1. Originally published at http://www.prex.com/blog/jude-the-unobscure/
Jude the Unobscure
By Lydia Pudzianowski in Opinion Posts
After a long hiatus (and one blog), your favorite post-grad is back for some
guaranteed Sunday blogging. Now that I have a BA in writing from the University of
Pittsburgh, I’m qualified to do this (apparently that’s it though, as no one wants to hire
me).
Recently though, I was browsing a site I use to get free mp3s legally (rcrdlbl.com,
because I still can’t download with a clear conscience). As I went through the artists on
the site, I remembered something that pisses me off really badly: when bands name
themselves after something they think is obscure but isn’t at all. (Worse is if they know
it’s not but do it anyway.) The groups on rcrdlbl are listed in alphabetical order, and it
only took until AB to annoy me. I came across a song by Abe Vigoda. Because the band
is called that, it’s guaranteed that I’ll never listen to one of their songs. Abe Vigoda is a
person, not a band. But wait—it is a band.
I can’t be the only person bothered by this. Like when Pretty Girls Make Graves
came out, and I thought of the Smiths and now can think of nothing else when I hear that
band name. Really, is “Meat is Murder” that far in the past that sub-par bands can start
naming themselves after its tracks? I actually don’t even know if the band is any good,
because I can’t listen to them. Ditto Charlotte Sometimes and Uh Huh Her. That album
just came out, didn’t it? (Quick fact check reveals it was released in 2005, which to me
constitutes “just”.)
Also unacceptable are bands that vary names of famous people to be totally
hilarious, like Dananananaykroyd. Again, I could care less if their music sounds like the
Beatles having a collective orgasm—I’ll never know. (Gnarls Barkley is an obvious
exception.) A band like Ringo Deathstarr is a tough call, as that’s my childhood in a
name that also appeals to my love of cheeseball wordplay.
Basically, if you want me to listen to your band, don’t call it Judy and the Dream
of Horses.