Shitty Bands Whose Names Have Awesome Pop Culture References

Although the shittiness/awesomeness can be debated, here is our list of bands so far.  If you have any we left out, leave them in the comments section, we can add them in later.

Films:

• The Dear Hunter — Formed by Casey Crescenzo of The Receiving End of Sirens, who utilized a pun on the Vietnam classic The Deer Hunter.
• Goldfinger — Most people know this James Bond referencing ska/punk band from the music on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater from the early Playstation/N64 days.
• Nosferatu — A reference to the 1922 classic Nosferatu, a silent vampire film based on the story of “Dracula.”
• Pennywise — The bro hymnal authors took their name from the clown in the horror classic It.
• Rufio — This pop-punk band used Peter Pan’s mohawk wearing rival from Hook as their name/chant.
• Vanilla Sky — These Italian pop-punkers took their name from the surreal Tom Cruise film of the same name.
• Veruca Salt — More commonly known as the snobby little rich girl from Willy Wonka, not the indie rock band.
• You Me and Everyone We Know — This D.C. band didn’t try too hard to mask the reference to the 2005 film Me and You and Everyone We Know.

80s Movies:

• Atreyu — The OC eyeliner aficinados got their name from the little Indian boy from The Neverending Story.
• McFly — This London based band shares their name with Biff from Back To the Future’s favorite angry exclamation.
• Save Ferris — The protest signs of Ferris Beuller’s classmates would later become the name of a female-fronted ska band.
• Say Anything — Known more often as the film where John Cusack holds a stereo outside his girlfriends house, not the emo band.
• Slick Shoes — These Christian punk rockers got their name from Data’s escape plan from The Goonies.

Television:

• Get Smart! — This indie rock outfit from the 1980s got their name from the TV show (and film remake) of the same name.

The Simpsons:

• Evergreen Terrace — A hardcore band named for the street on which The Simpsons dwell.
• Fall Out Boy — The “soft core” pariahs got their name from the sidekick of Radioactive Man, Bart’s favorite comic book character.
• I Voted For Kodos — This pop-punk band’s name comes from a Treehouse of Horror episode where the aliens Kang and Kodos run for president.

People:

• Abe Vigoda — Conan O’brien’s favorite old man with big ears is also the name of an island-punk band from LA.
• Charles Bronson — A hardcore band whose myspace quote says it all: “Charles Bronson beat Chuck Norris’s ass.”
• Dananananaykroyd –  We’re assuming this indie band got their name from an inside joke about Dan Aykroyd.
• The Mr. T Experience — This pop-punk band’s name is somewhat misleading.  We were hoping Mr. T was acutaly the singer.

Old School Video Games:

• The Ataris — The old school video game system is also the name of another pop-punk band calling themselves something awesome.
• Koopa — As in King Koopa.  Glad we could clear the up for the 4 people on the planet who have never played Super Mario Brothers.

(Sort of) Good Bands with (sort of) Shitty References:

• Mogwai — The post-rock masters borrowed their name from the fuzzy little animals who eventually turn into the Gremlins when water is added.
• My Bloody Valentine — These shoegaze pioneers named themselves after the original cult horror flick My Bloody Valentine, not the 3D version.
• RJD2 — This talented DJ used his initials to make a more familiar moniker borrowed from a very famous droid.

~ by allnitediner on 07/07/2009.