Michael Bérubé - American Airspace

ABF Friday: Colors and Numbers Edition!

During our 23-person Thanksgiving bacchanal, one of the Guest Kids fired up the DVD and started a game of “Riff,” a music-trivia game available at your local box store for about $14. We were immediately hooked, because the very first question required the two teams (we divided the room of ten people into two teams, you see) to trade answers as quickly as possible, and the question was simply, name a rap act. It was hilarious. For one thing, it quickly broke the room into pre- and post-Tupac quadrants, with the over-40s like me yelling out “Treacherous Three,” “LL Cool J,” “Too Short,” “Kool Moe Dee,” and “EPMD” (as well as the classic Grandmaster Five, Sugarhill Gang, and—who could forget—Kurtis Blow) and the under-25s yelling back . . . well, to be honest, I’m not sure what they were saying. It sounded like a series of numbers and letters, 50 this and M N or J Z that and a mess of other ludicrousness.

Anyway, it went on for a good eight or ten minutes, with each team giving the other only a few seconds to respond. Because if you couldn’t think of someone in ten seconds, you were obviously scraping too hard at the bottom of the mental barrel. Seriously, by that time we’d even exhausted Vanilla Ice and Kris Kross. But come to think of it, I’m not sure anyone said the Geto Boyz.

In a later game, Riff asked us to do rapid-fire Beatles songs. Of all things! In this house! Nick and I batted titles back and forth for about five minutes, with help from Janet and her sister Todd, but when we started naming “Old Brown Shoe” and “Ask Me Why”—no, not “Tell Me Why”—and “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” well before anyone had said “Yesterday” or “Help,” we were effectively saying to each other that we could go on all night and were willing to reach deep into the L/M songbook for things like “A World Without Love,” and start a fight about whether it was properly a Beatles song, not to mention songs written and recorded but not released, like “If You’ve Got Trouble” or Harrison’s “You Know What to Do” and “Not Guilty.” So we declared it a tie.

But the challenges that drove us crazy were these—which is why I’m passing them along, at a $14 savings, to you. One: bands with colors in their names. Two: bands with numbers in their names.

Both questions elicited dozens of answers, but when we woke up the next morning we were racked with remorse for not having said (for example) Cream or Ladysmith Black Mambazo. “Shit!” I remarked, wittily. “Ladysmith Black Mambazo? We didn’t even say Black Uhuru.” We did manage to dredge up most of the obvious suspects, including Green Day and Pink Floyd and Black Flag and the White Stripes, and we credit ourselves with remembering to throw in the Indigo Girls and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, as well as the deservedly obscure Blue Cheer. But we were apparently too addled with wine and tryptophan to call to mind Shocking Blue, Tangerine Dream, and the immortal Frank Marino and Magohany Rush.

Bands with numbers were even worse. We decided that jazz combos didn’t count, from Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five right through to Thirty-Seven Guys Playing with Wynton Marsalis. Again, we disposed of the obvious pretty quickly, from Blink-182 and 98° and Matchbox 20 all the way down to the Bobby Fuller Four and the Fives Associated with Dave Clark and Ben Folds. The Treacherous Three and Fab Five Freddy reappeared from the rap thread; 10,000 Maniacs and André 3000 (yeah, he’s a band) represented some of the higher numbers. I was duly proud of myself for remembering the seventeens, Heaven 17 and 17 Pygmies (I still own a vinyl copy of Jedda by the Sea, which stunned the Charlottesville postpunk scene twenty-two years ago and is quite beautiful), and of course I did not fail to name Haircut 100, but somebody deserves a handshake for thinking of Nine Inch Nails and Sixpence None the Richer and even Three Jacks and a Jill. When we ran out of bands we began to try to pass off things like “Butterfield 8” and “Twelve Angry Men,” which fooled no one, not even the under-25s.

So we’re bequeathing these to you, dear readers. Bands with colors and numbers in their names. Go ahead! Make us feel even more remorse for all the things we forgot! (I’m sure a certain Insufferable Music Snob® would have pwned us all.) Have a fun color-by-numbers weekend, and don’t forget to check out this fascinating look into the work of the Iraq Study Group!

Posted by on 12/01 at 12:21 PM

ummmm.blue oyster cult and four seasons? caputure phrase based12-which coukd be a band name

Posted by on 12/01 at 01:37 PM
There’s that little band Bono was in year’s ago.

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 01:39 PM
Black 47.

Posted by on 12/01 at 01:43 PM
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red House Painters
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Whitesnake
White Lion
White Town
Dayglo Abortions
Black Thought

Seven Seconds
Seven Mary Three

Or:
Black 47.

New challenge: Bands with Numbers and Colors in their names?

Posted by on 12/01 at 01:45 PM
Aargh. Aaron beat me to it.
Ironically, my captcha this time is “black74”

Posted by on 12/01 at 01:47 PM
Just to eliminate some obvious ones:

U2

3 Mustaphas 3

The Four Tops

The Jackson Five

King Crimson

Blacks Sabbath and Oak Arkansas

Deep Purple

The Average White Band

Blue Oyster Cult

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 01:51 PM
Should have known five other posts would slip in before I hit Send on my own.

Oh, and Simply Red.

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 01:52 PM
Warning: I’m only going to respond with one band name at a time, but I’ve got dozens in my head.

B52’s

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 01:52 PM
Answering my own question,
Orange 9mm

Posted by on 12/01 at 01:52 PM
Yeah, we got U2 and Black 47 and Red Hot Chili Peppers and King Crimson and Deep Purple and The Jackson Five (another great challenge was to name artists whose last name begins with J), but dammit to hell, Black Oak Arkansas has been on the tip of my tongue for ten days now and every time I try to say it, it comes out Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

There’s the aging process at work right there.

Posted by on 12/01 at 01:54 PM
Is “Butter” a color?
Butter 08

Posted by on 12/01 at 01:55 PM
black eyed peas

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 01:56 PM
Bring ‘em on, Roxanne, one at a time.

Yes, we got the B52s and Simply Red. We had nothing with orange in it. Treb, we didn’t even get Whitesnake (but I think we did get White Zombie), but we would have rejected Dayglo Abortions for the same reason we rejected my (brilliant) Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow.

Posted by on 12/01 at 01:58 PM
10cc

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 02:01 PM
Three Dog Night

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 02:01 PM
Seven Foot Dilly and His Dill Pickles

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:02 PM
UB40

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 02:02 PM
pink

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 02:02 PM
Screaming Blue Messiahs

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 02:03 PM
Concrete Blonde.

What is that you say? There is no color in that name? Au Contraire, as we used to say in Iowa! My wife and I painted the very room in which I am sitting two different colors: Creekside and Wet Concrete.

Does that mean that Wet Willie is a band with a color in its name? Could be!

Go to a paint store. The names they have for colors will blow this game wide open.

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:04 PM
How about Living Colour? or Color Me Badd?

Would the Thompson Twins count as a numbered group (especially since it was actually a trio)?

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:05 PM
Cranberries

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 02:06 PM
Pearl Jam? (Weak, I know.)

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:10 PM
Maroon 5?

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:12 PM
I tried Thompson Twins. I was reeejected just as surely as I would be if I went up the lane against Yao Ming.

But oh, the shame. We forgot UB40 and 10cc. The remorse! It burns!

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:12 PM
I assume you got Moody Blues (and then there are a lot of semi-cheating “Blues” - Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Blues Brothers etc.)

& not that I like them - Silver Bullet Band

and a judges call: Strawberry Alarm Clock (quick web search shows Strawberry used as a color sometimes - but not as legit as Tangerine)

... and then there is Chris Hynde’s brother Terry’s band (NE Ohio) - which is either The Numbers Band or 15 60 75 or both.

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:14 PM
(auto-insert after all legitimate responses)

Roman numerals — Boyz II Men

Hexadecimal numbers — Grateful Dead, 0xDEAD = 57005 base 10

Embedded numbers — Rolling Stones

Posted by black dog barkingd on 12/01 at 02:15 PM
golden earring

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 02:15 PM
agent orange

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 02:16 PM
Do have some kind of throttling turned on that intercepts comments if someone tries to post too many?

And: MC5.

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 02:18 PM
Brownsville Station

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 02:19 PM
Ten Years After.

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 02:19 PM
This is likely to be one of those threads that gets so long, names of bands start getting repeated because it’s so hard to find if they’ve already been mentioned.

That being said: Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes

Posted by Oaktown Girl on 12/01 at 02:22 PM
Gang of Four. Blue Hawaiians. Frank Black/Black Francis. The 6ths. Moby Grape. 23 Skidoo. 13th Floor Elevators. Count 5.

Does Blancmange count (or should I say color)?

Oh, and how about bands with flavors and members who are also flavors? Then you could say Cream featuring Ginger Baker.

Posted by George on 12/01 at 02:24 PM
Rose Royce

Posted by Oaktown Girl on 12/01 at 02:24 PM
Hammer’s proteges, Oaktown 357.

3-2 Get Funky.

Does Yellowman count?

How about Nickel Bag or Nickelback?

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 02:24 PM
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 02:24 PM
Calle 13

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 02:26 PM
13th Floor Elevators

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:27 PM
Black Box

Neneh Cherry

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 02:27 PM
The 13th Floor Elevators & James Brown.

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:28 PM
Vanity 6

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 02:29 PM
Apollonia 6

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 02:30 PM
I say if cranberry is a color, so is honey.

Therefore: Honey Cone
(And yes, I had the 45 of “Want Ads” when I was a very little girl!)

Posted by Oaktown Girl on 12/01 at 02:30 PM
1910 Fruitgum Company

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on 12/01 at 02:34 PM
Blue Rodeo, Rhymes With Orange, Frank Black, 54-40, Four Men and a Dog, Golden Smog, David Gray, 4 Non Blondes, Alabama 3, Nine Big Dogs, Red Rider, Ruby Blue, Copperpenny, Platinum Blonde, Five Blind Boys of Alabama.

You could put together quite the theme CDs with these lists.

D

Posted by Derryl Murphy on 12/01 at 02:40 PM
Catch 22

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:41 PM
Mustard Plug

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:42 PM
The Old 97s
Timbuk 3
Yellowman (maybe doesn’t count as a band)
Sevendust
Golden Earring
Seven Mary Three
Deep Blue Something
KRS 1
Wild Cherry (maybe more a fruit than a color)
Smashing Pumpkins (I’m stretching, I know - it doesn’t really count)

That’s all I’ve got for now.

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:43 PM
Blues Traveler

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 02:44 PM
1910 Fruitgum Company

Ouch.

Vanity 6, Apollonia 6

Girl 6s! Ouch, ouch.

Hammer’s proteges, Oaktown 357.

Ow ow ow. We got 415 and not Oaktown 357. Sad but true.

Yellowman counts. Nickelback no.

Golden Earring

Oh, shoot me with a silver bullet band now.

Do have some kind of throttling turned on that intercepts comments if someone tries to post too many?

No, Patrick, but . . .

This is likely to be one of those threads that gets so long, names of bands start getting repeated because it’s so hard to find if they’ve already been mentioned.

Oaktown 357 Girl is right. We should have throttling for people who mention bands that have already been mentioned.

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes! Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch. Rose Royce and the Five Ouches.

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:44 PM
Son by Four.

DJ Mark the 45 King.

2 Live Crew, ahead of their time in so many ways.

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 02:44 PM
311
4 Clubbers
4 Strings
4 Non Blondes
The 88
Al Green
Barry White
Black Crowes
Black Flag
Black Sabbath
Black Tie Dynasty
Blink 182
Codeseven

...Aw, I am cheating. I’m just scrolling through my iPod.

Posted by mat on 12/01 at 02:46 PM
We got the Old 97s (yay) and Four Non Blondes (boo). But no Timbuk 3 or Deep Blue Something, I’m sorry to say. And Smashing Pumpkins are right out! None of the fruits count, either, though Wild Cherry and Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Cranberries are nice tries. Raspberries, anyone?

And does anyone remember the SF punk band Pink Section?

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:48 PM
We also got 16 Horsepower, but missed Ten Wheel Drive. Go figure.

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:49 PM
Ouch - going throught the comments is an exercise in frustration as people beat me to all the ones I can think of (Damn! Theres’ Alabama 3!!) But how ‘bout this:

Gang Green and Green Jello!

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:51 PM
Black Cats & the Kitten,
Blue Ridge Ramblers,
Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies,
Desert Rose Band,
The Four Blazes, from Hollywood,
The other The Four Blazes, from Chicago,
The Three Barons
The Three Bits Of Rhythm,
Deek Watson & The Brown Dots,
Big Three Trio,
Three Bips and A Bop,
Niney,
Anthony Red Rose,
Half Pint,
Count 5.

How could you all forget Count 5?

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:52 PM
Primus s___s!

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 02:52 PM
And using google to cheat, I came up with wai pi wai (y’know, pi - 3.14159...), but perhaps not used as a number in this sense. Anyone know?

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:56 PM
Tennessee Three.

Posted by on 12/01 at 02:58 PM
Fleshtones? (Great band!)
Front 242
Level 42
Gang of Four (YAY!)
Fun Boy Three
Generation X (Roman numerals count, right?)
X (if the above is true!)
Jackson Browne (technicality)

Posted by mat on 12/01 at 02:58 PM
Yellow Magic Orchestra. James White and the Blacks. Barry Black (Eric Bachmann’s alter ego). Blue Rondo a la Turk. The Three Johns.

Posted by George on 12/01 at 02:59 PM
Front 242
Jurassic 5
kid 606
L7

does Blackalicious count?
and speaking of punk bands, what about Tribe 8?

Posted by sasha on 12/01 at 03:00 PM
For the sake of obscurity (and yes, I do own music by all these groups):

girl groups:
The Four J’s
The What Four
Luv’d Ones
The Four Pennies

60s psych and garage:
The Thirteenth Floor Elevators
Count Five
The Third Rail
The Five Americans
New Colony Six
The Third Bardo
Clefs of Lavender Hill
The Other Half (does “half” count?)
Q’65
Golden Earrings
The Bluestars
Episode Six
The Red Squares

other:
The Electric Six
Red Krayola
16 Horsepower
23 Skidoo
The Fleshtones
Green on Red
The Three O’Clock
The Green Telescope
Black Box Recorder
Blonde Redhead
Red House Painters
Red Pocket
The Legendary Pink Dots
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
Pizzicato Five
Current 93
White Magic
Silver Apples
Basement Five
Front 242
Mahogany
White Whale
Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3
David Thomas and Two Pale Boys
Blackalicious
Blueprint

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:00 PM
And I got Count 5 and Gang of Four up in comment 34. This string is what they made the “find” function for, folks.

Posted by George on 12/01 at 03:01 PM
One more:

Kissing the Pink (English mid-80s Depeche Mode rip-off synth band)

Posted by mat on 12/01 at 03:02 PM
10 Years
38 Special (don’t recall seeing that one already)

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:02 PM
The Black Keys are actually quite good.

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:03 PM
I have to include this, even if it won’t really count:

The Creation, a 60s psych act known best for their amazing tune, “Making Time,” popularized by the film *Rushmore*.

Why The Creation? Because they once claimed, “Our music is red with purple flashes.” And they were right.

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:04 PM
Tenpole Tudor
808 State
Level 42
Yellowman (do he and Green Gartside of Scritti Politti count?)

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:04 PM
And Galaxie 500

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:04 PM
The Kingston Trio
Eve-6
Red Ryder (perhaps obscure, perhaps underrated)
Blondie (?)
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
The Lemonheads

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:07 PM
Frijid Pink

Fifth dimension (legit?)

Eiffel 65 Blue (Da Ba Dee) if they don’t ring a bell.

Quicksilver Messenger Service

(Is that only can see the 1st 100 comments thing still going? ... or is that just old stuff? .. about to find out.)

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:07 PM
Oh, and 3 Mustaphas 3.

Posted by sasha on 12/01 at 03:09 PM
Goldfrapp
Hope 7
(I guess those free iTunes tracks are useful after all)
The Whites

I guess if Nickelback doesn’t count then Pennywise doesn’t either.

What about Smokey Robinson?

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:11 PM
Blue Man Group.

Neil Young and the Bluenotes.

Green Carnation.

In the 1990s Robert Fripp was in a series of groups: ProjeCKt One, ProjeCKt Two, ProjeCKt Three, & ProjeCKt Four.

How about Latin numbers: Django Reinhardt and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France.

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:12 PM
Red Five (a mediocre 90s band I remember only because of the Star Wars reference in the name)

And ones I thought up while trying to think of another color/number combo:

Sham 69
The 101ers
The 5,6,7,8s
Radio 4
MC 900 Foot Jesus
Five for Fighting
Death From Above 1979
Dragons 1976
Fela Kuti and Africa 70
Konono #1
9 Pound Hammer

Big Black
Black Dice
Pink Martini
The For Carnation
Red Red Meat
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:12 PM
And I don’t think “trio” should count. Otherwise…

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:12 PM
Glen Gray and the Casa Nova Orchestra

Orchestras count, right?

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:16 PM
Pink Military

Posted by mat on 12/01 at 03:17 PM
Zero 7

Posted by mat on 12/01 at 03:19 PM
Sin 34
Slant 6
Tribe 8
Excuse 17
Spacemen 3
June of ‘44
7 Year Bitch
Fifth column

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:24 PM
2XL
999
ccc (if read as a Roman numeral)
The Minus 5
Nothing Painted Blue
The Pale
Sham 69
That 1 Guy
Two Galants

(captcha: been33...and I have!)

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:29 PM
If local bands count, there was a band in Arizona called Black Moon Graffiti. And another one called 35 Summers.

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:46 PM
Pink Fairies
Pale Saints
And pretty much every town has had a Brown-Eyed Handsome Men--there was even one in State College, PA back in the ‘90s.

Posted by George on 12/01 at 03:46 PM
No way I’m reading this whole thread just now. And I’m cheating, a little, because I just pulled up my media player (MediaMonkey, highly recommended), and just did a few searches. Some of these I had immediately available, and some I needed my electronic crib for...so, some new ones:

Asheru & Blue Black of The Unspoken Heard
Bluethings
Blues Project
Tampa Red (does he count as a band?)
The Blackouts (shout out for Seattle New Wave)
Bumps Blackwell (does he count as a band, and is he not the same person as Eugene Blackwell or Scrapper Blackwell? And, hell, if you start allowing surnames in, there are a hell of a lot of people named Brown, James, Clifford, Al, Henry, &c)

And, a bit meta,
The Colourfield

I’m not doing the numbers thing.

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:48 PM
Oh, christ, I can’t stay away. Here’s a numbers one, also pretty meta, but I was, uh, rocking out to it last night:

The Evens

(and, really, if you don’t think their song “All These Governors” is a catchy song, someone should hit you with a rhythm stick)

Posted by on 12/01 at 03:52 PM
999! Sham 69! Oh, the sham, the sham of it all!

“Trio” and all its cognates do not count.

And the next person who says 3 Mustaphas 3 is sentenced to half an hour listening to Four Non Blondes.

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:01 PM
A Silver Mount Zion.

OK, I really have to stop this now....

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:07 PM
Godspeed You Black Emperor!

Now, I seriously am going to stop. Really. I mean it this time.

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:09 PM
Four Star Mary

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 04:11 PM
The Green and Yellow TV
The Essex Green
The Greencards
White June
godspeed you! black emperor
The Black Neon
The Ocean Blue
Blue States

does Neutral Milk Hotel count?
(as in “a neutral color or shade, esp. light gray or beige")

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:19 PM
Red Elvises

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:19 PM
Us3

Posted by mrgumby2u on 12/01 at 04:21 PM
Lemon Kittens

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:23 PM
The Monochrome Set

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:24 PM
Salem 66
SR71

better32
(actually that’s the captcha)

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:28 PM
Chocolate Watchband

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:28 PM
<Baker’s Pink.

Yes, they did exist. Follow the link to their AMG bio. They sucked, but they existed.

And my captcha word, “husband22,” should *totally* be a band name.

