band name registry

The Whining Malcontents,

and derivatives:

The Whiners,
The Malcontents;

Mustard Meteorites, The

when the name came up — during a sandwich luncheon; perhaps the inspiration? — the question was: "Mustard Meteorite" — or — "The Mustard Meteorites"?
Resolved by this correspondent's esteemed colleague, James Scullin, a genius weirdo himself, who opted for the latter: "Well, it sure will make for easier costuming."

Peanut Butter Mojo
squirm

what an amazing word, huh? my occasional favorite, even.

and if that works, what about...

skvürm

or maybe

skwürm?

skqürm?

enough in that vein. "squirm" is a great word, though.

Odin's Fucking Ravens
the angry people in the alley
Bohemian Waxwing ("the bohemian waxwings")
John Cameron Swayze™
Baptized in Blood

This one is from the 1980s -- I had these guys all figured out:

Amicus Curare — lead singer;
Zsch^sic — lead guitar;
Stone Armageddon — bass;
spike mallet — drums, garbage can;

Their hit single was Jagged Bits of Glass, and on the B-side: If I Had a Hammer (trad.)

The Mangel-Wurzels

(A mangel-wurzel is a traditional european root crop — a type of beet).

(Naturally, it's a Klezmer band).

Gregor Samsa

(You literary types will remember who he is!).

secret agents in the rain

an interesting source, I think: I wrote a short story about a pair of lovers, married to others in a little town; the woman left for a business trip, and when she returned, the relationship hadn't survived, but there was little indication that was happening... I determined that the story was crap, but in it, the fellow had written her a poem, which was the only thing about the story that I liked: eventually, you come home./ and there we are, in our little town,/ never seeing each other, but we know we’re there — now / and then we meet, / like secret agents in the rain.

Duke Paisley

(from the dog-bed color name in a cheesy “outdoor” catalog — the section of the catalog — and therefore, the band’s album name — is It’s All About Dogs)

The Ludovico Technique

This is a reference to the aversion therapy administered to Alex, the ultra-violent protagonist of Anthony Burgess's novel, A Clockwork Orange. I have discovered that this is the name of an actual band — good for you guys!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

a reference to a line in a Sherlock Holmes story, Silver Blaze. It's also the title of a novel by Mark Haddon. You can hardly go wrong, using Conan Doyle as a source... although, as you see, it doesn't always work out — some other clever, would-be genius weirdo has already arrived there: our faithful correspondent, barton cole, realized that the best band name ever was A Scandal in Bohemia, but sure enough, when he dashed to snap up the domain name, a band in England had beat him to it, so he bought the dot-org variation, which he eventually used as a site to document his trip through Europe in the summer of 2008 with his wife and son. That has since been pulled down, to make room for some other genius weirdo project.

The Comb-Overs

What — a polka band? Or a bunch of has-beens that cover 70's tunes and play at county fairs? Feel free to use this one, you unimaginative old farts, but send me residuals when you play gigs: I'll take 5%, which should work out to ten dollars or so per gig.

ROY G. BIV

the stalest band name ever. Did you pick up on the reference? The spectrum, a rainbow? Red Orange Yellow...

Caution Runners

when dropping my son off at school, we saw a sign at the school's track that said, "Caution Runners on the road;" we agreed that a little edit was all that was needed to make a spot-on band name...

The Rubbish Lads

(I think I can put this on here — one of my favorites, and it's copyrighted, so don't move in on it, or our legal department... well, just enjoy it, but don't use it — I think my son, who had first crack at it, changed his mind). I saw this on the back of a truck — sorry, a lorry — trundling through Earl's Court in London, but couldn't whip out my camera in time...

The niMcompoops

according to the genius weirdo who dreamed up this gang, "banjos and electric guitars, for sure, that's what the niMcompoops have in their band; a bit of Klesmeric Harmonica too, and a wash board for good measure."

The Drowning Flamingos

Believe it or not, it does happen.

The Bourgeois Chiselers

That's "boozh-wah," as in most of my clientele - "I heard your rates went up..." they say. No, they didn't, but that won't stop you from taking another trip to the Orient, will it? Okay, I'll raise my rates...

panic hardware

my wife brought this one up; she opted, though, for "hollow door specialists" -- these are the guys you call when you need "panic hardware" installed [the bars across some doors that unlatch them when you push on, or fall against them ].

marx toys

there's a true-life context for this one. I'll get to it.

gay manipulated mice

I don't know what sort of stuff these guys play. The name came from a remark made by a German youth, a true, young, genius-weirdo, Lennart Dose (who plays the keys in a German band called "Ludwig Van"), who, when he visited my part of the world in 2005, told me he really wanted a Butterfinger Bar. "We can't get them in Germany," he said.
"Really? Why?" I asked.
"They're banned. They're - contraband."
"Banned?" I said. "Really?" I was skeptical. Can you tell?
"Yes - because of the gay manipulated mice."
"What the - ?" I was thinking those Germans are uptight about the oddest things...
Well, it turns out the issue with Butterfinger Bars is that they're made with genetically modified corn. Lennart was pronouncing "gene" as if it were a German word ("gay-nuh") and using the German word for corn: "Mais" - so it all made sense.
And a band name was born.
The pun is mere happenstance, but it's a node.

meet you in iceland

It's just random. There's a source, actually, involving a coup d'etat of sorts, but the world's not yet ready for that story.

strunk and white

oh, yeah. Hit single? "Rule 17."

C R O A T O A N

The Lost Colony; read more here.

mustard girl

She was a unique super-hero sidekick; her power was the ability to be cute and absolutely nothing else; used to know her, but they took her out.

canoe wife

She was in all the Brit tabloids (we call them "newspapers" in the States) when I was there in the summer of 2008; do a Google search and read up on her - the last news I had was from a tabloid posted on the wall above the urinals in Heathrow - so one could keep up on the news while they whizzed. She's in prison now.

crwth & pibgorn

A Welsh power trio. Mentioned in Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas's "play for voices," which I directed in 2009.

Bedroom Bureau

I was helping a friend move, and saw a box marked this way. I've even got a song for these guys to sing: "My Boobs Itch;" a comment a woman here in my little town made, just before we completed our transaction (I'll leave you in the dark on what that was). Later, she was walking past my house, and offered (inadvertently) a song for side two: "My Boobs Still Itch."

sadistic chopstick

At a poetry contest, words to be used in the poems were written on a chalkboard; these words were adjacent, and potent that way.

Banned in China

Just like this website, folks. We thought about the name being, "Band in China," but that's too clever, and is just silly. But alright, let's do it.

Band in China

Really, this is is out of regard for - to humor - my son, Max, who, after all, was the one who spotted the "Rubbish Lads" lorry in London (see above).

LD50

a spec on an MSDS. I've discovered, when looking for that helpful link, that a heavy metal band released an album with that title. Good for them.

contaminated confetti

this one came up when some theater guys needed some fake snow, but just a little, apparently. The more experienced suggested just finding the three-hole punch in the office, and emptying out the reservoir. "But it's a children's theater," I said, for that was our venue, "and colored paper... it's likely to be --" and a band name was born.

Kruchinsky's Hot Potatoes

From the back of a box of Morton Kosher Salt;

see the recipe here.
Again, a Klezmer band.