The Name Game

Back when I was toiling in the gardens of frequency modulation I worked for a General Manager who was a great guy, a fair manager and was totally clueless about the music we played. His favorite group? Dicky Doo and the Don’ts. Google it if you don’t believe me. Hint: They had a Pittston connection. The song was “Click, Clack”. Of course this GM, who we will call “Lumpy” because that was what we called him, also referred to “the kids” playing their “transistor radios” and this was during the 90’s. It got me thinking about group names, specifically groups who play in our local small bars. A quick glance at the publication you hold in your hands provides more than a few. My point here is that all these bands took the time to come up with a name. Only a few came up with a name that you could reasonably infer what sort of music they might offer on a given night out. Just sayin’ that it might help their draw. I make no judgment on the quality of the music. In most cases I would not know the groups in question if I fell over them. Groups I could figure out on my own without any help from description or pictures: Long Strange Trip. Random Rock. (Classic Rock) Runners-up in this category are Iron Cowboy (Country) and Bad Hair Day (80’s), but they had pictures so no fair. Groups that I can sort of guess at but I might be wildly off: Catacomb Creeps. Dirty Vultures. The Dependable Felons. Necessary Noise. Pave the way. (Heavy Metal). Now we veer off into uncharted territory. Johnny Unit. Tribes. Gone Crazy. Faded Fortune. Jerry’s Finger. ( I think it should be Smell Jerry’s Finger, but that’s just me). Ends Of The Earth. Sucker Punch. Dam Shannon. Bare Knuckle. (No clue). Groups with “N” in the middle: Rock N Horse. Skin N Bones. I81 N 151 (As clueless as Lumpy). And the ever popular misspelled names: Hat Tryk. Kartune. Black Orkid. (Really no idea at all). Now I am sure these are all great bands. Hard working bands. Bands with talent and oodles of creativity. After all they came up with these cool names, Right? Or maybe not. Maybe they just put random words together. Long Random Catacomb. Dirty Dependable Noise. Jerry’s Knuckle Sucker. Johnny Gone Faded. Hmmm. I might have something here. Of course I have yet to mention the most popular band of all time, judging from the number of appearances. It seems to me that the group that week in and week out has the most gigs is Penny ‘til U Pee. (Golden Shower Oldies). I could be wrong.