Apr 192010
The Dours
Believe it or not, this one came to me in a dream last night: I noticed for some reason that by changing just one letter in the name “The Doors,” the band went from being a shirtless bunch of hedonists on a drug-fueled pleasure cruise to the center of the sun…
… to “The Dours” — a scowling, uptight Amish bible-study group.
I woke up thinking this might provide good RTH fodder — and an activity at which I know punny Townsmen like mockcarr would excel. I suppose the rules are clear enough from my example — just know that you get extra credit for producing a big change in meaning with a little change in letters.
I look forward to your responses.
HVB
Beck would probably not be considered so cool if he went by the name Buck.
Maybe punk would have been more popular if the Clash had been called the Flash.
And adding a 12-string Rickenbacker to Dylan songs probably would not have made the Tyrds famous.
This is a great game, HVB. I’ll have to give it some thought.
ZZ Stop, is the first band name that comes to mind. It’s not a change in one letter but an addition that sends the band my personal message.
I’m sure many would approve of the name change Jethro Dull – and possibly even the musical change from woodsy gnome-rock to third-rate Southern Rock.
Led Zeppelin anagram- Deep Zen Pill
From psychedelic cow punkers to wetland Kermit lunkers:
Peat Muppets
The Buttles. Sorry, but I had to.
BigSteve — digging your Clash/Flash example. Mod, Turning Jethro Tull into a crummy southern rock ensemble is great, too. Keep ’em coming!
Yeah, but Mwall: what kind of music do the Buttles play?
PiL goes from flipping the bird in the face of rock to opening its arms to rock fans everywhere when John Lydon and the boys re-brand themselves as PaL.
Mod’s in the lead!
The Jonas Brothers go from being lovable, squeaky-clean, modern-day mop tops to horn-throwing black metallists when they change their name to the Judas Brothers.
Merle Haggard goes from being a cantankerous country crooner to Dungeons and Dragons soundtrack artist when he changes his name to Merlin Hagrid.
The same kind of D n’ D transformation happens to Fairysmith.
GWAR should be a lightly joshing G’WAN
how about the Strolling Bones, instead of Rolling Stones?
The Beatless
With his tinnitus, Pete Townshend band is now called The Wha?
I like it, mockcarr! A gritty rock band becomes a breezy, brass-heavy jazz combo!
Poxy Music. Don’t tell me you know where they’ve been.
A new Hogan’s Heroes tribute band (?) is born with the unveiling of The Klinks!
Okay, that one was a stretch.
Roy Wood when he’s feelin’ mellow is in the Smoove.
I like the Klinks, I’m pretty sure Conan O’Brien would front that one.
They must all wear monacles.
The Upper Crust guys could open for themselves as a French Funk band – Parlement.
Cheap Prick.
Everyone on the tour is an unpaid intern.
Hrrundi, worse would be Bilko, the side project of Jeff Tweedy devoted to Phil Silvers.
Sham! Featuring Andrew Ridgeley.
Blurt. Lots of lyrics in those songs.
No longer Man of the People, Defender of the Defenseless… From the ring of fire to the lap of luxury, put your hands together for the man who gives new meaning to the Man in Black, Mr. Johnny Cush!
The Christian rock stylings of AC/BC
Don’t like Jewish rap artists? You’ll love the Beastie Goys
Tweezer.
Love songs
Nothing but teeny, tiny, fey,
love songs being held up to the light.
Smushing Pumpkins. Johnny Rotten replaces Corgan.
The latest reunion tour made up of a bunch of hasbeens because the royalties won’t pay for the chemotherapy or bypass surgery – The Guess Why.
mockcarr, I guess Sham!, featuring Andrew Ridgeley, leaves George Michael and Jimmy Pursey to form Wham 69.
There was a bluesman who’d sooner go down to the alley to pick up lady keglers.
Bowlin’ Wolf.
A SoCal band of pyschic oblivion as ugly as ZZ Top, as laid-back boring as Jackson Browne, but somehow failing to capitalize on the Snoopy craze of the early 70s – The Beagles.
Remember those nightclub records your parents didn’t want you to hear? Lusty Springfeeled. Or for Hrrundi, the Russ Meyer backing band should have been Busty Springfield.
Well, they can’t all be gems.
Or any of them.
John Fellincamp. Nerdy teenage Americana crooner who wears glasses held together in the middle by a band aid, and wears bermuda shorts and black socks so as to show off his skinned knees.
Busty Springfield could tour with The English Teat
The support act for that tour? Bikini Fill
I’m a big fan of The English Teat.
Sorry I’ve got to go here, but how ’bout that Brazillian hip-hop band, Pubic Enemy?
Rude boys The Police become The Polite, perhaps spiritual descendants of Keith Emerson’s The Nice, who become rodent-like The Mice.
