Band Brands
Take a peek at your music library: you’ll be amazed at how many familiar naming strategies you spot. Here are a few of my favorites:
REPETITION
Hot Hot Heat
Mr. Mister
Go-Gos
Duran Duran
RHYMING
Milli Vanilli
Lynard Skynard
Quiet Riot
PUNCTUATION
koRn
Mötley crue
Wham!
Was (not Was)
ACRONYMS
ABBA
BEASTIE boys
INXS
ALLITERATION
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Beach Boys
Herman’s Hermits
COINED WORDS
The Beatles
Radiohead
Devo
SUPERLATIVES
The Supremes
Queen
Extreme
LOCATIONS
Chicago
Asia
Boston
Skid Row
ANIMALS
T. Rex
Scorpions
ARBITRARY
Cake
Garbage
HISTORY / NAMESAKE
Jethro Tull
Paul Revere and the Raiders
FooFighters
B-52s
Collective Soul
Supertramp
DESCRIPTIVE
The Band
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
The Alan Parsons Project
So what are your favorite band names?
Contributed by: Maghan Cook
Death Cab for Cutie
Frou Frou
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (how could that not be in repetition?)
The Kooks
Tegan and Sara
Stars
The Postal Service
Band of Horses
Cold War Kids
…. and the list goes on & on
Let’s not forget the portmanteau/mash-up category. One of my favorite bands, Jamiroquai is said to have gotten its name from a mash of the words “jam session” and “iroquai,” a reference to the Iroquois tribe