Groups in groups

Hello and good morning from the fine city of Las Vegas. It's like Santa's Village, but instead of fun, forest, and fantasy all rolled into one, it's smoke, hookers, and gambling. Both have a petting zoo though. In any case, I'm here and ready to dispense my thoughts.

Last week in the realm of UOPTA, I wrote a whole bunch about music. Well guess what: it's not all out of my system yet. (Random side note: Dusty recently wrote me and asked if it bothered me that people put a question mark after "Guess what." He had a point since it is a command and not a question, and I shutter to think how many times I've made that mistake. If you catch me doing that in this space, you should totally call me on it. I hate doing things that I should hate.) There's a large sub-category under the umbrella of music that I haven't touched on yet, and it's one that I expect to have a lot of reader comments on as well. That means you, ya know. The topic: band names.

I'm going to break this down into three categories. First off, I want to discuss band names that may have been better suited before the age of the internets. What do I mean by that? Well, the names were kinda already taken. Let's use The Postal Service as example number one. I'm not doing any research on this at all or even attempting to prove my points with a little legwork, but I imagine a Google search for that band might come up with some other stuff first. Ya know, like the Postal Service. The same thing goes for Presidents of the United States of America. I mean, they must have chosen to name their band that just so it would be weird and confusing, and they succeeded. Their songs are also weird and confusing, so at least they're sticking with their theme. They combat that confusion by going by PUSA to fans, and that's fun to say. In this same category, we find the band Interpol. I don't know why anyone would name their band after an international crime fighting organization...oh wait, yeah I do. That's totally cool. I think that's worth the potential confusion.

To a lesser extent but still in this category, I would like to submit Cake and Barenaked Ladies. I think the tell-tale sign for bands in this category is whether or not they can just have www and .com bookending their band name for a website. Cake had to go with "cakemusic" because I guess the regular cake one was taken, and Barenaked Ladies went with "bnlmusic." I'm not going to check out exactly why they couldn't just use their band name because it could warp my fragile little mind.

Category number two is in the reference section. I applaud these band names, and I just know there are many more out there of which I'm currently unaware. These are bands that take their names from some previously established piece of work. When executed properly, they make a segment of the population say, "Hey, that's great!" I was in that segment when I first heard of the band Save Ferris. "Hey, that's great!" I said, and I immediately pictured the high school student going around collecting money to save Mr. Bueller from his life-threatening illness. "Save Ferris?" the student said to everyone passing by. Good catch, you guys. On a side note, what kind of name is Ferris? I haven't heard of anyone else named that before or since. Hmmm, honey, I may have another name to add to the "future children's names" list.

Also in this category are four bands I don't know any music by. First, I once saw an album about a dozen years ago by a band that called themselves "DoublePlusGood." If you're not familiar with Orwell's 1984, then that reference to the language they speak in that world is undoubtedly lost on you. I caught it though, and I was tempted to buy it sight unseen (or sound unheard, I guess) because I approved of the name so much. The other three are Atreu, undoubtedly named after the boy hero in The Neverending Story, Rufio, which I imagine has to be named after a horrendously-acted part in the movie "Hook," and The Boo Radleys, taken from the character in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

The third and final category of which I'll write is comprised of the names so bizarre or silly that it makes you shake your head and wonder, "What the hell were they thinking?" This dates back a long time, so you're not off the hook, Strawberry Alarm Clock. Two of the groups in this category actually got me to buy their music (it helps that they were $1 or less each). The first was a tape from a British group called Half Man Half Biscuit. That tape probably deserves its own post for being so oddly awesome. The other was a cd that my friend Greg and I saw from a band called Anus the Menace. The album was appropriately titled "Number Two." It was gloriously awful, and I think I need to pull it out of its case again sometime soon.

Here's where you all come in. There is a shit/butt/crapload of band names that fit each of these three categories. I'd like to read what you can come up with in the comments section. Personally, I don't think that's too much to ask. Especially with the third category, you should be able to pull several of these out of the recesses of your brain with the greatest of ease. What do you say, gentle readers? Ready to share with the rest of the class?

Have a great Monday, mis amigos, and I'll see you back here tomorrow with another post through the smoke and overall whorishness of Las Vegas. And before I go, I wish to wish a Happy birthday to long-time and loyal reader Sue. She's known me since I was 0 years old, so I think that merits a public acknowledgement. Sue, I hope you (and the rest of you) have a wonderful day filled with the spirit of shaloha. See you all back here tomorrow.