When I first saw the local band Helicopter Helicopter, their name didn’t bother me. In fact, it had kind of a nice ring to it. (None of the albums following By Starlight have sounded as good to me, though.)
Fast-forward a few years, when D began ballyhooing Transistor Transistor. I felt a twinge of annoyance — but mostly because I kept getting them confused with Translator.
But when I learned about the latest redundantly named band, Controller.Controller, I kind of went insane with the yelling and swearing (sorry, Mom). I imagine I’d have ranted longer if I’d then known about the precious full stop in their name. They may be a fine rock combo for all I know, but I’m disinclined to give them a chance because of their name’s wholesale lack of originality.
2fs says:
June 9th, 2005 at 10:51 pm EDTVisit 2fs
So you probably wouldn’t like our hometown band Temper Temper then?
summervillain says:
June 10th, 2005 at 7:29 am EDTVisit summervillain
As for me, I’m starting a band called Orange ô Orange!
Ezra says:
June 10th, 2005 at 12:54 pm EDTVisit Ezra
I’m starting a band called Rabbit Rabbit, that only plays on the first day of the month.
Editrix says:
June 10th, 2005 at 12:59 pm EDTVisit Editrix
Bwah! Good one.
2fs says:
June 10th, 2005 at 7:00 pm EDTVisit 2fs
Once again I must fire up the old huh-o-meter… what do rabbits have to do with the first of the month?
Editrix says:
June 11th, 2005 at 11:00 am EDTVisit Editrix
Double-effs: Saying “rabbit rabbit” on the first of the month to someone is a good-luck superstition. When I was in college, a friend of my roommate’s introduced me to his family’s custom of competing to see who could rabbit the others first.
There are a bunch of variants: “rabbits,” “rabbit rabbit rabbit,” “white rabbits,” or “bunny bunny” are also acceptable, depending on whom you talk to, and some people assert that they have to be the first words out of your mouth each month. Also, if you forget to say “rabbit rabbit” in the morning, you can say “tibbar tibbar” just before you fall asleep (or you can tibbar someone on the second day of the month if you both forgot to rabbit on the first). More discussion this way lies.
Hey Ezra — be sure your first album isn’t eponymously titled.