beaches a lot and The Notorious B.I.G. was both notorious and big. Don’t worry, there are plenty of literal names to go around, but you need to give credit where credit is due. The classic rock band The Band will always reign supreme in terms of literality.
Maybe a foodie name will peak your interest. It sure worked for 90’s alternative favorite The Cranberries or rock legend Meat Loaf. Also note that if you’re going to name your group after something on your dinner plate the sillier the better. The long-time jam band The String Cheese Incident had the right idea on this one.
No food? Alright. You can go oxymoronic like Led Zeppelin or provocative like the infamous rap group N.W.A. You can blend your initials with pop-culture references like producers RJD2 and R.L. Grime did. You can even do that new hip thing where you replace letters with other letters like Chvrches or just leave out essential letters like experimental rockers MGMT (bet you didn’t know their name was really Management).
What about a bad pun? Although they are perhaps the greatest band ever, The Beatles as a name is an awful play on words. It’s like you can hear their conversation: “Beatles! Like the bug but also musical beats! Get it?” To be fair, their original name, The Quarrymen, wasn’t much better.
You know what, who cares what your name is? If a band called Smashing Pumpkins can be taken seriously so can you. Lynyrd Skynyrd is named after a 70s era high school gym teacher for crying out loud. Play your music and if people dig it they won’t care what your name is. For a band by any other name would sound as sweet.
Spotlight Playlist: Names, Names, Names
1. “Up On Cripple Creek” by The Band
2. “Linger” by The Cranberries
3. “Straight Outta Compton” by N.W.A.
4. “Song for Dan Treacy” by MGMT
5. “Rocky Racoon” by The Beatles
