Dreadful bands with really good names

I saw a poster for Bastille today and had to remind myself that despite having what is objectively a great band name they are an awful band. We ought to be able to take that name away from them and give it to a good band.

Any other examples?

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Not sure, but I just realised Iā€™d been getting Everything Everything mixed up with Years and Years

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I would say two bad names, one decent band one bad band.

Do you think there are really any good band names? I mean, Bastille is fine but I imagine it as one of those t-shirts (popular a few years ago) where youā€™d have the place name in thin-type capital letters, then maybe one geometric shape within another, then a heavily washed image of a skyline behind it

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Imagine Dragons

oh wait thatā€™s actually fucking atrocious

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I think Bastille is a good name - the word itself is nice to say, it looks good written down. It works well without any context, and with context it summons up images of revolt and revolution as well as being French, which is always a bit sexy and sophisticated.

Itā€™s completely wasted on the shit band that have it.

I was thinking about an enforced band name swap - perhaps they could be forced to swap with Preoccupations, who are quite good but who have a name that sounds like a range of low calorie chocolate flavour drinks being marketed to middle aged suburban divorcees.

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Before I heard them, I though that Biffy Clyro might be a welsh singer songwriter that I might like. I was disappointed, to say the least.

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Only sounds cool when said with a Scottish accent. ā€œBiffā€ is also a word we used as adolescents to describe part of the male genetalia so I canā€™t agree itā€™s a name I like

Beffy Clyru

Pretty much every band that chaps been involved in have had terrible names

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The Who

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Muse perhaps?

Viet Cong is cool sounding but morally and culturally questionable. Women is pretty awful. Both are better than Preoccupations though, which might be the worst band name ever.

The weird thing is that all of those bands are a lot better than their names, so the opposite of Bastille.

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I think Muse is a pretty bad name, but itā€™s not as bad as Muse are.

The name would work well for a 60s Psych band perhaps

weirdly canā€™t think of any

I walked past the pyramid stage for Bastilleā€™s set at Glastonbury en-route to Williamā€™s Green from John Peel. Huge crowd. They engender passion both it seems amongst the millenial set* and those who donā€™t really go beyong the charts (this is not meant to be a sneering comment or observation by the way). I am just so baffled by the appeal of this band - Iā€™ve heard a few tracks on my sonsā€™ Now compilations and in passing and I just canā€™t get my head round how Bastille could be someoneā€™s favourite band. Even though they are for many. Normally I can get why people like stuff even if I donā€™t like it but not here. They seem like nice guys and I wish them well but i am definitely missing something here.

*much like Patagonia-wear. Posted about that on another thread about All Points East. Really do like the t-shirt designs and the company ethos but just a bit cultish the way about 30 guys at Glastonbury all between 20 and 35 were all wearing varying colours of this same t-shirt. Far, far more people wearing this than any band t-shirt - arguably all band t-shirts put together. Hawaii shirts/lurid charity shop t-shirts also a hit it seems. Sorry for hijacking the thread with these observations.

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Canā€™t really justify saying Arcade Fire now, but give it one more album and I might.

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The name Oasis should be given to some blissed out psych voyagers. The britpop band will be renamed The Gallaghers

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They remind me of what Simon Amstell once said about The Kooks on Buzzcocks (to a member of The Kooks) - ā€˜if you squint you can almost pretend they are a real bandā€™.

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Actually there was a blissed out, psychedelic band called Oasis in the 70s.