Some bands have names that give you a perfect idea of what kind of music they play. I mean, what other kind of band could Slayer possibly be, or Black Flag? However, these eight bands chose names that don't quite represent the music they make.
1. Yo La Tengo
You can call it "prejudiced" or even "racist," but I'll admit that when I first heard the name "Yo La Tengo," I assumed it was a salsa group, or a group that played some kind of Latin-influenced music. It turns out that Yo La Tengo is one of the country's most beloved indie rock bands, without a single Hispanic member. The name "Yo La Tengo" actually comes from a funny anecdote about the New York Mets.
2. Phosphorescent
When I saw Phosphorescent at Bonnaroo, I didn't know what to expect. Some band members were dressed in black metal T-shirts, and the bassist looked like the jazz-loving Howard Moon from the Mighty Boosh, but the band had a name that sounds very shoegaze. All of these assumptions were wrong: Phosphorescent actually plays sort of psychedelic, alternative country, not shoegaze.
3. The Zombies
I can't imagine how many young punk bands think to name themselves "The Zombies" before looking it up and disappointedly finding that the name was taken all the way back in 1962 by a Beatles-esque psychedelic pop band.
4. Primal Scream
Primal Scream. What an excellent name for a punk band, right? It could even be the name of some Judas Priest-inspired metal band from the '70s and '80s. However, the actual Primal Scream is nowhere near punk or metal: they started off as a jangle pop band before moving into psychedelic acid house.
5. The Pop Group
In this case, the band name is intentionally misleading and ironic, as the Pop Group plays an incredibly challenging and noisy style of post-punk, with nothing that even resembles pop. However, I can't imagine an actual pop group ever naming themselves "The Pop Group" anyway.
6. My Bloody Valentine
When My Bloody Valentine first formed, it played in a sort of gothic, psychobilly style that complemented the band's name well, even if the music wasn't very good. After Bilinda Butcher joined in 1987, however, the band changed its sound so dramatically that it even considered changing the name and becoming a new band entirely. However, it stuck with My Bloody Valentine, even if it sounded a little too violent and extreme for its new dream-pop sound.
7. Death
(I'm referring to the proto-punk Death, not the death metal Death.) Though Death's original name was the much more '70s-sounding "Rock Fire Funk Express," guitarist David Hackney changed the band's name to "Death" for complicated philosophical reasons. The band may have helped develop punk rock, but "Death" comes off as far too raw and brutal for a band that was basically a revved-up version of Thin Lizzy.
8. The Bats
"The Bats" is a name I've always admired for being incredibly simple and unfussy, and I'm sure there are a million goth-rock bands out there that would absolutely kill for that name. Instead, the name went to a charming, totally un-goth indie pop band from New Zealand, who have kept the name in good use since 1982.
What other bands have names that don't suit their music? Let us know in the comments section!
