Bands with Silly Names from the 70’s & 80’s

That’s right: Bands with silly names. During my school and college years back in London, England from about 78 – 84 I had a strange compulsion to seek out bands with silly names. Bored with safe sounding groups like ‘The Clash’, ‘U2’ good as they were I went seeking bands with the more bizarre names. Now as luck would have it many of these strangely named bands turned out to be really pretty good and indeed many of the records I used to buy have since become collector’s items. Possibly the first silly names band I noticed in my local ‘Beggar’s Banquet’ record store was by a band/person called ‘Phillip and his foetus vibrations’ who’s ‘Tell me what is the bane of your life’/’Mother I’ve killed the cat’ sounded like a suitable candidate. ‘What an adorable name I thought’. Surely, anyone with guts enough to include ‘Foetus’ in their band name must be an interesting listen and happy to report it certainly was. It was as different, dark, twisted and demented as the title suggested with slightly sinister industrial sound. The ‘B’ Side: ‘Mama, I killed the cat’ is like listening to a lost clip from ‘Pyscho’. My fragile little mind was happily warped to new and exciting music. As for Mr. Foetus, well he didn’t stop there and went on to many more incarnations, most if not all including ‘Foetus’ in some form or fashion in his name. There was ‘Scraping Foetus off the wheel’ – A name I can only hope was not inspired by actual events, ‘Foetus Interruptus’ (ich’) & just plain ‘Foetus’. So there you have it I was hooked. The need to seek out new bands with ridiculous names was my curse and here are some of the wonderful bands I discovered. Certainly some you may have already heard of and some you may not but believe me I didn’t make any of these up:

1: ‘Foreheads in a Fish tank’ – A nice little experimental group. Early 80’s.
2: ‘The Tesco Bomber’s’ – A small indie band with horns and funny lyrics. Early 80’s.
3: ‘Punishment of Luxury’ – A great Progressively Punky group whose ‘Laughing Academy’ album is one of my favorite’s. Late 70’s.
4: ‘The Virgin Prunes’ – Goth rock indie wonderfulness. Late 70’s/Early 80’s.
5: ‘The Men They couldn’t hang’ – A great rockin’ Irish band. Mid 80’s.
6: ‘Penguin Café Orchestra’ – An orchestral experimental ensemble. Mid 80’s.
7: ‘Deepfried Toguma’ – A really wonderful European Electronica group from a few years ago. Early 00’s.
8: ‘April March’ – From Early 90’s. This is a young lady who does very quirky retro chic music that wouldn’t sound out of place in a 60’s European beach movie. I don’t know if this is her real name. I guess it’s possible, but her first single ‘Voodoo Doll’/’Kooky’ – is highly entertaining.
9: ‘Rip, Pig and Panic’ – From the mid 80’s. All experimental horns and associated beaty madness from one of the pioneers of early British experimental group ‘Cabaret Voltaire’.
10: ‘Skafish’ – A slightly demented Aussie with a big nose and crazy hairdo who wrote surprisingly good pop songs. Check out ‘Obsessions of you’. Early 80’s.
11: ‘Infected Mushroom’ – The best ‘Trance’ act in my opinion. Check out ‘Classical Mushroom’ by them. Early 00’s.
12: ‘Yellow Magic Orchestra’ – One of the best Electronic acts of the 70’s.
13: ‘Super Furry Animals’ – One of the best bands ever to come out of Wales. Still going strong with inspired indie/alternative sounds incorporating great pop/rock/electronic stylings. Very inventive and interesting listen. Late 90’s/00’s
14: ‘Demented are go’ – Great Punky/Rockabilly group from late 70’s/early 80’s.
15: ‘Lemon Kittens’ – Early Indie group featuring ‘Danielle Dax’ with sublime weirdness from around 79′
16: ‘Lori & the Chameleons’ – Who I believe only did (2) songs. Their best being ‘Touch’ – a beautifully catchy little tune from 79′ with sexy liverpudlian sung lyrics.
17: ‘Teardrop Explodes’ – Who along with ‘Echo & the Bunnymen’ bought attention to the North of England in the late 70’s/early 80’s.
18: ‘Those Naughty Lumps’ – From around 79 indie.
19: ‘Rudimentary Penis Clinic’ – A tough listen from the early 80’s.
20: ‘Cowboys International’ – Not an International Country act but a late 70’s Electronic/Pop band who’s ‘Original Sin’ album has been released on CD recently. Yay.
21: ‘They Might Be Giants’ – They might be, they might not, but they are one of America’s most entertaining bands of the past 25 years. My fave album ‘Flood’.
22: ‘Fad Gadget’ – Electronic IndieMute heralded this fantastically original artist in 79. ‘Ricky’s Hand’ is one of the most original singles from 79’/80′.
23: ‘This Mortal Coil’ – Gloomy Goth rock mix of Artists with Burt Bacharach sensibilities. Mid 80’s.
24: ‘Strawberry Switchblade’ – Suprisingly Poppy band/girl duo from the mid 80’s.
25: ‘Throbbing Gristle’ – Put some gristle together with some throbbing and this is the music you can expect to get. Painful industrial Shenanigans by one of the pioneers of Industrial. Check out ‘Discipline’ for some of the most violent music imaginable.
26: ‘Peter & the Test Tube Babies’ – Some basic punk from the tail end of the 70’s.
27: ‘Frank Chickens’ – They were two Japanese girls and apparently honest poultry was important to them in the mid 80’s.
28: ‘Mental As Anything’ – Great melodic Aussie Pub/Pop/Rock group from late 70’s/early 80’s. Check out ‘Creatures of Leisure’ for some really great songs.
& finally, 29: ‘Orchestral Manouveres in the Dark’ or (OMD). I don’t think many people remember what ‘OMD’ is actually short for. This was a band I saw for $2.00 in a small dingy club called ‘Y’ in London in 1980. At the times they used Tape-Loops and very simple Moogs but were very melodic in sound. Even if they lost their inventiveness somewhat in the latter part of the 80’s I applaud them always for one of the silliest names in rock music history.