Worst prog band names - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Visitor13 wrote:

Heh, that one's more silly/ironic than anything. Not the best name out there, but not the worst, IMO.

On the other hand, The Happiest Band That Ever Played wasn't as pompous as The Greatest Show on Earth, but it also was kind of silly.

3 was a pretty crappy prog band name as well; neither Emerson nor Palmer seemed to be very good at naming bands.

"Peace is the only battle worth waging."

Albert Camus

Visitor13 wrote:

Genesis. Exodus. Any other bands named after great literary works.

If you have the balls to pick a name like that, you must have the talent to create music of comparable value. Doesn't work any other way.

Along the same lines, The Greatest Show on Earth was a pretty presumptuous band name.

"Peace is the only battle worth waging."

Albert Camus

The Pessimist wrote:

Having said all this, Van Der Graaf Generator doesn't even sound like a band name. I tell people that they are my favourite "old-school" band and they're like... "That's their name?"

I have the same thoughts about them.When I recently saw them live

most people were asking me Van der what? Someone said to me - Are they Dutch?

And when I came to the point of explaining the meaning of the band´s name it only

became even worse.

The water rushes over all
cities crash in the mighty wave;
the final man is very small,
plunging in for his final bathe

Having said all this, Van Der Graaf Generator doesn't even sound like a band name. I tell people that they are my favourite "old-school" band and they're like... "That's their name?"

"Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value."

Arnold Schoenberg

Yes
Caravan
Starcastle
Egg
ELP
Focus
Symphony X
Kamelot

Oh god so many

"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "

We actually played a gig calling ourselves Leprechaun Sauce (little green guys in a blender? I don't know coming up with band names is something you do over beers and it seems like a good idea at the time)

A lot of the death bands just border on the stupid.

SMPTe ranks among the nerdiest of all album titles in the history of the universe.

You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all.

I never liked Art Bears as a name, for some reason. Stormy Six is a bit naff, too.

Yes (maybe something that doesn't get said more than daily by English speaking people)
Spock's Beard (a tad too much on the nerd-scale)
The Flower Kings (I consider myself to be a die-hard fan but when I mention this band to people for the first time I always feel a bit uncomfortable)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (You have an exclamation mark in your name. I can't respect you)
5uu's (I don't know where to begin with this)
5ive (a "5" looks nothing like an "f")

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.

^definitely....

Another bad one is Epignosis. Man, how can someone come up with that? Confused

Now seriously, I think Camel, isn't a very inventive name.

BaldFriede wrote:

"Scheiss die Wand an" comes to my mind. They were more than just a prog band though; their "concerts" were more like spontaneous theatre acts, with action painting and all kinds of unpredictable things happening on stage. They feature Freddy Sedtz and Geerald Luciano Hartwig, who both played with Embryo and the Roman Bunka band. Hartwig also played with Guru Guru and a side project of Roland Schaeffer (of Guru Guru and Brainstorm) which was named Roland und die Dadadogs.
Oh, and the name is a German expression which literally means "sh*t against the Wall". It is, however, used the same way as the English "m*****f*****" is sometimes used, to state that something is extremely good. I had to look up the meaning of the expression though; it is not common in the area of Germany where I live. Since Embryo and Guru Guru are of Bavarian origin I suppose it is a Bavarian expression.
And here a short video of them, from which you can get a slight impression of their stage activities.
http://www.yidio.com/scheiss-die-wand/id/1987418407

So they picked a band name that makes no sense to people who aren't Bavarian? Wow, talk about creator provincialism.... LOL

"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook