“Having a cool name was really important! I think as you get older, you tend to place much less emphasis on having the “right” name and mistakenly think that the music will somehow speak for itself. Punk band names were best if you could include a slightly shocking word in them, or if they had an X or some kind of initials or number. I’d road-tested all of them by the time I was 18! Great band names are rarely the ones you spend ages angst-ing over, the best ones just leap out at you and BAM! that’s the one.”
Polly Popinjay
“Punk names marked the return of the ‘The’, didn’t they? Prior to ’76, bands either had the one-word name Queen, Rush, Sweet, Turgid, or a band name like a firm of solicitors: Bachman- Turner Overdrive, The Isley Brothers or maybe something long and meaningless: Blue Oyster Cult, REO Speedwagon. But punk bands liked to have a ‘The‘. The Clash, The Buzzcocks, The Slits. It signified no-nonsense and straight down the line guitar tunes. I wish I’d kept the endless lists that my friend and I made when trying to decide on a name for our first band before settling on The Devices.”
Ruth PO!
Choose your band name here: https://www.name-generator.org.uk/band-name/
When I tried it, the suggested name for my new band was ‘Married Kid Mavis’