Posted by Dr. Virago on 12/01 at 04:29 PM
Green River
Mudhoney

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:29 PM
Crap, why did that bracket stay visible?

Well, the AMG link is this:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll

Posted by Dr. Virago on 12/01 at 04:30 PM
2 Unlimited

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 04:30 PM
Crap, where did my coding go wrong? Well, anyway, that link was supposed to lead you here:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll

Posted by Dr. Virago on 12/01 at 04:31 PM
Orange then Blue

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:31 PM
Blue Rubies

Posted by Roxanne on 12/01 at 04:34 PM
Velvet Underground.

Checkword is reaction47, which really needs to be a band name.

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:34 PM
Blues Magoo

Napoleon XIV (might just be the one guy)

Pearls before Swine (lamish)

Blind Melon (no?) (or even Bananarama then in the nice-try fruit subgenre)

... really just testing comment >100 ...

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:34 PM
Did anyone get BLUE MAN GROUP or the Max Weinberg Seven ?

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:35 PM
A couple of weeks back I had a similar challenge on my blog. Name as many songs with colors in the title as you could in 5 minutes. No cheating.

So I put it to this impressive body of music geeks, how many can you get in 5 minutes. Post the results on my blog

http://oberlin.blogspot.com/2006/10/roy-g-biv.html

Then some really geeky data analysis on the results of others.
http://oberlin.blogspot.com/2006/10/some-geeky-data-analysis.html

Posted by ABL on 12/01 at 04:37 PM
Lemon Jelly. (It’s a flavor! It’s a color! You decide!)

Posted by Dr. Virago on 12/01 at 04:40 PM
Godspeed You Black Emperor!

jpj, You beat me to it by a few minutes, but I got the exclamation point in the right place.

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:45 PM
The Four Lads.

95 South.

1/4 Flash.

Cash Money 1,000,000 Airs

Salt N Pepa?

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 04:46 PM
How about The Red Clay Ramblers and ‘801’ (Eno and Phil Manzanara.)

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:48 PM
I go away for a few hours and look at this list! Did anyone say B52s? Blue Rodeo? Grassy Knoll (ok, that was the band I played in).

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:50 PM
Oh, duh, Orange Juice.

#96. Nice one.

Do any other academics use this service?

Posted by on 12/01 at 04:59 PM
Let me try posting this again…

Orange Juice.

#96, good one.

Any other of you folksies use this service? I like it.

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:02 PM
I searched our music collection. Some of these are local (Seattle) so maybe not widely known, and some I have no idea what they are. My husband is a bigger music geek than I am

50 Foot Wave
764-HERO
the 1900’s
the Black Angels
Blue Scholars
BR5-49
Dusty 45’s
Eleventh Dream Day
Golden Delicious
The Golden Palominos
Hazel
M83
Miss Red Flowers
OP8
Red Aunts
The Red Devils
Silver Jews
Silversun Pickups
Sister 7
Three O’Clock
Transmissionary Six

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:08 PM
The Five Blind Boys of Alabama.

Red Sovine.

Blue Mitchell.

Grant Green.

And - much as I’m loathe to mention them - Prussian Blue.

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:09 PM
The kids today, they listen to a band called Avenge Sevenfold, don’t they?

And when I was small, I had a 45 of “Fool on the Hill” by Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66. I think he even came around again eleven years later with Brazil 77.

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:10 PM
Pink and Brown (Loadrecords.com)
108
Fifteen

Posted by B on 12/01 at 05:12 PM
Well, if we allow hip-hop spelling there’s Return 2 4ever.

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/01 at 05:13 PM
Second base.

Return 2 4ever.

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/01 at 05:15 PM
test

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/01 at 05:16 PM
is this thing topped out at 100?

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/01 at 05:20 PM
Cool DJ Red Alert.

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 05:25 PM
already over a hundred and it has only been three hours. I want to reiterate something JP Stormcrow mentioned way up there; bands with “blues” as part of their names are endless and repetitive. Likewise are bands with “five” as Michael’s original post sorted out, and not just jazz ones.

And the whole color schema of the fashion industry that renames hues and tones with things like Mahagony and Marmelade, or Transluscent and Foam just ruin this Riffing. I have seen Jackson Browne above, but Al Green, James Brown (with his band of Reknown)???mmmmm

I will go off and eat some humble pie now trying to keep my late lunch down reading the captcha “want 69”

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:25 PM
We Five ("You Were on My Mind")
Five Stairsteps ("Ooh Child")
Blues Magoos ("Aint Got Nothin’ Yet” as legit as the “Moody Blues")
Blues Traveler
Green Day
Tony Joe White ("Polk Salad Annie")

In the semi-grey area of fruit, but could be a color:
The Raspberries
Wild Cherry ("Play that funky music")

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:27 PM
Brian Eno (anagram for “one”, right?).

Funniest band-related line I ever heard: A friend describing 10,000 Maniacs 20 years ago said “Well, actually there’s only five of them and they’re not really maniacs.”

Guess you had to be there.

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:47 PM
Brian Eno (anagram for one, right?).

Funniest band name-related line of all time: A friend, describing 10,000 Maniacs some twenty years ago, said, “Well, actually there’s only five of them and they’re not really maniacs.”

Guess you had to be there.

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:49 PM
3Ds
120 Days
The 1900s
20 Minute Loop

Posted by on 12/01 at 05:51 PM
Third Eye Blind

Posted by on 12/01 at 07:25 PM
damn, excuse 17 and nothing painted blue are already mentioned (and it looks like the blog won’t show comments after 100 anyway, but i’ll do it just for the hell of it).
so let’s see:
the oranges band
dirty three
black box recorder
four mints
four tet
mojave 3
my bloody valentine (bloody is a color, right?)
nostalgia 77
17 years
6X
silver jews
zero 7
chocolate usa
slant 6
blonde redhead
six cents and natalie
wimp factor 14
3
rosewater elizabeth
algebra one
the cuba five
cars can be blue
brown frown
trendinista 500
ginger envelope
9 iron
(and yes, i’m a big enough music geek that i have all but 2 of those bands somewhere in my collection...)

Posted by on 12/01 at 07:28 PM
okay mr charlottesville 22 years ago.

TR3

Posted by on 12/01 at 07:28 PM
Blue Ash (70’s band)

BTW: 17 Pygmies have reformed and recording all sorts of new music - releasing a single this month called “Last Train” and a double CD called “13 Blackbirds” in January. Visit http://www.myspace.com/17pygmies or http://www.trakwerx.com to listen and learn more about what they’re up to…

Posted by megster on 12/01 at 08:22 PM
I can see I can see!

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/01 at 08:22 PM
Whatever problem there was is now fixed. Good. Remember, folks, to search the thread before listing a band to prevent duplicates, says the schoolmarm.

You want obscure Pac NW bands? Anyone else remember the Pdx group Thirty-Ought-Six?

