Judging from the reaction my band gets we’ve chosen a very strange band name. It is strange… it’s hard to remember, a tongue twister, vaguely foreign sounding and nonsensical. People whose judgment I value have told me they don’t like the band name. Fair enough. There are plenty of band names I don’t like. But it gets me to thinking – what makes a good band name?
Should a band name be catchy? Easy to remember? They sound like reasonable qualifiers. What’s the better band name: The Flaming Groovies or Some Still Loves You Boris Yelstin (abbreviated to SSLYBY)? I would argue The Flaming Groovies, but I’ve never heard SSLYBY’s music.
It’s very difficult for me dissociate a band’s name from the band’s music – if I like the music, I generally don’t give a second thought to the name. If I haven’t heard the band or haven’t formed an opinion I usually find myself evaluating cues to the band’s music… things like the band’s name. And if I don’t like the band… well, oddly enough I can’t come up with any band whose music I hate but who’s name I love. Blink 182? Awful name. Prefuse 73? Not so bad.
Is Dinosaur Jr. a good name? Sebadoh? Holy Fuck!? Blood on the Wall? Death Cab for Cutie? Velvet Underground? Coldplay?
Dinosaur Jr. is an okay name… but the band started off as just plain Dinosaur (the junior was added after another band named Dinosaur threatened legal action). Subjectively speaking, Dinosaur is a horrible name – unless it’s meant as a joke, in which case it’s sort of funny. Sebadoh looks good on paper and is pretty fun to say. Holy Fuck? It’s not for me, but the music is pretty good. Blood on the Wall? I dunno. Death Cab? Kind of cumbersome. Coldplay? Brings to mind a couple of images… coldcuts and disinterested foreplay.
It’s hard for me to come up with band names I really like, but there are a few. Sonic Youth and Velvet Underground are both great names… suggestive and evocative without hitting you over the head. And I think they both reflect the band’s music pretty accurately. The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Flaming Groovies are also really good. I have a fondness for silly band names.
…which brings me to my band’s name: Yim Tin Tam. It didn’t come to me in a dream. There were no shortage of band names for the choosing: Furnichair, “The Never Ending Story Part IV, the Band”, Falcor… Yim Tin Tam started off as Yon Shimazu, the name of a man from my home town. I always liked his name, but in the end decided it wasn’t suitable for a band name. Chucking that idea I used his first name, played around with it a bit and ended with Yim Tin Tam. It was simple (9 letters, three “words”), yet for some reason complicated; Yim Tim Tam would be so much easier to say, but I don’t like it nearly as much.
Ultimately I believe that a band name becomes irrelevant (or close to it) once you’ve heard the band’s music. Would people have had such a hard time with “The Artist Formerly Known as (Prince)” had the quality of Prince’s music not plummeted? I figure you can name yourself whatever the hell you want if you’ve got the chops to back it up.
Still, maybe changing it back to Prince wasn’t a bad idea.
