Unfortunate Band Names that hold a band back from mass appeal.

When I first heard the band name Nirvana I thought they were one of the ethereal bands like Cocteau Twins.

 

Throbbing Gristle
Nurse with Wound
a;GRUMH

Beats me what they sound like.

 

Until age 16 (late '70s), I thought the Grateful Dead were hard metal, and was really surprised at the folksy/country "easy" vibe their music had.

 

Add the adjective "Silver" and you've got a winner!

 

Raging Pussies

 

Viet cong

 

Raspberries

When I was on vacation with my family in Europe (1979), I got my mom to let us go into a few record stores. At a few places I saw an album by a band called "The Five F@#%s" in the racks. Never saw it in the States.

 

Pavlov's Dog

Sounds like a super pretentious prog band. They're a very unpretentious prog-pop band though. They had a few songs that I can't believe weren't hits in the 70s.

 

Kurt Vile is literally named Kurt Vile. What else is he supposed to do?

 

In the same way, Happy Rhodes probably should have changed her name.

 

butthole surfers

 

Cancer Bats

 

Mouse Rat

 

I Am the World Trade Center.

 

well,...they are the Eagles of death metal.

 

as much as ive loved the DK's music for years, i dont feel their name really affected their chance at 'mass appeal'.

 

Destroyer ... completely alt pop, not at all metal. one of the guys from New Pornographers. Which is another name that might be problematic for some.

 

ill pick XTC
....and it has been mispronounced as much as Rickenbacker has.

 

Yeah, for some reason the meaning of the band name escaped me at first. The first thing that popped into my head when I heard the name was something like this...



The band "The Eagles" never crossed my mind at all. I guess it didn't help on the news they just kept saying some of the events were taking place at a "Death Metal Concert".

 

Diarrhea Planet

 

I always wondered if Fanny were a victim of their name? Fanny isn't he best name even if we're using the North American definition; less so if we apply the UK definition.

Great band though.

 

Speed , Glue & Shinki ?

 

When I worked an indie record store, I special ordered some An*l C**nt records for a customer. We got lots of laughs trying to decide how to tell the customer over the phone that his record had arrived.