Top 10: Most annoying names in music
February 8th, 2008 by Wade Tatangelo in News
Engelbert Humperdinck returns to the area for the umpteenth time to play Ruth Eckerd Hall on Feb. 19. And I couldn’t be more annoyed. I’ve covered music professionally for close to a decade now and it seems not a year goes by without me having to write a pithy advance on him. Hump’s sentimental ballads and shit-eating grin have always grated me — but not as much as the 71-year-old’s stage name. Here’s what I have running in the Music Week section of the Feb. 14 issue of Creative Loafing:
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK The most annoying name in the history of show business (and it’s not even his real name), continues to make blue hairs cream with sentimental faves like “Release Me (And Let Me Love Again),†his breakthrough hit from ’67. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
Not the greatest sentence ever written but you get my point.
From Wikipedia:
Aware that [Arnold George] Dorsey had been struggling several years to make it in music, [manager Gordon Mills] suggested a name change to the more arresting Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the composer of such operas as Hansel and Gretel.
OK, enough on Hump. Here are nine other artist and band names that piss me off.
Top 10: Most annoying names in music
1. Engelbert Humperdinck
2. Limp Bizkit
3. Kid Rock
4. Phish
5. Was (Not Was)
6. blink-182
7. Hootie & the Blowfish
8. Portugal. The Man
9. Hoobastank
10. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Any band name that is longer than three words almost always sucks.)
WHAT DID I MISS?
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February 8th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Insane Clown Posse - Bad name & the worst “music”
February 8th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Good call. I’m definitely not down with ICP.
February 9th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Toad the Wet Sprocket. Like the music. Hate the name. Why do so many bands insist on names that make absolutely zero sense?
February 11th, 2008 at 9:58 am
i love ‘clap your hands…’, but funny story, when i was talking about them to a friend once, he thought i kept calling them “crap your pants and say yeah”.
that is by far the BEST band name ever.
February 11th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Weaksauce. ‘Nuff said.