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The name is actually very good; meaningless, and yet haunting, in a Scandinavian way. See "Ikea" for a modern example. Plus it always gets them right at the top of any list compiled alphabetically. Such as this one. The name comes from an acronym of the first names of the members. Benny and Bjorn, who created the group along with their girlfriends, Agnetha and Anni-Frid. Ordinarily creating a group with your girlfriend is a top of the list bad idea, and it doomed ABBA as well. Both couples eventually married, and then divorced soon after, and the band broke up for good in 1982, largely due to personal differences.
The band's name is pretty clever. It's taken from AC (Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current), which are electrical terms. It's also slang for "bi-sexual", though there's no telling if the band were aware of that at the time they picked the name. I found out about the slang when I was about 10 and happened to mention the band's name to my mom. She laughed and told me what it meant, pretty much blowing my young mind. I of course repeated this scandalous revelation to some of the kids I knew at school who were most into the band (they'd sing the lyrics to Dirty Deeds in the school bus every time we had a field trip anywhere) and I think they pretty much broke down into tears. Yes, 5th grade, a time when boys are nearing the summit of Mt. Homophobia. The band gets a bonus point for playing with our fragile little minds, intentionally or not.
He was slightly-rocking, but mostly just earnest and unremarkable in his early days; in recent years he's apparently gone diving down the wimp-hole Sting fell into, and is doing bad Disney cartoon songs, which costs him a point. Lame though he might be, his name is representative of his sound, so he doesn't get that bad a score. Remember, this is a rating of how well a band's name works, and matches up with their music, not if the music or name is actually any good or not.
I have always have an odd view of Aerosmith, since they were dead and buried until that Run DMC remake of Walk This Way that was generous enough to co-star the band. I remember watching that video and thinking it was cool, and wondering who those old guys they hired to do the singing and guitar playing were. Amazingly-enough, Aerosmith had their first hits in a decade shortly after that, and soon after that Run-DMC vanished. Coming in 2005, Aerosmith covers It's Tricky and invites Run and DMC to help make the video, passing the baton of career revival along? As for the name, it's sort of cool, but also sort of generic. Nothing in "Aerosmith" says, "rock band", though once you know, it's a good name for a rock band. Funny how that works.
If she could change around her wardrobe, bonus points could radically alter her total score, since the potential is there, it's just being wasted by her crack-smoking stylists and image-consultants. She loses a point for being 143% less hot than she could be. Like most eponymous artists, her name tells you nothing about her her music. The last name is vaguely Latino, which might lead you to expect a salsa sound, which she does not provide. It's not a bad name, it's just entirely neutral with nothing clever or interesting about it.
I have no clear memories of anything about this band, and the name is painfully cute. In fact it's just too damn cute, and the exclamation point costs them a bonus point. Nevertheless, the name sounds like a cute, non-threatening band, and that's accurate enough.
The band name is great. It's evocative and somber, and that's definitely the appropriate vibe given their sound and origin and genre. Happy fun grunge band names just wouldn't do. Exactly who is Alice and why she's chained is unknown, and essentially irrelevant, for our purposes.
They get a bonus point back for having the nerve to dump their lead singer after years of success, and doing better music with the new, less-squealy, guy. Better music that hasn't sold nearly as well, but you can't have everything. As for the name, it was cool for years, though not that great. Anthrax is largely a livestock disease, so if they'd wanted to be really evil they could have gone with oh, "Dysentery" or "Plague" or even "Measles". After the slew of Anthrax mailing scares in late 2001, their name suddenly became radioactive and hugely-controversial, despite the fact they'd had it for over 10 years. They get a bonus point for having a sense of humor about it and doing some shows after 9/11 billed as "Basket Full of Puppies" and wearing nifty jumpsuits to match.
As for the name, it bothers me. I'd hope that most people know of Anastasia, the mysterious and legendary daughter of the last Czar of Russia. One of those Disney rip off cartoon studios did a movie about her a few years ago. So how did this singer pick that name, and choose to misspell it just enough to bother people who know better? Probably, which costs her a point.
Audioslave
The official word from Rage is that Zach de la Rocha left the band,
but hearing them actually able to play music that's not buried by some
guy screaming over it, you have to wonder if they weren't just as glad
to be rid of him. Being as 98% of rap is just a simple background
sample beat, with perhaps a few sound effects, it has to feel like a
waste of time to write original music for drums/guitar/bass that no one
really pays any attention to, with rap being all about the vocals.
Chris Cornell's vocal styles are probably the biggest change from what
rap that you could possibly get, which earns them a bonus point just for
the concept. Their name is serviceable, but nothing amazing. They were
initially going to use "Civilian" for their name, which would
have been a worse choice. At least "Audioslave" sounds
like a rock band, though it's still a huge step down from their former
band name(s).
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