It’s probably one of those ironic names, but Psychedelic Porn Crumpets always makes me die a little when I’m trying to tell people about 'em. Great band, dumb name.

The worst band names are the ones so generic that when you look up the band, you can’t find them.

It’s, in my experience, especially bad in black metal where there are several bands named something akin to Death, Kill, Suicide and so on. It’s like having a rapper calling themselves Rap or Money or Hip-Hop. I’m sure that is an actual possibility, come to think of it, because a lot of rappers also have painfully generic stage names for their genre.

It is a nightmare to search for. I think the only band I can think of, that’s gotten away with naming themselves something generic is Kiss, but it kinda works for them because their name somewhat clashes with their genre. Also they are super mainstream and everybody knows them, so eh. I guess if you hit the lottery as an artist and go mainstream, your shitty, generic band name is not an issue.

However, in black metal it’s a nightmare because many artists are underground (by choice) and doing themselves no favors having super generic names. I literally came across a black metal band once named Black Metal. Like wtf am I supposed to do with that?

Then again, if I have understood the BM culture correctly, it is probably a deliberate troll because it’s avangarde to be inaccessible in this genre. The fewer people who know your music and the fewer fans you have, the cooler you are. That’s my understanding at least. They take the snobbery of “they were better when they weren’t mainstream” to the extreme.

panic! at the disco

If you’re a Rust developer

I think it is a bit funny to see this question, I was in a thread just now finding out there is a band named Xavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffx And apparently is it a abbreviation for “Acidic Vaginal Liquid Explosion Generated by Mass Amounts of Filthy Fecal Fisting and Sadistic Septic Syphilic Sodomy Inside the Infected Maggot Infested Womb of a Molested Nun Dying Under the Roof of a Burning Church While a Priest Watches and Ejaculates in Immense Perverse Pleasure Over His First Fresh Fetus”,

No, that’s a good name.

Acidic Vaginal Liquid Explosion Generated by Mass Amounts of Filthy Fecal Fisting and Sadistic Septic Syphilic Sodomy Inside the Infected Maggot Infested Womb of a Molested Nun Dying Under the Roof of a Burning Church While a Priest Watches and Ejaculates in Immense Perverse Pleasure Over His First Fresh Fetus, or Xavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffx for short.

Honourable Mentions: Anthrax (less bad than others but still awkward when mentioning the band in casual conversation), Shotgun Willy (solo artist)

Now playing I Set My Friends On Fire - Things That Rhyme With Orange

Not as visceral as a lot of the other options, but it is very annoying when bands (especially smaller bands) formed in the last 15-20 years choose names that make it difficult to find their music online. Saw a band as openers once called “1,2,3”. Similar for bands choosing very simple words like “Apartment”, “Paint”, or “Basement”. Even bigger bands like “Shame”, “Wednesday”, and “Idles” are tricky IMO.

Name your band whatever you want, of course, but understand the consequences of your actions!

There’s a punk band who were called Slaves. After a free years of people saying “are you sure that’s the name you want to go with, being a couple of white guys?” They decided no they were not and changed it to Soft Play

“Tommy John Surgery”

Not technically a band but I have always thought the DJ called ‘Breakfast’ was a terrible choice

Hoobastank

There was a brief time when Tommy Chong was on a band under the name “4 N*'s and a C*,” and every now and again I remember that fact and think “What the actual fuck was he thinking.”

Anal Cunt

Lots of problematic song titles too.

Cherry Poppin’ Daddies