I hear that tradition can cause the area to have strange hue, somewhat like that obscure Ohio power pop band Blue Gash.
And Pubic Enemy is fronted by Chick D (after the transgender op).
Then there are some other rappers –
Mos Deaf – that’s what happens when you spend too much time listening to those bass heavy beats.
Mr. Dre – once they discovered he had doctored his transcripts
If both these guys weren’t named John I would swear the band could be called They Might Be Grants.
Purl Jam, alter ego of the Knitters, when they can’t be bothered to play coherent songs.
Proxy Music, a band willing to fill in for other bands who can’t make the gig.
Billy Jor-El. Piano player from Metropolis who claims he’s Superman’s dad, who honestly, really didn’t want to give him up for adoption.
Sid Viscous. Phlegmatic punker who coughed songs instead of singing them. Had a relationship with Nancy Spoogedon.
Now has a career as a left-handed reliever in the Northwest over-50 League.
NEUF! Band associated with Kraft…cream cheese. Sounds ok, if you listen to them simultaneously with Cracker.
Brian Emo.
Yeah, he’s the guy to blame for all these clowns who won’t look an audience in the eye.
Okay, so “Brian Jor-El” wins the Big Laff award. Funny!
Yes becomes Ayes. Ok that’s kinda more of the same thing.
Gurney. Their hits were:
I’ve Stopped Believin’
Wheel in the Parapalegic Ward
Can You Get That For Me, I Want It, And Can’t Move
BigSteve, I was thinking about Yesh for them. Pretty much the same band with worse dental work so they lisp more.
Petulant Clark. You can imagine her difficulties with stardom. Why she wouldn’t be caught dead Downtown.
I cannot believe Prof. Bakshi hasn’t given us the full biography of Feart.
Pinchers of Loaf. Apparently opened for Tweezer at some point. Perhaps they had to pick the corn kernels out of the mess left on the stage.
Well, as I feared, this thread has been transformed into a Mad magazine/Wacky Pack pun fest, rather than the sober, insightful game of wordplay I hoped for. Still, mad props for “Gurney” and all their hit titles.
In for a penny, in for a pound…
Kajapoopoo. Despite the scatological name change, their music still sounds exactly like Kajagoogoo.
cdm is IN THE LEAD!
The Rumour become the American band they always wanted to be, The Rumor, named after the song by The Band.
Influential blue-eyed soul legend, Don Ofay.
Where did all that space under my comment come from?
Reverse racism espousing, tea party rockers, The White Gripes.
Lemmy goes nautical in Böaterhead.
After later being discovered drowned, his corpse forms Flöaterhead.
The depressive British ska/pop group Sadness.
The radical feminist post punk outfit, Boy Derision.
The Sting of the Surf Guitar, Dick Dull.
That must have been space for applause, bobby. I love the thought of Sadness!
Boaterhead could pair up with James Drown. And that ryhthmless funk band? The Beatless.
Dark, post punk goth rockers The Cure become Sunday -Go-To-Church abstinence advocates The Pure.
Sammymaudlin is pickin’ up what I’m layin’ down. Good one!
From harmony-laden British invaders The Hollies to stinky basement-recording prog-rockers The Hobbies.
Styx lose just one letter to become Stye.
Dada roll back one letter to become Caca.
Rush finally cop to having all the appeal of a Rash.
Ian McCulloch & crew have an epiphany after catching one of my shows at The Sands (that would be the Melonville Sands), and decide to go out there & REALLY entertain the nice people, becoming Echo & the Funnymen.
Seminal, often shirtless rap legend becomes obsessed with internet discussion forums & Facebook and reinvents himself as LOL Cool J.
David Bowie stops living on coke at the height of his glam rock fame, moves to rural CA., where he mellows out, gets into four part harmonies & emerges as The Ziggy Starland Vocal Band.
Speaking of Echo & the Funnymen, a longtime Philly sports-talk host, the humorless and completely UN-hip Howard Eskin, recently read a promo for an upcoming concert series at one of the Atlantic City casinos. Hearing him say, “On [whatever day], it’s Public Image Ltd, featuring Johnny London, er, Lydon…” may have been the least-expected thing I’ve ever heard anyone say.
Los Lobos turn into the wild party band, Los Locos.
Or perhaps the cheap sneaker band, Los Bobos.
Or a band of homeless train-hoppers – Los Hobos.
I really can’t decide…
Or beat generation-style hipsters, Los Bohos.
Maybe I should have said “Shecko” & the Funnymen?
I present for the poo-poo humor trophy:
Nellie Furtado
becomes
Smelly Fart-turdo!
I thought it was Smelly Fur Taco
Good one, CDM. I heard “Give Me All Your Loving” on the radio this weekend and immediately thought: ZZ Pap.
Thanks but I can’t claim to have made that one up. In fact, I thought I heard it here.