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"Offensive" band names

#123
gregmon79 said:
It really depends. Sometimes it seems like some bands name their band a super offensive or vulgar word simply for shock value and attention grabbing. I guess theres a fine line. It really shouldn't matter much. I was always the type of person who liked cool sounding band names or a name that was special or relative to what the band was doing and what they are about. I mean, when I first heard the band name of the band I joined, Killing gods, I immediately thought of something else completely different from what, it seems to me anyway, most people think of first.

I made it very clear to the rest of the band that when we were making the logo that gods had to be lowercase and plural. I would not stand for or be a part of a band with a name that implied the killing of God. That was were I stood and I was fortunate enough to have the rest of the band feel the same. Some find it offensive. I dont in the least. As long as you know what it means and what it stands for, its actually a positive thing. But there are a lot of close minded people out there. Thats all I will say on that.
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that's not nearly as bad as "Deicide"( similar but completely different intention).....
 
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#127
AaronVonRock said:
You want musicians to get their faces pummeled at every single show because of their band name? Wow.
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No, I just think that if a bunch of hipster douches decide to be provocative by giving themselves a name like that, then they had better be prepared for the fallout. These don't strike me as thoughtful guys. I won't shed a tear if their decision bites them on the ass.
 
#128
Was quite a good band out of T.O. in the late seventies, even got to openeing for an Evis Costello tour, with the politicaly incorrect name Battered Wives. All kinds of hand wringing, they were not allowed to play in a city owned venue unless they changed their name. But my favorite was Buster Hymen and The Penetrators.
 
#129
TheCrimsonKing said:
Not to mention Windchimes are Gay and You look Adopted, but this will always be my favourite,



One night, Anal **** got drunk with their friend Howard Wulkan, this is what resulted.
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that's was great!! LMFAO!!! I especially dig the night on my bald mountain part and the Wesley Willis thing at the end....

maybe I just have a real poor sense of humor... Another few bands I can think of are "Dayglow Abortions"(Canadian punk) or MDC(millions of dead cops)...i think people need to lighten up sometimes, hell, even my wife was offended by family guy because of a comment by Peter griffin about "smelly Hawaiians"(she has some in her lineage), now she refuses to watch it... People need to learn to laugh at themselves sometimes...i dunno.....i worked in many construction jobs when I was younger so I've heard nasty stuff for a long time, maybe I'm desensitized... I don't condone racism or hate either btw, I just try to keep humor in my life
 
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#132
I'll see what I can do to make it.


Anybody remember Overkill' "F*ck You" single. The cover was just a photo of a hand flipping the bird. Yep, bought that one for the cover to.

Being an angst-ridden rebelious teen this was just about the most blatantly outright offensive album cover my metal generations parents could have found in our collection. Outside of possibly W.A.S.P.' "F*ck Like A Beast". I have a die-cut vinyl picture disc of this album. Yep, again shock value.

To this day though both Overkill and W.A.S.P. are among my favorite bands and not because of the 1980's shock value. I really like what both have done over their careers.

I always thought "Richard Medulla Oblongatta & The Donkey Brigade" was pretty clever.
 
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#133
I love offensive band names, but the comment about "social consequences vs. legal consequences" is absolutely correct.

Call it whatever you want, but be ready for the fallout.

Some people will seek your band out because of the name, some will avoid it -- most won't care either way.

Current events tie-in: Dolce & Gabbana recently made a statement about gay parents being "unnatural" -- I agree that their statement was legal, and I also agree with the decision of a lot of people to boycott their brand.
 
#134
I don't think censoring people is necessarily the answer, but I do find a lot of band names in bad taste to be childish and gimmicky. Shock value has no value in my books. For me, music is about expression and if you are just trying to make people go "gasp", that's rather uncreative. If you're expressing something, that's different.
 
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#137
I don't get why Black Pussy is so offensive. Why is the default to interpret this (and pretty much everything else, here in PC world) as demeaning? Why not take it as a tribute?

How about a hip-hop group named White Pussy?

There was a house band at a bar in the Keys for quite a few years named Big Dick and the Extenders. The name was proudly displayed on the marquee right on US 1. Granted, the Keys aren't Disneyworld but obviously the owner saw it as a plus rather than a minus.
 
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#138
buldog5151bass said:
It's a matter of being reasonable. Some people will get offended at anything, and sometimes it's done by mistake, but use common sense. Would the reasonable average person want their teenager wearing it on a shirt?
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LOL, but the teenager in question definitely wants to be wearing that shirt...

I've been in the same punk band for 16 years, and we definitely fit the bill. I know we've always had trouble booking shows because of the name, but we still manage to find shows, in a couple weeks we're headed from Alberta to Quebec and back for three weeks, and we've managed to fill most of those nights with shows. Of course I've never seen a band name mis-spelled in so many unique and creative ways... On the other hand, we've been able to use the name in interviews on College radio stations (artistic license I suppose) so it's been less of a hindrance, at least here in Canada than you might otherwise expect. It probably helps that we've never had a problem with a venue using any of the A&E alternatives to our name, but by the same token, it's rare that it has ever happened.
 
#139
fendermademygibson said:
I'll see what I can do to make it.


Anybody remember Overkill' "F*ck You" single. The cover was just a photo of a hand flipping the bird. Yep, bought that one for the cover to.

Being an angst-ridden rebelious teen this was just about the most blatantly outright offensive album cover my metal generations parents could have found in our collection. Outside of possibly W.A.S.P.' "F*ck Like A Beast". I have a die-cut vinyl picture disc of this album. Yep, again shock value.

To this day though both Overkill and W.A.S.P. are among my favorite bands and not because of the 1980's shock value. I really like what both have done over their careers.

I always thought "Richard Medulla Oblongatta & The Donkey Brigade" was pretty clever.
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"we don't care what you say **** YOU!!!" :)

I will admit, growing up in the 90's I bought quite a few albums and shock value had some to do with it.... I remember the reaction my mother had when I came back from the cd store with cannibal corpse "tomb of the mutilated" or Deicide "once upon the cross"... She wasn't too happy with that...

I still dig those bands to this day, I don't agree with Deicide's message, but I get adrenaline rush when I hear them to this day... Other bands are pure satire and I dig them as well as serious acts and different genres and I find nothing wrong with that, too many people get their panties in a bunch over band names...;)
 

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