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All The Good Band Names Are Taken, According To The Wall Street Journal

7:23 p.m. · February 17, 2010 · by Ethan Stanislawski

The Wall Street Journal is not particularly known for its snarky music coverage, but it has taken an interesting approach to one of rock music's most important superficial qualities: the naming of bands. (The article is headlined "From ABBA to ZZ Top, All the Good Band Names Are Taken.") John Paul Jones said while working on a band name with Dave Grohl that every good band name they could think of already existed: "Think of a great band name and Google it, and you'll find a French-Canadian jam band with a MySpace page." (Not mentioned is the implication that Jones and Grohl secretly think that the name "Them Crooked Vultures" sucks.)

The article rightly points out that a band's name is one of the more crucial parts of a bands image -- imagine where the Butthole Surfers or the Vivian Girls would be with different band names -- but what's more dubious is the take on the legal copyright issues with bands sharing the same name. The example John Jurgenson uses is the dispute over the band name "Discovery," which was the product of a basement band in Brooklyn with a MySpace page before it was taken by members Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot. Also cited is the cease-and-desist order given to former Nirvana openers Captain America by Marvel, failing to realize that Nirvana itself shared the name with a bad '60s hippie band.

I doubt that any French-Canadian jam band would object to sharing a name with a band comprising John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, and Josh Homme; in fact, their MySpace page would give public evidence to the fact that they came up with the name first. The article also cites the number of bands with the word "Fuck" in their name, a subject we've already covered here at Prefix.

For a fake trend piece, however, it does raise an interesting talking point that more bands should probably consider. After all, Goblin Cock seemed shocked that so many critics harped on the band's name rather than the music. As unfair as that may be, the musicians were the ones that decided to name themselves Goblin Cock. [WSJ.com]