The Old School Otaku Lounge

When I was in junior high, I used to think that bands like Echo & The Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, and Talking Heads had funny names. Then in high school, I learned about bands like Elvis Hitler, An Emotional Fish, Butthole Surfers, Dead Milkmen, Legendary Pink Dots, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, M.C. 900 Foot Jesus, and Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine.

So what are some bands with peculiar names you can think of? The most clever, in my opinion, are names with a twist, like Ringo Deathstarr (awesome band, and I was lucky to hang out with them one night), The Brian Jonestown Massacre (a twist on The Who's guitarist, Brian Jones), Jehova's Witness Protection Program (never heard them though)and John Cougar Concentration Camp (a Ramone's cover band).

Here are some more clever/weird names I could come up with: Deathcab for Cutie, Amusement Parks On Fire, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, Jesus Chrystler Supercar, Flaming Lips, A Place To Bury Strangers, Man...Or Astroman?,Crispy Ambulance.










OK, if you wanna cheat, I found this amusing website here:
http://sam.hochberg.com/bandname.html Here are some of the ones that made me laugh:
Alcoholocaust, Attila the Stockbroker, Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre, Candy Striper Death Orgy, Demon Barf (WTF?) The Fat Chick From Wilson Phillips, He's Dead Jim, Hindu Garage Sale, Hitler Stole My Potato, Horny Mormons, Joan of Arkansas, The Morbid Tavern Apple Choir, New Squids On The Dock, Rainbow Butt Monkeys, Rubber Nipple Salesman (I wonder if this in reference to that one episode of Ren & Stimpy?) Sandy Duncan's Eye, and the weirdest: Gee That's A Large Beetle I Wonder If It's Poisonous?

SPDFGH, This Is Serious Mum, The Self Righteous Brothers, The Fish John West Reject and the Fuck Fucks. Most of these bands from Melbourne.

Edit: forgot Architecture in Helsinki.

The Self-Righteous Brothers! THAT IS AWESOME! I love it!

In college, I had a friend who fantasized about starting a ska band and call it The Dick Tater Tots. I thought of Olivia Neutron Bomb as well as Robert McNamara & Cheese. (Robert McNamara was the SOB Secretary of Defense responsible for botching the Vietnam War so that he and the other evil SOB Lyndon Johnson could personally profit off of sending soldiers to Vietnam. I heard that he finally and remorsefully apologized for what he was responsible for before he died and wrote a book about what an evil turd he was.)

So... Architecture in Helsinki. I thought of that one, too. They're an Australian band, right? It's a unique name for a unique band. That video you linked in particular is great, and that's the only song of theirs that I've liked so far. If their style was consistenly like "Do The Whirlwind," then I'd really love that band. However, their style is all over the place, it seems.

Another interesting band name is A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Their music is very clever, abandoning traditional musical forms in preference for very unstructured songs. Their first album was somewhat noisy, but their second CD is something i can listen to over and over again.

Man Or Astroman? 's name comes from a tag line on the American poster for the Toho SF/horror film "The Human Vapor" "Is He Man Or Astro-Man?" asks the poster. They were/are a band from Auburn Alabama who played an aggressive brand of garage/surf instrumentals. Their live shows involved banks of old TVs screening crazy old SF movies; they'd throw Little Debbie cakes into the crowd and the band wore Devo-style jumpsuits and assumed kitschy SF personas. I saw them a bunch of times in the early 90s; my sister went to the university in Auburn for a year and got to know them pretty well. She's still friends with the drummer's ex-wife.

They haven't been active for a while, but they do shows every now and then. Well worth catching if they ever come to your town.

I love the Dead Milkmen, which actually started out as a fake parody band in a punk rock fanzine. Their first record was on constant rotation when I was in high school, and their subsequent LPs were both funny and well-crafted, and they are great live. Talking Heads is one of the greatest bands of all time IMHO. Butthole Surfers conceptually is a great band but makes for challenging listening.

I never saw them live, but I do have a flyer for a band called "The Flaming Ass Biting Shit Dogs From Hell", circa 1987.

greg wrote:The Self-Righteous Brothers! THAT IS AWESOME! I love it!

They're actually the lead singer and guitarist from Frenzal Rhomb. I think like TISM their song titles are far better than the actual songs they write. A few years back they actually hosted the breakfast show on nationally broadcasted youth radio station Triple J. It actually injected a lot more life into the station which had been stagnating for years. I remember one really memorable back announcement of a Cake song by Jay Whalley; "Short Skirt/Long Jacket shit song"

greg wrote:So... Architecture in Helsinki. I thought of that one, too. They're an Australian band, right?

From Melbourne. It seems to make it in the music industry all Australian bands must be based in Melbourne. I was never really a fan of the band. They've changed a bit over the years.

Dave: I'm a Man, Or Astroman? fan myself. They actually released a new album last spring. It doesn't have any sound clips from old SF/horror/cartoons anymore, but it's a great album.

I saw them once in concert. It was April 1996 when the Hale Bopp comet could be seen in the sky. They were joking about the Heaven's Gate cult that was making the news, and it was right befor their mass suicide. Their concert was a lot of fun to watch!

Here's a few more: We Were Promised Jetpacks, A Sad Day For Puppets, Trash Can Sinatras.

I like the name "We Were Promised Jet Packs."

I got all excited one day when I thought up the name Stillborn Unicorn. I looked it up on Google and it was taken. That name is reason enough to start a band.

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thee_Michelle_Gun_Elephant

Ah yes! Thee Machine Gun Elephant. They take the cake for the most bizarre name for a band from Japan. The stupidest has to be "Super Funky Monkey Babies" or whatever the hell they're called. Now that is a stupid name for a band.

I just thought of another fun twist name for a band: Camper Van Beethoven. They were around for awhile, but they were only really known for one song: "Take The Skinheads Bowling."