Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis

[venta]

A quick - and perhaps not very good - game for a Friday afternoon. This is a challenge that (for no very good reason) I set myself last night:

Can you think of a band-name which consists of five or more words?

Rules:

- You can't count a leading 'the'.
- Names of the form 'N and the Ms' don't count; names containing 'and' are disallowed if it is used to link two concepts together. Four Poofs And A Piano (disappointingly) don't count.
- It must be a real band, with "proper" evidence of its existence. Ken Dodd's Dad's Dog's Dead is a bloody marvellous band-name, but I'm not yet 100% convinced that they ever really existed for any purpose other than having a great name.
- Must be the band's usual name. The more bizarre flights of fancy occasionally used by the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band probably don't count.
- Preferably not a descriptive name (eg Royal College of Music Baroque Orchestra). I can't come up with a good rule to cover this, it's... just a bit dull as an answer.
- Probably other constraints which I will make up capriciously on the spur of the moment.

I was surprised to find I could only think of three (though I have come up with a fourth while writing this, although I know nowt about them beyond d_floorlandmine liking them...)

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

I won't post my answers yet, not least because I suspect they're quite obvious and someone else might get them.

However, I shall just pause for an honourable mention of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, which doesn't qualify but is such a great name I was almost willing to count "Dinosaurs" as two words. I may even go and investigate (http://totallyenormousextinctdinosaurs.tumblr.com/) what they sound like.

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

They do have an excellent name. The music doesn't quite live up to it IMO.

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

I have a vague recollection there was a student band there were posters for (early 80s) 'Dead Men Don't Chew Blu-Tack', also one called 'Janet And John Go Shopping'.

But of course, there is our very own http://spaceheroes.net/ Space Heroes Of The People

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

Also 'Bang On A Can All-Stars' (who are on in Amsterdam, at the Barbican and in Glasgow shortly)

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness.
The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark.
Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia.
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine.
The Presidents of the United States of America.

Not sure I'm clear where your "And" rule stands on We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It - is it two concepts or merely a statement of intent?

[venta.livejournal.com]

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
and
Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia

were the two I first thought of :)

Not sure I'm clear where your "And" rule stands on We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It - is it two concepts or merely a statement of intent?

I think I'm ok with that and. I was finding it quite hard to codify my 'and' rule, but I abritrarily say that one gets through.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I've not heard of a couple of those, but it never occurred to me that OMD and Carter USM were really bands with long names :)

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Title: Pretty Fly (For A White Guy). Which for some reason morphs bizarrely and annoyingly into Tick Tick Boom in my head.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Be Nice To The Pigeons.
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Christians in search of filth.
A place to bury strangers.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I wish you'd written that as

Christians In Search of Filth and A Place to Bury Strangers

:)

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch; And They Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead; Get Cape Wear Cape Fly.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good call on Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly!, I hadn't thought of them.

Or, rather, him.

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Does Two Men A Drum Machine And A Trumpet have enough words pre-'and' to count?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I hereby abritrarily and capriciosuly say that that use of 'and' is ok and may count.Though it is dangerously close to being a descriptive name (unless it's actually three guys with a Hammond organ).

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Darkest of the Hillside Thickets?

They seem to quite often be given an initial 'The', but I don't think it's officially in their name...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're allowed bands with a leading 'the', you just don't get to count it as one of the five words :)

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Mr & Mrs No Smoking Sign.

[venta.livejournal.com]

You're making that... oh. You're not.

Gosh.

[zotz]

Let's not lose Mars to the Commies.
My life with the thrill kill kult.
The pains of being pure at heart.
When people were shorter and lived near the water.
A kiss could be deadly.
Black tape for a blue girl.
The men who will not be blamed for nothing.
Scraping foetus off the wheel, You've got foetus on your breath (etc).
The not very good interval band.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I am increasingly distressed that I only managed to come up with four :(

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (although I'm not sure if the 'the' in that should count really)
Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam

… erm that's it off the top of my head. Hmm.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Hmm indeed, reading the comments there are tons that I didn't think of. Need cup of tea to revive brain!

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

Their Hearts Were Full of Spring.

I was going to say Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia but looks like someone's already nabbed that.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes... I think all the ones I originally though of have gone, excepting God Speed You, Black Emperor! so I shall say that now, quickly.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

I have an unfair advantage here, due to the day job...

People have already mentioned CYHSY & GCWCF, which came straight to mind....

The Boy Who Trapped the Sun
The Strange Death of Liberal England (both 5 words if you discount the The)

Does It Offend You Yeah
I Was A Cub Scout
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows
A Place To Bury Strangers (you only banned a leading 'The')
Ou Est Le Swimming Pool


Not sure whether 'LMFAO' should count, because it gets billed as the letters, but is of course a well known acronym...
Ditto 65DaysOfStatic - which is 5 words said aloud, but gets typed with digits and no spaces.

And I'm never sure whether 'Dan Le Sac versus Scroobius Pip' is one artist or two - vs usually implies a joint headline, but I don't think I've seen either name billed separately!


Further honourable mentions to The Band With No Name.

[venta.livejournal.com]

What is your day job !?

Our house hold has a Scroobius Pip (without Mr Le Sac) solo album. I believe Mr Le Sac does also do solo stuff. I reckon that in this context 'vs.' is morally an 'and' :)

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Plastic People Of The Universe.

Descriptive, yes; dull, I think not.

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

The men who will not be blamed for nothing......

..... Which has almost certainly turned up already as I know dance floor like them but any excuse to mention them.... :-)

Especially today as there new album should have arrived - which has to be some sort of length record in its own right and Comes with additional tracks on a cassette.....

[lnr]

and you will know us by the trail of the dead?

Best I can think of off the top of my head apart from that is 4 words.

[ceb.livejournal.com]

_The Not Very Good Interval Band_.

Do _Queens Of The Stone Age_ count or do they have too many weasel joining words?

[venta.livejournal.com]

We were considering a refinement last night to say you can have ofs and thes in your name, but you can't count then towards the total.
That'd be The Presidents Of The united states

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

No kind of answer, but this kind of thing is absolutely why I love your journal.

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

Mr. Sprat's 21st Century Popular Motets

A bit of a late thought, but still. Years ago, I saw them live supporting the Stranglers. They were crap. Mr. Sprat's 21st Century Popular Motets, I mean, not The Stranglers.

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

Does Captain Von's two-finger salute to his record company count? I mean, their only album was never commercially released, but SSV* does have its own wikipedia page.

*"Screw Shareholder Value - not so much a band as another opportunity to waste money on drugs and ammunition, courtesy of the idiots at Time Warner" in case you've forgotten/aren't familiar with the story. Possibly the longest band name in history.