Another great number group, okay, rapper:

Tech N9ne

(and, yes, that’s really how he spells his name)

3 Swimmers (more Seattle New Wave)
50 Tablettan (German New Wave)
3rd Base
Amon Dull II
Little Temple and his 88
Mob 47 (classic international hardcore)
Operation Ivy (surely ‘Ivy’ is a color in some catalog)
Shuttle358 (not bad ambient electronic stuff)
Svart Framtid (more hardcore, “Black Future” in Swedish: I don’t recall any xenophobic rules about sticking to English)

Posted by on 12/01 at 08:32 PM
I regret to announce:

101 Strings.

Sorry…

Posted by on 12/01 at 08:40 PM
Young Black Teenagers.

K9 Posse.

Black Sheep.

Alek Hidell (#118): Loathsome, yes, but it had to be done.

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 08:43 PM
Yes, of course Blue Cheer is unmemorable, except of course that we all remember them. Well, those of us who were 13 in the summer of ‘68, when this song was constantly played from the large radio on top of the kitchen refrigerator, remember them, and somewhat fondly at that.

Posted by on 12/01 at 08:47 PM
Sorry everyone...apparently we had to reset a limit variable after the upgrade in order to display 100+ comments. You should have plenty of room now.

Posted by on 12/01 at 08:52 PM
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown

Bobby “Blue” Bland

Blind Lemon Jefferson

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 08:54 PM
Josh White

Bukka White

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 08:57 PM
Wow. Things We Should Have Gotten But Didn’t: Blue Man Group, Max Weinberg Seven, Gang Green, Five Stairsteps, Young Black Teenagers.

We got Gang of Four, thank you. And Grassy Knoll. (Grassy Knoll? Chris, how is that a color?)

Third Eye Blind does not count—or so we were told by our opponents. Likewise, although I fought hard for the Oneders, from the Tom Hanks film That Thing You Do, I lost.

And thadd, it’s doctor charlottesville 22 years ago to you.

Posted by on 12/01 at 09:09 PM
Someone must have said Five For Fighting, right? A San Francisco from the punk era called The Pink Section, named after the Sunday arts and entertainment section of the SF Chronicle-Examiner at the time. The Fifth Estate ("Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead"). Fela Anikulapo Kuti
and Afrika ‘70.

How about Bananarama, or Marmalade? And if Marmalade counts, then how about The Jam? And if they don’t count, how about we make a new category for food?

Would Pentangle count as a number? Or the Bush Tetras? You know, geometry, math, numbers, it’s all of a kind, eh? Probably not.

Posted by Bob In Pacifica on 12/01 at 09:11 PM
And to change the subject just a tad, according to the Gender Genie (http://www.bookblog.net/gender/genie.php) the writer of this blog is female. What have you been hiding from us Michael?
(And jsut till DonHo finds out about this!)

Posted by on 12/01 at 09:12 PM
David Blue.

Clear Light? Is the absence of color a color?

Posted by Bob In Pacifica on 12/01 at 09:16 PM
This is TOO easy

btw Mat, I can’t agree with you. Kissing the Pink were neither strictly a synth band or a depeche mode rip off. Their name, chin-strokingly, comes from a term used in snooker commentary.

Couldn’t resist : everyone missed the Lilac Time. And Les Negresses Vertes. And Yello. And the Blue Aeroplanes, The Five Royales, Vicious Pink Phenomenon, Blue Zoo, Aqua, Neneh Cherry, The Moonglows, Aquamarine, Mink Deville and Ginger Spice.

Posted by the s'dawg on 12/01 at 09:28 PM
Wait! The Five Satins! Their “In the Still of the Night” (sho do, do dee do) was always number one in the WCBS-FM oldies countdown in the mid-70s. Man, that was when oldies were really old.

And the Three Degrees, too. When will I see you again?

Posted by on 12/01 at 09:34 PM
Then there’s 100 Proof Aged In Soul with “Somebody’s Been Sleepin’ (In My Bed).”

There’s The Golden Gate Quartet from the early days of the rock era, with “Atom And Evil,” available on the “Like An Atom Bomb” Cold War compilation. The Hi-Fives. 311 (Cali bands from the late eighties/early nineties). Hues of Blue, Edwin Starr’s band that did “Oh How Happy.” Smashing Pumpkins.

The Negro Problem? It’s a reference to color.

The Black County Three (Irish).

From the British Invasion, The Swinging Blue Jeans ("The Hippie Hippie Shake"). Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames ("Yeh Yeh").

Posted by Bob In Pacifica on 12/01 at 09:35 PM
Is Mink deVille a color or a number?

Wasn’t there a band called Blue Mink that did a cover of “Hooked On A Feeling”? Wasn’t there a number group that backed up Monica? Something like 112 or 115.

Spacemen 3. Mohave 3.

Posted by Bob In Pacifica on 12/01 at 09:44 PM
-150 odd comments in and no one’s mentioned White Flag, a punk band I only remember because of the 3 sided album that a guy i used to be in a band with had. Sadly someone already nailed my two # bands, Salem 66 and 11th Dream Day.

and, aren’t names that end in “Brown” & such cheating? if not, then Greg Brown and Pieta Brown have not, I think, graced this thread yet.

Posted by on 12/01 at 10:04 PM
Savoy Brown.

Posted by on 12/01 at 10:14 PM
Sammy Hagar, the Red Rocker

Posted by J— on 12/01 at 10:17 PM
Can’t believe PowerMan 5000 didn’t make t into the top (first) 100 (comments). Don’t expect me to read any further, b/c it’s making me regret I didn’t buy a Mac here and my imusic library is trapped in a Sharp laptop using Windows. Someone please help me!

Captcha: “enough” (heh).

Posted by The Constructivist on 12/01 at 10:24 PM
Blue Mink that did a cover of “Hooked On A Feeling”?

Bob, I believe that’s Blue Suede. Back when I was a DJ, I used to play that all the time. It’s still a karaoke standard for me.

#147, s’dawg: you win. I’m totally stumped.

Posted by on 12/01 at 10:32 PM
“I see everything twice,” the soldier who saw everything twice shouted when they rolled Yossarian back in.

“I see everything twice,” Yossarian shouted back at him just as loudly, with a secret wink.

...

The soldier who saw everything twice nodded weakly and sank back onto his bed. Yossarian nodded weakly too, eyeing his talented roommate with great humility and admiration. ... During the night, his talented roommate died, and Yossarian decided he had followed him far enough.

“I see everything once,” he cried quickly.

... or three or four times in some cases on this thread.

Posted by on 12/01 at 11:06 PM
I can see I can see! —Bill Benzon in #135
Yeeargh ... mangled cut & paste to get around the preview/captcha destroying even the minimally relevant semblance of a rationale for comment 156.

