Music stuff

Here are a few lists of music-related things:

Good Band Names

• Blue Rodeo
• The The
• Barenaked Ladies
• The Thompson Twins (there are 3 of them, and they're not related)
• Rage Against The Machine - not a big fan of their music, but good name
• Strawberry Alarm Clock
• Bands named after people who don't exist (Max Webster, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull)
• Death Cab For Cutie
• Rainbow Butt Monkeys (now known as Finger Eleven, another good name)
• Bourbon Tabernacle Choir
• Buddy Whasisname and the Other Fellas
• Bruno Gerussi's Medallion
• Me First and the Gimme Gimme's

More good ones here.

Bad Band Names

• The (anything) - post-1980. The Cars? The Smithereens? The Salads?
• Bands that name themselves after a place (Toronto, Boston, Kansas, Chilliwack, Asia, Chicago) - The Bay City Rollers are exempt from this because they picked their name by throwing a dart at a US map
• Audioslave - great band, boring name, especially considering the members came from Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden, both good names

Just Weird Band Names

• Chumbawumba
• Bowling for Soup
• Hoobastank
• The Meat Puppets
• Toad The Wet Sprocket
• Mott The Hoople
• Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Great Album Names

• Not of this Earth - Joe Satriani -- After listening to his guitar playing, you might believe he really is not of this Earth.
• Break Like The Wind - Spinal Tap
• Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt
• Yes I Am - Melissa Etheridge -- Doesn't refer to her sexuality, but since it's the first album since she came out, it sounds like it does
• Rockihnroll - Greg Kihn -- He also had albums named Kihnspiracy, Kihnspicuous, and Kihnsolidation

Generally bad album names:

• Anything non-debut album that's self-titled (see Peter Gabriel, Weezer)
• Any numbered album (Led Zeppelin, Chicago)
• "Untitled" albums (Led Zeppelin "IV")
• "Greatest Hits" if you're a band that didn't have any actual hits, i.e. on the Top 40 chart or whatever. Pearl Jam is immensely popular, but has had very few big hit singles. If Pearl Jam were to release such a compilation, "The Best Of Pearl Jam" would be a better option than "Pearl Jam's Greatest Hits".

Best Guitar Solos

• Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
• One of these Nights - The Eagles
• Alive - Pearl Jam
• Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Shine - Collective Soul
• Layla - Derek and the Dominoes
• Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
• One - Metallica