.. although “I See Everything Once” would be a nice & relevant band name.

Posted by on 12/01 at 11:11 PM
Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66

Posted by on 12/01 at 11:55 PM
Forgive me, 119—I swear I command F’d!

Posted by on 12/01 at 11:58 PM
159 entries and nobody’s mentioned Millions of Dead Cops (perhaps the most famous thing that MDC’s name stood for...also Millions of Dead Children and Millions of Damn Christians).

Believe it or not, MDC played my high school graduation party in 1982 (growing up in Berkeley was always delightfully weird).

Posted by on 12/02 at 12:26 AM
Didn’t Sergio Mendes rename his band Brasil ‘77, etc.? Seems to me He went through lotsa numbers. There may be a Brasil ‘06 touring right now.

Yes, Blue Suede, not Blue Mink.

Posted by Bob In Pacifica on 12/02 at 01:26 AM
the seventeens, Heaven 17 and 17 Pygmies

Don’t forget Excuse 17, Carrie Brownstein’s riot-grrl band before she was in Sleater-Kinney!

Posted by on 12/02 at 01:31 AM
L7

Elvis Costello was touring with The Rude Five not long ago.

4 Non-Blondes

Posted by on 12/02 at 01:33 AM
Re JP Stormcrow: I See The Light, by the Music Explosion and the Five Americans (two entirely different songs but with similar plots). Lightning Strikes Again, by Lou Christie. Knock Three Times, by Tony Orlando and Dawn.

Posted by Bob In Pacifica on 12/02 at 01:34 AM
What, no Brown graduates from the 1980s to speak up for Plan 9?

Posted by on 12/02 at 01:36 AM
Also, 28th Day and Azure Ray (female duo who were previously in a band called Little Red Rocket)
http://www.azureraymusic.com/info.html

Posted by on 12/02 at 01:48 AM
Youngbloods
Forest For The Trees
Kelly Clarkson
Velvet Brick
Kim Salmon and The Surrealists
Salvation Navy
Olive
The Violet Femmes
John Cougar Meloncamp
Tealy Dan
Beige City Rollers
Gray U.S. Bonds
Mothers of Magention

Posted by Chris Clarke on 12/02 at 02:06 AM
Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Afrika 70 (#77 and #144)

Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Egypt 80

Posted by J— on 12/02 at 02:16 AM
I actually tried Violet Femmes. No go.

Posted by Michael on 12/02 at 02:43 AM
I am very much afraid that if I’d been there, I’d’ve gotten hypomanic and begun to shout the name of the last band mentioned in the comments here.

(Did someone above suggest that “Velvet Underground” was a color? Synaesthesia, dude.)

Wasn’t Exene Cervenka in a band called “Ten”?

Posted by on 12/02 at 04:42 AM
But, you know, I’d be intrigued by a band called “Vervet Underground,” or “Ferret Underground.”

For that matter, “Ferret’s Wheel” is not half bad either. That’s a name that could easily be accesorized by a color. Like: “The Alizarin Crimson Ferret’s Wheel.”

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/02 at 05:29 AM
<does a quick find>

My God, has nobody suggested 3 Doors Down yet?

Then there’s Great White (of the Station Fire notoriety).

And, um ... joining late so I gotta go obscure:

An old Scottish group called the White Heather Group.

Speaking of Celtic - how about Rosin Dubh? - two colors in one! OK, it’s in Irish, but still.

Grey Eye Glances (don’t know how well it’s known outside of Philly)

Robbie Robertson and the Red Road Ensemble - the CD is sitting in front of my laptop right now

Babe the Blue Ox

If Nickelback is out, how about Nickel Creek? In their case, it’s two words. (/whine)

Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise

Posted by on 12/02 at 05:34 AM
The Magic Numbers

Posted by saltydog on 12/02 at 05:47 AM
Redbone (Come and Get Your Love)
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (not so much a band, maybe, but they did work together some)
Ivory Joe Hunter must’ve had backup; does that make him a band?
And Josh White, named in #142, has a folk-singing son, Josh White, Jr.

Posted by on 12/02 at 05:52 AM
A few more before I conquer insomnia:

Blue Nile
Twenty Twenty
The Lemon Drops
Galaxy 500
Thinking Fellers Union #282
Four Yn Y Bar
and Green River (which, IIRC, was Pearl Jam’s first name?)

Posted by on 12/02 at 06:14 AM
And, of course, Candye Kane. (What? Striped is two colors.)

Posted by on 12/02 at 07:48 AM
Carmine Appice

I thought at first that only his last name ever graced a band (Beck Bogert & Appice), but further research reveals a Carmine Appice Project wall o’guitars offering including such six-string stalwarts as John McEnroe and, um, Steven Seagal.

Posted by on 12/02 at 08:53 AM
Way up thread I mentioned The Numbers Band, turns out their actual name is 15 60 75 (since late ‘60s) and they were just conveniently called The Numbers Band by their fans. So they most likely deserve some conceptual pwnership on taking the number/name thing the furthest for the longest.

Investigating the obvious followup, I found info on a number of “Colors” bands on the web (including this interesting sounding mid-70s Mendecino area group [about 2/3 of way down the page.])

But my favourite of the lot was a Reading, England group, The Colours, who gave this Spinal Tap-esque interview to the BBC. (yes, 3 of the 4 are named Tom.)

And you’ve got a great look as well - you’re always in black, always looking snazzy with those tight black shirts.
Tom (frontman): “It’s kind of ironic, we wear black and we’re called The Colours.”
Tom (bassist): “That wasn’t the reason we we’re called that though”.
Tom (frontman): Someone picked that up afterwards, irony.” [JPS: It’s such a fine line between stupid, and ironic.]
So why are you called The Colours then?
Tom (singer): “We don’t know. It was the first name that not everyone hated so it stuck.”
As I said before you guys have got a great bunch of songs, my particular favourite is Christopher - I hear you’ve got a review of that on Teletext?!
Tom (bassist): “We got three-and-a-half out of five which is good according to our manager Steve - he sorted it out for us.”

This one goes to five-and-a-half.

Posted by on 12/02 at 09:51 AM
JP Stormcrow and spyder are probably right to exclude blues bands, or we could go all night.

Here’s a few more:

Five Guys Named Moe (may fall under the “jazz combo” rule, though)
Die Fantastischen Vier
2 Brothers on the 4th Floor
BlackStar
Blue Foundation
Track 72 (slightly too obscure, perhaps)
2pac (?)
The Darkness

Posted by Bistroist on 12/02 at 11:00 AM
Oh, and jj72, of course.

Posted by Bistroist on 12/02 at 11:02 AM
Juan Luis Guerra & 440

Jossie Esteban & La Patrulla 15

Posted by J— on 12/02 at 11:09 AM
GO!GO!7188
Pizzicato Five
Folder5
Twelve Girls Band
Two Mix
Do As Infinity
Double?
Three Michelle Gun Elephant
175R
54-71

The Brilliant Green
Bonnie Pink
Garnet Crow
Yum! Yum! Orange
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Generation
Bon Bon Blanco?
Luminous Orange
Orange Range
Crystal Kay?
The Indigo
Girly Berry?
Berryz Koubou?
Goldenscan
Bluetech

Posted by on 12/02 at 11:29 AM
3LW

Posted by on 12/02 at 11:36 AM
If the names in Mac OS X’s crayon-box color picker were to be considered legitimate, then many of the fruits (Moby Grape, Lemon Pipers) and metals (Nickel Creek, Iron Butterfly) would have to be found acceptable.

Not to mention Midnight. (Oil, that is).

Posted by on 12/02 at 11:44 AM
or we could go all night.

or even in to the next day…

And although MC Frontalot only makes it with the weak Roman numeral connection (and I think it may be just the guy and not a group), for some reason this thread moves me to mention his song Indier Than Thou.

Posted by on 12/02 at 12:00 PM
Happy 7
11 Water
Taishou Kyuunen? (that’s a stretch, but the ‘kyuu’ means ‘nine’
PB2
K-ONE

Pink Lady
Black Biscuits

Am I the only one here who listens to Asian music?

Posted by on 12/02 at 12:33 PM
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana… Brass? *pinky*

OK, I’m done.

Posted by on 12/02 at 12:37 PM
Am I the only one here who listens to Asian music?

Nope.

Posted by Chris Clarke on 12/02 at 12:38 PM
Anyone involved in the Buffalo/WNY music scene from 1996 - 2001 knows:

Silo 6

Anyone else doesn’t!

Posted by on 12/02 at 12:42 PM
An obvious reach, but worth a shot:

Led Zeppelin

Posted by on 12/02 at 12:46 PM
Not Asian music, but the musicians are Asian (and young and mostly female) and this is scary stuff. The group is the Big Friendly Jazz Orchestra from Taksago High School and I’m blown away by their playing:

Angel Eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csewZT-1a3I

Haitian Fight Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIzqYXg2C-o

Just Friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-rf8agFsQw

Hallelujah I Love Her So:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDfRnT3rJIE

They’ve clearly been working on advanced levels of Gojira’s Breath musical technique.

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/02 at 12:53 PM
I don’t think Midnight Oil has been mentioned and I can’t believe I didn’t think of them earlier—Midnight’s a color, right?

Posted by on 12/02 at 01:02 PM
Bran Van 3000
Gang Green
The Red House Painters
Big Black
The Four Seasons
The Four Tops
Rhymes with Orange (my girlfriend dragged this one out)
Tangerine Dream

...um… drawing a blank. I’m sure there are tons of “the four ???” bands.

Posted by Central Content Publisher on 12/02 at 02:20 PM
MxPx, which, iirc, stands for “Maximum Plaid."*

* If someone can put stripes up there (uh, Stryper), then I can put in a pattern, too.

Posted by on 12/02 at 02:54 PM
Silverchair
Goldie
Mano Negra
22 Pistepirkko

Posted by on 12/02 at 03:43 PM
Well, if Jon from Cornell can have Led Zeppelin, then I want Boiled in Lead.

Posted by on 12/02 at 05:57 PM
J: Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Egypt 80.

I think it was like Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66. After awhile, he updated the name.

Posted by Bob In Pacifica on 12/02 at 06:04 PM
I call your attention to posts # 167 and 188. He, that hath returned from the WAAGNFNP reeducation camp, to stand brilliantly and proudly before a tribunal of Gojira inspired wrath-filled judges, is enormously welcomed in his return to our radical parteé-ee. May Asgorath and Gojira always guide your faith in the GNF. And as the captcha says: “Stay” just a little bit longer.

Posted by on 12/02 at 06:35 PM
Excuse 17
The Delta 5
UB40
The band I went to see last night, Mr. Lewis and the Funeral Five
13th Floor Elevators
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Death From Above 1979
808 State
The Downbeat Five

I don’t do colors. Arbitrary Music Snob.

Posted by Amanda Marcotte on 12/02 at 06:35 PM
Sam Black Church (Boston HC - fine cover of “Disco Inferno")
The Golden Lemons (see 1995 Big Cat comp “Sturm und Twang")
Tanner (San Diego punk rock)
Delta 5
Ivory Springer
My Project: Blue
The Shocking Pinks
The Double (album: “Loose in the Air")
Terminal 4
Unholy Trio (great cover of “Bring the Noise")
The Unicorns
Red Paint People
The Three 4 Tens

Posted by Jason on 12/02 at 07:13 PM
The Dirty Three

Blue Rondo Alla Turk

Ninetynine

Ash

Blackeyed Susans

Cocteau Twins

Madder Rose

My Friend The Chocolate Cake

The Only Ones

Posted by on 12/02 at 07:18 PM
Bob in Pacifica: Yes, Fela changed the name in 1981 after having what he called a spiritual epiphany.

Posted by J— on 12/02 at 07:19 PM
Actually, Three Doors Down was the first band we named! Everyone booed.

And (ahem) it is so no fair naming the band you went to see last night just because you live in one of those cool creative-class cities.

Posted by Michael on 12/02 at 10:06 PM
Big Black
Six Organs of Admittance
Black Uhuru
Mojave 3
Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers

Posted by on 12/02 at 10:12 PM
ABF Why is it that penalties are not considered as plays by the broadcasters? Watching the FLA-AR game and pass interference penalties are not positive plays by Ar but mistakes by the officials. Remember the Miami - Ohio St game and the decisive play by Ohio St was a pass interference against Miami. Who can name the worst calls that mattered? Peace Out!!!

Posted by on 12/02 at 10:50 PM
Roy G. Biv Devoe.

Posted by Chris Clarke on 12/02 at 10:53 PM
glitter band, march violets, black lace, black star liner, black dyke mills band…

Posted by saltydog on 12/02 at 11:39 PM
Y’all got ‘em all.

Oh. The Police. Ice is a color in certain fashionwear catalogs.

Next: Band names with punctuation marks.

Posted by David J Swift on 12/02 at 11:44 PM
a little late to the party, but . . .
The Other Ones

Robbie Robertson and the Red Road Ensemble
The Black Crowes
Blueground Undergrass

Posted by on 12/03 at 01:04 AM
Band names with punctuation marks.

I’ll start.

!!!
...and you shall know us by our trail of dead
? and the Mysterians
Kiss Me, Kill Me

Posted by on 12/03 at 01:43 AM
Never place a . where God has placed a ,

One hit wonders: “Bush Was Right.”

Posted by Michael on 12/03 at 02:07 AM
Band names with punctuation marks.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (and, with Déjà Vu, they get props for punctuated album title, too).

Posted by on 12/03 at 03:12 AM
Oaktown Girl
Minister of Justice
WAAGNFNP

captcha: “her” --Quite right!

Posted by Oaktown Girl on 12/03 at 07:24 AM
By the way, the above comment is more than just vital Ministry of Justice propaganda. 3Tops feels (quite rightly) that she should be part of this thread because not only is she colorful, she sports a really tight 3-piece horn section.

Agreed.

Oaktown Girl
Minister of Justice
WAAGNFNP

Posted by Oaktown Girl on 12/03 at 07:31 AM
captcha: “merely”

Bill Benzon
Minister of Visual Propaganda
WAAGNFNP

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/03 at 09:49 AM
7 Seconds

Posted by norbizness on 12/03 at 12:15 PM
Bands with punctuation:

Does the “heavy metal umlaut” count as punctuation? If so, I submit Queensrÿche, Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, and Hüsker Dü. My apologies if the WAAGNFNP Minister of Justice rules this a flagrant foul.

Posted by on 12/03 at 01:54 PM
For your consideration, a WAAGNFNP Holiday Party, featuring:

Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88’s vs. Johnny Dee and his Rocket 88’s vs the just plain old The Rocket 88’s! Explosive!! (With a special guest appearance by Ike Turner on concealed weapon!)

Posted by on 12/03 at 02:09 PM
Official Ruling by the Minister of Justice for Jon from Cornell:

You may pröceed.

Posted by Oaktown Girl on 12/03 at 02:09 PM
for punctuation bands, I submit:

Wham!

<<runs away>>

Posted by on 12/03 at 04:27 PM
Trembling Blue Stars, of course.

The Old 97s have said that if they had it to do over again, they would have picked a different name, in part because DJs don’t like to announce the name, fearing possible confusion aout their station’s place on the radio dial.

(It’s fitting that my captcha is “defense")

Posted by Misha on 12/03 at 04:32 PM
wow, over 220 posts and it just occurred to me not one person has listed redd kross!?

and let’s not forget black fag (no, it’s not a typo, they are in fact a real band decidely distinct from black flag)

Posted by on 12/03 at 05:16 PM
I know you mentioned Grand Master Flash in the “rap” category, but you seem to have fogotten the Furious Five. Otherwise, Articolo 31 and The Fairfield Four. And, if you’re allowing puns, I suppose Pearl Jam.

But I’m really just posting this comment to say how much I liked this line:

“Shit!” I remarked, wittily.

Captcha: second

Posted by Heraclitus on 12/03 at 05:48 PM
This is a public service ~~annoyance~~ reminder from your WAAGNFNP emergency tubnetcom system:

Please resume your regularly scheduled ~~play session~~ programming.

Bill Benzon
Minister of Visual Propaganda
WAAGNFNP

Posted by Bill Benzon on 12/03 at 07:16 PM
Bill Monroe and His Kentucky Bluegrass Boys

Posted by on 12/03 at 08:34 PM
747-Hero (Seattle punk band named after the number you can call to report drunk drivers on the highways of the Pacific N’West)

Posted by on 12/03 at 08:37 PM
Exercising the invitation to be arbitrary (but fun).
No colors, no numbers - although it is “music"-related.

Posted by on 12/03 at 11:11 PM
’Eono Kane. Just heard five of them today, in fact.

Posted by Ron Sullivan on 12/04 at 01:09 AM
Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers
Red Onion Jazz Babies (Louis Armstrong & Sidney Bechet!)
Chocolate Dandies (jazz studio super-group of the ‘30s—Chocolate definitely signifying color here)
Hot Chocolate
Dr. John and the Lower 911
Hues Corporation (Rock the Boat!)
Enuff Z’nuff (not a number, but a quantity)
Red Krayola
Ruby Thicket (my band)

I beg forgiveness if any are repeats—I skimmed the thread but may have missed some.

Posted by john on 12/04 at 02:16 AM
I’ve always maintained that 17 Pygmies’ JEDDA BY THE SEA was one of the old time best LP’s. Only strange now to say that since I’ve been blessed enough to be part of the new 17 Pygmies project.

http://www.myspace.com/17Pygmies

Posted by on 12/04 at 01:38 PM
JP Stormcrow (#227)—

This may be the best single representation of post-modernism that has been, or ever will be, assayed.

Thank you.

Posted by on 12/04 at 01:45 PM
To SV in 174:

It’s Galaxie 500, not Galaxy 500; and they were mentioned above.

Pearl Jam was originally called Mookie Blaylock, after the basketball player whose number was… Ten.

Green River was a separate, earlier band. More pre-Mudhoney than pre-Pearl Jam; though there may have been some cross-membership.

An very nice call on TFUL282.

Posted by on 12/04 at 05:22 PM
Sorry,
DOCTOR Charlottesville 22 years ago who also came up to record in my neighborhood at Inner Ear (the original one, natch)
perhaps during your visits to Arlington, you saw the colorful fliers for ...

9353

captcha: pattern, as in an eerily familiar pattern is emerging. Next you will let slip that you played at Sigma Nu “coffeehouses”

Posted by on 12/04 at 07:54 PM
100 Flowers
10 Foot Faces

Posted by on 12/05 at 12:33 PM
Section 25
Five Go Down To The Sea
1000 Mona Lisas
Two Lone Swordsmen
About 9 Times

Blackgirls
The Blue Hearts
Purple Ivy Shadows (one of the best names in the world, belonging to one of the most boring bands)

Posted by on 12/05 at 04:22 PM
Well, I may have had trouble writing code, linking to the All Music database, and avoiding multiple postings, BUT I am the only person on this massive thread who mentioned Baker’s Pink (and the whole name is a particular shade of pink, btw).

Of course, I’m also almost certainly the only person on this thread who has ever *heard* of Baker’s Pink.

As for bands with punctuation (other than Baker’s Pink):

Panic! At the Disco

Posted by Dr. Virago on 12/05 at 07:00 PM
Jared Leto’s in a band called 30 Seconds to Mars.

Posted by Orange on 12/06 at 12:46 PM
I while ago I was looking up Down’s (because of this blog, natch) and dicovered there is a band called Trisomie 21. Apparently they’re two French electronica musicians.

Posted by on 12/06 at 05:16 PM
Black Label Society
Black Dahlia Murder
Blackfield
Barry White
Average White Band
Greyboy Allstars
Evergrey
The Blues Brothers
Norman Greenbaum
Redman
Virgos Merlot

How about Chuck Berry?
Chroma Key?
Otis Redding?
Steely Dan?

Star One
The Lively Ones
Secret Chiefs 3
The 69 Eyes
K7
King’s X
2Pac

On a homophone technicality, would not “Trey Anastasio” count as well?
How about “Thrice?”

Posted by on 12/12 at 10:56 PM

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